[James Harvey]

in reply to: Aussie turkeys #53249

donthomas wrote: I’m sure ausjim knows, there are limited populations of our turkeys in Australia

I had no idea Don. I learn something new every day. It’s nice for today’s lesson not to be on how low on the intelligence scale I can fall, but how high I can soar on the scale of ignorance instead 😉

Our region certainly does have a reputation for producing exceptionally silly ground dwelling birds.

[James Harvey]

in reply to: You've got to be kidding me!!! #52981

All seriousness aside, it strikes me that one of those things loaded with a blank could be used in some kind of hilarious prank…

[James Harvey]

in reply to: Big cats in Northeastern Australia? #52953

I heard some other great facts about Australia’s top end yesterday…

It has 45% of Australia’s land mass (works out to about 1.3 million square miles – about 5 Texas’s) but only 5% of the population (about a million people – half of which live in the three bigger coastal cities of the north). Kenya has about 240 times the population density.

Oh the possibilities!

[James Harvey]

in reply to: what quivers do you prefer? #52353

I’ve pulled a couple hundred arrows out of my neet back quiver the last couple of days and I have to say, I’m really enjoying the back quiver for target shooting. My hand is just about drawing another arrow as soon as I finish my release. It feels really smooth with a natural flow compared with using my bow quiver or using an arrow stand.

I can’t wait to use it hunting, but something inconvenient did occur to me. When I choose to sit quietly for a while, my exact seating choice is usually determined by what comfy backrests are offered by nearby trees. This means taking off my quiver and maybe trying to put it back on if I see something in the distance. Not so smooth and naturally flowing eh? Nothing is perfect I suppose. 😕

[James Harvey]

in reply to: The Non-Trad Knife Thread #52179

Sinawalli, my gerber claims to have been made in Portland, Oregan. When I was researching I came across some folks that said beware of cheap online Gerbers, they’re made in China. So I ordered mine from a reputable stateside store and had it shipped. At the end of the day my proof is just a stamp on the blade, which could easily have been done by a chinese guy 😕

J.Wesbrock, I’m not entirely sure what counts as trad or non-trad either, but I didn’t think my rubber handled, electrically insulated field knife with MOLLE sheath and tacti-cool legstrap (not in the picture) was in much of a grey area 😉

Shane, good luck mate 🙂

[James Harvey]

in reply to: Aussie turkeys #51967

Alex, maybe they’re like emus. I heard one emu handler at a sanctuary say “Smart? No, they’re not smart at all. But they are VERY reactionary.” Which I suppose to a hunter can look like smart, because they’re very good at running away 😉

Ralph, cassowary’s can have a bit of a reputation like that. I don’t know how dangerous they are, but there are plenty of cases of them being aggressive. Like a goose on a farm, except bigger, and instead of biting they kick you with a dagger.

I kind of hate that people are told to run away. I’m no biologist or animal trainer, but it seems to me you’re conditioning the animal to gather experience confirming charging people is a good thing to do. I saw an aggressive goose chase about a dozen Japanese tourists right out of a park one day. A goose. Soccer is popular in Japan, they should know what to do to a round white thing racing along the ground towards them.

I reckon just carry a decent sized walking stick when you’re in their habitat and be willing to stand up for yourself.

Here’s a pic of my little boy exploring the edge of the jungle, right in the heart of cassowary country at the start of the Easter weekend.

[James Harvey]

in reply to: The Non-Trad Knife Thread #51915

They look neat mate. I like that you could have a few different types of blades for the one knife. I wouldn’t be allowed to ship that here. The opening stud on the blade makes it an illegal weapon 🙄

[James Harvey]

in reply to: Ohio Traditional Bowhunters #51889

Welcome to the forum mate! Usually when I visit the states, I’m visiting family in north KY or south OH, there’s some beautiful country around there. I’m sure you’ll meet some decent folks here.

[James Harvey]

in reply to: Aussie turkeys #51172

Jeff and Paleo, you’re welcome guys. I’d check out some reputable sources of info than me if you want to learn anything factual about them 😉

Troy, I think dunking your head in a bucket of paint must be normal behaviour for lots of Aussie birds. We have some weird ones, that’s for sure. I think the cassowary takes the cake for weird heads though.

[James Harvey]

in reply to: Aussie turkeys #51165

R2 wrote: Fooled me! I thought “gobble, gobble” was universal language.

Ralph, I had a surreal moment in Afghan last year when I was manning the rear gun on our armored car. We drove through a little farming community and I was seeing all the normal afgan animals when I heard a loud ‘GOBBLE GOBBLE GOBBLE’. We rounded a bend and there was a little pack of about 12 white turkeys gobbling away. I think they were speaking American 😉

[James Harvey]

in reply to: Big cats in Northeastern Australia? #51146

Hahaha 😆

Honestly I reckon it’s otherwise normal people getting excited about possibilities, or what they hope/fear to see. False positives occur so regularly, across so many fields of study. Our brains are just so good at tricking us 😉

I was in a remote recce site one time on exercise, well camouflaged into the side of a wooded hill, watching down into the creek line below. The first night at about 2am I noticed an animal moving through the dry creek. Within minutes of first noticing it I was convinced it was a wild dog, maybe a dingo, and it was starting to head right at me. I raised my night vision scope to get a better look. It was a possum. About the size of a house cat. Night time, moon shadows, unfamiliar reference points and a hopeful desire to be the one to see something spectacular all went together to trick me quite nicely. If I hadn’t used the NV scope I’d probably be swearing to this day that I saw a wild dog out there 😳

[James Harvey]

in reply to: fletching #50884

Good thoughts up there Ernest. Don’t get caught up on my use (or misuse) of the word ‘lift’, I was just using (misusing) terminology I was familiar with to explain exactly what you’re talking about, the feather’s relationship with air pressure and how that force is applied to the shaft. Obviously we don’t want the fletching to be an airfoil, we just want it to rotate the shaft in flight 😉

[James Harvey]

in reply to: Big cats in Northeastern Australia? #50791

Etter1 wrote: 20percent of everybody in my state has seen a “black panther”. I’m positive they’re incorrect so I’d wonder pretty hard about that situation too.

Yeah, stories like this exist persistently in the blue mountains a continent away in the south, and funnily enough they have the exact same mythology surrounding them as up here… US military mascots etc etc. I did a bit of research (which is to say I read someone elses research) and a cougar was actually shot and killed in Victoria just after WW2. It was a mascot left behind.

I read a book about cougars in Colorado. One of the most outrageous ‘false positives’ recorded was a local man, lived in Colorado his whole life, claimed to be stalked by a cougar while walking his dog. He even caught it partially exposed in long grass on film, which he gave to tv news which featured for a couple of days on local nightly bulletins. Until a field biologist called in and informed the local news that the animal on the video was a fox.

Eye-witness reports are shaky at best 😉

[James Harvey]

in reply to: fletching #50781

Fletcher wrote: the most efficient aircraft, such as gliders, have long span narrow chord wings.

Without doubt you are correct. Discs need to be spinning for stable flight, that’s pretty hard to achieve in an airplane!

I just googled the frisbee/boomerang question and the results were astonishing!

The world records are:

Frisbee – 1333 feet

Boomerang – 1401 feet

Wow:)

[James Harvey]

in reply to: New footed woodies #50124

Gorgeous.

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