[David Becker]

in reply to: Cabin Fever Stuff #39820

paleoman wrote: Have always wanted to toss out an ode to “our thing”. My offering for better or worse.

Days of fire

Silenced by string

I felt the Earth

And heard her sing

Deaf no more

To that which bleeds

I bend this bow

To plant a seed

To give life breath

I’ll take little

And be content with less.

Very nice sir. Thank you for sharing.

[David Becker]

in reply to: Emergency Gear #39819

It feels like cheating, but we carry a ACR personal locator beacon. My mom got it for us as a wedding present, and I had mixed feelings about right up until we had the baby.

I’m always trying to strike a balance with this stuff. I dig survival skills and bushcraft, but after building my share of debris shelters and bow drill fires, I’ve become a “more I know the more I want to carry kind of guy,” when I consider the fact that one of the things that is liable to put me out in the woods longer than I intended is a lower extremity injury, which makes things like debris shelters much more difficult to build.

Now that I’ve got The Arthritis in my right knee. I’m looking to cut weight. I want one of those Bots!

[David Becker]

in reply to: What ya got goin? #37186

Well,

I’m three and a half weeks into this whole becoming an archer odyssey. The Big Brown Truck of Happiness should labor up my drive way come Monday, not a moment too soon. As I’m almost out of arrows and my rug rest is coming unglued and the Elmers isn’t fixing it anymore.

I started with 6 arrows, now I’m down to 2. First there was an accidental Robin Hood, then I shot one over my target and into a rock. Then just today I busted one stump shooting, and then a second by once again missing the target and hitting a rock. Shoulda quit before that last one, as I was tired and my form wasn’t good.

I’m still a mite frustrated, mostly because I’m finding I’m shooting pretty good when I can empty my mind and focus, but it’s been 8 months since we had the baby and probably 10 months since I’ve had 8 hours of unbroken sleep, so my head has ping pong balls in it. I need to start meditating on a regular basis again….

This sure is fun though.

[David Becker]

in reply to: Howdy #34626

grumpy wrote:

Doing it again with my granddaughter. Have had her since she was 4 mos. now 11 y.o. Single parent at 65.

Lot more acceptance now, in the 80s lot of people didn’t think a man could parent.

Yessir I ran into some of that too. Some folks were dubious about the teenager sleepovers, which in some ways I can’t hold against them. Back in the 90’s I used to tote daughter #1 around in one of those front pack thingies, to frequent stares and the occasional snide remark. I was a younger man then and regretted that the front pack kept me from delivering a punch to the nose in response.

[David Becker]

in reply to: Howdy #32322

eidsvolling wrote:

Am I gonna find Youtube video of you rolling an MLB as you cross the Bar?

At age 19, I was thirty minutes from signing my enlistment papers for the Coast Guard when my parents talked me out of it. About thirty years later, my wife (not knowing the history) looks at me and says, “You know what, you would have been good in the Coast Guard.”

I worked two GSDs as SAR dogs and started a Malinois as my third, but he’d been abused before I adopted him and he ended up being my companion dog. My wife prefers the Malinuts and now has a five month-old puppy. There is nothing like a GSD for temperament (and nothing like that statement to get the debate roiling here …)

“out past Yacolt” = “we really dislike crowds”, for those who don’t know. You’d need a SAR team just to find that town. +1

I did take a funky small boat ride at Cape D, but no rolls. I was never stationed there, but did some water survival training there. I’m glad I joined the Coast Guard, and I’m glad I got out before my daughter got too much older. It’s a tough life if you have a family.

My last GSD was an ill-advised rescue. He got bloat and gastric torsion on the way home from the rescue. I’ve driven cars that cost less than that surgery. We then discovered he had an esophogeal diverticulum, which is a fancy way of saying “the dog pukes if you don’t feed him really small meals through out the day.” He also had been poorly socialized and despite bonding really well with us had some really serious stranger anxiety and leash reactivity. I was making some headway on that when he collapsed and we found out he had lymphoma.

Despite all that, I really loved that dog.

Next time we are getting a puppy from a reputable breeder. I can’t take a ride like that again right now!

[David Becker]

in reply to: Howdy #32317

grumpy wrote: No violent or unpredictable people, I became single parent in ’80s. Corporate america didn’t understand. “Why isn’t the kid with his mother?”

Man, I was lucky there. I went through some contortions when I was a single dad, but nothing quite like that.

Good on ya for making it work.

[David Becker]

in reply to: Howdy #30151

eidsvolling wrote: [quote=Wose]I have a Search and Rescue background, but you are a little out of my bailiwick.

Well, this is going to have to stop right now, or I’ll have to start worrying that I’ve been cloned:

I work from home.

I have a practice range a short walk from my garage door and can shoot several times a week, sometimes twice a day. (But something less than 1000 arrows are being launched biweekly here right now, what with the 2.5 feet of snow and temps near zero.)

We lived in western Washington for six years, and we’re planning on moving back and residing in Poulsbo or thereabouts within the next couple of years.

I was a SAR dog handler for many years, including three in WA.

So, welcome, but fuhgeddaboud hijacking the Enterprise! 😀

HA!

My SAR experience was a little wetter (Coast Guard) but I found myself crawling through puckerbrush looking for people more than I would have expected.

GSD or Belgian? I’ve never been a professional dog handler, but do love a good GSD. We had to put one down (lymphoma) a year ago almost exactly. We’re gonna get a puppy next year when the baby is a little older.

