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in reply to: light pound bow dilemma #17971
DK,
Welcome to the long draw club. 🙂
I have a 32″ draw length and shoot 340s with 125-grain tips out of 56# bows. If you’re going down to 50# you should still be fine. You’ll likely end up with a tip somewhere in the 145 to 200-grain range. Select a lightweight shaft like the Victory HV series and you’ll probably end around 10 gpp by the time you’re done.
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Eidsvolling,
As someone who shoots full length shafts, trust me on this. Spine matters. 🙂
in reply to: Recurve Bow Upgrade #48227Both the Samick Sage and Samick Journey are excellent takedown recurves at a very reasonable (low) price.
in reply to: Open stance or conventional ? #37751I haven’t read the article yet, so I can’t comment on it specifically. That notwithstanding, there is something to be said for being able to shoot from a variety of different positions. There’s also something to be said for understanding what we give up in terms of accuracy when we contort into such positions. If your maximum effective range (for example) is 20 yards when everything is just perfect, you should probably dial that distance back a bit if you decide to take a shot sitting on the ground or twisted around like a candy cane.
The reason you don’t see top archers competing with the contorted shooting form that is promoted in some bowhunting circles is that it’s not conducive to maximum accuracy. Of course, the level of precision that’s needed to finish at the top of major competitions isn’t the same as what it takes to put meat in the freezer. I don’t demand the same rigidity in my form and shot execution for hunting that I do for 80-yard field archery targets. But I also understand the further I deviate from that perfect form the closer I had better keep my shots.
in reply to: Blood Trails #35698Thanks, David.
in reply to: Blood Trails #34163Last Friday I shot a doe at about 10 yards. The arrow entered the rear lobe of the near side lung, passed through the other, shattered the lower knuckle of the off side upper leg bone and stuck in the dirt (the broadhead was completely undamaged, for what it’s worth). The blood trail was one of those you could follow at a casual stroll without much effort at all. That was the fourth deer my wife and I have taken this year, all with regular two blade heads. The other three left blood trails that varied from excellent to somewhat thin but still more than sufficient.
in reply to: Making sure they are sharp #14746When I shot three-blade heads I’d finish them on a fine whetstone, two bevels at a time lying flat pushing away from me. When I was done they would leave a bald strip on my arm with light pressure.
in reply to: Blood Trails #14727I have to agree with Don; folks fret way too much about potential blood trails when it comes to broadhead selection. I’ve killed several dozen whitetails with 2, 3, and 4 blade heads. They all leave more than sufficient blood trails. Some are heavier than others—which varies from animal to animal even with the same relative hit and broadhead—but there’s enough blood to follow. The only exception I can recall was a small buck I shot several years ago that took a step and turned toward me as I released. The exit was low and back, and a small bit of visceral clogged the wound. A friend and I found the animal the following day during a grid search.
If you get it sharp, get it flying straight and get it where it belongs, the rest takes care of itself.
in reply to: Personal conservation #22428Ptaylor wrote:
4) I am skeptical of the whole QDMA approach. Who are we to think we know what is best for the deer genetics? When we talk about removing an animal because of bad genes, we almost always are talking about antlers.
I couldn’t agree more.
in reply to: Deer Calls? Or Just Blowing Hot Air! #22385Thanks for topping this off. My thoughts on the Primos can call haven’t changed. The weekend before last I called a solid 140″ 10-pointer into bow range with it. Unfortunately he didn’t offer a clear shot, but it was still a fun encounter.
That being said, my wife had a very nice 8-pointer cruise past her past weekend and paid no attention to the call at all. But two years ago she called a smaller buck out of our creek bottom and killed it at about 14 yards. As for me, my buck tag for the year is punched, so my can call gets to collect dust until next year.
in reply to: How we sharpen our broadheads. #30056I lay a mill file on a table and draw the head down the file, much like you’d sharpen a Snuffer. After rolling burs I switch to a fine ceramic crock stick. Start to finish it taken maybe a minute or two per head.
in reply to: Measuring Up #47822Thanks for the kind words. Hopefully we all find what we’re seeking this upcoming season.
in reply to: Archery Anatomy #21991It sounds like a great book. There is a very specific reason why the best shots I know have very similar, classic archery form.
in reply to: easton aftermath #9386They look like a very slightly thinner version of the Beman ICS. I would have no reservations using them, although for 3D I prefer a much lighter arrow.
in reply to: Who has been saved by a clicker? #54629There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that switching to a clicker in 2006 made the difference between continuing with traditional archery and hanging it up for good. I won’t belabor my back story; Robin posted a link to my TBM article on the subject on the other clicker thread. Suffice it to say my target panic had gotten so bad I couldn’t reliably hit the kill zone of a 3D deer target at 10 yards. Frustrating doesn’t begin to describe it.
The transformation wasn’t overnight. I made a lot of mistakes along the way, the biggest being learning to use a clicker on my hunting bow. I would have taken months off my learning curve by dropping at least 10 pounds of draw weight. It requires a lot more strength to expand properly through a clicker than it does to anchor, hold and release. At first, my goal was just to get ten good shots a day through the clicker. Sometimes those shots would take 20 or more seconds from anchor to conclusion. At first I could barely hit a bag target at 15 yards.
Long story short, I eventually got to the point where shooting with a clicker was second nature, and more importantly, made traditional archery fun again. I no longer worry about wounding animals afield, and my target archery has never been better. Late last year I started working my way off the clicker, which felt a bit like starting all over again. I’m still a work in progress in that regard, but then again, I’ll always look for ways to improve.
If you think a clicker is right for you, commit to it unapologetically and give it your all. It won’t change your shooting overnight, but eventually you should see solid improvement. For me, it was just the lifeline I needed.
in reply to: Mitten's article in the current TBM #63432Smithhammer wrote: And I think there is a difference between maintaining a critical eye and just being critical. Certainly, there are many things lamentable in the current state of hunting, but tearing down our own for things like passing up many animals in the quest for a particular one, or ridiculously trivial things like what one chooses to wear, whether or not one uses a pop-up blind, what they carry in their pack, etc. seems to me like far more of a reflection of the critic than the recipient.
(insert gigantic thumbs up here)
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