[David Petersen]

in reply to: Is Ash OK ? #29437

I had ash arrows once, years ago, and had precisely the problems Troy speaks of. Ash was the favored bow wood for the Lakota, but they didn’t use it for arrows. Got enough for a bow stave? 😆

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Glove vs. tab #29430

Bruce (Smithhammer) — Well there IS one thing I have absolutely “figured out” in live … and that is that we can never absolutely figure anything out. Thus the only logical stance is to be a skeptic with an open mind to trying new things and new ideas. Up to a point, of course. 😆 Trying a tab again seems safe enough.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: American Leathers #29294

Alex — Have you tried soaking the fingers of the glove in water and letting them dry? Depending on the thickness and type of leather it can shrink quite a bit. I’ve always had to do this with my gloves at least once a year.

Speaking of which, you and David both mention Duraglove. So far my entire shopping list for Kzoo this weekend is leather: cheap basic armguard, tab, and glove. I absolutely will not spend $60 on a short-lived item like a shooting glove. What do you, and anyone else who reads this, recommend for an economy priced good glove? I’ve been real happy with most nylon finger reinforcements, but not happy at all with Skookum, which wears out faster than teenage love. Of course it will have to be one of the vendors who is there. Thanks

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Glove vs. tab #29291

When I was young and shot tournaments I did better with a tab. But I’ve always hunted with a glove and always will … for the same reason we like stickbows–simplicity and nothing to drop in the dirt and lose. But your report, Bruce, prompts me to pick up a tab at Kzoo this weekend and give it a try for tuning arrows. I have never doubted that tabs give a cleaner release, because they’re stiffer, at least the ones I’ve used (it’s been many years). But I prefer the always-ready, go-to certainty of a glove for hunting. We shall see.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Ron La Clair #28486

Scout, why the “Big”? I’m an increasingly scrawny old fellow.

Havelock Ellis is a long dead Limey who’s primary life’s work proves way less than interesting to most folks including me, being a physician and psychologist who studied sexual deviancy. But he was wise and had a cleverly humorous side and left us with some right-on quotes. See http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Havelock_Ellis/

[David Petersen]

in reply to: deadhead #28424

Charlie — I don’t doubt at all that this head has brought down mucho big game. And as a piece of archery history and an eye-grabbing handsome tool, it’s way cool. But IMHO, I wouldn’t launch a head that size and shape at anything bigger than a turkey (in fact it looks like a great turkey head), unless it was mounted on a two-pound spear … precisely because it seriously complicates your third S — sufficient energy for full penetration, esp. for the majority of trad bowhunters today, who are shooting lighter and lighter bows compared to the old days when that broadhead was new. IMHO IMHO IMHO 😀

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Ron La Clair #28418

Brennan– That’s all I ever really wanted in life (aside from sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll, and endless hunting time) — to be funny. Tragically, I married a woman minus a subtle sense of humor. 😆

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Ron La Clair #28352

Ray — Yep, Brennan nailed it. Ron is still selling all his other stuff besides Shrew bows and will have a booth at Kzoo.

Gregg decided it was time to build bows under his own name, after years of doing it for Ron. The Elkheart is the closest to the previous Shrew line, being a subtle upgrade from the popular Classic Hunter, which is the shorter version of the SuperShrew. That’s the one I suggest you give a good look at. Gregg can tell you which among his other bows are closest to various Shrews. He’ll be at Kzoo with nearly 20 new JMA bows if you can make it there.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Trail cams #26193

I have a Covert, a few years old and cost only about a hundred new. It has been flawless and takes shots up to about 2mb. It’s small compared to most, camo rather than black, totally water and weatherproof, uses infrared flash, and best of all I can leave it out and take hundreds of pics all summer, flash and daylight, on one set of 8 AA batteries and they still have plenty of juice left to run a flashlight, etc. I’ve not seen another I like as much, but then I’m hardly a camera expert and it’s hardly top-end. But it might be worth checking out the newer models when you’re shopping. I bought my online directly from the manufacturer. I strongly advise you to avoid the really big ones I’m seeing lately, unless you’ll be carrying it no farther than your extended backyard. There’s no point in posting sample photos here since they have to be compressed so much you can’t tell anything about quality. Enjoy the search.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Juniper Self Bow #26186

Dave Sigurslid, an experienced self-bowyer, once made a juniper bow, using Utah juniper. As I recall it was fairly short (Dave is 6 feet but has a very short draw, around 26″, and is a snap shooter), looked great and shot OK for a while though it was slow. It also took a serious set and eventually broke. Assuming a closeness of UT and MT junipers in characteristics, and given your badly twisted stave, I don’t think you have a lot to look forward to unless you plan to back the bow, and even then it will likely be slow. But juniper sure smells sweet in the wood stove!

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Coues Deer Hunting? #24845

Thanks, guys. Will do. And good luck down there next year.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Minimum poundage to harvest whitetail #24084

Ahh, regarding my dear friend and elk-hunting buddy Alex Bugnon, aka “the human ATV” … he’s not exaggerating. Like most middle-aged folks today, especially those whose professions keep them on the road much of the time, Alex has to constantly fight “bulking up.” And is he ever serious about it! Last summer my wife and I drove over the Divide to the Copper Mtn. Jazz and Wine Festival to see Alex perform. As always in such cases we shared a hotel room, and no matter our previous night’s over-indulgence in rich food and drink, he was up and gone at daylight, in a cold rain. When I looked out the window and up the ski slope, using binoculars, there he was near the top. He would run fast as he could a ways along the very steep hiking trail below the chair-lift line, then duck off-trail to pick up a watermelon sized rock and toss it far as he could, then resume his run, then another rock toss. Just watching, it made me so tired I had to crawl back into bed with my warm snoring wifey. 😛 Consequently, when he comes from his Harlem home to CO to hunt elk, the altitude change means next to nothing to him. While few of us can meet that high standard, he’s nonetheless one heck of a good example to us. And he’s real darn handy when there’s an elk to pack down the mountain. A pack frame can’t hold enough for this guy, so he usually adds a Santa bag. If you plan a moose or musk oz or bison hunt, I advise you to pay this guy’s way to come along! 😀

