[David Petersen]

in reply to: The Trad Knife Thread #17124

Guess it’s time I chime in. While I can’t compete with those of you who are obviously collectors, a guy does acquire a lot of tools over a lifetime and here are my primary hunters, starting at noon and circling clockwise:

Shrade Sharpfinger with elk antler handle from my first elk, 1981. It’s the oldest and I rank it #3 as an all-round field dressing and hunting/camping blade. The sheath was made for me by a Zuni Pueblo Indian with mountain lion claw.

Helle Fire — this is my “thousand dollar knife” (got it with a life membership to BHA). It ranks #1, easily best hunting knife I’ve ever owned.

Shrade Sharpfinger with original handle. #3. I haven’t used it in years but took apart several elk with it years ago. Don’t know why I still have it.

Armguard backup knife, Farr West Leathers. Not yet field tested.

Helle blade with deer antler handle. Backup, not yet field tested.

Alaskan native made with leaf spring steel from WWII Jeep and fossilized extinct sea cow rib handle. #2 favorite.

Helle blade with Osage orange handle. Backup, used to field dress a bull elk when I forgot to bring my Helle. Worked great but my hand was sore for days from the small handle.

Swiss Army knife. Not pictured. Always with me, whether hunting or dining out or giving a public talk. (I do take if off when I shower.) Used once to take a whitetail apart when I forgot my Helle. Worked just OK but easily the best knife I own for opening wine and beer bottles.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Feral cats #17108

I would be interested to know the “unnatural history” of these feral giants, which the brief article doesn’t get into–what cat species they descended from (obviously brought originally by Europeans) and how is it that they have evolved in a short time to be so much bigger than their domestic antecedents. Clearly, grocery shopping for them has been good.

In the case of feral predators, my ethical rule of “If I don’t want to eat it, I won’t kill it,” goes out the window. Feral cats are monsters to be destroyed by any possible means and everywhere they occur. Wild cats are relatively easy to trap (I have heard)so you’d think that would work well with these mutants also. Trap and kill.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: "The Good Hunt" film trailer #13800

Todd — I’m right-eyed and ambidextrous … or as my wife would have it, “ambi-dumbstrous; he can’t do anything with either hand.” I can’t even imagine drawing a bow left-handed, but no problem fly casting with either hand … equally poor form left or right. In this scene it was a really long cast (for me) into a nice pool below a sheer cliff on the right, and the fish tend to hang right up against the rock … thus, it was easier to get in there with a lefty cast. Just as well nothing in that pool wanted my streamer as I’d have had a hell of a time landing the fish through all those rocks and shallows, and without waders. But the scenery was pretty and the light was right and Christoph wanted to shoot there as a lead-in to a talking-head scene about conservation. Show biz. At least I didn’t fall in.

Otherwise–what exactly did JJ sound like? Indeed, when younger I would probably have sounded more like that guy in the movie, before I lost my Okie accent. I’d much rather sound like Bear Claw Chris Lapp, the real star of the show. That other fella was just a straight man.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: video recommendations #13736

Primal Dreams and Essential Encounters (PD2), by the Twins and the Brothers. For anyone trying to make a dignified trad bowhunting video, these two are a mark to shoot for. Not perfect, but nothing is perfect for everyone. Amazing photography, minimal blood, and front man Mike Mitten is one tough SOB, whether in an IL tree stand or solo in grizzly country.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: tuning ? #12738

Steve — Beautifully explained, thank you.

Ralph — That being the case, the insides of those shoot-through slots in the wall should be heavily pecked by arrows that didn’t, in the excitement of an attack, make it through. That would be an interesting bit of history to personally observe and not likely anyone else would know what it was.

