[David Petersen]

in reply to: Practice makes perfect, Hopefully. #14707

There is no substitute for having a mentor or friend who really knows his stuff and can point out errors in style, release, etc. that could otherwise trouble you indefinitely. So far as practice regime, I shoot when I feel like it, sometime just an arrow or two, other times way too much which can hurt your body and accuracy. The thing about practice is, without coaching, if you’re making mistakes and don’t know it, all you’re doing is practicing negativity. Except when setting up a new bow or arrows, tuning, etc., I never shoot for “practice.” I shoot for fun. Find a pattern that makes you look forward to every shooting session rather than feeling like a duty. Enjoy …

[David Petersen]

in reply to: AAARRRGGHH or I've made it… #13610

John — As you are discovering repeatedly now, even a missed opportunity for a shot, or a clean miss with a trad bow, provides far more excitement in the present and memories for all time than a “clean fast kill” with an excess of technology, like “I saw this buck way out there and I killed him.” End of story. It’s the difference between killing with less challenging weapons–a mere technological exercise–or having these close intense repeated experiences with our prey and with ourselves. That’s true hunting. Whether you kill this buck this year or not, you’ve already won the game. Congratulations, dp

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Winter rabbits #11639

The first time I killed a running bunny–a heart shot no less, and with a selfbow I’d made myself–today, when that memory is placed among all my comparatively “glamorous” elk and deer kills over the years, it remains among my favorite hunts ever. Poor little guy made the mistake of running toward me instead of away. 🙄 And cottontails eat good, though they don’t eat long. And sadly, they’ve been in a down cycle for several years now … certainly not because of my deadly aim! 😛

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Takedowns #11275

Ben — It’s called the Bow Bolt. http://www.raptorarchery.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=206

First-rate, used by many top bow makers, like Shrew for example. It is not inexpensive at just under $100 but has a great rep. Unless you’re building a recurve with a deeply indented grip, I really like the sleeves, at precisely half the price. I’ve made several bows with them and never had one fail (how could it)? What I did find is an overly tight fit between brass insert and steel insert sleeve, and always had to do some sanding and polishing to get them where they could be pulled apart without a winch (or a wench). If you don’t like the sleeves because they’re too fat, maybe you have the large size, or the oval. Try the smaller D version, which I found perfect for straight-handled longbows. Kustom King has a couple more designs you might check out.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Quietest Fletching #10729

David — Poke around, not all that far back, for threads discussing A&A (Adcock and Ashby) fletching. They are short with abrupt rise from front to back and perpendicular backside, used mostly in conjunction with very high FOC. If you need full-sized feathers, like 5″, goose is the quietest I’ve used and somewhat naturally waterproof, but didn’t last long. I’m sorry I lack the memory to recall where every previous topic has been discussed here … I depend on Ms. Robin and all you younger fellers for that. Happy hunting (for the topic) …

[David Petersen]

in reply to: ghost grizzlies DP #9341

Bruce — We don’t have or want TV, but do enjoy streaming good documentaries, music, etc. via Netflix and Roku, esp. in winter when we need a break from reading. Recently we watched a NatGeo special on Wolverines, featuring Chadwick. A good watch. There’s also a great NatGeo called Snow Tigers, about Siberian tigers, featuring famed bowhunter Bart Schlayer.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: ghost grizzlies DP #9156

Glad you enjoyed GG, Wahoo. It was easily the most fun book I’ve ever taken on because it kept me out in real wilderness — in CO, MT, WY, AK and Canada — for the better part of two summers and I got to know some top grizzly researchers and learned a huge amount. Because the book continues to sell as “local legend” if nothing else, every few years I update it. The current third edition is less than a year old and there have been no verified grizzly sightings in this state since the original book came out in ’95. I fear the historical local subspecies grizz is gone forever, the last one killed in hand-to-hand combat by a bowhunter in ’79. However, the possibility of one wandering down from the north, like Wyoming’s Wind River Range, is very real. Already, wolves and wolverines are doing it. I think I’m still sufficiently plugged in to the CO “grizzly network” that if anything real ever came up I’d be among the first to know about it. But you know, just hunting and hiking and camping on dark nights in the places we know the last grizz around here to have survived, and a tiny chance still survive, lends a special excitement to being outdoors and defines true wilderness. In my books, if there’s not something out there that is bigger and meaner than you, it ain’t wilderness. Dave

[David Petersen]

in reply to: How Many Over 55 #8223

AAblades — Al, this is a bit off topic, but in reading through the posts on this thread I checked your website and those are some gorgeous knives you make. I particularly like the one on the left, both eye-appealing and a design I know from long experience and experimentation to work beautifully to take apart elk. Good luck in your ventures. Dave

[David Petersen]

in reply to: compass #8213

Justin — Someone else will be better equipped to say “yes you can, or no you can’t.” What I say is simply — don’t. It will decrease the value of your bow and potentially even destroy it, and those little compasses, cute and handy as they are, tend to be unreliable and short-lived. Just buy yourself a good compass and leave the bow alone. IMHO

[David Petersen]

in reply to: How Many Over 55 #8028

Major — Welcome aboard and more power to you! Steve and Steve — I’m with you that 50-55 pounds in a modern glass-lam bow is all that’s needed for anything in N. America … assuming we take advantage of Ashby’ studies to build arrows with qualities that easily compensate for heavier and faster bows. What a great gift Ashby has been to the tribal elders among us, women, young hunters and others who cannot or don’t wish to pull massive weight bows. I am far more consistently lethal now with low-50s yet fast bows and Ashby arrows, than I was most of my bowhunting life with mid-60s bows and standard arrows.

