[Ralph]

in reply to: What ya got goin? #32432

We’ve had more but still behind. ‘Some’ is the key here. For the past couple of years I’ve pretty well patterned the deer in the drought conditions, watering/feeding routes/etc. Now that it’s green and water standing in tanks and whatnot I get to spend more time out snooping :). Carrying my bow and stumping while scouting and oozing around I enjoy as much or perhaps more than hunting. That’s when I usually see and find the neat stuff.

[Ralph]

in reply to: What ya got goin? #31846

We have green this year! I went out snoopin in the hunting grounds today.

Even beauty in the weeds

Saw lots of tracks. Ready I am. The second pic is a well used draw for mule deer going from one drainage to another. One of these days!!!!!

[Ralph]

in reply to: What ya got goin? #31842

We have green this year! I went out snoopin in the hunting grounds today.

[Ralph]

in reply to: Topics #31829

I just plead insanity but I will do my best! Thx for reminder. 🙂

[Ralph]

in reply to: Organized work area? #31825

Talked me into it!

At least my surroundings keeps my interest piqued all year. I do know where everything is when I need it. I promise:wink:

[Ralph]

in reply to: ARROWS #30424

By the way, do the nurses know of your “handle” 😆 Be kind to those who tend to your ails. 🙂

[Ralph]

in reply to: Some people's thinkin' #30359

It’s not the matter of the weapon used, it’s the user of the weapon that matters.

I’ve never had the urge to act as others that are doing what I dislike or what I don’t believe in or knowingly be amongst them.

How I react to what they do makes me what I am, what they do, they are.

Making a hunt to a place where fifty people drive animals by my stand and shooting something just to say “been there, done that” is not my bag of tea. To others it may be but I’ll not add to the pocketbooks of those who provide such “entertainment”.

I’ll not hunt with people that have, IMHO poor ethics, such as my friend, but I’m forced by life to be around him and others and anger won’t cure anything. It’s impossible for me to ignore such issues but I can’t live dwelling on them. Voting, education and gentle persuasion is what can be done perhaps.

Outnumbered I be? Maybe so but not trying to work for a cure is definitely the short road to failure.

It is so good to be amongst like minded people when it comes to morals and ethics.

[Ralph]

in reply to: Otzi Exhibition #29717

I’ve been to Kandersteg, Switzerland, to the International Scout Chalet that is located there, in the summer of 1963. We strapping 18 yr. old bulletproof lads went “mountain climbing” in “them thar hills”. We saw some chamois(whoops, shammys :lol:)) and where they were located I totally respect anyone taking one with any wooden bow. They are rather small critters and they get around like mountain goats.

Another tale sometime, we boys got into some predicaments that we’re lucky to have survived and we’re lucky all of us came home. We also got caught in the rain and like to died from hypothermia.

[Ralph]

in reply to: The ugly underbelly of "preserve" "hunting" #29694

I have the “pleasure” of knowing a guy who went down south somewhere and shot an elk on a high fence ranch. Brag, brag, brag he did. Absolutely disgusted me.

[Ralph]

in reply to: Shooting Gloves #29679

I use leather mostly. I bought a synthetic glove that’s supposedly water resistant and windproof. Feels different but when it gets cooler I’ll be spending more time with it to get the feel and get it broke in. Right now I think my third finger is dragging a tad with it. The windproof feature may be worth a million bucks this fall. Other than that I think it’s a matter of choice. Synthetic may be better in damp conditions??????

[Ralph]

in reply to: Moose & Ticks #29633

Jim, there’s all kinds of nasty’s down there uh! I have the highest regards for the people in Australia though. Gotta be tough to put up with the nasty’s. You ever “tick” anyone off with your youthful pass the tick game? 😀

Hey grumps, good to have things around but good luck with the pigs.

[Ralph]

in reply to: Moose & Ticks #29490

When I was a lad we lived in southern Idaho for three years (three of the most enjoyable in my life, I miss it still). We used to get into ticks all the time out in the sagebrush flats chasing rabbits and such. I hate the dang things. I find one on me I feel hundreds for hours. Yuck! Poor animals can do nothing.

[Ralph]

in reply to: ARROWS #29387

Hope it goes well for you. Remember the old adage, “No pain, no gain”, is bunk. From one who’s still recovering from inguinal hernia surgery a couple of months ago, once is definitely enough for that stuff. Twice I might cry :).

Be well and build some arrows. We be watching and praying for you. Ralph.

[Ralph]

in reply to: What is Traditional Archery? #24929

“Not only is traditional a state of mind, but also a state of being.”

I agree with this quote big time. How can you declare what is a traditional weapon. How far back in mankind’s history can you go? Is traditional the first rock that was thrown to kill a rabbit, the fist club that whopped the porcupine for dinner, the first bent stick and gut string with a crooked branch with a fire sharpened point, a snare, a herd of buffalo ran over a cliff? All weapons of old.

We continue to improve our means of killing whether for hunting or to insert our beliefs in rights and wrongs on other people. Tradition, as far as weapons go, changes with every few generations of man.

We, as a sector of society, have decided to call a certain group of weapons to be traditional, and that’s great, but some seem to ignore the point that it’s not the weapons we chose but the mentality of how we use them.

It’s the becoming as one with nature and of the beast being pursued that builds the tradition in one, not the weapon in hand.

I have also observed more strife caused at mixed archery tournaments by people carrying “trad equipment” than I have from the “other side” as they see it. Most of these mouthy guys have rifles and shotguns that they use so where is the trad part of their thinking, only with stick and string in hand?

I hunt with longbows, rifles and shotguns but no matter the weapon my methods and my ethics remain the same. I love to stalk animals and I do so with whatever I have in hand, even my camera.

I have not the “gotta kill” syndrome in my blood, want to take game, yes, but not the “gotta”. So I can watch and learn and enjoy and relate myself with God when I’m mucking about and go home empty handed but with a full heart. I’ve learned after all these years that getting home safe and sound, a bonus with a smile on my face, is quite a tradition and that I’m doing my best to cling to.

“It’s how your using what ya got, not what ya got that you’re using”. Ralph

[Ralph]

in reply to: Quality, yet affordable knife suggestions? #21911

I have one of the regular Mora’s and one with the thicker blade. I use’em all the time. No complaints.

[Author]

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