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  • Bruce Smithhammer
      Post count: 2514
      in reply to: Ragg bag filling #18404

      I’ve filled my Rag Bag with all manner of stuff – from plastic packing material to foam remnants to t-shirts from the thrift store. The nice thing is that once you’ve ammassed all the filling, you can just transfer it to a new bag and top it off occasionally as needed. I seem to get about 6 mos. of almost daily shooting out of a bag before it starts blowing out, no different than the way over-priced, pre-filled ones from a sporting goods store.

      Bruce Smithhammer
        Post count: 2514
        in reply to: The Endless Loop #18389

        J.Wesbrock wrote: Bruce,

        What in particular are you wanting to know?

        Well, for one I’d be curious to hear thoughts on performance differences compared to Flemish, as well as design thoughts from those that have made them – what particular details make for a higher-performance endless loop string?

        I know that Dan’s strings are 8-strand FF, and he uses Crown for both the serving and for padding the loops.

        Some things I’ve read, but am curious to hear other’s perspectives on:

        – Endless loop strings offer a slight performance advantage over Flemish (of course I’ve heard the opposite as well). However, there must be something to the fact that Olympic archers all shoot endless loop strings?

        – They are more “stable” (less prone to stretch, creep).

        – They are not as inherently quiet. Yet I have found the endless loop string I’m shooting right now to be just as quiet as any Flemish I’ve shot.

        – Flemish strings are stronger, though with the weight tolerances of modern string materials, I’m guessing this is largely academic.

        So, are there really any meaningful differences, or as I suspect, does it really come down to how that particular string is built, regardless of Flemish or endless?

        Bruce Smithhammer
          Post count: 2514
          in reply to: What ya got goin? #17684

          Whoa! 😯

          That’s gotta cause some pandemonium in a place that doesn’t usually have to deal with snow like that. Stay warm, Ralph!

          Bruce Smithhammer
            Post count: 2514

            B-50 is a common string material for an older bows that aren’t FF-compatible. Easily available at just about any trad shop.

            Bruce Smithhammer
              Post count: 2514

              Well done, Joe. Good to see that Buffalo Bow making meat!!

              Bruce Smithhammer
                Post count: 2514

                Etter1 wrote: …I drew and instantly missed by a miles and ripped a whole fletching off on a wire fence. It seemed like a fitting end as the covey flushed. Lol.

                Classic.

                Bruce Smithhammer
                  Post count: 2514

                  David Petersen wrote: …And the Mearn’s qual was good so the place gets overrun with fat-cat bird hunters with outfitters and trailers full of dogs … bang-bang everywhere allatime.

                  No kidding. They were everywhere. I had to wonder what kind of effect all those shotgun blasts might be having on javis. But then again, we saw tons of deer, everywhere, so who knows.

                  David Petersen wrote:

                  Did you try predator calling?

                  I had a call with me, but everything I’d heard was that you shouldn’t use it until you’re already into them, or have just busted them. But by day 4, I was seriously considering wailing on it just to see what would happen. Have you had luck blind calling them?

                  Bruce Smithhammer
                    Post count: 2514

                    paleoman wrote: … SH – are those pics off a cell pH or independent camera? They look great!

                    Thanks. They are all taken with my iPhone.

                    Bruce Smithhammer
                      Post count: 2514

                      Finally made it back to Idaho last night. What a great trip!

                      As Sean mentioned, we never laid eyes on a single javi, which I find downright bizarre – I used to live down there, and Kevin grew up there, and we both were floored by the lack of sightings – in all my past experiences down there in the backcountry, you tend to bump into them all over the place. We hunted higher elevations, lower elevations, different habitat types, did a ton of glassing from high points, split up to cover as much country as possible…and nothing, except occasional sign, most of which was not very fresh. Downright mysterious, it was. Of course, beforehand I had joked that, “you see them all the time until you actually go down there looking for them…” which unfortunately turned out to be true. 😳

                      But we had a great time regardless, exploring a lot of cool country, and laying the groundwork for future javi expeditions – yes, there will definitely be more!

                      Looking east toward the Dragoon Mountains, and “Cochise Stronghold” – the place where Cochise and the remnants of the Chiricahua Apache held out for a decade against the U.S. Army before surrendering. Upon his death, his body was taken back to the Dragoon Mtns, and buried in a location that remains unknown to this day:

                      Lots of places for a 50lb. grey animal to effectively hide in this stuff:

                      Hunting at lower elevation, with an abundant supply of one of the javelina’s favorite foods – prickly pear cactus:

                      Fairly common sign through the area, though we never had any issues:

                      This is how we started every morning, getting up to a good glassing spot and hoping to find javis on the move in the cool morning hours:

                      Obligatory bow pic:

                      Kevin, practicing in camp:

                      My nylon chateau:

                      When you find stumps in the desert, they tend to be very unforgiving. In fact, I broke two arrows on what looked like old stumps, that turned out to be ironwood, and hard as a rock.

                      I’d go back and do it again in a heartbeat. The Sonoran Desert is an amazing place that never gets old for me. And thanks to Sean for bringing enough venison to feed a small army! I hope that next year’s trip will include a few more of you!

                      Bruce Smithhammer
                        Post count: 2514
                        in reply to: Now that it's over #60684

                        Still one more hunt left! And then when I get back, I’ll squeeze in one more chukar hunt before that season ends on Jan 31st.

                        Snowshoe hares are still open into March, so I will get out in search of those.

                        And then before you know it, turkeys open in April!

                        Hope you have a smooth and speedy recovery, Doc!

                        Bruce Smithhammer
                          Post count: 2514
                          in reply to: My condolences Don #60680

                          donthomas wrote: Thanks to you all for taking time to express condolences. Our extended community is indeed remarkable. Both of my parents lived long, happy lives that did the world a lot of good, and that is all any of us could ask for. Don

                          Well said, Don. I’m extremely impressed with the lives they led and the things they accomplished. My condolences.

                          Bruce Smithhammer
                            Post count: 2514

                            Thanks, Alex!

                            Fletched the last of my arrows yesterday, sharpened the (too many) knives that I’m bringing and stocked up on a healthy variety of barley pops to share with my compadres. Hittin’ the road tomorrow morning…

                            Bruce Smithhammer
                              Post count: 2514
                              in reply to: Good Reads #57874

                              Looking forward to hearing more from the Hairy Hippy Mountain Man, Clay!

                              Gotta love that this thread has become about Crocs, of all things.

                              I may own a pair, but they are strictly a lightweight camp shoe for when I’m far from humanity. 😳

                              Which reminds me, I heard a good joke about Crocs recently:

                              Q: Why do Crocs have holes in them?

                              A: So your pride can leak out.

                              Bruce Smithhammer
                                Post count: 2514
                                in reply to: NJ Winter Bow #57083

                                You are definitely not as “trad” as you could be.

                                AND binoculars?!? That’s cheating!!!

                                Bruce Smithhammer
                                  Post count: 2514
                                  in reply to: Good Reads #57050

                                  Steve Graf wrote:

                                  Yea, that happened to me the other day too. I handed over my ID and started to tell the teller that at 48 it feels good to still get carded once in a while. She responded that she was just verifying that I wasn’t using a stolen credit card 😳

                                  Doh! Well, I guess we have to take it where we can get it. 😆

                                Viewing 15 posts - 331 through 345 (of 2,403 total)