Are you doing sit-ups yet? 😛

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Bod-Kin Broadheads #12306

Justin — I’m no broadhead historian, but do have some personal experience with Bodkins. I think the similar head you refer to is the M3 (MA3? ME3?). The Bodkin is convex and the M3 straight, if I recollect. They were massive, heavy heads for their heyday but popular due to ease of sharpening–very soft steel by today’s standards. I kill my first deer with one, from a 43# recurve. It was a small doe and a good hit and it did the job. Fast forward several decades and a few years ago I got the inexplicable brainstorm to use one on a Coues hunt, simply because I had it in the drawer and I wanted to revisit 3-blades (hadn’t used them since forever) and figured the Coues was so tiny, etc. End result was lousy penetration with a center chest shot, two days of tracking and the coyotes got the meat before I did. There were other problems with that shot, including primarily that for whatever reasons I don’t think I got to full draw. So, based on my experience I would say you are right to use them only for smaller game. I know there have been one or two who have posted here in the past who love them, but I personally rank the Bodkin as the least effective fixed-blade broadhead I know of. Harder steel would help a lot. One man’s opinion …

[David Petersen]

in reply to: question about elk hunting and maps #12299

Absence of roads or motorized ATV trails.

Water, esp. remote sources like springs.

Timbered benches and avalanche chutes.

Aspens (where they occur)

“Common knowledge” is that north slopes are better–cooler, more moisture, richer forage, denser cover–which is mostly but not entirely true depending on local specifics.

Absence of clear-cuts

I also try to avoid areas where livestock is grazing, but a map doesn’t help much there.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Solo River Trip #11325

Damn your hide! 😆 We don’t have enough water out here to float a tea cup.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: tuning ? #11157

I second Steve on the likelihood of form, esp. release issues. I sometimes wonder if it would be helpful to use a trigger release for bare shaft testing. Has anyone here tried that? I just ordered a dozen shafts in three spines and am looking at some bare shaft tuning myself.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: best fletching jig? #10455

“At some point technology becomes not an aid, but a substitute for sportsmanship.” –Aldo Leopold

Bruce, I love your Aldo quote. Here’s a parallel from another of our wisest:

[David Petersen]

in reply to: How to add an arrow shelf/rest on a Longbow? #9254

Lots of things to consider here. First, if you handle is thick enough you can use a round file to cut a groove to help hold the arrow in place and for arrow clearance. Then just something to hold the arrow from below, as Ralph suggests. You can easily carve a little shelf and glue it on below the handle notch, or drill a small shallow hole not too deep into the handle and glue in a peg for an arrow shelf. Thing about just a shelf with no handle groove for the arrow is that you’re pretty much required to cant the bow to keep the arrow from falling off. Even when using your finger for a shelf as per traditional longbow shooting style, there’s enough friction there that you can shoot with the bow vertical and not lose the arrow. Not so with a shelf. I never shoot better with a Hill style longbow than when shooting off a finger, or “the knuckles” as we say. What does help is to have some sort of a reference to help you get your hand in exactly the same location every time.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Speaking of bears… #9247

Tailfeather– This, unfortunately, happens here several times a day–I’m talking trapping and moving or killing “garbage” bears by the hundreds each year. Worst time is Aug. and Sept. Last year was the worst ever. Our problem is more and more people moving into and building in prime bear habitat, which is the mid-elevation oak-brush zone–trophy vacation houses for the filthy rich and subdivisions for the rest of us–and the sad truth that most of these newcomers, along with too many old timers, know or care nothing about the fact that, like the DPW bumper stickers say, garbage kills bears. It’s a hell of a battle here with a good local volunteer organization trying to educate the public about keeping their trash, pet and livestock food out of reach of bears, but most are so proud in their ignorance they refuse to cooperate. We now have laws about not putting out trash until 6 ayem the morning of pickup, but like too many “laws” they have no teeth and are widely flaunted. You’d think people would tired of having to pick up their garbage that’s been scattered everywhere by bears. A natural food failure, common here from late frosts and drought, of course greatly exacerbates the problems. Once a mother bear becomes addicted, which will be the first time she tastes human food, she teaches her cubs to do the same so it goes generational. Just another human wildlife conflict and I hope it never gets this bad where you work. All my game warden friends hate their jobs due to the requirement to kill so many bears when they know it’s peoples’ fault. Most hunters like to complain that the problem is due to not being able to bait and hound. In fact, study after study have shown the logical truth that the bear you kill back up on the mountain has no impact on the suburban and townie bear pops. And every bear that is baited and escapes being killed is then a garbage bear the rest of its days. If there’s nothing for a bear to eat in a yard or neighborhood, it will go elsewhere as it has no time to waste mucking about where no calories are to be had. I went the first half of my life dreaming about seeing a bear in the wild (outside Yellowstone) and now really enjoy having them around. I wish your prisoner best luck. We’ve had garbage-addicted bears here return from more than a hundred miles away. Now they’re running out of places to release them, so most just get shot.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: of wolves and elk – no debate please #7753

