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in reply to: Looking for a good broad head #31627
I am among the relative few who have had a chance to field test the relatively new Tuffhead. Shot plumb through a nice bull elk last year; he went only 15 yards before going down and was dead in as many seconds … and he walked rather than ran that 15 yards as if he was only slightly spooked, not having felt a thing as the magic lazered through his chest. Those were 225s with carbon shafts. This year I’ll be shooting the 300s with wood shafts. However, you don’t necessarily need that kind of head weight for all game, like typical small whitetails, IMHO. If you’re shopping for lighter heads my advice is to stick with the same basic characteristics manifest in the Tuffhead: high MA (long and narrow, which the VPA lighter heads are NOT), single bevel, steel hardness 50-54 for an ideal combo of toughness and sharpenability. For turkey this spring I’ll be shooting the same heads I used with impressive results for Coues whitetail this past winter: STOS 145s custom ground to single-bevel from blanks. STOS should be encouraged to offer single-bevels in the 150-175 mid-weight zone … and/or Tuffhead should be encouraged to make a lighter model, if that’s possible, which I doubt as a certain steel thickness is necessary to provide strength and a nice wide bevel shelf, the engine that produces torque.
in reply to: Thanks, Dave! #28349Thanks Robin, and tradbow friends. It’s good to know that I may have made at least as many friends as enemies while playing moderator. 😈 Trouble was, as time went on, I had gotten compulsive about this site and was spending hours a day at it and “fretting” way too much about details … hours I really need to be working to supplement my (anti)Social (in)Security income, or walking in the woods, etc. This same thing happened a couple of years ago when I resigned as Trout Unlimited’s CO public lands conservation director and as CO BHA chairman — the work had taken me over and was diminishing the rest of my life, so time to step back, relax, let the blood pressure normalize … and go hunting even more. I’ll always be an enthusiastic tradbow member, so you’ll still be plagued with my opinions from time to time, but I need to get things back in balance. With very few exceptions, you guys have been an absolute joy. Some of you have become good friends, and almost all of you have earned my deep respect. This is easily the most polite, thoughtful, intelligent and therefore fun hunter’s website in existence and I’m sure Webmother Robin, with your ongoing help, will keep it that way. Some of you may not know that across my three years as moderator, Robin twice had to delete my posts. 😛 Cheers, and big thanks. Dave
in reply to: Breeding move over — the Incinerator is here! #27209What? I’ve not been “a regular guy”? 😆 Seriously, thanks, Joe. Nothing really has “changed with TBM,” I had just gotten compulsive about this site and was spending hours a day at it … hours I really need to be working to supplement my (anti)Social (in)Security income, or walking in the woods, etc. This same thing happened a couple of years ago when I resigned as TU CO field director and as a BHA leadership volunteer — the work had taken me over and was diminishing the rest of my life, so time to step back, relax, let the blood pressure normalize … and go hunting even more. 😀 I’ll always be an enthusiastic tradbow member but need to get things back in balance. And with very few exceptions, you guys have been an absolute joy. Some of you have become good friends. This is easily the most polite, thoughtful, intelligent and therefore fun hunter’s website in existence and I’m sure Webmother Robin, with your help, will keep it that way. Sometimes, the good guys do win. Dave
in reply to: Arrow Speed #64010Phantom — I guess I missed why you want to shoot darts at such speeds?
Shadow — welcome aboard!
Dave
in reply to: It's getting CLOSE! #63821Hammer — You obviously are cheating! 😕 (Can you please tell me how you do it so I can try it here in CO?) 😛
in reply to: String Material #63696Welcome to tradbow.com, Jockey. Troy’s info is solid. Will you be making your own strings, or buying them?
in reply to: Hunting Knives #63694Hammer — Well, just as a guy can’t have too many great knives and bows, we can’t have too many knife threads. I’m wondering though about the, I assume, ceremac sharpening rods attached to the sheaths of the two bigger knives. I’m thinking, from limited personal use, that they take up a lot of space on your belt for a tool that has very limited use, namely final touch-up after resharpening. Or will those rods bring an edge back after, say, 20 minutes of sawing away at an elk cape? Just cirious.
This motivates me to break out a few of my old favorites and snap a pic.
in reply to: arrow weight for elk #63579Carbons (with 225 Tuffheads and brass inserts) 780 grains
Woodies (sitka spruce with 300 Tuffheads) about 800 grains
in reply to: Meat grinder blues #62944Calgarychef — Welcome here. The world needs more good chefs. Dave
The earliest I’ve seen elk shed here is mid-March; not quite there yet. And I’ve seen big bulls with antlers as late as late April. Don’t know about mule deer as they don’t winter here — they’re all in town. 😆
In any event, turkey season for me is a triple treat: hunting turkey, sheds, and morels. I’m also curious to investigate the remains of winterkilled elk, which always (when enough evidence remains) are unrecovered fatalaties of rifle seasons, headed downhill until they drop.
in reply to: hunting for finished osage bow cheap #60431Welcome, Dave. You might also try Owl Bows (see their ad in TBM, along with other makers of selfbows). I would think you will find lots of good selfbows for less than that. But remember, these bows are purely organic, like you and me, and it’s not “will they break” but “when,” which makes commercial marketing very risky for the makers. Which is not to say that a good osage selfbow won’t last a lifetime if not abused. I happily own one such, but alas, not one I built myself. Dave
in reply to: A&A Fletching #60230Steve — Nobody “gets hammered” here except sideline critics with a compulsion to needle us, like broken records, for furthering the Ashby revolution, without having tried it themselves. I’ll bet someone will have some good leads on what’s happening with your arrow flight. Could be you are under-fletched for your FOC, as you suggest, but I’m not the one to know.
On a related point, I have some test arrows from Fletcher, Sitka spruce with 4×2″ fletching, not A&A, with a 300 grain head up front. They fly beautifully and the only difference I can see from my standard 3×5 setup is increased quietness. If I can figure how to re-adjust my fletching jig for 4-fletch I think I’ll switch. If nothing else the smaller feathers are less visible to game.
I’m curious to hear what the guys have to say about your problem.
in reply to: Need help with carbon arrow selection #60219Jason — “What I shoot more accurately” is an Ashby set-up.” Like daddy used to say, don’t knock it if you ain’t tried it.
in reply to: FOC, Tieing the threads together #60207Troy, never mind — it’s over your head. :P:lol:
In fact I was eating ice cream at the time and it makes me dizzy …
in reply to: It's getting CLOSE! #60199Steve — Does anyone kill turkeys with a season starting that late? Hens are already nesting before that, and it seems almost pointless to hold a season that late???
Scout — I too have always subscribed to the “bigger is better” theory for turkey heads and used huge 3-blades. But that didn’t keep ’em from blowing through and too many hit birds escaping. This year, after seeing enough big game animals’ internal soft tissues homogenized by a single-bevel screwing its way through, that’s what I plan to use. But frankly, in the case of turkeys, assuming a very sharp broadhead, arrow placement is everything since penetration is rarely a problem and the vitals are so small. For me, turkey hunting is more a rite of spring than a serious hunt. Of course I work my tail off, lose sleep, etc., but whether or not I kill a bird is way down the list behind getting back up the mountain as the snow goes out to see what went on during winter, searching for drop tines, morels and remains of winterkilled elk, watching for the first bear sign, seeing pairs of Canada geese doing their daylight ritual honking circles, gradual green-up, the cacophony of shafted flickers … all great, important, soul-renewing stuff I’d miss if not for the wild turkey chase. Since it’s a vocal hunt, it’s also the next best thing to elk for fun. Now, if I can just get the damaged shoulder back online in time.
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