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Coues Deer Hunting? #24072

Good comments and question, Etter. All I know about the attractiveness of bait to Coues whitetails in AZ is what I’ve seen, over and over again … an almost endless parade of deer and javalinas coming to bait at all hours of the day (and no doubt night). It’s as if they’re mesmerized. This normally hyper-spooky species suddenly becomes sloppy when alfalfa or molassas appear. So far as your implied comparison of water “tanks” (back in Okie we called them “cow ponds”), and no matter my strong opinion that bowhunting should be as pure and natural as possible, it’s not so much a matter of ethics as it is fair access. The typical AZ bait is very near to water and accompanied by one or more treestands and one or more game cams. Every single deer that has come in while I’ve been at such places, and I’m talking almost endless parades, has gone straight to the bait. Now, some hunters might say “great, I can sit in my treestand or ground blind on the opposite side of this little pond and kill deer that come in to bait when the baiter isn’t there … and increase my chance to kill a good buck without actually baiting.” Well, OK. But neither I nor any of the other guys who got involved in trying to stop baiting in AZ feels that way. We all know that if we kill a deer that comes in to bait,we are bait hunters whether we put it out or not. So there goes another “water” we are able to hunt. Again, no matter what you think about baiting (which almost always has everything to do with where you live and hunt and the local ethics), a few guys using bait kills hunting ops for the majority who don’t want anything to do with it. No matter how we feel about the ethics of hunting, you’ll never convince me that baiting is hunting, or at least not what I’ve spent my entire life embracing as hunting. If it were, I wouldn’t be here. I want a good hard natural-as-possible hunt, even if that means just sitting on my butt for days at a time. But to actually answer your question — they are both, with some cow ponds and some natural water sources. What you never see is anyone baiting who can’t get there with an ATV, which causes yet more problems in itself. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Yet I realize it’s not the only story in town 😛

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Minimum poundage to harvest whitetail #24037

Hi Lou and welcome here. I agree with most of the above and can only add my 2 pence worth, focusing on your admirable desire for “humane and quick harvesting” of deer. I killed my first deer, a whitetail doe, with a 43# recurve and one of the least effective heads available back then, a three-blade Bodkin (IMHO). I got full pass-through. But the shot was spot-on from only about eight yards. So please do take into account the almost infinite number of variables that must be factored in to any decision about “least poundage to get the job done.”

And always crank in a fudge factor for all the things that can go wrong.

Please allow an analogy: There are curvy mountain roads here with a speed limit of 45 mph, which I know from long familiarity I can handle at up to 65 mph. But what if something goes wrong? I round a bend and a deer is standing there … or (as is common in Mexico) the drain plug comes out of someone’s oil tank and there’s a couple gallons of oil on the road … or a front tire blows out … or …? Thus, the speed limits builds in a fudge factor because most drivers aren’t going to think that cautiously. Same with hunting, except we have nobody taking care of the fudge factor for us. Legal minimum bow draw weights are for the most part bad jokes because they have been lobbied into existence by raving optimists: If we are to be as cautious about avoiding wounding loss due to inadequate equipment as the animals we hunt deserve, we have to give ourselves and them some slack for a myriad things that can go wrong and often do.

The first rule, and the one that most often is ignored, is that you can’t transfer what works consistently well for deer, that is has a built-in fudge factor–to elk, moose, etc. While it might work, if things go well, does it have enough fudge to get it done “humane and quick” when something unexpected intervenes?

A second rule often ignored is that thelower poundage the bow, the more important becomes the arrow. The lower poundage the bow, the more a heavy arrow with good FOC and the best-penetrating broadhead comes into play.

And so on through many other considerations. There is no room for optimism in ethical hunting.

All that said by way of caution, I agree with all above that you seem to have an easily adequate setup for whitetails, though I know nothing about that broadhead. I personally won’t hunt any big game with less than 650 grains. But then I’m a shameless pessimist. 😆

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Coues Deer Hunting? #23801

GREAT NEWS! AZ has just outlawed baiting deer! Whoopee! Aside from me being broke and bad (wet) weather, the danged baiting blight was another reason I didn’t go back down and spend my usual thousand bucks a year or so in AZ on a Coues hunt this year. What’s the point when every waterhole and other good deer area has people going in and out on ATVs hauling alfalfa bales and sweet baits? There has been a movement within ADFG for years to end this ugly mess, but it was stuck on center and of course strong opposed by outfitters who bait for profit. While I can’t say how much difference it made, it’s likely no coincidence that Gregg Munther, Don Thomas, myself and a few other nonresident hunters started a letter campaign to ADFG last fall complaining about baiters ruining hunting for everyone and politely foreswearing not to return until it’s ended … and then it happens. To whatever degree, it’s further evidence that a small handful of determined individuals can make a big difference, if only sometimes. In this case all involved are BHA members, and this was a “BHA campaign” at it’s best–that is, pure grassroots action by individuals with no group or one person calling the shots. I don’t know if the law will kick in in time for the DEcember season, but I’m already planning next January’s hunt down there. As with ATV abuse and overuse, it was a case of a few individuals taking the easy way for themselves and ruining everything for the majority. The outcome is democracy and englightened self-interest at their best. 😀

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