[David Petersen]

in reply to: Coues Deer Hunting? #22509

Adirondak — I love your Leopold quote! Right there in those few words he describes (and in his time, forecast) the rot that is weakening the flesh and bone of true hunting today, as is so lividly on display in every commercial hunting magazine I know of, except TBM. That, I suspect, is a big part of why we all are here.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Javelina hunt #21783

Well sorry Jembo, but wandering far afield on threads is often a good part of the fun here. On squirrels — maybe nostalgia has flavored my memory, it’s been so very long ago, but I grew up hunting cottontail, squirrel, and bobwhite. I loved them all but pan-fried squirrel was tops. These were fox and gray squirrels in Okie. Here in the Rockies we have only Abert’s, which are big and look like good eating, but very slow and unspooky and consequently rare, and amazingly lovely, so I don’t hunt them. And the pine/red squirrels, though some will argue, I find inedible, though I’ve done it.

I think I’m saying “it depends on the species of squirrel” how good it is, and definitely a young female is better than a big old male, and of course how it’s cooked. I wish to heck we had some grays or foxes here so I could refresh my memory on their flavor. I love elk (just finished a delicious stew for dinner), but we are short on variety here in the high mountains, with no upland bird other than blue grouse (good but not anything like quail) and our bunny population has been near zero for a decade now, fire and drought related no doubt. And no edible squirrels I want to kill. And while I love to hunt turkey, unless it’s a jake or fall hen, it’s an obligation rather than a pleasure to eat them (I can’t do the drown in grease technique that’s so popular in the South). Guess I need to spend more time fishing … but then, trout, like wild turkey and javelina, are more fun to catch than to eat. Whereever we live and hunt, we win some and lose some so far as good wild meat. I think the standard eastern abundance of whitetails, cottontails, squirrels, quail, catfish and crappie would be pretty hard to complain about. And feral hogs would be icing. 😀

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Nothing is wasted … #21714

Jim from Oz — here you go, then. This kitty is checking the same spring where the big bear butt photo was taken, and only a few dozen yards from where the three lions were eating the remains of an elk I killed last fall while it was standing in that spring. This pic was taken 6-2011, about 2 in the afternoon, a very rare instance of a lion on the hunt in the heat of the day. While I could live and hunt in areas lacking big scary predators, it would be like drinking tea instead of bourbon. But hey, if you want big scary predators in Oz, just go swimming at the local beach! Grizzlies and lions get my apt attention, while black bears just don’t scare me at all. But great white sharks … BRRRR! Something about being eaten by a fish while at the same time drowning is just incomparably scary. 😈

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Coues Deer Hunting? #20741

I would add to Cyber’s good info that currently, AZ allows baiting for deer, and more each year the jerks are doing it at waterholes, which are really the only places to hunt Coues with trad gear and expect to get a decent shot op in a week or two of hunting. I’ve lost most of my waterholes in recent years to baiters. Just like ATVs destroying what was previously fairly easy walk-in access elk hunting spots, thus denying real hunters fair access, the lazy baiters are ruining it for everyone else. AZ is currently considering a bill to outlaw baiting within a certain distance of any water source, half a mile or so, and until they pass it and it takes effect you can expect to have to scout and hike to remote waters, where someone on an ATV can’t get to with a bail of alfalfa. I hunted NM once many years ago but that was before I knew anything about Coues and I did everything wrong. I should try it again someday, esp. if their tags are cheaper and they don’t allow baiting.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Your minimalist hunting camp! #20731

Good topic, Bill. In younger days my minimalist hunting camp was to scrape up a pile of conifer needles under a big low-limbed spruce or fir, put on all the clothes I had with me including a rainsuit or poncho, lie down and try to sleep. Of course I always choose the best weather for such ventures. I once lasted five days in wilderness with a $3.50 K-Mart plastic tube tent, which was a total bust due to perspiration. (For food I had a pound of elk jerky, a pound of trail mix, a pint of George Dickel and all the cold mountain water I could drink.) These days, when I can manage it, my minimalist camp is my cabin home with warm wifey, woodstove and full refrigerator. The trouble I found with minimalistic camping wasn’t comfort or safety, but that it let me get so far back in that most of the time I realized “I don’t really want to have to hike back in here several times as fast as possible to pack out an animal,” and so I quit hunting and went home. Not to say I won’t do it again. But not tonight at -13. 😛

[David Petersen]

in reply to: arrow material #20723

Well said, Alex, and true. All of life is a continuim, at least for those who think about such “voodoo” topics. But I would also suggest that in any endeavor, at least among those things we aren’t forced to do but choose to do, the more we put into a thing the more we get out of it. I recall someone here saying on another thread not too long ago words to the effect that “I get more satisfaction from missing a shot with my longbow than I ever did making shots with a compound.” For an example. Not that the easiest can’t be gratifying, but just that the more challenging is even more gratifying. Otherwise, why the heck are we shooting longbows and recurves?

