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in reply to: To sleep, perchance to … sleep? #42016
Thank you, gents. I’ll start exploring all these possibilities tomorrow. I tried and tried to recall what we used in the Marines, but all I can come up with is … nothing. They always were “do more with less” cheapskates. 😆
in reply to: Spring fever #41938Grumpy — Well at least you have that great Mass. maple syrup to help you through the long winters. I’m lucky to have a friend (Ted Williams) who has a son who owns a maple grove and every few years, if I beg properly, I get a jug for xmas. While I don’t claim to own the experience in maple syrup that I do in whisky (and other good stuff), IMO the Mass variety is hands-down the best.
Of course, in the interest of self-education and fairness, if anyone reading this is from another maple syrup-producing area, U.S. or Canada, and wishes to argue that yours is better, just send me a pm and I’ll generously supply my mailing address so’s you can send along a sample. A guy can never get enough education in maple syrup, whisky … or all the other of life’s good stuff. 😀
in reply to: Cock feather? #41873This sounds more all the time like a spine problem. I would try building out the shelf window. You can start with a simple bandaid and keep going from there–more layers of bandiads, or a section of popsickle stick and tape, etc.– until you find the sweet spot. Costs zip and quick and easy to try.
in reply to: German storks, African arrows #41871Wow, Jim, that’s truly fascinating. (I had lots of time to read when I was in the military too, while others were shooting pool or playing Ping-Pong.)
First, I wonder if the town name Klutz has anything to do with the origin of that slang term for a clumsy person?
Second and more interesting, I am guessing that’s an atlatl dart/spear, not an arrow. First there’s no fletching. And even if we overlook the length, the diameter and overall mass seem too great for an arrow. Nor do I see a string notch, though it could be there. But arrow or dart, it does demonstrate some feature that harken back to the Paleolithic, or old stone age, namely the detachable foreshaft, so that the shaft can be retrieved from an animal and quickly fitted with a new foreshaft (to which the broadhead is fitted), saving labor in making a new shaft, the need to carry multiple complete darts or spears, and allowing for “speed loading” during an active hunt. Second, the broadhead appears to be stone and of a shape amazingly similar to heads an anthropologist friend (and fellow trad bowhunter) is digging up in Ethiopia, dating to the Mesolithic (middle stone age), some 40,000 years ago. He thinks they could be arrowheads, as they’re too small (smaller than this one) to be dart points. Maybe …
Finally … poor damn bird. I hate it when we don’t get it right.
in reply to: How do you draw? #41860How do I draw? I prefer pencils, but sometimes use chalk.
(Sorry, but just thinking about happy hour to come makes me into a comedian, or as my wife has it, an idiot. No intent to diss your good question.)
in reply to: Cock feather? #41807I have experienced that sometimes when you have a particularly finicky arrow, turning it cock-feather-in corrects flight problems. I always assumed this is spine related since it never happens with a batch of arrows but only singles, only rarely. Since I switch to four-fletch of course there is no cock feather. It sure sounds as if the Hammer is on to something re window cut depth, since cock-feather in forces the arrow out on the shelf, simulating a shallower window.
in reply to: To sleep, perchance to … sleep? #40735Thanks, Hammer. It was a big NO on inflatable, given my experiences with my paleo-era Therm-a-rests (though factory service for finding and patching leaks is laudable, maybe even good :lol:).
Tell me more about “closed-cell foam,” please. To me that means “Insolite,” which I’ve never seen thicker than about 3/8″. Even doubled it was never as good as even a thin Therm-a-rest. Except it never leaks.
Time to toss some buffler burgers on the grill …
PS: The lurker called “cantremembermyid” … man, I relate! I think you’d fit right in here. 😳
in reply to: Field Tips #39576What Mike said. Kustom King is yet another option. To smooth the way, I also suggest you grab a copy of T.J. Conrad’s “Traditional Bowhunters Handbook,” which you can get online or directly from TBM. It will walk you clearly through all the basics of trad gear, tuning, etc., and also has a good intro to bowhunting. I wish I’d had that when I started, back in the Dark Ages.
Congrats on your self-promotion and as Mike said, you’ll be swamped with info on this site, all of it from strong individuals. It seems to go with the territory. Don’t feel compelled to go to woods immediately, if ever. It’s all so much easier with carbons and for that reason a real good place to start. My strongest advice for arrows is, go heavy, total weight and esp. the broadhead. Mike is among a great many fairly recent converts to EFOC and is amazed at the increase in accuracy and silence in flight. Just as I was. Enjoy.
in reply to: Practice of the Wild #39566Boys and their toys … the only boy-toy I never got enough of and never will is … girls. In a pinch I can do anything with a small stack of small rocks and a shallow trench that you can do with a canteen stove. And I don’t have to carry the rocks around with me. If there ain’t no pinch, like car camping, I’ll stick with a cast-iron skillet and a multi-burner propane stove. When it comes for “carry it” vs. camp comforts, I’ve always gone with comfort on the trail via light weight vs. comforts in camp, where I spend as little time as possible. But something tells me this won’t go over any better than Jim’s extra custom canteen cup. Certainly, there is “art appreciation” in excellent outdoor gear. I just don’t want to carry it. Lazy or smart, depending on your pov. 🙄
Sorry Clay. It seems your search for poetical enlightenment has been subsumed by our love of gear. 😛 Snyder, a Zen master, would not likely approve. But then he was always a roadkill hunter, for which the only mandatory gear is a car and a knife.
