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in reply to: Good Night and More lessons learned… #134027
I knew you would keep those bears on the straight and narrow Preston 🙂
We have at least one breeding sow 10 miles north of us. I am sure there are more. Won’t be long before we have them around here I am sure. We get the roving young bores, but nobody has taken up residence near us yet, I don’t think.
If bears ate coyote’s, they would certainly be welcome!
in reply to: Good Night and More lessons learned… #134000How’d the bear hunting work out Preston? I mean aside from the chipmunks cleaning out the acorns, did the bears still show up? I thought maybe toward the end of the story you were gonna say the bears started having chipmunks for supper…
in reply to: Good Night and More lessons learned… #133980Cresco is the name. It’s a bit south east of Scranton. Looks like there are some game lands around it, so it aught to be all right.
in reply to: Good Night and More lessons learned… #133952I wouldn’t say the deer cheated, I’d say he played his hand better than I did. When I walk the woods and call it hunting, I feel a bit like that country bumpkin at the county fair about to spend his last 50 cents to see a “man eating chicken”. In the woods, the joke is usually at my expense… 🙂
We’re headed up to PA this weekend for a wedding. My wife asked me what we should get for a gift, and I said “that’s easy”. I told her I’d bring my bow and find some good public land and kill a nice fat doe in the morning. Then I’d leave it on the gift table that afternoon. My wife then asked “what, just like that?” To which I replied “So, you want me to skin it too?” Somehow, I sense I’m off the job.
in reply to: Glue on broadheads for 5/16 wood arrows #133861Spot on Scout!
in reply to: Hope for the Best #133713No new books for a while. My main focus is the Appalachian Trail through-hike with my boy coming up this spring. If I live through that well, we’ll see…
in reply to: Planning to switch from compound. Need advice! #133690Scout’s advice to seek out a traditional shop is good advice, but may be hard to follow. Traditional shops are few and far between. Still, if you can find one, take advantage of the experience stored there and support it by buying your gear from it.
I am always glad to see young folks such as yourself excited about archery! Before you decide what direction to take in your archery adventure, I would encourage you to explore some options…
Shooting an ILF recurve is a natural progression from shooting a compound, but not a lot different. The biggest difference between the two is that there is no let-off with the recurve.
One of the great advantages of being young is that you haven’t had time to develop bad habits or attitudes yet. Form, ingrained by spending a few decades shooting compounds and recurves, is hard to undo if you ever decide to shoot straight limbed longbows or selfbows.
What is most important to you? Hunting? Tournament? Roving? Before deciding what to buy, I would recommend watching some old Howard Hill and Fred Bear video’s. Look at John Schulz’s 4 part shooting series on YouTube. Read Hunting the Hard Way by Howard Hill, Hunting the Osage Bow by Dean Torges, A Treasury of Archery by Fred Anderson.
Shooting an arrow is a simple act that takes a lifetime to master. It is about the journey. The best journeys begin with questions. You have started to ask those questions. Keep asking, even if the answers don’t come right away.
Whatever you decide to buy, make it low poundage and cheap. Say 40 lbs and less than 100 dollars if you can. With experience, you will know what to do next.
in reply to: Hope for the Best #133688Today we will get to see the sky, which is a welcome change.
We (northern piedmont) were spared the worst of the rain. Got maybe 10 inches or so, and not a lot of wind. There are a few downed trees. The folks down east got the worst of it. As of yesterday Wilmington still had no road access. Airlifts the only way in our out. People running out of food, etc. It’s a mess.
I’ve been through a bunch of hurricanes. This one was the worst because of its duration. Usually they move so fast that the brunt of the storm lasts just 6 to 10 hours. This one lasted 5 days. It was truly the proverbial Chinese water torture.
That said, there is always a silver lining. I passed the dark and dreary days whittling out a new bow. I spent the last several months reviewing more than a decades worth of bow making notes. Making notes about my notes. Mulling over what has worked and what hasn’t. Being alarmed at what I have forgotten. That’s the point of notes, right? To help us remember. But still, I wonder… am I loosing it? Somehow, through the fog of time, I suss out where I have gone astray. Not once, but often. I resolve to gather up all these bits of good bow making, and discard all the bad bits. Between the thunder claps and tree bending gusts of wind a bow takes shape. As the lights flicker on and off and the radio warns of worse to come, I pull the bow. It is ready.
The bow and I made a pretty good showing at our Tuesday night archery club. Not the best I’ve ever shot, but pretty fair. I think this bow and I will be together for a good long time. I will name her Florence.
The kids are back at State. That was the hardest part for me, watching them head back to school after our extended hurricane visit.
in reply to: First Bow Build #133634What you back a bow with depends on why you want to put a back on it.
If you want to improve the bow’s cast, fiberglass will do that. But fiberglass cloth won’t add much because only about half the fibers are aligned with the bow.
If you want to protect the bow from splintering, then there are more options.
I know you don’t want to use rawhide, but I thought I’d mention that it does protect the back of the bow. But it does NOT add any cast. In fact it can dull the bow a bit.
Cloth works really well to protect a bow and can give it a nice look. One of the older members of this forum, Duncan, posted some pictures many years ago of some self bows he made backed with some mossy oak cloth he had. They looked great.
Heavy duty paper works well too. It can be dyed black, brown, or whatever. A lifetime supply can be had from the painting isle in Home depot for a few dollars.
If it was me, I’d leave the fiberglass and epoxy on the shelf. It will add nothing to the bow you are making.
in reply to: Hope for the Best #133585Kids are coming home from college tomorrow as the universities are closing. We’re gonna have a hurricane party… Thanks for the thoughts. We’re inland and expected to get upwards of 30 inches. Those on the coast will have it worse.
in reply to: Shooting Glove #133566As I recall, the American Leathers Company was started by the Schulz’s, but is no longer owned by them. They sell the cross-over glove. Not a true hill style. Here is their website: http://americanleathers.com
in reply to: Cock feather #133544In my experience, it depends on the brace height, nock set hight, shooting form, arrow spine, and how close to center the arrow shelf is cut. Even the glove or tab can make a difference.
If you shoot with the cock feather out and notice wear on the lower shaft feather, then maybe shooting cock feather in will help.
The closer to center the riser is cut, the less difference it seems to make. For very narrow shelves, or off the hand shooting, cock feather out seems to work best for me.
Each archer is different. But the difference in arrow flight between the two orientations is subtle at best.
Them that shoot 4 fletched arrows (I did that for several years) will smile at our musings as their arrows are symmetrical and the question is moot.
I liked 4 fletched arrows. I went back to 3 because it took less work to make an arrow, and required fewer feathers to grind.
in reply to: PVC Kids Quiver Build-Along #133516Thanks Ralph!
I sure hope there are some wee tykes that will be casting arrows with their new bows and quivers soon… If y’all make a bow and give it to a young archer, take a picture and hang it here.
in reply to: Old photos #133515Nice picture David! Now we need a picture of that hat on top of your mellon, behind a nice deer. Maybe some brightly colored leaves on the ground for good effect…
in reply to: PVC Kids Quiver Build-Along #133479Since the PVC Bow Build-along and this thread may get separated from each other over time…
Here is a link to the PVC Bow Build-along sister thread to this build-along:
If you have any questions, feel free to ask…
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