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in reply to: Floorless Shelters #25137
Mr. Carlson…I have owned 2-18 ft tipis. One was second hand, hippie-built, and one was from Panther Primitives, which is much the better tent…and it is superior to any others I have looked at. Three-fourths of the time I stayed in the tipi by myself, occasionally with another person, and a few times with a total of four. I was just in a 14 ftr and thought it a little crowded., The tipi canvas itself wouild be heavier, but the major difference would be the length of the poles. The poles are supposed to be 6 ft longer than the diameter…thus 24 ft poles for an 18 ft tipi. I usually set the tipi up by myself, but another person can simplify…although some people helping can be a negative. My tipis were canvas and I never did anything to waterproof them. Water swells the fabric tight and the water runs off and nothing run in…particularly with the liner properly installed. My tipi withstood heavy blowing rain storms and high winds many times. I tried a floor when I first got the tipi, but always much preferred it without the floor and never used it. It’s the most comfortable tent, temperature wise, youi’ll ever be in…winter and summer. I heard people say they can be warm in the summer but I never saw that, but never had it up in high humidity country. The indians rolled up the sides I guess in really hot weather. I hung a single Coleman lantern in mine and could read a newspaper with no additional light…it’s all white and reflects light, even though the ceiling/walls are probably 12 ft high. They can be costly, but if you’re an outdoorsman and like the ouitdoors, you’ll not spend a better dollar. G. Fred Asbell
in reply to: Floorless Shelters #24005Webmother wrote: Here is the contact info for Fred Asbell. http://www.gfredasbell.com. He does visit our site from time to time. I will ask him to reply in the forum for the benefit of all the readers here.
I’ve seen a couple of the “backpacking” tipis, but have had no experience with anything other than a regular tipi, which is a long way from backpackable. I will say this however, a regular tipi with a fire inside is wonderfully comfortable in cold or foul weather. I’ve set mine up in lots of snow and freezing rain. But…again, the problem is that you need to be able to drive to your camp location. The problem with stoves…wood burning…is that they are way too hot in anything smaller than a big walltent…which I’ve stayed in on guided hunts. In the tipi the fire is a simple fire in a pit in the middle of the tipi..but they make the thing wonderfully comfortable in a maximum of 3 minutes. In a backpacking situation I’ve found that a plain old Coleman lantern is all the heat I can stand in a backpack tent. I would think a stove of almost any type would be over-kill in a small backpacking tent. Just my experience….G. Fred Asbell
in reply to: How Often Do You Practice? #17837I went through a period of minimal practice and my shooting, specifically my strength, went downhill. I am sure, for me, the more I practice the better I shoot. And as I age I can see that a fella has to stay after it consistently or you quickly lose shooting strength, and that it is seeming harder and harder to recover from the layoff. We all talk about going down in bow weight, which I have done, but in fairly short order that seems just as hard to pull as the previous weight did…so I’m fighting hard not to need to go down anymore, and that equates to more practice. gfa
in reply to: Is camo necessary? #17057I don’t think the commercially available patterned camo is necessary either, but I do believe wholeheartedly in “blending in.” I typicaly wear plaid and checks and flat, non-reflective colors…which will be wool or a soft cotton. I like something with a little texture to diffuse the reflective light. I’ll buy camo pants because it’s hard to find the kind of pants I want (cargo pockets)in anything else, but I have found a couple pairs of moleskin trousers,which is wonderfully soft, tough and comfortable, but they don’t have cargo pockets. I mostly wear a lightweight wool on my upper body. Honestly, I really do not like the feel or the comfort of some of the new camos…besides the fact that they’re ridiculously priced…and they are cut like modern outerspace clothing like they used to show aliens wearing on the moon.Body suits…Yuck! But I don’t go in the woods without face paint, because that seems to be the first thing I see on a fella in the woods…a shiny face. gfa
in reply to: My first kill with a bow #56334Prairie Prowler…Well Mike Horton’s comments are fairly close but not exactly correct. I started Bighorn and had several different employees, one being Glenn Nelson, who left Bighorn several years after I sold it to King of the Mtn. He and another fella, Ron Redmon, started “Bowyer and Fletcher”, which didn’t make it as a partnership. Glenn Nelson and his brother, Ron (and here it gets a little confusing to me) began just making bows, naming them “Northstar”. They ran an ad or two, but didn’t last. Going back to “Bowyer and Fletcher”, the Nelson boys simply copied the Bighorn bows which was the only experience they’d had with bows. They rounded a few corners, made a few corners, and, I think, put a tad more setback in the longbow. But, they didn’t last long. Glenn went back to his home town in Minnesota (dying a short time later of cancer) and Ron went back to work for Bighorn, which was sold to Bud Boker, who died in a couple of years, and Ron, “sort of” took over. I think he called his bows Bighorns too. So, what you have is a copy of a Bighorn, probably built in the mid-90’s. I don’t think there were very many built.