in reply to: A club for those of us without any back country #39143Mike, the planning process has only just begun. CO Parks and Wildlife (CPW) will be taking hunter comments through March 31, and the wildlife commission will make its decisions in Sept. to set the big game hunting season structure, and related issues like “methods of take” for the next five years. While engaged groups and individuals (like me) will continue to lobby the commissioners directly until it’s a done deal, this month is the best op for general input. For anyone who has hunted big game in CO in the past three years, no matter weapon, you can fill out CPWs online survey and I encourage you to do so. Like most surveys it is narrow in focus and doesn’t strike me as sufficient, but they likely know what they’re doing. With the online survey they provide no place for extended written comments at the bottom, as they do with the version you print out and mail in (just add extra pages). However, some of the questions include comment boxes and you can put your comments in those, whether or not related directly to the question. Clearly, whoever wrote the survey didn’t anticipate that overcrowding and elk rut disturbance in the first season would become a top issue, as it quickly has. The simultaneously funny and tragic aspect of human nature revealed in this process is our amazing self-servingness and lack of big-picture altruism. Most rifle hunters will push for total limiting of archery tags, which they correctly perceive (at this level of disturbance) as chasing elk onto private land and cutting down on their changes in the later rifle seasons. Most bowhunters, myself included, want muzzle-loader out of archery season because it’s so damn disruptive and instantly stops all bugling and you can see the elk herding up and heading for the far horizon. Yet archers aren’t at all willing to give up anything, nor is anyone else. I work really hard to think not about “my fair share of season opportunities,” but about impacts on wildlife. If you’ve seen problems in the Sept. season–ATVs, too much bugling, muzzle-loading disruption, overcrowding, whatever–find a place on the survey form to tell CPW about it. It’s now, or wait another five years. Here’s the link:
http://wildlife.state.co.us/Hunting/BigGame/SeasonStructure/Pages/BGS.htm
If it doesn’t work directly as a hot link (I get a message that it can’t be found), cut and paste it into the google search bar. I have been told that trad bowhunters are such a tiny minority, with equally tiny political clout, that we don’t have a chance of placing the blame for overcrowding and rut disruption where it belongs–with the high-tech mobs. If elk permits go limited we all will suffer equally (though frankly not that much). But I’m darned sure going to tell them what I’ve seen out there in recent years so at least we’re not a silent minority. BHA has also sent out a survey to CO members specifically asking for opinions on the Sept. seasons. This is simply so we’ll know where our members stand on these issues, since BHA will not be wading in on season structures as a group, since we have members from all weapons types and peace in the family is more important.
in reply to: Check out the two Voodoo Kustom elk longbows #38237How do they shoot? I’d be interested to know how the bowyer deal with the inherent weakness of antler under stress. The bolt holes for the limb bolts are likely drilled oversize and reinforced with resin, my guess. But without inserting, say, a steel rod lengthwise through the antler I’d fear it would break under stress. Or maybe it’s core-filled, and/or has a thick external coating of epoxy? Just curious. Functional art, for sure. How’s their weight compared to a standard bow with about the same build? Want to swap one of them for some nice elk ivories? 😛
in reply to: The 1/2 Beam Bull #38151That boy needs more calcium in his diet! Reminds me that it’s almost shed-hunting time here. Trouble is all the bulls, save one little 4×4 this winter, spend the winters on lower private land. Still, the second-biggest pair of elk antlers I have on the cabin walls were drops I found here … 20 or more years ago and only after three springs of searching. But anything that gets us outdoors and walking uphill is good medicine … like chasing half-beam bulls. Maybe you’ll pick ’em up later.
in reply to: I gotta plan! #38142Requirement number one is to be careful not to wreck your back hauling it into the woods.
Requirement NUMBER TWO is to be double-sure to place it downwind of the deer trail. 😛
in reply to: A club for those of us without any back country #36913Great thread! And welcome to the new voices here. Hammer–you spoke of technology threatening traditional “primitive weapons” seasons, which I too have warned about for years in response to the kind-hearted folks who say “It’s a personal choice what weapon we carry.” Alas, right this minute here in CO–and this will affect anyone in the world who ever wants to come hunt elk in CO–we are undergoing the five-year big game season planning process, which will set the regs for the next five years. Things have gotten so overcrowded in the Sept. elk season–archery is 28 days overlain by 9 days of muzzle-loader, and way too many of them all riding around on ATVs and blowing on bugles as if that were their only means of taking a breath. Compounds have lowered the gates of skill and dedication so greatly that huge numbers of folks who previously would have only used rifle, now are enjoying the benefits of the archery season, while taking crazy long shots and generally messing everything up. Same story for the muzzies. So now the pressure on elk in Sept. is so tremendous that the animals are abandoning public lands in many units on the opening day of archery–plenty of research backing this plus what we hunters are seeing for ourselves. Off the elk go to private lands where no one can hunt them. Rifle hunters, who come later, are raising caine and no wonder. While it’s clear what is driving the elk out–ATVs and endless awful bugling–it’s politically impossible for CPW to fix what’s broken so expect to see limited arche3ry elk tags henceforth in the best elk units in the state. It’s too late here, Hammer. No one ever listens until it’s too late, because no one ever wants to give up anything. So we all lose. What we need is more hunters? Give me a break …
Grumpy … yessir, hooray for old hippies! And two horray’s for TU. They are definitely our allies. And someone mentioned hunting on Nature Conservancy property … while the average hunter and hunter’s group today, just by having the word “Nature” in their name, would call that outfit enviros, greens, thus antis. We have become an insufferably stupid species, and all the more dangerous because one type of intelligence, cleverness, has so vastly outrun the other type of intelligence, wisdom. Time for a beer, Sunday or not.
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