[David Petersen]

in reply to: Few Trail Cam Pictures #48127

:shock:Great stuff, BT! But my vote for your best pic goes to the vertical bunny.

My own favorite trail cam pic is a mother bear lying on her back in a shallow spring pool while nursing one cub, and a second cub playing nearby. Another two-shot sequence shotw a “fat” bear approaching the same pool, and a very wet and suddenly very skinny bear emerging. And then there are the three mountain lions on an elk gutpile. A few years ago, I think it was Dr. Ashby who sent around a series of pictures taken over a metal stock tank down in TX, with every wild animal imaginable drinking from it, all night IR shots, with the punch line being several very thirsty illegal immigrants. Just wonderful photo tools, these cams, off season, though I feel strongly that if used to try and “improve” hunting they accomplish the opposite. We always must fight the urge to take shortcuts, as trad bowhunting is all about the increasingly rare joys of doing stuff the hard way, the old way, the utterly honorable way. Otherwise, I love them and have a second cam on the way.

But then, especially if using visual flash, are we innocently doing harm to the critters we love to photograph “nonconsumptively”? Good question that I’ve not yet allowed myself to think hard about. 😯

Keep the pictures coming, guys/gals, though we’re now seriously challenged to outdo these really great shots by Bucky, who got a big headstart on the rest of us.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Kind Of Sad Really! #47023

Etter — No, I only know/knew the great writers! That is, those few who were reckless and unselective enough to befriend me. 😛 Seriously, Tim is one of the “big three” successful writers who helped me get started (along with Abbey and Guthrie, plus several others I met through those three). I sent Tim a fan letter in 1980, after reading an amazingly funny article in his “Out There” column in Outside magazine–I think it was called “Moby Trout Lives” or somesuch, about ice fishing in the Great Lakes–before that rag became just another hero-worshiping slick-media marketing tool. He answered, which made my day. We gradually became friends and remain so all these years later; visited him in Livingston most recently last June. One of the funniest people I’ve ever known, in person even moreso than in writing. It’s great to hear from other old-timers (sorry if you’re not) like me who enjoyed not only the greatest days of music this world has ever known, but also the best era of magazine writing “back in the day.” What’s really sad that is outside of university lit classes, so few today know about A.B. Guthrie, Jr., my very first writing mentor, who remains among the handful of greatest American writers of all time, IMHO. None of my big three writer friends were bowhunters, but I try to keep an open mind and forgive them for that. 😀 😀 Here is a recent pic of Tim and a very cute friend. He is old, 68, but he ain’t dead yet. In the past few months Tim did a 120-mile walk in Africa, then a couple months later hiked to Base Camp 1 on Sir Hillary’s little hill, nearly 18,000′. He is truly insane in a wholly positive way, which is why I love him. For avid readers who don’t yet know him, I highly recommend his collection “Jaguars Ripped My Flesh.”

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Scent proof? #47003

King — Come on now, level with us … you smoke scentless cigars, right? 😛

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Game camera #46837

Mike — You’re confusing my camera’s age with my age. Here is the current version of my cam, $143, which isn’t so much more than I paid for mine back in the Pleistocene.

http://www.amazon.com/Covert-MP6-Camera-Mossy-Break/dp/B0083ODP9I/ref=sr_1_fed0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1355862728&sr=8-1&keywords=covert+trail+camera

[David Petersen]

in reply to: My toes are frozen……. #45773

Talk about a tougher breed! Or prehistoric hunter ancestors had nothing to wear in those long Pleistocene winters but skins and can you imagine what, say, a bison hide with hair on would weigh? And for winter boots it was oversized mocs stuffed with grass for insulation, a la Otzi. I am about as romantic about those pre-agricultural “good old days” as anyone I know, but in my present body and mind and diet I doubt I’d survive the first winter.

Among the most ridiculous ads I’ve ever seen was one with a spring turkey hunter sitting next to a tree with his shotgun and camo on, and a big white 20-pound propane tank right beside him with a heater on it. Those things are loud. That’s right up there with the “anti-scent aura” machine.

Back to shoveling snow …

[David Petersen]

in reply to: It never fails #44607

I don’t use trail cams for hunting–have no problem with those who do–but cams have become a whole new off-season sport for me. It’s the unexpected critters and behaviors that are best, like three adult mountain lions on the gut pile at my elk kill this year. And many times elk, bears, turkeys, once even a weasel, have stuck their faces right into the camera. Photo quality has become so good, if you have the light angle right and no distracting junk in view, trail cam pics can be as good as those we take ourselves and in my case better. Video would be even better but the batteries wouldn’t last any time. By the way, if you’ve not discovered lithium batteries, they have many times the life of anything else and aren’t so affected by deep cold. I use nothing else now in all my outdoor gear, even flashlights. That is a big bobcat.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Tuffhead 225 gr. Penetration #43610

Ahh, pan-fried venison steaks in butter and garlic! Or if we’re being better to our bodies than to our taste buds, pan-fried in just enough olive oil to coat the castiron skillet, and plenty garlic of course. But geeze, health aside, it’s hard to beat chicken-fried venison/elk … which of course must include smashed taters and lots of thick white country gravy!

