Stupid Archery Question

[RobJ]

Yeah arm guards are good when you forget proper holding techinque. But a couple arm hits and you'll learn fast.

If he steps up to hunting go to Ebay for a good use compound bow. I upgraded 2 years back via ebay with a Matthews MQ-1. It was about 3 years old at the time. $300 for the bow, basically set up for me, ready to go, no changes, peep, kisser, rest, sights, puffs, detachable quiver, 8 easton ACC arrows and 3 mech broadheads. It even had a mech release. These days a bow can run $1000 easy, 600-700 just for the bow!! no extras!!

I think as far as losing an animal with a bow yes there are probably many more. But in both gun and bow I see many people give up to soon in the search. Either they can find the blood trail or stop when they lose it. Sometimes yes I'm on my hands and knees crawl through briars to find that doe!!

But if you more challenge, try some bow hunting, I'm more ho-hum about rifle hunting since bow hunting. 1) I usually see more game when less people are in the woods and 2) an easy rifle shot is an easy shot, every bow shot has some challenge.

A couple weeks ago I filled a doe tag with a rifle, about 15 yards out. she came out of some brush with 2 yearlings (read 6 eyes, 3 noses, 6 ears). It was over in 3 seconds when I shot through a little brush, raise and shoot. With the bow, attach the release, turn to face target, make sure they are not looking at you, it seems deer look up a lot these days. Make the draw, oops my right elbow is hitting a limb or my jacket is restricting my movement!!! Ok full draw, oops, she's in the brush, wait, good thing a 70% let off on my 70# draw, wait, wait, wait. Ok shes moving now, have to freeze her, cough or something. she either stops or bolts. Of course she will hear my bow string and can react before the arrow gets there. OMG WHATS THE YARDAGE NOW??? 10 yards makes a difference!! I DIDN'T HANG A PIECE OF TISSUE IN THAT AREA!!! Shoot!! hit or miss? In the case with the rifle the doe was dead when she hit the ground.

Oh yeah!! it's a blast either way!

Rob

My $300 Matthews and some pork.

 

[Jimmyp5]

Rob had to have a good laugh... try on top of all of that and carry a long bow! I had a buck who was so smart... I swear he watch me climb the tree, set up my shooting lanes, and just flat knew that I forgot I was carring a long bow that day; and did not clean up a branch under me...where he stood and snorted at me for 5 minutes!!

 

[N80]

But in both gun and bow I see many people give up to soon in the search. Either they can find the blood trail or stop when they lose it. Sometimes yes I'm on my hands and knees crawl through briars to find that doe!!

I was a good blood trailer in my day (especially when I didn't select my shots as well, got excited and yanked the trigger, etc etc ) and had to do it more often.

I've got a dog now that has a great nose on him and man he can find them. He is the ugliest, pointy nosed, long legged Lab (has papers) that you've ever seen but he can flat find a down deer. Every time we get a deer I take him to where I first saw the deer and let him find him. He goes right to them. Of course that is easy since most of these deer go right down but last year my son shot one that we lost the blood trail on and it went into really thick stuff. We went back an got old Dash and he found him in a minute or two.

So if either of us do start bow hunting at least we've got a dog that will find them.

 

[RobJ]

Rob had to have a good laugh... try on top of all of that and carry a long bow! I had a buck who was so smart... I swear he watch me climb the tree, set up my shooting lanes, and just flat knew that I forgot I was carring a long bow that day; and did not clean up a branch under me...where he stood and snorted at me for 5 minutes!!

hehe, yep us compound bow shooters have it easy I guess!! I also missed a buck this year because he was to close. The bow bumped the stand looking down at a steep angle, I didn;t lose him on that noise, thought I adjusted enough, upon release the limbs flexed and the pulley hit the stand, shot high.

For those hunters...here is momma doe "sleeping" and one of the yearlings checking things out. Hey they hung around for another 30 minutes and I still have a buck tag to fill!!

