[David Petersen]

in reply to: bear kodiak magnum #47246

While I can’t speak to limb performance, I have owned a couple and with their shortness and significant recurve, it seems they are perfectly made for a 26″ draw. Of course, Bear has reintroduced the K-mag, for $500, and I look forward to reports of its performance. Until such time, if I were shopping for one — and while I’m not actively shopping, I’m watching for ads and very interested — I’ll hold out for a vintage Grayling-era model, which generally will sell for less than the replicas. What I do recall with these bows is that they do not come up to the performance, forgiveness or shooting comfort of, say, a Shrew of equal length. But then, the K-Mag definitely has a charm and a history that are compelling. It’s the only Bear (along wuith the economy K-Mag, or Black Bear) that has ever seriously tickled my fancy. I’m a short bow guy with long arms. dp

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Footed Shaft Question #46130

Hello and welcome, Bullcalf. I don’t think you need to worry about footed shafts being a whole different world than regular shafts. Over the years I’ve had a few dozen, each by a different arrowsmith, and have not noticed any specific “footed behaivor” characteristics as opposed to regular shafts. I’m currently shooting footed hex-pines from Whispering Wind in MT, with 200-grain Grizzly heads, and am yet to break one. But this set-up doesn’t offer much in the way of FOC because the wood is fairly heavy. Two more proven reliable sources are the Feathered Shaft (Fletcher posts here), who prefers light strong woods such as Surewood and will custom-make footed shafts to your specs (though last I heard from Rick, he was a bit backlogged in orders). Dave Doran of Archery Past also handles footed shafts and is extremely knowledgeable and helpful, just give a call.

I hope I didn’t misunderstand your question, and that this is some help. You can likely find an arrowsmith who will provide you with an arrow of different footed shafts to try with your set-up. It’s all fun, dave

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Hunting & Spirituality #45378

Sapcut — Of course! You don’t need my permission, and I hope I don’t come off as dictatorial in any degree. As moderator I am charged with “keeping order in the house,” and felt that a reminder of the playing rules up front could save grief farther along. I stated my feelings on the topic, as have Hubertus and Bruc and others to come. Your own views are most welcome. What we want to encourage in touchy situations like this is for folks to express their thoughts for others to share, in such a way that they aren’t directly disputing someone else’s expressed views, which could cause unintended hurt or anger due to the intensity with which many people hold their spiritual beliefs. In other words, “I believe so and so. …” rather than “I disagree with Joe because he believes so and so.” Right now, I believe I’d best go walk the dogs before it gets dark. 😀

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Shooting Muscles #45273

Hubertis — If I hold my bow with my feet and use my right arm to pull back on a bowstring, so that I can feel what the muscles are doing using my free left hand, the triceps and biceps feel equally tensed. Though I’m no physiologist and can’t explain why, and Doc Don Thomas is off somewhere sporting so can’t help us here, at least for a while. Maybe someone else can. But it seems that “that’s the way it is,” and you’re smart to start exercising your archery muscles regularly. For example, years ago I went on a shooting binge, a hundred or more arrows a day, and did so much damage to my right shoulder that I had to drop 10 pounds from my draw weight that I might still have had my shooting and shooting-muscle exercise not been so sporatic and voilent. An interesting question you’ve posed here. dp

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Hunting & Spirituality #45266

Friends, we tread here on tender ground, so let’s please be sure to keep our responses in line with the original question, to wit: what we feel by way of personal connection between hunting and spirituality, and why we think that is. Spirituality, religion, or as stated, “supernaturalism,” and our beliefs or lack thereof in those realms, if taken beyond a direct connection to hunting and nature, are among the highly emotional issues like politics that our website user guidelines wisely exlude. This is a traditional archery and bowhunting site, period, not the proper place to argue what you believe vs. what I believe by way of religion or spirituality. I sure hope I don’t have to delete any posts or kill the thread because too many folks wander too far astray. That said, I sure don’t mean to put anyone off from posting opinions directly related to the question, which is a BIG one for many of us. For my own part, I have written books, or significant parts thereof, and countless articles and essays exploring the topic of hunting and spirituality, mostly aimed at nonhunters who think we’re all soulless thugs, yet that doesn’t qualify me to pontificate on the topic beyond my own purely personal feelings and experiences. I have no answers and don’t even want any. To me hunting is an integral part of the deep and wholly natural feeling of connectedness, peace and sanity I experience when out and about in wild nature, particularly when alone. And hunting gets me out there, farther and more often, than anything else, and thus the connection. We can postulate, as Dr. Paul Shepard and other unbiased academics have done eloquently, that this feeling of spiritual connection is because we evolved as an active element of wild nature, at once predator and prey, over some 6 million years, and a mere 10,000 years of agriculture and half that of civilization simply isn’t time enough to wash the hunter-gatherer shaping from our collective genome. To my mind that sounds as reasonable as any explanation and no supernaturalism required. All I know is that wild nature has saved my life and sanity and fighting to protect what’s left of it gives purpose to my life and I simply must have it to prosper. The connection is real and I rather enjoy the mystery of its origins. dp

[David Petersen]

in reply to: my new timberhawk #44039

Turok — Nothing (well, almost nothing),like a new bow to make a guy forget his problems. 😀 Enjoy!

