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in reply to: Hildebrand #28794
As it happens I just got a dozen Sitka spruce from Hildebrand. Service was excellent–Neal went out of his way to chase down what I needed–but several of the shafts have small flaws from milling, which apparently is a problem due to the grain structure of this wood. I am currently finishing them and applying four-fletch and have fingers crossed they will shoot the same as my first dozen SSs. It’s darn hard to find wood shafts weighing under 400 raw and with a spine of 85.
in reply to: Hardwood shafts? #28790Steve (and anyone else interested in “footing” wood shafts) — I’ve been making arrows and shooting a new bow and haven’t gotten around to the wrap-on footing project yet, but have decided to try using string-serving thread, since I have a roll of it in green. I’ll likely coat it with the thinnest possible layer of SmoothOn.
Meanwhile I have done a lot of “testing” of Sitka spruce shafts I “painted” with SmoothOn to 4″ below the head — in fact I smeared it on with a popsickle stick and it smoothed itself out nicely, as the name implies. I wrapped masking tape at the point on the shaft I wanted the treatment to stop, and also to protect the point bevel. And the results? So far I can’t break these arrows! Using 175-grain Ace blunts (heaviest I have on hand) I’ve taken countless shots at stumps and trees of every variety from every angle. Some of these trees are fire-hardened so that the arrows bounce back almost to me. This would definitely ram the point and insert into a carbon shaft and splinter it (I know from experience). But not only didn’t the heads break off these test woodies (which is the whole point, to protect against shaft breakage), but the hard impact failed to smash the glue-on heads down onto the shaft. I think the thin layer of SmoothOn right behind the point is acting like a “support collar” to absorb the shock. Short of shooting one into a rock wall, which couldn’t be a whole lot harder than the burned trees that bounce arrows, I don’t know if I can break one of these guys. Near as I can tell with calipers, the coating is about 1/32″ thick. While I have no way to measure spine here, flight characteristics are unchanged. While the coating is getting a bit cloudy with curing and use, it is still basically see-through invisible so doesn’t spoil the looks of the arrows. It should work with any wood shaft.
One thing I failed to do was measure shaft weight and FOC before and after applying the coating. I’ll do that next time. So far so good and I now feel safe to shoot another elk with wood shafts and heavy heads and not worry about breakage behind the head, like happened this year.
in reply to: Hildebrand #27962Susan — What is the context of this thread? It sounds as if you’re answering a question. Did I miss something? 😕
in reply to: Machine-gun archery! #24898Here’s another one. I wouldn’t want to be standing behind that sheet!
in reply to: Had Your Fill Yet? #23557When I’m not circulating and salivating over all the goodies for sale, I’ll be hanging out mostly at the Java Man Archery booth. Come on by.
in reply to: Had Your Fill Yet? #23431I have always had a high metabolism and must eat often or I start getting shakey. And the same with hunting. I may get my fill once in a while, like this year hunting elk every day for 7 weeks, but before I know it I feel the gnawing hunger again.
Consequently, decades ago I rearranged dwc’s logical “family, work, hunting” priorities to “family, hunting, work.” We only live once and too many of us fail to take full advantage of that unique opportunity.
For this winter I had to decide between my usual AZ Coues solo hunt and camp trip, or Kalamazoo. With gas prices so high and nonresident tags ridiculously expensive, I opted for Kzoo because I have FF miles, can room with a friend and basically make the trip dirt cheap compared to AZ. And my freezer is full of fresh elk. So I booked and locked on for Kzoo … and now, darn my old hide, I’m daydreaming of AZ and may wind up doing both. As I age, certain appetites dwindle but hunting hasn’t been among them and I hope never is. I hope to die either hunting or craving to hunt.
