Unfortunately it comes down to “The Best” or “Good Enough”. And when the experts in our field are talking the last thing they need is some new guy from out of town showing them up. THANK YOU ED!!!!!!!!!!! I used to thing 160’s where heavy and 190’s where outrageous. Now I shoot 300’s with a 100 grain insert. The front of my arrow weight is more than most guy’s total arrow.
I have a old pair of Bausch & Lomb 7 X 42 Discoverer’s. They are the best I ever used for picking apart Northern Minnesota whitetail woods. I have never found any compact glass that can compare. They are no longer made I have been told that serious birder’s pay big bucks for them used.
Dave have you thought about trying a full length taper shaft out of hickory? There was a how to article in T.B. years back on making your own shafts using a small plane(I call them a thumb plane). I would get some hickory boards and split it into 1/2 X 1/2 X 36″ long. By splitting them you can eliminate the grain running out the side which is the main failure point for hard wood shafts. I am sure there others with much better information on this than me. It would be good winter project sitting next to the wood stove.
I have not seen any reports in Minnesota of anyone taking a wolf with any kind of archery equipment. It seems like there was a article years ago in the T.B. about a Canadian Bowhunter that took one. I do not remember if he used a longbow or recurve.
We have done night “Candle Light Shoots” at our club. The theory is that the light on the target focuses your attention and because it is dark all around, you are not distracted by stuff in your peripheral vision.
I never have liked seeing what should be wild animals kept as pets. I am sure it was a abandon cub that was rescued and had it been left out in the wild it would have died. But it still just does not feel right. Deer and elk farms relay bother me the wife will point out bull elk in a pen with 6 X 6 antlers and they hold no interest for me. A spike in the wild I will stop and stare till he leaves.
I have seen the end of a cow or buffalo horn cut and shaped to fit the curve of the handle then glued in place. You could also use a contrasting piece of wood.
I have killed one black bear it was over bait. I have its hide on the wall and skull next to my desk. The only way I would hunt them again would be on the ground as a spot and stalk hunt. The bait thing holds no appeal for me. So the odds of me killing another in MN are between slim and none. One reason may be that I have have not applied for a tag for the last 13 years.
I have not seen the movie but I have read about Mr. McCandless. I always found it interesting that they portray him as being deep in the wilds of Alaska living in a bus. That to me means there was a road to some where. Our ancestors learned long ago when the food was scarce you had to move to the food or starve the ones that stayed put died. Modern science calls that process evolution. Unfortunately to modern world survivalists would call that a cop out. Mr McCandless suffered one of mother natures most important lessons “you must eat or die”.
I used some camo netting turkey hunting a few years ago. Had a tom coming in and he stopped about 40 yards out looked right at me for about 2 nano seconds and high tailed it out. I could not understand what happened. There was only 20 minutes of legal hunting left so I pulled to a judo and took a shot at a stump close to where the turkey was standing. When I walked over to pickup my arrow I turn to what back to the blind and the sun was hitting the fabric just right to were it looked like a big shinny wall. I do not now if it the happens with all netting or the stuff I had. Since then I always make sure I am in the shadows.