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Tapered Sitka Spruce Shafts #42681

For those of us seeking to maximize FOC with wood shafts, a slight strong shaft that can handle a heavy head is just what we’re looking for. I’ll have to give SS a try, though I’m very pleased with both Surewood and hexpine, though the latter are heavy. dp

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Eclipse Werewolf Single Bevel Broadheads #41781

Blake said “I think that the idea has merit, I wonder why no one else has done it?”

Maybe they’ve left it to you because you are more inventive and an industry leader. 😀 dp

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Wolf observation. #41775

More applause, Fallguy. This is also Backcountry Hunters and Anglers’ position on wolves: They are an important part of any whole and truly wild ecosystem, and just the knowledge of their lurking presence in a place, as with the grizzly bear, adds a strong flavor of adventure and realness to any so-called wilderness adventure. But there can be too much of any good thing and they must be managed. And hunters should have the lead role in that management. I’ll never forget the first time I heard wolves howl in the night, many years ago in a far corner of Glacier NP. It was the Magic Pack, and I few years later I got to watch them all morning as they returned from various directions and individual night hunts to bed down at the edge of a meadow. Best part was when a young whitetail buck wandered into the meadow to feed. He was completely surrounded by wolves and didn’t know it, and they simply watched with curiosity and yawns. Must have enjoyed a good meal reacently. These a “memories of a lifetime.” dp

[David Petersen]

in reply to: The Good, the Bad … and Me #40209

Ed — A guy has to take care of his own health and personal needs, and heaven knows you’ve done more than enough already in your personal crusade — for decades, a lonely pursuit for you — to improve the understanding and lethality of our arrows, motivated, as many of us are, by the desire to decrease wounding loss and improve recovery rates. Your name will go down in the honor roll of the few who have made a permanent positive improvement in traditional archery. Even so, we’re sure going to miss you here. Be well, dave p

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Turkey season starts this saturday #38087

Ron– Considering your weather problems in the Black Hills, I’d best quit grumping about 30-40mph winds spoiling my own travel hunt last week. I too had a good time anyhow, but I had my wife and dogs in camp and no snow to deal with. You’re due a turn of good luck and good weather after that strong effort. Dave

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Turkey season starts this saturday #36341

Congrats to Doug! Anyone who goes to that much trouble applying facepaint deserves success! 😛 You forgot to mention that he hit it in the neck and almost beheaded it, cool.

My season continues to be slow, and this morning I called in only my second tom of the season. The “dead decoy” ruined things again; you think I’d learn. They come in and see a deke that’s not moving and instantly go on guard. So these days I put one out only if there’s enough breeze to move it around some, which there was this morning. But by the time the tom came in, no wind. Even so, had the tom walked in front of a big ponderosa I’d have had my preferred shot op, where the tree behind the bird stops the arrow and pins the beast to the tree so it can’t fly or run off. But he walked behind the tree instead. And then it started snowing. Oh well, it’s all good fun, and humbling. Maybe I’ll get one for my Easter basket tomorrow. dave

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Chopping wild turkey feathers. Help! #36335

Well I can’t help much, but since nobody else has posted, I can say that I’ve split lots of wild turkey feathers with an Xacto and no problem — just hold the quill above where you’re cutting and slice from the thick end toward the tip. I’ve found that once you get the blade tip in, it tends to stay in the center of the quill rather than want to wander out. Nor did I have any problem gluing the feathers on. But in the end they are softer than factory feathers (as are goose feathers) and in my experience don’t perform or last as well, so I quit using them. You are likely right that the factory process includes some sort of stiffening, perhaps just from the dye. dp

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Traditional Movies #36329

Patrick — the movie is easily available on dvd, and possibly via Roku or one of the other instant-watch outlets. In fact there are two versions and I have both. The original is in Russian with English subtitles–that’s the one to get. There’s also one I found on the internet that’s put out by a Russian company, cheap, which is overdubbed in English and while the film is the same, somehow the subtitled version is more powerful than the over-dub. It’s the book upon which it was based, Dersu the Trapper, that for many years was hard to find. But it has been republished and should be available via Amazon, etc. dp

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Pope and Young questions #35514

Ray — T.J. should be able to answer this. Maybe Robin can kick him in the ankle 😛 and get him on here.

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