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in reply to: Feather???? What Feathers!!!! #45037
David Petersen wrote: So here’s a question in the shape of a monkey wrench: The wheelie boys have been shooting little plastic vanes forever. The plastic/feather difference aside, what is it, what force or law of physics allows tiny flethching with 75- and 100-grain points? Is it speed? The lightness of the overall arrows? This question has nothing to do with penetration or other serious hunting concerns, but is mere curiosity about what allows this seeming anomaly, while we trad folks need EFOC in order to reduce fletching size. ???
Surf around YouTube for high speed videos of arrows being shot with fingers out of recurves versus a mechanical release from a centershot compound bow. Then take into consideration the relative inconsistency of releasing with fingers versus a mechanical release. It’s not physics; it’s a lack of paradox and a consistency of execution.
in reply to: Very Proud Dad!!!!! #42217That’s outstanding! Congrats all around.
in reply to: Cork Screw #42216I’ve noticed over the year that folks are often more conscientious of their shooting while tuning a bow, which is to say they pay special attention to shoot every shot the same as the last. That’s a good thing. But when they’re just shooting to shoot, the highs and lows of their form come into play. If you’re only seeing the wobble sometimes that’s either because your eyes don’t pick it up all the time (which again is totally normal) or something inconsistent in your shot is causing it from time to time (normal there too).
That’s why I like to build my hunting arrows to not only tune properly, but maintain their stability even if I get off the string a little rough or torque the bow a hair. Field points and Judos don’t steer arrows, so they will still impact with a high degree of consistency regardless of minor inconsistencies in flight quality. Broadheads are another matter entirely.
Here’s another thing to consider: is the bad flight associated with one of more particular arrows, or does it happen with all of them from time to time? A friend of mine bought a couple dozen high end carbon shafts a few years ago and couldn’t get them to tune consistently. He’s a heck of a good shot (4th at the IBO trad world and 5th at the regular IBO world last year). After a bit of head scratching we put them on my spine tester and the problem became clear: they weren’t even close to consistent.
I’ve shot Bemans since the days of the pultruded Hunter and Diva shafts (1992 if I recall correctly), their ICS shafts since 2001, and I’ve never had spine inconsistency issues with them. But it’s still something worth ruling out. You may want to try numbering your arrows and shooting them several times each just to be sure the shafts themselves aren’t a problem.
in reply to: Noteable Quotes! #41554“We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.” – Aldo Leopold
in reply to: Arrow Speed #40899Depending on your draw length (27 or 28 at most), those number are probably about right. I have a 32″ draw, so my speed numbers will naturally be a touch higher than normal. That being said, my primary hunting bow pulls 56# @ 32″ and sends a 500 grain arrow right at 200 fps. A good friend of mine pulls mid-60s at 30.5″ and shoots a 480-grain arrow in the low 220s. Both of us shoot through whatever quarry we hunt, so penetration concerns are moot.
in reply to: Noteable Quotes! #40264Steve,
I love those quotes, especially Thoreau. I can think of no finer reading when I’m up at our Wisconsin property than Walden and Leopold’s “A Sand County Almanac.”
in reply to: What Have You Forgotten? #39756A few years ago I was hunting in Wisconsin and planned to drive home after last light. I didn’t shoot anything that evening, so when I got back to my truck I laid my bow on the ground, stripped off my coat and bibs, loaded up, and got on the road. About the time I got to Janesville (halfway point home) I realized my bow was still laying next to the landowner’s driveway. Needless to say, I didn’t get home until late that night.
I also left a Helle Polar blade with an antler handle in a tree on some public hunting land an hour and a half from home. I didn’t realize it until I got home that night, and figured my chances of it still being there the next day were slim. Luckily, I ended up finding it right where I left it.
And then there’s the time I forgot my deer tag at my father’s house…
Ozzyshane,
From a tuning perspective, moving your arrow further away from centershot accomplishes one goal. It makes a weak arrow act stiffer. Unfortunately, doing so also comes with the drawback of making your setup less forgiving to shoot. This is why you won’t see top target shooters (there may be an exception or two) building out their strike plates unless their shooting class mandates it. Is the loss of forgiveness significant enough to matter on big game at your chosen effective range? That’s something only you could answer. Regardless, you don’t have to start pushing out your strike plate just because you want to build an arrow with x-amount of FOC. A couple years ago I built a set of EFOC arrows to test a hypothesis that had been floating around. I had no problem shooting them out of my ILF riser with a plunger tip somewhere around 1/8” in from center
in reply to: Movable nocking point #33541Steve,
You beat me to it. Since I primarily shoot Easton Uni Nocks, the diameter of my string at the center serving dictates a medium nock set. The nocks I glue on wood shafts for small game arrows have a slightly larger throat, so the bow I use for that type of hunting gets a string with a slightly thicker center serving and a large nock set. The same goes for my bowfishing setup.
