Forum Replies Created
-
AuthorPosts
-
in reply to: Twisted one up #35694
Way cool! Whether plant fiber or sinew, the fibers are too short and many must be twisted together to make a bow-length string. I’ve long wondered how “they” (that is, “we” way back when) did that–got all those short pieces of fiber twisted together in a way that won’t pull apart under the tremendous stress of drawing and releasing the bow. Any light you could shed on this, tail, would be appreciated.
in reply to: String maker suggestions #35617Cameron, a big thumbs-up. By the way, do you know the history of the name of your town, Clovis? Safe to assume someone found a Clovis site there? If so, how far from the ocean? Just curious as exploring the Clovis mystery (and first Americans in general) is among my hobbies.
in reply to: Out of Place Critters #35405Aside from my Bigbutt sighting … one July several years ago my wife, a friend (old hunting buddy Erica) and I were having dinner when I noticed movement outside in the thick-leafed aspen sapling grove. It was a young bull moose. He walked right up to the wall of windows and stared in at us, then walked off into the woods and was gone. Thing is, moose are not native to CO. But we have great habitat and reintroductions have done well. The closest release site was on the far side of the Continental Divide, more than 100 very steep and rugged miles away. Nothing travels like a young male moose. I snapped lots of pics through the windows, but this was pre-digital days (at least for me) and turns out the camera had no film.
Oh, and it’s a saw-whet owl, named for the “chalk on a blackboard” chirp a file makes being drawn across a saw blade in sharpening. You’re lucky to have seen one. We have lots of them here and rarely seen but often enjoyed at night.
in reply to: Wolves and Rivers Video #35282Another vote here for Steve’s “a part of nature, rather than apart from nature” outlook. My wife and friends and I were quite fortunate to bear eyewitness to the changes in Lamar Valley with the wolf re-intro. For years we’d gone there during elk calf birthing time to watch grizzlies hunt elk calves. It was easy pickings as the elk ganged in massive herds along the river there for the occasion. Somehow the bear pressure was never enough to break up the party. Coyotes had multiplied many times the norm in the absence of their primary enemy the wolf. And coyotes are really ugly and inefficient killers of big game. And they also hold down the population of small game and ground-nesting birds. When the wolves arrived the first thing they did was to clean out the coyotes, not eating them but just eliminating them with a territorial vengeance, rather as we did to the wolves there back in the 1920s. One morning we watched a pack of wolves attack a coyote den with pups, first killing the adults then dragging the pups out and killing them, usually by biting their heads. At one point a grizzly showed up, sat down and watched for a while, seemed to shake its head then walked away. By the next spring the grizzly watching was over as the wolves had scattered the big herds and forced the former couch-potato spoiled lazy elk to relearn the skill of hiding their infants and it took a lot of walking to find one. I don’t like how we, humans, handled the reintro, with every wolves and surviving coyote wearing a radio collar, like house-arrest prisoners with electronic ankle bracelets. But with amazing speed the Lamar Valley riparian corridor began to regenerate as did the small wildlife and bird populations. From an ecological pov view there is simply no argument that in a “natural” setting where humans can’t play the apex predator role, namely national parks, returning the system to balance means just that … balance, including all the machine’s original wheels and gears. Certainly there are political and social issues that come into play outside the park. But inside the park I’m an eye-witness to the fast turn-around of a badly drooping, overgrazed ecosystem filled with half-time petting-zoo elk. The wolves put the wild back in nature in that special place and I was blessed to watch it all play out.
in reply to: String maker suggestions #34400Rich,
Indeed, older glass bows are the most likely to suffer tip damage from FF shock. In my experience it doesn’t seem to hurt wood bows at all. Logically, older (unreinforced limb tips)longbows, which have little or not string slap on the limbs will handle FF better than older recurves, which have serious string contact. Someone here posted about reinforcing the tips of older bows to accept FF, which seems logical and easy enough to me. I have used SBD FF on a 1968 Bear KM with no problems at all.
in reply to: A club for those of us without any back country #34388What the Hammer said!
in reply to: String maker suggestions #34319They might do a B50 for you, but I much prefer their fast flight: SBD Silent But Deadly. I now have them on all my bows including an Osage selfbow. 2-3 fps faster than B50 plus all the right stuff you want in a string. I left B50 after getting tired of re-tuning due to endless stretching.
in reply to: What's in your daypack? #34311Jim, assuming that’s you in the photo … did you catch a bullet in your teeth?
in reply to: New ideas from old sources for BHA? #33161Jim — You obviously have too much time on your hands and insufficient good reading. 😛
Tradhunter– in the case of illegal ATVs, not “fines” but “drawn and quartered on the spot.” 😈 I’ve tried it but unfortunately the resulting mess is so tainted with gasoline fumes it doesn’t even make good bear bait.
in reply to: A different kind of pay-to-play hunting #31819Twitch — good going! It’s easy to stand aside and criticize the choices of others, but double-damn hard to tell them to their faces, esp. when they’re friends. And that’s exactly what the world needs more of. And FYI, what these guys are short of is NOT money. Dan Paey, the founder, is a copper mining executive from UT worth many millions. See Roosevelt quote below. Better yet, as quoted in the Anchorage Daily Times, Paey refers to the NA Model of democratic access hunting and public ownership of wildlife as “socialism.” I just love the way these guys try to reframe everything in their favor with branding. If the NA Model is socialism, then so is American democracy socialism. My turn to brand: These swine are traitors who would, if they could, convert our democracy to an oligarchy of the rich. Flashback to the Sagebrush Rebellion: they too wanted to turn all public lands over to private interests who could then charge admission to what is already ours. In AK, SCI has teamed with SFW to try and declare all wildlife on Native American lands as belong to the natives, who will then set up a rich man’s playground that excludes you and me. As we speak, this moment, Mark Richards of AK BHA is testifying at game commission meetings, pretty much a voice alone, against this European royalty-by-money insanity. Thanks for speaking out. So many hunters are so easily duped into working against themselves via lack of skepticism and homework.
in reply to: I gotta plan! #31815Perfect hunting chair for old farts!
in reply to: Chain saw in a can #30993Works great for garroting your enemies, though if they’re wearing a turtle-neck it sort of gums up the teeth. 😈
in reply to: What's in your daypack? #30988You wouldn’t want to know, because it’s probably illegal in your state. 😆
in reply to: How to add point weight on arrow with outserts? #30903Alex, though this may sound smart-alexy, it’s actually a straight answer: Just go to a heavier head. It’s better than internal or external shaft weights because the further forward the weight the better for FOC, and also because heavier heads, like the Tuffhead 300 I use, use thicker steel which not only makes for an overall stronger head but also, with single-bevel, the extra blade thickness allows for a wider bevel shelf which in turn enhances torque.
in reply to: What's in your daypack? #27763Man, youse guys must do some serious backcountry adventure hunting to pack all this stuff “just in case.” My motto for life has been “go as light as possible” and it sure applies to hunting. Reliable fire starter (bic and waterproof stick matches), rain gear even when the sky is clear (I’ve been to hypothermia-ville and don’t wish to return), two headlamps and a very basic and tiny first aid kit is it for me … plus about 20 pounds of game-handling gear, extra clothing and all the other stuff you have to have not just in case but guaranteed. If someday they find me out there dead, well, at this point I the game it sure beats dementia (no comments, please). 😆
-
AuthorPosts
