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  • Charles Ek
    Moderator
      Post count: 594

      After a winter of more skiing and arrow-making than shooting, I took three cousins to the backyard range this afternoon to compare results with the arrows – a 1958 60″, 58# Kodiak; a 1970 60″, 60# Super Kodiak; and a custom Talon Swift (built on the 1959 Kodiak lines) 60″, 55#.

      Mr. Bear, I’m here to tell you, ya done good. 😉 If I may mix images, that hot blonde once again had me feeling like I was striking the target with Thor’s hammer. And I think I’ve found the setup that will finally warm my heart to the SK. Finally, I wish I could tell the late Dave Paxton how much he honored the Bear tradition with his rendition.

      This boy, he be smilin’ this afternoon. Thanks, guys.

      Charles Ek
      Moderator
        Post count: 594
        in reply to: Signs of Spring #19072

        Apparently humans aren’t the only ones eager for this NH winter to pass. Came across the first bear sign of the year this afternoon. Looks like Ursus has been lying in daybeds and visiting the neighborhood at night the last couple of days. Time for the bird feeders to come down!

        Charles Ek
        Moderator
          Post count: 594
          in reply to: Spring shoot #18920

          In addition to the targets, youse guys iz killin’ me here. Every 3D shoot I know of in New England that was scheduled since last fall has been cancelled because of the snow depth. We still have two feet on the ground and windchills dipping near zero. I enjoy shooting in the winter, I even relish cold weather – I just dislike losing arrows that I’ve known since they were uncut shafts! 👿

          Charles Ek
          Moderator
            Post count: 594

            I have a Coleman single burner that is serving a life sentence in the garage for having tried to kill me once. I have a GAZ stove inherited from my parents that I keep as a memento. I have a Whisperlite that I bring on trips when I need something to occupy my mind and there’s no room for a book.

            When I need a reliable stove that has never failed me, down to subzero temperatures, and has never been maintained, I bring the SVEA 1-2-3 that my parents gave me when LBJ was President.

            I should mention that the addition of a SIGG Tourist cookset is very helpful with the Svea. You can find them easily on eBay at reasonable prices.

            One caveat: This is not a stove to bring on a SEAL mission. The roar it makes while in use will draw the attention of every sentient being within a hundred yards or so.

            Charles Ek
            Moderator
              Post count: 594
              in reply to: Signs of Spring #14752

              Boreas reached out an icy hand today and grabbed us again by the throat. Four more inches of snow, plus wind, to be followed this week by temps about ten degrees below normal. At the rate things are going, the snowshoe hare will be brown before the ground is!

              Charles Ek
              Moderator
                Post count: 594
                in reply to: Wolves #11851

                I saw my first wolf in the mid-1960s, lying dead in a farmer’s yard when MN still had a bounty. I had to move to AK to see them in the wild. I’ve been privileged to see them on a few very special occasions. And they have come back in a big way in MN and WI.

                Yes, they’re a threat to dogs and livestock, something that needs to be kept in mind. But I’d give my eye teeth to live among them again. Meanwhile, I enjoy watching the Eastern coyote/wolf hybrids filling the vacated niche here in New England. They all get a pass from me, so long as they stay a respectful distance from the dogs. (One of them got the surprise of its life from my wife’s late Malinois – the Mal had covered a big chunk of a meadow before the coyote’s brain registered what was happening. 😯 😀

                Charles Ek
                Moderator
                  Post count: 594
                  in reply to: Wolves #10352

                  Hold up your hand. Fold down your thumb and all but your forefinger. That remaining digit represents the actual number of adult humans proven to have been killed by wolves in North America in the last one hundred years: Wolves killed Alaska teacher in 2010, state says

                  Now uncurl your middle finger as well. The sum of those two digits represents the proven plus the suspected number of adult humans killed by wolves in North America in the last one hundred years: Kenton Joel Carnegie wolf attack

                  Charles Ek
                  Moderator
                    Post count: 594
                    in reply to: Emergency Gear #7779

                    TMS wrote: It is almost certain that when we turn out to look for a lost hunter, the only gear they have is weapon, ammo, license, and cell phone. Even when lost, a small amount of gear can make all the difference in getting found again.