 

[RobJ]

So if either of us do start bow hunting at least we've got a dog that will find them.

One of those little fun facts in Texas, can't use dogs to run deer (can in other states), but you can use them to find if a blood trail is present. I think the "blood trail is present" part is to prove to the Game Warden you are not running deer. Of course you can run hogs with deer, no closed season on them.

 

[N80]

Of course you can run hogs with deer, no closed season on them.

Rob, I really want to see that on video before I'm gonna believe it!

Dog hunting is legal in the lower part of SC, but not where I live. You can use a dog to trail a deer. I think it is supposed to be on a leash. I don't bother with that.

A funny story about Dash. Last year I was down in the creek bottom putting some camo netting on a deer stand. My wife was helping me. Dash was down on the ground. Well, we see a bunch of little hogs coming down the hillside across the creek bottom. Dash follows hand signals so I gestured up the hill and he took off. He nearly catches up with the pigs and chases them out of sight. A split second later, here comes Dash running back towards us looking back over his shoulder with big black momma pig hot on his heels. Once he got to the bottom of the hill she pealed off and went back up to her pigs.

True story. Wife saw the whole thing too. We had a great laugh.

 

[RobJ]

well we have those agressive deer here in texas. ok i meant dogs!! i think you figured that one out.

 

[N80]

ok i meant dogs!! i think you figured that one out.

Sure, but deep down I really wanted to see deer running hogs!

 

[RonMar]

Well, this bow fits fine in my left hand the way I would have expected. But, there is a little shelf, just above where my hand is that I assume is where the arrow rests. I would have thought this shelf would have been on the right side of the grip but it is on the left side of the grip. Is this correct? It just seems a little awkward to me, but then I haven't had a bow of any kind in my hand in 30 years.

The shelf above the shooting hand allows the bow to be drawn and fired in any position from horizontal(bow hand gripping with palm down and limbs parallel with the ground) to vertical. This allows a hunter to shoot from many different forms of cover, including sitting/kneeling behind a log. Canting the bow to the side can also help with perspective and estimation of where to "hold" for different distance targets. When I shoot traditional, the closer the target inside 20 yards, the more I lay the bow over to the side.

You didn't mention anything about fingertabs. Repeated string sliding across fingers will also get just as irritating as the string wacking the unprotected fore-arm. You might also try some variations. Some prefer tabs, some prefer a glove type(I prefer a thin deerskin 3 finger glove). I started out shooting a little longbow when I was a kid, bare handed and bare armed. Traipsing around thru the woods with a bow around where I grew up are some of the fondest memories I have, even counting the sore fingers and forearm I am still flinging arrows all these years later(I have 6 bows now and only one is a compound).

Arrow spine will also play a big part in his consistincey. If the bow/arrow combo are consistent, he will get real good real fast as he will be able to learn from each shot he takes and make corrections. IF they are not properly matched, it is like trying to teach someone to shoot a rifle with loose sights. They will get frustrated and not be able to improve as there is no ryme or reason to the corrections and expected results.

Correct arrow spine as well as correct string to shelf/rest alignment can often be gauged by how the arrows impact and stick into the target. SOme use what is called paper tuneing to gauge this movement, and the really good ones can gauge it just by watching hte arrow in flight.

With a finger release, the arrow swims off the bow(a factor of the string sliding sideways off the fingers imparting some sideward motion at the beginning). A properly spined arrow will absorb some of this swim and the arrow will quickly straighten out and fly true. An improper arrow spine will amplify this swimming motion and take longer to stabilize and will still be swimming when it impacts the target, sticking at a slight angle to the line of flight. If you are not versed in this type tuneing, I HIGHLY reccomend you consult an archery shop so they can help you get your son off to a successfull start, instead of a frustrating experience that is nothing like he imagined it would be.

 

[N80]

Thanks for the tips Ron. Fortunately he has taken some archery courses. They were low level courses, but its a start.