Cool stuff, Clay. What surprises me is that these are little bulls. Back in the years we spent the first couple weeks of June every years in Yellowstone, Lamar Valley where the elk used to gang up during calving season (before the wolves taught them how to be wild again), we repeatedly saw cow elk chasing coyotes. The norm was a cow-mother and “auntie” younger cow, obviously the previous year’s calf, would stand guard together over a hiding calf, taking turns in standing guard so the other could go drink and feed. But if a coyote got too close, they would both go after it … really something to see! Good to have you out there as our eyes, since we don’t get up there much any more and when we do, mostly we sit on the porch of the Roosevelt Lodge with drink and binoculars, playing tourist.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Grizzly hunt! #63578

Ahh, heck, Bill– this is just the sort of potentially very emotional and personal topic that I don’t think any hunting website but this one can handle without folks with different views getting nasty. (Thanks again, WebMom! And please delete me asap if I’m unintentionally bending things a wrong direction.) So thanks for posting it … I think. 😯

To your first question, as first responder to the thread, my personal answer is no. Regarding the rest, in sum, I feel the same as you do. Yet I’m wide open to hearing the whys behind how others feel, who feel differently. I’ve just spent too much time admiring grizzlies–both while feeling safe in broad daylight, bear spray in hand, and scared sleepless at night in a tent where spray is useless–to have any interest in killing one. I just see too much in them that reflects the very best in us. I don’t need or want the meat and personally speaking, would feel more shame than pride in killing a grizz; not a thing I’d ever brag about or seek out. I have a friend in deep bush AK who has been for more than 30 years totally completely subsistence. They live on fish in summer and moose in winter, with a bit of rice, beans and breads. Consequently he wiped out the entire black bear population along his stretch of remote river years ago. Same with hares and grouse. If, every few years, a black bear shows up, he kills it without thought and his family delight in the meat and prime baking grease. Yet he refuses to kill a grizzly, citing “personal” reasons. I think all of this arena of reflecting on why we do what we do, is based somehow in how we view our relationship to the animals we hunt, thus how we see the life experience itself.

As a side point and potential non sequitur to this discussion, a majority of “grizzlies” killed by sport hunters in AK technically are coast browns, who, due to the abundance of salmon and other foods, are far less aggressive and dangerous, thus considerably less a thrilling challenge. So to be precise, we’d almost need to break your questions down to those two varieties.

I don’t mean to put anyone who dreams of hunting grizzlies, or anyone who does or has, on the defensive. I’m just stating how I feel about it, as per your fair questions. I look forward to hearing thoughtful opposing opinions. “Thoughtful” is the key in all such discussions.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Colorado Traditional Bow Raffle #63474

Thanks for this info, Steve. I’m surprised I haven’t seen this notice in one of CO BHA’s weekly member updates. I’ll be sure they are aware of it and get the word out to all state members. I wasn’t able to track down any more info on the gifting bowyer, Daniel Becker. If he has a website that you can point us to, that would help. What a generous thing for him to do!

Also, I’m sure lots of folks here would be curious to know if you can sign up with BHA and get in the draw for this bow without being at the shoot? Or is this strictly for shoot attendees?

I’ve been to that shoot only once, and it was hot and buggy and if you didn’t get there early, hard to find a place to pitch your tent within easy walking distance of the action. That said, there was nothing else negative about it. It was amazing fun! I’m not sure a person could manage to shoot all the roving 3d courses and get into all the events in the time available … it’s that big a shoot. And my gosh, the location! You’re walking on elk droppings all the time in this pristine aspen forest and elk meadow area. At that time, several years ago, there weren’t enough vendors to keep you busy for long … it’s not about selling but all about shooting and a family event. I got stuck on the 70-yard and longer targets, though the gigantic launch of hundreds of flight arrows, a la Crece, is an experience every archer should enjoy at some point in his/her career.

Gee, I’m about to talk myself into going again this year, though gas prices are obscenely high. Maybe I could hitch-hike. Thanks again, Dave

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