                    I used to say in WA that “there oughta be a law” that elk hunters be required to post a bond as a condition of getting a license. If you’re found wearing blue jeans when you’re overdue and we come looking for you, you forfeit the bond. 🙄

                    Charles Ek
                    Moderator
                      Post count: 594
                      in reply to: Signs of Spring #7772

                      We still have waist-deep snow in the woods here in NH, and we’ve had subzero readings even this past weekend.

                      But it hit 44 ºF today, and I took the 72-year-old Hill-style selfbow out for the first time in many, many weeks. Things went a little better when I woke up and adjusted my recurve-accustomed grip …

                      Saw a crow pair recently, and some adventurous robins have appeared from time to time.

                      Charles Ek
                      Moderator
                        Post count: 594
                        in reply to: Emergency Gear #62329

                        Two things drive the choice of items on my list above – a lifetime of spending days and nights alone in the woods in climates where Ma Nature does her best to do you in during the months with an “r” in them, and a somewhat shorter period looking for folks in those same places who were overdue for some reason.

                        Having someone waiting for your return does influence your thinking about this. I wouldn’t give the notion of a PLB a second thought but for that.

                        Charles Ek
                        Moderator
                          Post count: 594

                          Geez, Dave. I thought you were capable of expressing yourself more clearly. What did you actually mean to say? 😉

                          Bravo!

                          Charles Ek
                          Moderator
                            Post count: 594
                            in reply to: Flying Geese Tips #50577

                            I have fifteen Bear Razorheads in rough to good condition and two blunted but possibly fixable M–A3-L broadheads that I’ve stripped off old arrows I bought for the shafts. Some or all are free for the asking. Send me a PM here.

                            UPDATE: They’re packed for the trip north – and I mean NORTH 🙂 – in front of the geese.

                            Charles Ek
                            Moderator
                              Post count: 594

                              First, check the actual weight on your Judos. Last batch here of the nominally 135 grain glue-ons ranged from 140 to 148. At 148 that’s nearly a ten percent variance.

                              I’ve experimented with melting lead shot into the glue-on Judos, but it oozes out sometimes. When it works you can get to around 160 fairly easily, but much beyond that would be tough I think – you run out of room for the shaft.

                              I’ve just mounted some of the 175 grain glue-on Hammers, which I’ve only shot at a Rinehart 18-1 target backed by a horse stall mat. (They bounce off the target sometimes and they stick slightly sometimes.) I’m waiting for the right circumstance to do some stumping with them, which by the looks of things around here will be sometime in July or August …

                              Charles Ek
                              Moderator
                                Post count: 594
                                in reply to: Emergency Gear #40539

                                Wose wrote: … I’ve become a “more I know the more I want to carry kind of guy,” when I consider the fact that one of the things that is liable to put me out in the woods longer than I intended is a lower extremity injury, which makes things like debris shelters much more difficult to build.

                                This is the scenario that first got me involved in SAR, when I contemplated lying on the ground in the winter in MInnesota. I trained my Newfoundland dog to find me and lie down alongside me. Started thinking about how to put that to use and started a SAR dog unit.

                                I’d carry a PLB if we were back in the Pacific Northwest or AK. Ninety-nine percent of the time, I’m alone in the woods. (There’s a search underway right now here in NH for a woman who activated a PLB yesterday in the White Mountains. Windchill in the mountains has been running well below -50 ºF for the last couple of days …)

                                Charles Ek
                                Moderator
                                  Post count: 594
                                  in reply to: Emergency Gear #39664

                                  grumpy wrote: Does anybody EVER remember the TP, and a spare diaper.

                                  The TP is in the unenumerated first aid stuff. Don’t know nuthin’ ’bout no diapers …

                                Viewing 15 posts - 211 through 225 (of 542 total)