[David Petersen]

in reply to: Kanati by JK Traditions #15227

Bruce, and we own HOW many bows now?

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Merry Xmass to all #15222

Steve– Once again, it’s good to have you back among us. I hope you and yours all are well and happy. Dave P.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: A different kind of pay-to-play hunting #13883

Bernie– Don’t just watch and listen and hope for the best … start writing letters to the key pols, and to newspapers. When they vote right, publicly congratulate them. When they lie etc., publicly call them to task. Democracy cannot exist without accountability. And only a free press can provide that accountability. Don’t rely on the professional newscasters to do it, as they are often part of the problem.

So far as beating the lying bahstahds, it’s not difficult these days, with google, to get the voting records of your pols on any topic. Go back through their years in office and see how they’ve voted on issues related to hunting, wildlife habitat protections, etc., and trust in that. In the end it’s up to us to save hunting in meaningful forms. Ain’t nobody else going to do it for us.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Historic Examples of D/R Longbows #13743

Yep that’s a great little video. Best part is how he explains that while the materials have changed–in this example, fiberglass replaces water buffalo horn and epoxy replaces fish bladder glue and sinew, the physical principles are the same and thus modern glass-backed recurves and lonbows indeed are traditional insfar as the designs are ancient.

I like this guy in everything I’ve seen him in. He’s consistently a participatory historian–doesn’t just describe history but reenacts it. He’s a good horse archer, in particular.

The Sioux bow in the museum is short and just what we’d expect for a horse bow. But if those arrows go with that bow, why are they so very long, especially considering how much more difficult it would have been to find longer straight arrow wood and get and keep it straight. Makes me wonder if a working concept of FOC was at play even then?

[David Petersen]

in reply to: A different kind of pay-to-play hunting #13727

Berniebac, you and your views are quite welcome here. I just wish your screen name were easier to spell. 😛

There are two basic points of great import that you and Bruce and Ralph bring up here:

First is the constant push push push by people with too much money and insufficient humanity to take hunting out of the democratic realm and turn it in their favor, as they are doing with the rest of life, aka the European model, which is an ugly model indeed. Nothing personal toward any residents of these places, but by way of examples the outstanding examples in N. America heading down this dark trail are Texas down here and Alberta up there. This is why we must defend every little piece of the N. American Model for Wildlife Conservation, currently under strongest attack from the lie-named Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife (with whom RMEF has joined in their wolf pogrom).

The other important point, essential to maintain a workable NA Model, is protection of publicly owned wildlife habitat.

Given these threats it is my firm opinion that any sportsmen and women today, anywhere in N.A., who simply enjoy the resources we still have in many places and not only don’t contribute to the defense of public lands and the NA Model, but far worse, who vote for politicians* who are known to work for the industrialization and privatization of public wildlife habitat, these folks, from our own ranks, due to their ostrich head-in-sand view of life, are bigger threats to the future of democratic hunting in N.A. then are the antis. As another member here has stated, “May their children inherit their dreams!”

*Given this site’s wise prohibition against political, religious and other high-voltage discussions, this is as far as we can or need to take the political angle here–just to point out that how we vote directly, as time ticks forward, affects the future of the NA Model and democratic hunting in America(s). If not fur us old farts, certainly for our kids and grandkids, yours as well as mine.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Tuffhead testing #9083

Joe said to Ed: “it might not hurt you to get out of the cabin more often.”

I don’t think so. That Christmas photo is IN his cabin! 😛

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Tuffhead testing #8413

Ozzy James — And many Alaskans dream of OZ.

Titanium inserts–I have some but haven’t yet tried them–that is tried to bend them. That will have to wait for the snow to melt next spring. Given the laws of metallurgy, with a titanium insert and heavy steel head like the Tuffhead, it seems obvious that the shaft end is now the weak point. I’ll be way beyond surprised if it’s otherwise. Since Jim is already trying to destroy Tuffheads with happily no success so far, perhaps he could include the titanium inserts and destroy his shafts so we don’t have to. 😛

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Co -Editors Note #61461

Yep. In recent years the editorials from Don, and TJ too, have really been hitting some important nails smack on the head, even when they’re controversial, which makes the hammering all the more important. They also allow other contributors to speak their minds, largely or wholly uncensored in the magazine, which is unheard of in the commercial outdoor media otherwise. If a few readers or even advertisers take umbrage at hearing the hard truth, so be it. And while he’s a relatively rare contributor to the magazine(too much so, as he’s a good writer), Larry sits on the national board of BHA, even as the magazine has been a long-time major supporter of that one best hope for hunting’s future. And then there’s our beloved web Mom, Robin, who brings those same high standards and open mind to this unique forum. For these reasons and more, TBM has my highest respect and is in a class by itself–even as it reflects very well on the entire trad bowhunting community in contrast to the rest of the hunting world, advertisers as well as readers, who continue to support the fact that democracy and personal dignity, in hunting as elsewhere, require accountability. Keep it up, friends.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: "Looking for Lagomorphs" trailer #58919