in reply to: Movable nocking point #32810With respect to brass nock sets, keep in mind they come in three sizes as denoted by the color of their rubber layer. Red is the largest, black is mid sized, and blue is the smallest. Use one that’s too small and it may fly off. Use one too large and it won’t crimp down tightly and may slip.
in reply to: Winter rabbits #32629I love it! Small game hunting with a bow definitely requires a sense of humor.
in reply to: How much bow and arrow for hogs? #29297Duncan,
I know what you’re saying. I haven’t been to Texas in a few years and have an itch to go back. What’s not to love about nice people, beautiful scenery, and plentiful game populations? A buddy of mine and I have been talking for about doing a Texas hunt for hogs, javalinas, and predators for a while now, but something always comes up with one of our schedules. Now that my daughter started bowhunting last year and my wife is taking it up this year, that type of trip sounds like it would make for a nice long family weekend
in reply to: Target Panic #28103Joe,
I wouldn’t worry about the whole target panic thing if I were you. There’s a huge difference between target panic and simply being over bowed. Remember, not all dogs are beagles, but all beagles are dogs. Being over bowed is not in and of itself target panic, but being over bowed may lead to target panic at some point. For example, let’s take a shooter who has incredible shot control with a 50# bow. Now hand him an 80# bow and see what happens. He’ll likely short draw, probably shake a bit, and not hit very well. Does that mean he has target panic? No. It means he lacks the physical strength to shoot the bow properly.
in reply to: Target Panic #27486DCW,
I distinctly remember the first time I heard of target panic. It was about 20 years ago when I shot Barebow class and started traveling for NFAA tournaments. One of the other barebow shooters I met explained that he had started using a clicker to combat TP. Always looking for a way to improve my shooting and learn new things, I asked him more about clickers and stated that maybe it was something I should look into.
He kind of snickered, told me there was no way I had target panic (he’d been watching me shoot) and that if it wasn’t a last resort he’d have never used a clicker. In a nutshell: I didn’t need it and shouldn’t start using one just for the heck of it. I never thought much about our conversation until about 15 years later when target panic finally took hold of me, and it was one of the reasons I finally decided to stick a clicker on my upper limb. It’s funny how things like chance conversations come back to us years later when they finally become relevant. I’d love to thank him for that moment in person, but I think he too stopped shooting NFAA competitions several years ago.
On an unrelated note: your web site is excellent. If our paths ever cross (do you ever go to Comptons?), I’d love to pick your brain about photography.
in reply to: Target Panic #26932Thanks for the kind words, Bruc. I’m glad the piece helped someone. Struggling with target panic was without a doubt the single most frustrating aspect of archery I’ve ever encountered. Going from averaging upper 270s on a 300 round and mid-to-upper 400s on a field round to scoring 8s and 5s on 3D targets where I used to shoot 12s and 10s was very demoralizing. After struggling through it by means of a clicker, my shooting is back to where it was pre-TP, and more importantly, I’m enjoying archery again.
How would I define target panic? I think of it as a disconnect between the mind and body with respect to shot sequence. Ironically enough, this type of issue is far from unique to archery. I’ve heard of it referred to as “the yipps” in both baseball and golf—the pitcher who inexplicably loses the ability to locate his fastball, or the golfer who goes from driving 250 yards down the center of the fairway to running his club into the turf. It’s incredibly frustrating. In your mind you know what you have to do; you’ve done it thousands of times. But your body won’t cooperate.
I’ve seen target panic manifest itself primarily in two ways depending on the archer’s shot sequence. For those who aim during the draw, TP seems to create the inability to reach anchor. You’ll see someone freeze up a few inches short of their anchor point, possibly start to shake, and then yank the string back and drop it in one motion.
You may also see someone who has to release as soon as they hit anchor (which is different from someone who simply chooses to employ a touch and go release). For those who aim after reaching anchor (and this goes for compound shooters too), target panic seems to show itself as freezing off target. With this type of issue, what you’ll see is a firm steady hold followed by a short and rapid lateral movement as the archer releases—freezing off target and then pitching into it at the moment of release.
Jason
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