You couldn’t get me out of the Northwest with dynamite. We really love it here. We’re out past Yacolt, if you know where that is.

[David Becker]

in reply to: Howdy #30146

grumpy wrote: R2 said: Be sure and take your bow and three arrows just in case..

Is that to do the 3 shots in the air, if I get into trouble? Not so sure you will hear them in TX.

Bamboo: Few years ago a friend gave me a bamboo plant…

In regards to the technical stuff: In the 70s/80s I was a systems programmer in a computer company….

Tonkin Bamboo. I’ll have to look into that. I’ve been meaning to research what kind to use for bows.

I decided on a career change in my mid-30’s, because I was tired of dealing with violent, unpredictable people who had power and control issues due to early childhood trauma. I actually got a Computer Information Systems degree, and discovered along the way I don’t actually like computers all that much.

I still sit in front of one all day, but at least I don’t have to make it work…

[David Becker]

in reply to: The latest abomination! #30133

jmsmithy wrote: Doc

… the designer says, pay particular attention here, you have to grip it like you would grip a .44 mag!!!:shock::shock:

Now maybe it’s me but I always thought you were supposed to grip a bow as lightly as possible! Given all this nonsense it’s no wonder the thing actually KICKS, in my case, low left. I was told it’s ok. You get used to it!!!

Sweet Mother of God… The abominations never end!!!:(

It takes real talent to invent something that incorporates the biggest disadvantage to .44 mag with non of the advantages….

[David Becker]

in reply to: Howdy #28659

TMS wrote: [quote=Wose]You are a step ahead of me with the Wheelie. I’ve never actually shot one. When I look at one though, I start getting this pain behind my eyes. I used to be kind of a gear head, but as I get older, I’ve developed this fondness for simple robust technologies.

Honestly, I don’t think you’re missing much not having shot a compound. I really didn’t like my experience at all (only 4 hours). The let-off was a very strange feeling.

I know what you mean about “simple technologies”. When I first started hunting as a teenager, I had a neato whiz-bang deer rifle. Then I moved to a shotgun my father gave me. Then I moved to a flintlock muzzleloader. And then the trad bow. I’m sticking with the flintlock and the bow. Just makes a day in the woods more fun, for lack of a better word. Both are very effective on game but they each make me concentrate on doing my part correctly.

I’ve been thinking quite a bit on “resilience vs efficiency” which a bunch of ecologists and economists find are inversely related. I’m falling more squarely in the resilient camp these days. Rifles are more efficient, but I can grow bows in my yard.

Forgot to mention I’m gonna grow bamboo in addition to Osage.

[David Becker]

in reply to: Howdy #27291

Everybody else, thanks for the kind welcomes.

[David Becker]

in reply to: Howdy #27290

Steve Graf wrote: [quote=Wose]… Next year we are going to plant some Osage and Pacific Yew…

Plant the Osage in your yard and you may have good bow wood when your baby is ready to draw his/her first hunting weight bow.

Yew is another story. Plant Yew on the north side high up the mountain. Do it for your great grand children.

Welcome!

Yes! The more research I do about Osage, the more excited I get about it for several reasons. You are right about the Yew being a gift to future generations.

I do know that it will grow hill, as there is one growing on a property across the road. I’d love to know how old it is.

[David Becker]

in reply to: Howdy #27288

grumpy wrote: If you do something stupid, please let us know about it, so we don’t repeat the blunder. There is enough experience here so that someone else has probably done the same thing and we can all laugh together about it.

Expect to go snowshoeing this weekend, if you don’t hear from me I did something stupid, got lost, and froze.

Ok, I’ll bite. 😀

What I learned day before yesterday:

Shooting a judo point at a long low flat rock can result in an arrow skipping off and heading straight up in the air like a Saturn rocket. It was kinda cool but I probably shouldn’t do it again….

What I re-learned yesterday:

When I draw the bow, and then look at the target, most of the time the arrow will hit somewhere on the 18″ cube target, with the rest of the time going wildly into the bank.

When I look at the 2″ bullseye on the target while drawing the bow, most of the time the arrow will either hit the bullseye or some where right close.

I guess that Fred Asbell guy knew what he was talking about when he wrote that book…

Good luck not feezing to death. I have a Search and Rescue background, but you are a little out of my bailiwick.

[David Becker]

in reply to: Howdy #27282

TMS wrote: I have only been shooting trad for 3 years but never really shot a “wheelie bow”, just enough to know I couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn with one.

You are a step ahead of me with the Wheelie. I’ve never actually shot one. When I look at one though, I start getting this pain behind my eyes. I used to be kind of a gear head, but as I get older, I’ve developed this fondness for simple robust technologies.

Good luck with the whitetails. I gotta be honest with you, taking a shot with a bow at a big game animal intimidates the heck out of me. I’m glad I can practice so much.

[David Becker]

in reply to: Howdy #25784

Thanks to everyone for the welcome. It’s funny how we stumble into things at just the right time in life. I found “Traditional Bowhunter” at the library, and found it to be in a different world than all the “Horn Porn” magazines. I realized bowhunting was very much more than a different weapons choice. It’s a different way of relating to the animals and the land.

This is an interesting little cyber hangout y’all got. I feel like a stranger in a strange land on many of the hunting fora out there on the internet. Here we have a bunch of hunters talking about Ed Abbey, Barry Lopez, land ethics, and etc.

It was the thread on “Empathy for Animals” that really got me though.

I’ve got quite few things swirling around in my head about my relationship to my land, and hunting. The discussions on here are helping me wring them out.

[Author]

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