[David Petersen]

in reply to: PBS and Portland in March? #8012

WIcanner — thanks for mentioning that Doc Ashby will be giving a presentation at K-zoo this year. It’s not just a review of the basic results of his studies, which we’re all familiar with by now, but breaks new ground. In conjunction, Ron “Sharpster” Swartz of KME will give a sharpening seminar.

It would be tremendously fun and useful if someone would video these two presentations so we can post the links here for all to benefit from. Dave

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Primitive Spot'n'stalk #8005

Clay – Wowza! You have either studied film technique or are a natural. Only flaw I could see in the whole thing was the photographer’s shadow in the lower right of the opening scene — easily cropped out. Little touches like the close-up of your eyeball watching the bear, fitting in the entire shot from archer to target, a switch from “invigorating” to somber music after the shot, the look of simultaneous self-satisfaction in a successful hunt along with a touch of sadness and obvious respect for the animal turns a standard “hero shot” into something touching and special … this is all way above merely good amateur videography. And hey, gotta love your “camo.” 😀 Your fan, Dave

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Winter rabbits #7993

Clay — Bravo! A well-shot, funny, and true bunny-hunting video. How I wish our rabbits here would hold still like that! You are very talented with the filming and editing, insert close-ups and all, and I hope you keep at it. We need more video producers who show the true spirit of real hunting, to help stem the tide of commercial flakes trying to sell us junk via dishonest “hunts.” I’m also excited to see the menu of all your other videos, and I plan to watch every one. Is there a website addy that will take us to that menu? If so I want to put it on my “favorites” list. You’re the genuine article. Thanks for starting a gloomy, snowy day here with some smiles. Dave

PS: A hidden bonus to hunting bunnies in snow is that it gives us an excuse to build lots more arrows, and I love building arrows. 😆

[David Petersen]

in reply to: Strap-on tree steps #63469

Steve, brother I’m with you on preferring the ground! With elk and mule deer and the right habitat conditions, it’s entirely doable and that’s how I’ve always done it. But I’m just getting back into whitetails, and since we don’t have them here, it means expensive travel and a limited time to hunt, more often than not on public land, so tree stands seem all but mandatory. If I had my own private whitetail patch I would construct brush blinds all over the place so that I could deal with shifting wind patterns. But that ain’t likely to happen unless someone here has a near-giveaway whitey hotspot they want trade for books 😛 And too, being new to tree stands, I’m enjoying the enhanced visibility you get up there and the greatly increased freedom to be — let’s face it — relaxed with lots more room for movement compared to on the ground. So I’ll likely keep at it, once or twice a year, but with a far greater respect for gravity henceforth. Dave (aka Treetop Flier)

[David Petersen]

in reply to: The question of weight in our minds #63463

Hoodoo, uh, I mean Wahoo 😛 —

If you’re hunting elk, all is changed. If you have to buy new arrows to get the weight and FOC you need, so be it. I feel adamently, via long personal experience, that the Ashby Study is dead-on in it’s recommendation of a minimum of 650 grains total arrow weight, a strong two-blade broadhead (preferably single-bevel) and as much FOC as you can get. This is relatively easy with carbon shafts as they are so light and strong and have such a wide range of spine. My current carbon elk set-up is 791 total weight with CE250 shafts, 225 Tuffhead with 100 insert and 125 adapter for EFOC about 27%. For deer I drop back 75 grains in the point but am still well over the 650 “minimum heavy-bone” busting weight with good FOC. This from bows averaging 53# draw at 28″.

But you are talking wood, and with the release of the 300 Tuffhead and predictably several emulators to follow, I’m anxious to try and get back to wood. So I’m working with Rick “Fletcher” Stillman (The Feathered Shaft) for a test set of light-side Sitka spruce shafts, single-tapered, with 3×3″ A&A feathers, somewhere in the 75-90# spine range. The goal is to hold the weight to 650-700 total with a 300 head and a min. of 20% FOC. Rick, who’s not only a great fletcher but also a mathematician, thinks it’s possible. We’ll soon see, and if anyone here is interested we can share the results.

Bottom line, Wahoo, is that I fear you’ll never get the spine you need for a nearly fool-proof wood elk arrow with your current shafts. While I’d much rather shoot wood and won’t rest until I find the right combo (with the help of innovators like Tuffhead who increasingly are studying Ashby and offering products to help make it possible). But I put max lethality first, as the animals we hunt should always come first, and if it takes carbon shafts to assure that, I’ll shoot carbons. But once again, experimentation is always fun and not necessarily that expensve. (Think about what a single meal out with the family costs, and all the archery gear you could buy and enjoy for years for the price of that one fleeting mediocre meal.) Gotta go now, to beat the damnable time-out monster.

[Author]

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