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in reply to: proper treatment of new bow #61365
I think the bigger problem is the jump in bow weight. If he is shooting 25 lbs, it is not likely he’ll be shooting 50lbs any time soon.
If it was me, I’d put the bow away for a few years and find him a 30 or 35lb bow. But I have to say I have found with my kids that going up in weight even 3 or 4 pounds at a time is daunting.
Last thing you want is frustration in a young’un. It’s the fastest turnoff to archery there is.
in reply to: A selfbow for Molly #61354beautiful!
in reply to: leather grips on longbows #61351Leather grips are easy to make yourself. 3Rivers has a nice video tutorial on it.
I put leather grips on all my bows up to the last one I made. I started goofing around with a dished grip and really like it.
With a dished grip, it fits the hand perfectly. I found I no longer needed a leather grip. Which brings me to my point… If you add leather to the grip, it will make it significantly larger than it was. This may change the way it shoots and feels. When I made straight grips I made them thinner knowing I would be adding leather.
Which is why Bruce’s beaver tail might be a good option, as it is way thinner than any leather you will find.
in reply to: Clay Hayes new book! #61341I know this is supposed to be a thread about Clay’s book and it has turned into a thread about the merits of eReaders, but I just can’t help myself…
My wife has a kindle, and so I have had the chance to use it. She reads a lot more than I do, but it’s pulp stuff. Once she’s done with it, there’s no going back.
Me, I don’t care much for fiction. I like books by/about real people and real subjects. And I like to read them several times and sometimes (OMG) write something in the margin.
And if it is a good book, I want to know that I can keep it and always go back to it, like an old friend. And lastly I like to share good books with good friends. Sometimes I get them back, sometimes I have to rebuy them.
Which is the real crux of the problem for me. Kindle stuff can wink in and sadly, wink out. People think stuff on the internet is permanent. And maybe it is, for as long as it lasts. But my guess is that our “digital society” is marked for erasure. I just don’t see it lasting as long as Homer.
In the long run, for anything worth keeping, papyrus beats megabits.
in reply to: A selfbow for Molly #60147Looks like the hickory took the stain really well. That’s a beautiful color. What did you use? Is it pignut hickory?
That osage bow is a sweet looking thing. But I can’t be swayed from the D shaped bows any longer.
in reply to: Anything Positive @ This Winter? #60142Duncan wrote: And I thought it was cold here this morning. At least it is not snowing. NCBA held its Bow Hunt for Rabbits today but I once again did not go. Maybe Steve Graf went and will post some pics for us wood stove huggers.:lol:
I’ve been busy building some new cedar arrows and feeding the wood stove today.
I’ve been busy like crazy last few weeks and have missed my tradbow fix lately… But I did manage to make the NCBA rabbit hunt. Drew back 3 times and was waiting for that perfect moment, which of course never came. But 2 rabbits were shot and both close by so I got to watch:
One was shot by a guy that had never hunted before. He drew back his recuve and shot a running rabbit in the head at about 15 yds. He should have bought a lottery ticket that day. I am afraid he is now under the impression that that is how rabbit hunting works…
The other was shot by a guy who was at least 70. He shot it at something over 15 yds and hit it in the rear quarters. Seeing the rabbit still going he ran and dove on it like a linebacker. Being on the side of a steep slope, he then proceeded to role down the hill toward me. Thankfully I had the presence of mind to drop my gear and fall over him flat on my ars. At this point the rabbit was indeed dead as I think he had been rolled under about 400 pounds of ragdoll man.
In the end Bob, the old rabbit tackler, got right up like it was nothing. So I had to do the same. We shook hands like old friends and proceeded to talk about how he was going to skin that flat old rabbit.
in reply to: First time as for everything, moose #60118I hunted caribou in Newfoundland a few years back. It was the best hunting trip I have taken.
The outfitter had cabins in the tundra. There are no roads or runways. The planes always land on water. This is what you want.
The road hunters hunt clear cuts and are just lazy gun hunters that take very long shots. To assure that you get a close shot in a real hunting situation, you need to get into the tundra.
So if the outfitter you are talking to talk about flying into the bush, that’s what you are looking for. Of course that ads cost to the trip and unpredictability due to weather. In my case we were late getting into camp and late getting out. But luckily the whiskey didn’t run out.
But I have to say that in my case I would not hunt moose if I could not take the meat home. Especially in the case of moose where you will get upwards of 500lbs of meat on a big animal and you must work your a@s off to get it out of the tundra. It may sound good now, but when you are doing all that work and carry all that meat, you may think differently.
Killing, and packing out a moose in the back country of Newfoundland is probably the hardest thing you will ever do physically. The ground is indescribably hard to walk on. Best I can describe is walking on greased bowling balls.
If you can find a way to keep the meat, and find an outfitter that flies into a camp you will have a really great time, I am sure. Newfies are great people.
in reply to: Need assistance with arrow spine. #39754It sounds to me like you are getting consistent results, which is a good thing…
I assume you are right handed. For right handed people, when the back of the arrow hooks to the right it means the arrow is over spined. The solution to this is to use a longer arrow, or increase the point weight. Obviously you can’t cut your current arrows longer, so I would try a heavier point.
