Today was a snow day off from trapping and so I asked Winemaker what she would like me to do since I was home….she said, nothing.  She didn’t count on me being home and she would continue to do what she had planned and they didn’t include me!  OK!  Then I’ll try and make myself a quiver to hold my arrows.

I went scrounging for materials and this is what I found:

I have been on line and found what others have done using PVC pipe, Pringles tubes, even tubes that Christmas wrap comes on.  But I want mine to look special.  How special?  Well, I’ve never made one so let’s learn and do this together.

I have some leather from a very poorly built leather scabbard I won, a fairly large piece of wool material that came from Marla Jo making my capote many years ago.  A bag of leather scraps.  The trimmings off a felt hat.  Lots of artificial sinew and a needle and scissors.

I have more than that, but I had decided this is what I was going to make my quiver out of and I really am leaning toward the wool material.

Any good quiver is going to have an open end in which to put the arrows….right?  So I grabbed the felt scraps and bent it around in a circle….hmmmmm….looks like if I attached the two ends together it would make an adequate quiver opening.

So, I made a cut and got a board, hammer and a nail….gotta make holes in order to sew it together.

The needle and sinew were next to grab and sew, sew, sew….

Ok, once I have both ends made, how am I going to hold them together?  Gotta find something.

Whenever I’m faced with an unknown like this, I wander around the house looking for something that might work.  Down in the basement I found an old wooden ramrod.  That would work just fine.  I came up, made a guesstimate as to how long it should be and went to the shop to cut it off.  I figured about 16 inches should be good enough for my quiver.  Out at the shop I saw a wooden dowel under my toolbox lid!  Hey!  That is smaller in diameter, plenty stiff….that will work just fine!

I put the ramrod back and pushed the dowel into the sewn parts of the felt ends.

Hey, now I need a way for the arrows to stop and not drop through to the ground.  A wood plug?  Leather?  How will I attach it to the felt circle?  I could cut a wood plug the size of the inside of the felt circle and then tack it with small tacks or brads….hmmmmm, again.

Scrounging through the bag of leather scraps I found an old mountain man belt I had made about 30 years ago.  It was about 3 inches wide and who says the bottom felt has to be round.  Why not oval?  That’s it!  If I place the leather on the outside of the felt and scrunch it together and sew it, it will make a fine bottom for my quiver!

Heck ya!  That will work just fine!  Now for the outer part….leather or wool cloth?  Leather?  Wool Cloth?  I tried them both and came away thinking the wool cloth looked a whole lot better than the leather.  I’ll make a leather one some other time.

I placed the wool on the parts I had and held it firmly with both hands.  It looked like it will work just fine.  After all, I’m just making a bag to hold arrows in right?  Once I was convinced it would work, I pinched down on the parts where I would begin my sewing and grabbed up the needle and sinew.  Stitching this way and that (I’m not very good at sewing) and trying not to make it look like too much of a mess, I finally arrived at something that will hold arrows and also tie onto my belt.

It might not look like much to you, but to me it will be a whole lot better than carrying around a box that holds my arrows!

There you go!  Quivers made easy!

Bears Butt

March 3, 2015

The second day of the Golden Spike 3D shoot was just as much, if not more, fun than the first day.   I was not sure what to expect on that first day but was totally ready for day number 2.  I wanted to get there to help where I could, but also wanted to shoot for the fun of it.

Weasel and I got a little practice in down at the fun shoot area.  We tossed in a few bucks and took a few shots at the clay pigeons.  I even managed to hit a few at that 30 yard range.  I wasn’t about to try and thread one through that big old hole in the “Iron Maiden” however.  But a few guys gave it a go and there were a lot of “BOINGS” to be heard.  Each boing cost the archer an arrow.  Weasel managed to thread one down through it for a perfect shot.

Well, I was a little more “on my game” during the shooting.  I’d have to say more relaxed than the day before is more like it.  And with Weasel and our shooting partner Mr. Brimberry shooting for serious money, I tried not to get in their way.  My arrows were always far and away from any money shots.  Not by choice mind you, more like, lucky I hit the foam.