in reply to: Green Fire #22542I second and third Steve’s recommendation to watch this vid. Our CO BHA chapter bought a few copies of the dvd some years ago and we’re passing it around. Thomas Downing currently has my copy, and is sharing it with his sons and hunters to be. All thoughtful trad bowhunters should take advantage of watching “Green Fire” (and share it with our nonhunting wives) on the link Steve provides. Leopold was IMHO inarguably the single most important figure in sportsman-conservation philosophy in N. America, and the fact that he was a bowhunter and bowyer makes him even more “one of us.” Thanks, Steve, for sharing this good and important news. A few years ago, when I attended the WS trad bowhunters’ annual convention at some awful water park, I had the privilege of driving almost within sight of Leopold’s Sand County “shack,” and even then felt deeply honored and humbled. From my situation of great curiosity but mediocre intellect, I am left with jaw-dropping envy of men like Leopold, Sagan, Paul Shepard, and others who look at the same things I do, yet see so very much more.
in reply to: Magic Beans!?! #21142The whole canned killing industry exists, aside from the profit motive of the owners, to provide meaningless “trophies” for people with meaningless lives. Any time you see references to SCI trophies and none to PY or BC, you know you’re looking at an unethical operation. It saddens me that so many people, though a clear minority, feel this sort of charade is justifiable under the tired old “to each his own” and/or “these days people are busy and not everyone has time for a real hunt of a lifetime” excuses. It’s not hunting, but only killing, no way around it. In contrast, check out some of the recent stories on this site about folks taking does and small bucks in true fair chase … like Alex Bugnon’s two bucks this year, the second a little spike, both taken from the ground no less. IMHO all such as that are true trophies. Size of racks rarely is a valid indicator of the skill or determination of the hunter. It is how we hunt, not what we kill, that says it all. If I lived in an area that offered no real hunting ops but only “preserves,” I would spend the “preserve fees” toward a trip to someplace where I could hunt fair chase … or I’d give up hunting altogether. Such a world …
in reply to: Success or not #21136Two4, IMHO you are right on the money in your views, and my experience suggests that a majority of the interested nonhunting public would totally agree, which is something we always need to consider when we talk or write about our hunts, kills, and attitudes. Sooner or later if you hunt you will lose a lethally wounded animal. I have (see a forthcoming article on Coues hunting in TBM). What separates true, ethical, real hunters from the slobs is what we do or do not learn from the experience, and how we feel about it. If we feel awful (my response has always been to punch the tag and quit hunting that species for that season) and seriously cross-examine ourselves for likely causes — say using too light an arrow, a bad broadhead, taking long or otherwise risky shots — and make serious efforts to correct those problems so that they don’t recur, then we have learned, attempted to make moral amends, and are better hunters and people for it. So far as the “stuck one but he ran off” braggarts, they are not hunters at all and certainly not gentlemen. I do all I can not to be around that type and refuse to stand and listen politely to their arrogant stupidity.
in reply to: Got another nice doe with ERC bow… #19250Good work, and yum-yum!
in reply to: Game points for FOC arrows #19227If you go to Tuffhead you won’t see all the accessories. There should be a link there to Vintage Archery for all products. 3Rivers and others have hex head glue-ons up to 200 grains.
in reply to: Wet Feathers #19110Thanks, Steve. I just dropped $25 for a Little Chopper in 3″ parabolic, so I think I’ll stick with that for a while. They may not be as quiet as the AA but they’re a darnsight quiter than 5″ feathers.
in reply to: Thanksgiving Gift! Thank you! #18161Alex, congratulations once again! This is really a boomer deer season for you, and all from the ground, selah! That’s a Thanksgiving day of a quality I doubt anyone in the US but you enjoyed. And I will add that “home” for you right now is Harlem, NYC. What less likely home for a traditional bowhunter can we think of? We are everywhere. 😀 I’m really happy for you brother.
in reply to: Game points for FOC arrows #17968Tuffhead has 225 grain hex-head glue-on blunts and I’ve urged Joe to add 300s so that he’ll be offering a complete set–broadheads, field points, blunts–for both weights. Of course if you’re shooting screw-ins it’s easy to add head weight with steel adapters.
in reply to: Wet Feathers #17962Good info, Sky. I wish someone made an inexpensive feather cutter for the A&A.
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