Yes indeed, my live-in chef is off visiting family and I’m too lazy to cook for just myself so I’m fantasizing … 😳 And salivating.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Tuffhead 225 gr. Penetration #43141

Tom — Just to get out and hunt in those wintery conditions earns my respect. You obviously have it figured out. Looks like a really big bodied buck. Congratulations and eat a steak for me.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: When You Were A Kid With A Bow….. #42430

Loose-running, bird-killing fat cats, and my only reget is I could never hit them. Even today I hate fatcats. 😛

[David Petersen]

in reply to: My toes are frozen……. #42424

Please forgive this latest public indescretion, but the best solution I’ve ever found to winter cold feet is a long vacation to a Caribbean island. 😀 Unfortunately, since I’ve traded income for hunting time all my life, I’ve only ever enjoyed one such of those. 🙄 If only I could get my lovely warm wife to come along on winter hunts to keep me comfy … well, sorry, never mind. I’m thinking that way tonight since it’s snowing hard and quite cold and She is in California on a family visit and I’m having Patron Plata for dinner and the dogs, well, it’s just not the same, though sure better with than without. 🙁 –COM

[David Petersen]

in reply to: tapered P.O.C. #42193

Your 30″ shaft length may work against you, Tony. The longer the shaft, the lower the spine. The heavier the head, the greater the spine you need to support it. If you are comfy with a shorter shaft, say 29″, you’ll have a bigger range of woods to choose from. I long ago gave up on poc because of the problem of finding high spine without high weight, and what seems an overall lower quality in poc.

That said, I recently dug out some years-old poc shafts–I have no idea their spine or what bow weight I had when I built them–stuck on some 225s and they shoot just great with a total weight in the low 600s, just right for smaller deer. I havent yet measured FOC but expect it to be high teens and frankly, with over 600 grains total and a Tuffhead up front, I’m not the least worried that they’ll do the job on a 100-pound Coues deer, bones and all.For elk I want more.

Another thing we need to think about when sticking heavy heads on woods is shaft breakage behind the head. This happened to me this year with a Sitka spruce shaft and 300 grain Tuffhead glue-on when it nicked the back edge of a scapula. The shaft broke about an inch behind the head and fell to the ground with no blood more than a quarter-inch behind the break, indicating no penetration, but the head kept going, apparently on its own momentum, to split a big hole in the heart for a fast kill. I’m now experimenting with various low-tech ways to reinforce wood shafts 4″ back from the head. Keep us posted on how it turns out for you.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Kind Of Sad Really! #42182

Thanks, Tony, for the link.

As my friend Tim Cahill, who lives up there, points out, it appears parts of this vid were shot at W. Yellowstone, parts in nearby Jackson, and parts, most I’d say, at Mammoth. We could also add Estes Park (a town, not a park, but adjacent to Rocky Mtn. NP here in CO), Jasper and several other places. I’ve always viewed this behavior by elk as a conscious choice: we are occupying places they very much want to be at certain times of the year, and by trial and error have determined they are safe there not only from people (except drunk drivers and trophy poachers with x-guns) but predators as well. So they put aside their fear and disdain of us and come hang out. But take those same urban elk and put ’em back in the forest, and good luck getting within half a mile of one. What it is, is ironic.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Kind Of Sad Really! #42014

Nate — can you provide a link to this site that I can copy to share around with friends? I don’t think the elk are slaves to instinct, forcing them to mix with touron mobs, nor is there a shortage of habitat in the park. They don’t have to be there but choose to be there because of the fertilized grass, yummy. Biologists call it “the fertilizer effect.” Sooner or later I predict, if it hasn’t already happened, a grizzly or lion will come to hunt elk just when a busload of Japanese tourists unload (every few minutes, it sometimes seems) and then things will get really interesting. 😛

[David Petersen]

in reply to: FOC? #41168

Alex — I haven’t a clue about the dynamic spine calculator and have never even used used the term, much less the calculator, but have heard it praised by many here. I’m sure it’s a good thing, but totally foreign to me, sorry. Here is how I set up my arrows, sort of by brail: Get a test set of arrows with no more than 5# steps in spine. Last summer Fletcher sent me a set of 9 Sitka spruce spined from high 70s to low 90s, knowing from experience that I was going to need a lot of spine to handle a 300-grain head on a wood shaft (53# bow). All were already cut to my preferred length of 29.5″ and fletched. It took only minutes to figure out I needed 85# spine, with a latitude of 3# either side. Knowing that, I then had Rick (Fletcher, the Feathered Shaft) make me up a dozen finished arrows and every one shoots like it was radar guided. I killed an elk, heart shot at 20 yards, with one of those this year. Then I talked to Hildebrand, the major source for SS shafts, and they were able to scrounge around and find another dozen raw tapered shafts that fit the bill, and I built them from there. They too are shooters, with FOC 21-23%. The only number that came into this entire process was 85. You could do the same thing with carbon or aluminum shafts. More ways than one to skin a cat, like Daddy used to say. In sum, start with the head weight you want to shoot and work from there.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: FOC? #41013

Alex — you are making FOC too difficult. You don’t need to use numbers at all, aside from two simple measurements: linear center point of shaft from back of head to bottom of nock … and balance point, which I find by balancing a shaft on the edge of a ruler turned on its side. Put a mark at each of these spots and measure the distance between them. Now go to the Ashby Library on this site and the FOC calculator chart, plug in the requested info and read your FOC. I can barely count my fingers, I’m that bad at math. But with the chart it’s a snap.

So far as the gentleman’s comment that FOC can’t be as important as perfect arrow flights … sounds like you’ve been reading Ashby. 😀 Perfect arrow flight comes first, as a wobbling arrow sucks at penetrating. Next comes arrow weight, then FOC, and of course you have to use a good “tissue dynamic ” (like aerodynamic but with muscle and bone rather than air) broadhead. It’s a combination of many factors but arrow flight is foremost and I’ve not heard anyone argue otherwise.

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