in reply to: Spectacles! #55451I don’t wear glasses to shoot, but need them to read close up things. I am sure that I can’t “pick a spot” with as much intensity as I used to be able to and feel certain that my shooting has suffered for it. I think I’m still okay spotting animals by eye, but there’s enough other things creaking on me that I may not be giving that my full attention. G. Fred Asbell
Well I’ve tried this once and it disappeared. I’ll try it again, hoping that it doesn’t show up a 2nd time. The name Professional Bowhunters Society was a product of the time. Most bowshooters were competitive field shooters first and bowhunters second. Most shot 40 lb, 66″ bows and that’s what most of them took bowhunting too. There were very few deer and hardly anyone shot one (1960’s)and accuracy on the field range was more important. A group of guys who’d had some success wanted an organization that was about bowhunting…because everything was about competitive archery in those days. They wanted to identify their members as bowhunters, not paper-punchers. They set high personal ethical standards and heavier equipment as part of the identification package. They took bowhunting seriously…they were “professional” about it. Maybe it had something to do with the explosion of professional sports about that time, and players who were very good at their chosen profession were considered “professional.” I personally don’t think it was a bad choice at the time, and in my own hard-headed way I’m thinking being “professional” about this bowhunting is a good thing. And I understand that some equate it with doing things for pay, but that’s partly because we’ve gotten to the point of looking at everyting from a financial stanpoint…my opinion. gfa
in reply to: Hunting fitness and strength #38031I go to the gym regularly when I’m home. I do a combination of machine muscle stuff and cardio. I used to mostly just do a lot of cardio but I’ve come to believe that is not the best approach. I think that we lose muscle at a fairly continuous rate unless we do something specifically to build/work on muscle. The other thing I think I see is that it seems that if I do a small amount of cardio/aerobic regularly, my system catches up pretty quick when I get in the high country…obviously you don’t want to get completely out of shape. But if I am weak…lack of muscle…I can’t catch up when I start hunting. That may just be me, or just my age. But staying after the strength stuff as much as the aerobic is working best for me. Heading to Wyoming this year for mulies. We’ll know then if it’s still working. Went to Idaho hunting elk last year and did okay (but didn’t need to pack anything out either. gfa)
I an a member of PBS and have been since about 1971. I joined as a Life Member as soon as it was available 20 or so years ago. It’s a great organization. I haven’t been as administratively involved with it as I have been with some other organizations, but I’d never miss one of their events. The membership is made up of die-hard bowhunters. I can’t recommend membership in this organization more strongly. Don Thomas commented about it feeling like a big campfire, and I’d go further to say that you’ll feel very, very welcome around that fire. G. Fred Asbell
in reply to: Kenosha Bowmen Memorial Day Shoot! #59385Hmmmmm…I guess I’ll be okay….gfa
in reply to: Kenosha Bowmen Memorial Day Shoot! #58214I’m wondering too…what does arrows without inserts mean. Is that a government style statement that means no wood arrows?gfa
in reply to: ATVs on public lands #48248I’ve said it before; ATV’s and GPS’ are the death toll for all wilderness…designated or not. Laziness and fear have kept a majority of people close to roads. With motorized transportation and no fear of getting lost, there is NO PLACE that won’t be accessible by the armchair populace. gfa
in reply to: Where Would You Live? #48236I live in Michigan now, but lived in Colorado for 30 years. It would be nice to go back to the Colorado of 20 years ago, before all the growth, etc., etc. No place in the world has better weather than Colorado. I miss the sunshine. I suppose these days I’d look for someplace in the west…maybe New Mexico or Arizona. gfa
Well you’re right. I’ve been to the Stanley location 3 or 4 times so I should have thought about that. I remember a great restaurant that hung out over the river and what a great experience to sit out there in the sun. I wonder if it’s still there in Stanley. gfa
Teresa and I are giving it some consideration. I’ve attended three of them some years ago and enjoyed them immensely. My only complaint was that there were never practice targets or places and I wanted to shoot more than 30 arrows, having driven a thousand miles. Are you/has that, been corrected, Larry. It was a great time. gfa
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