That’s creative, Charles–from the bunny’s pov. But why didn’t the camera run away when you shot? 😆

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Cougars, livestock and hunting #58760

Some years ago we were at Yellowstone watching a grizzly eat an elk it had killed. After gorging itself for a few hours the bear took a nap on top the substantial remains. A coyote came in at a run, grabbed a huge chunk of meat almost from beneath the sleep bear and ran off with it. The bear raised its groggy head and watched the coyote go, too full-bellied and content to give chase.

Along this line, a Yellowstone grizzly bio whose name most here would know, once told me about seeing the “top predator” hierarchy revolve according to hunger. When a grizzly is hungry, it can take meat away from a whole pack of wolves. On the other hand he’d seen a bunch of coyotes run a grizzly off a carcass after it had fed. And so on with lion, wolves, bears and coyotes … the hungry fight more ferociously than the sated.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Why the increase in hunters? Study results #58152

Clay, I’ve known and at times worked with Dudda for nearly two decades (he contributed a good bit of info for “Heartsblood.” When I worked for TU we hired him to do a survey on hunter and angler attitudes toward ATVs (most rightly hate them and can say why), so I know him well enough to respect the thoroughness and honesty of his work. Yet I never fully trust statistics and especially mistrust stats based on questionnaires, since most such (the worst are political polls) are designed to elicit the answers the pollsters want. Even when they’re not biased and when they’re designed to be as fair and revealing as possible, as in Duda’s organization, most surveys still limit respondents to answering questions presented in gross terms, mostly yes or no, giving no opportunity for folks to explain and express the fine points of why they answer as they do. And too, esp. when it comes to hunters, there’s a strong tendency to answer questions the way we want the world, and ourselves, to think we feel, rather than how we actually feel. And finally, an alarming number of adults don’t have a clue about who they are, what they stand for or why. For example, the previous Duda report I posted here showed that of those hunters surveyed, fewer than 1% claimed to hunt primarily for trophies, while the majority claimed to hunt for meat. If that’s the case, then why are almost all commercial hunting magazines focused heavily on trophies? Same for the Outhouse channesl and most videos. Where are all the meat-related articles the alleged majority of meat hunters should be demanding? In that case at least, it seems clear that the horn porn rags and their advertisers know what most hunters really want, better than the hunters themselves know, or are willing to admit. And so on. Still, it’s nice to see good news about anything these days, even if we have to fool ourselves to get it. Maybe?

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Backcountry College – Navigation II #56930

Thanks for an excellent review of the basics that will never change.

Any chance of taking the skill set back all the way, to no map or compass and survival “lost proofing.” That is, determining direction by celestial clues day and night, then once oriented to north, using terrain features to reach major valleys where the roads etc. will be. That stuff is beyond me, though I knew it once, so long ago.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: On TeeVee hunting heroes #55883

Grumpy — Got library?

[David Petersen]

in reply to: The blunt truth, or: The more things change, the more they stay the same #55778

Thanks, Charles, that’s cool. I’ve done a bit of poking around on google re the Holmegaard bows myself and not seen these before.

On that topic, does anyone know of anyone who makes replica Holmgaard bows, preferably of elm as were the originals, no glass, for sale? And/or, does anyone know of any plans or directions for making one? When the weather warms so I can work outside (no workshop) I’m about ready to return to bow building and that would be a great project, since one of my distant Danish ancestors may have made the original bows 8 millennia ago. 😀

[David Petersen]

in reply to: On TeeVee hunting heroes #54810

Jody– When my wife and I were younger, “what to do” when rained or snowed-in (we don’t get ice storms here in the southern Rockies), power often out for days, was a no-brainer! Nowadays 😥 it takes more imagination, but sleep is high on the list. Along with making arrows, sharpening everything steel, reading, and of course smoking and drinking to facilitate all that sleeping. Haven’t gotten desperate enough yet to watch any TV hunting heroes (touching bases with the alleged topic). Not having (or wanting) TV reception helps. But we do get Netflix via Roku and there’s an entire Bowhunting Channel. Never looked at it and never will.

[Author]

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