Recurves are usually more forgiving of spine, and people usually shoot stiffer arrows out of them. You will need to go with a weaker spined arrow now that you have taken up the longbow.
Don’t fret over it too much. You will get there!
in reply to: Pulling my hair out over quivers. #38439It sounds to me like you are moving toward the basic setup. There’s a lot of spirit in a bare bow and a back quiver. I used a bare bones basic back quiver this past year and took it into the tree with me. I just found a branch, or put a hook up to hold it. I tried wearing it in the stand, but the feathers rub on the tree too much.
It takes some practice to learn to use a back quiver well and to be able to walk through the woods with it. But it’s just more of the same. If you are shooting a longbow, you know what I mean.
The only issue I haven’t resolved with the back quiver yet is what to do on longer hunts where a back pack is required. I didn’t do any of that sort of hunting this past season. But I am sure I will some time in the next season or two.
For here in NC, a possibles bag and back quiver handle it all.
Maybe next time I am out west I just get me one of them there man servants to carry all my gear 😯
in reply to: String silencer placement #38424coastalbendbows wrote: …David I’d like to see a pic of these wood silencers if ya don’t mind.
Me too!
Smithhammer wrote: Very cool, Steve. I’ve come close to buying that book as well. The author has a number of videos on YouTube that have made me more intrigued about building one. Let us know how it goes!
Yea, his video’s are fun. I didn’t find the video’s till after I read the book. But it was nice to have the book there to follow as I was working through the first bow. Haven’t had a chance to make another yet. But when I do I’ll post it.
I left the first one at the local shop for kids night. I figure that’s the best way to test it out. Let the kids at it…
in reply to: Sheds in December? #37179We went to Yellowstone last year for a family get together. We rented a couple cabins back up some unpaved road. One afternoon when things were getting boring (for the young ‘uns) I suggested to my nephew that he might find some elk antlers if he would walk around that field over there by the creek. So off he went and I paid no more attention to him.
An hour later I went out on the porch to find him smiling bigly amongst a pile of elk/deer antlers.
It is curious that finding an antler here in the east is such a rare thing. I have found some over the years, but they are few and far between.
Nice one Duncan!
in reply to: Bow tiller #30358I’ve gone the other way, again… I shot split fingers first and did it that way for 20 years (compound shooting). When I made the move to traditional gear 7 years ago I changed to 3 under and liked it. But now I’ve moved back to split for the following reasons:
1. It seems that split finger shooting isn’t as hard on the ring finger as 3 under. I had a bad case of “jersey finger” and shooting split doesn’t hurt as much.
2. It seems the bow shoots more quietly with split fingers
3. It seems the serving and nock set don’t wear so much on the string shooting split fingers.
Jury’s still out on whether I can shoot as accurately with split fingers. But all the best shots do it that way… Besides, now I can lean way over backwards and shoot the bow upside down. Which really is the most important consideration, in the long run.
in reply to: Economist article #27984A nice summary of things…
I was a bit taken aback that the author classified tree stands as unethical. It’s about the only way to kill a deer around here. You can sit on the ground if you like, but you will starve.
I thought he was a bit generous in his appraisal of compounds as weapons basically as primitive as traditional bows. And while he railed against the commercialization of hunting, he completely missed the uber commercialism associated with compound bows.
And I thought the bit about the NRA was spot on. And still, the average bowhunter around here is a staunch NRA supporter. Guns before bows.
I don’t know if anything will “save” hunting. But I am confident that the last group standing will be the guys with sticks and strings.
in reply to: Time to buy a long bow #26819Hand shock can result from any of several factors depending on the type of bow you are shooting. If you shoot a reflex/deflex hybrid bow that has hand shock, it will be mostly due to poor tillering and/or heavy woods in the limbs.
If you shoot a straighter bow like an american long bow otherwise known as a Hill style bow it will always have some hand shock. But the shock can be almost eliminated by excellent tillering and giving the limbs a bit of backset. Backset means that the tips of the limbs are forward of the handle when the bow is unstrung. By having backset the limbs can be thinner and thus lighter.
You can also reduce hand shock by giving the limbs some string follow. This means having the limbs behind the handle when the bow is unstrung. But you give up performance with this design. It will be slower. Some folks claim that bows with string follow are more forgiving and accurate. That has not been my experience.
True straight limbed bows are the hardest to eliminate hand shock from in my experience. I have never shot a straight limbed bow that was as smooth or shock free as a bow with some back set to it.
You can reduce the hand shock by keeping a loose grip on the bow. That said, many people including myself have injured their bow arm elbow with a shocky bow.
My advise is to try before you buy. I have shot some famous name bows that felt like I was being hit by a truck they were so shocky, so the name doesn’t necessarily say it all.
If you want to talk to someone who makes a nice bow, imho, give Dave Johnson of Dave Johnson Longbows, a call. I’ve never owned one, but I have shot a few here and there.
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