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Javelina hunt #20582

Lloyd — Since no one else has spoken up … I have many friends who regularly kill and eat javalina, and almost none pretend it’s delicious. What they say is “it’s OK if you cook it right.” And that amounts to cooking big chunks of meat very slowly on low heat, like a crockpot, then shredding it like shredded pork and eating as sloppy Joe’s, etc. In other words, best for forget porkchops and roasts and plan to use only shredded and preferably in sauce. One friend in AZ swears he can cook it so that unsuspecting diners think it’s pork. But he’s been doing it all his life. I see javalina all the time when hunting Coues in AZ but have bought a license only once and of course saw nothing. I’ve quit hunting javalina in AZ due to the ridiculously high tag price (even in hunt areas with plenty of pigs and many leftover tags), the time it takes to find them and get one, and the very short archery pig season. And too, yes, because I don’t want to have to force myself to eat one. Instead, I’ve turned by fantasy to feral hogs, but they’re all so very far away. Good luck on your hunt and let us know how it tastes. 😛

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Questions about Arrow Dynamics shafts #20394

Alex — I recently asked Ed Ashby which carbon shaft he thought was all-around best, at least for now, for heavy heads and EFOC. He said he likes the Gold Tip Ultralights. Not the Ultra Pro or any of the other variations, but just the plain Ultralights. You might check ’em out. Has anyone here used these? Alas, they’re as black as my heart on a dark night. While I have no negative associations with black shafts like you do, darned if I want black arrows which will go into hiding when they’re shot. But given how you love hunting deer in the snow, maybe black would work well. The CE Heritage I use are wood-grain; not tremendously realistic but at least they’re not black or pink or purple.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Questions about Arrow Dynamics shafts #19568

Alex — I doubt you’d be interested in “moving down” to plain old Carbon Express shafts, but you know the good luck I’ve had with them. They are not tapered, and some other carbons are lighter and/or slimmer, yet I’ve found them to be totally reliable, they accept all “generic” internals, and provide a wide range of spine for EFOC. Perhaps they are tractors rather than sports cars, but that’s what we want when the “bullet” meets the bone. You might also want to run a classified ad searching for more of your old favorites. It’s likely that some arrow makers, bow shops, etc. somewhere still have a stash of those shafts.

Brother, you should be here now. You’d have to soak your fingers in warm water before playing the piano. But hey, it keeps the tourists away … unlike this time of year in the Caribbean, where you’ll be sweltering on some filthy tropical beach while I’m enjoying late January in Kalamazoo. 😆 Dave

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Steel Broadhead Adapters Bending #19507

What sort of heat does it take to get a steel insert glowing red for hardening? Would a standard propane torch do the trick? I should add that I’ve never ever in my long life of archery had a steel insert bend. I have had aluminum inserts bend, and break at the point where the diameter decreases for the threaded stem.

And perhaps this is a seaprate discussion, or parallel, but I’m wondering if head weight has any bearing on the tendency for inserts to bend or break? It would seem, to a knucklehead like me, that the heavier and more substantial a field point or broadhead, the less shock will be translated to the insert stem. But I guess it could go the other way as well. I’ve broken countless wood shafts close behind the head, and compressed the insert and head back into carbon shafts sufficiently to splinter them, and bent and broken broadheads (back in the old days when I used thin light 125 grain broadheads), and alum shafts seem to bend/break quite easily. I never thought of a steel insert as a weak point. Maybe I don’t shoot powerful enough bows. But I do shoot very heavy arrows. Experimentation is exploration, and both are always fun. It does sound like someone needs to torture (no, we can’t do that so let’s use a water-board) whoever makes steel inserts into admitting the quality of steel and hardness they are using. Otherwise we’re sort of shooting in the dark.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Coues Deer Hunting? #19199

No good news I’ve heard of. I had to give AZ a skip this year, first time in several years, due to a shortage of funds. Between non-resident tag cost ($360) and high gas prices, I just didn’t have the money. (I also bought a new Java Man bow and am going to Kalamazoo, so some choices were involved). As it turns out, though, I picked a good year to miss it since it’s been raining, even snowing, and unseasonably cold down there. Even clear down on the border friends report lows in the teens to low 20s, deer not coming to water (because it’s everywhere) and no visible rut activity, in nearly two weeks of hunting only a couple of spikes spotted. I’m sure there are exceptions to this dismal picture, but in general it’s a bad year, at least in AZ. Mearns quail populations are better than last year but not great.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Found my way back #18417

Welcom back, Michael. I hope you weren’t out of the archery and bowhunting game all that time. Long ago, before the advent of this website, when I visited others on occasion (haven’t done that for years now and never will), I went through a variety of names and like you, I can’t even remember them all. That’s one reason so many of us here just use our real names–as we age we’re less likely to forget who we are. 😛 And too, it keeps us honest. So hang around this time and help spark up the conversations.

Now, for me, it’s back under the cabin where I’ve been most of the day, trying to thaw the water pipes after last night’s -11. After more than 30 years of winters here you’d think I’d have it figured out by now … 😯 Dave

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Just finished new ERC longbow… #18414

That’s just about as long a longbow as I’ve ever heard of, at last since Agincourt. 😀 Tiller looks right on the money. But I’m curious why you build ’em so long? Certainly shouldn’t be any stack problems! 😛 I’m itching to get back to building again myself, but not until I get a heated workshop. I got tired of the frozen feet in winter.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Wilderness First Aid Kit #18084

Ausjim (and others), I just ordered a QuickClot online, after determining no one in town has ever heard of them, much less has them for sale. Thanks.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: New from kentucky #16152

Welcome, Bill. I think you’re unfairly restricting yourself by asking for help from others your age. We have experts of all ages here in pretty much every aspect of bowyery, archery, gear, and hunting. You might have better luck asking specific questions … that usually brings ’em out of their caves. 😆

[Author]

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