There was this “one time” however:

That’s Bears Butt’s arrow closest to the red dot.  Not quite enough for a 12, but a good solid 10!  And I’ll take that any day!

There were others having a great time hitting the reds and scoring 12’s.

You have to admit it doesn’t get any better than that at 60 yards!  Nearly a perfectly placed shot!

And then of course the dreaded Alligator.  One of my shots at that critter, hit the dirt just in front of it, bounced up and hit the log in behind it and ended up outside the shooting area.  Luckily my arrow didn’t have enough force to poke a hole in the arena siding and ended up resting nicely in a safe place to be picked up during cleanup.  But, some shooters tagged out with 12’s in the scoring, like this young lady!

It doesn’t get much better!

I noticed today there were fewer hunters in the woods than on day one.  I suppose more people had figured out how to shoot and keep the arrows out of the trees.  Whatever the case the house was just as full on day two as it was on day one.

The signup ended at 3 p.m., but the shooting continued until everyone had their shots done.  As the last group of shooters worked their way down to the final station, the clean up crew were moving targets and taking down trees and signs.  I was very impressed with the organization of this group of bowmen.

And when it was all over the arena looked better than it did when the setup first began!

(This picture is of the arena when we first started to set up, Weasel was supposed to send me a copy of a picture after cleanup, but I haven’t gotten it yet).

A very fun time!  Thank you Brigham Bowmen for pulling off this great shoot.  Well over 400 archers came to this fun time!  Next year the goal is over 500 shooters!  Let’s make it happen!

Oh, my first day of shooting netted me a fun score of 230 and with some limited knowledge about the targets and less of them jumping the string, I came through with a whopping 260 on day two!  I’ll take that score and the fact that on day one I had 22 “zeros”…..Day two was an improvement of only 19 “zeros”!  WAHOOO for me!

Bears Butt

March 2, 2015

Yesterday was day one of this 3D shoot and the very first one I have ever been to.  It was very fun to shoot in it and not exactly what I had expected.  My light poundage bow did very well and it actually can shoot out to 60 yards pretty good.  I actually hit the buffalo out at that range with it!  The whole range setup is pretty cool, and with arrows flying all over the place at the same time it is amazing arrows don’t collide in flight.  I’m sure over time it does happen.  The folks who were there enjoying the day all had fun.

There sure could be more spectators to this event and perhaps as more and more people get into archery that will come to be.  In the meantime, we will just enjoy it as it is.

I don’t know how many shooters came out to this event, but the line was pretty full all day long.  With how the shoot has to be conducted I think I was on the line shooting for about 3 hours.  Maybe less, but it did take quite awhile.  The spectators that were there all had someone they were watching participate and that was interesting to watch as well.  The first shooting station is WAYYYYY down at the far end of the picture above this statement and as the shooting progresses, the shooters move down toward the close end of this picture.  25 stations in all.  The spectators worked their way down the bleachers along with the shooters.  Heckling and fun was had all along the way.  Friends and family all out for a good time!  Some very serious shooters and a ton of not so serious shooters.  I had to be one that was not so serious because I sure shot a lot of dirt….actually….I killed the dirt real good!

Once the shooters shot their two shots each, they closed the line and everyone went down to retrieve their arrows and score their targets (at least those who were actually scoring, some were just shooting to be shooting and having fun doing it).  People were criss-crossing all over the arena because of the way it was set up.  It was fun no matter.

If you are reading this and want to come out and see what it is all about, please do.  You won’t regret it!  They have a food vendor there that does smoked food…..even smoked pizza!  I’ve never heard of smoked pizza, but they came and gave us a sample of it and it was wonderful!  They also have smoked pulled pork and rib sandwiches….YUMMY STUFF!  A couple of other vendors are there selling archery related gear as well!  The Brigham Bowmen are raffling off some very cool stuff and they have a fun shoot going on where you can play to win tickets for a great bow sight they are giving away.  Shoot an arrow through a hole in a big metal plate and you get 5 tickets towards winning that sight.  Or shoot and hit a clay pigeon and win a ticket for it as well.  I’ll tell you right now, there were a LOT of arrows that didn’t make it through that hole!  BOING!  $6 down the tube!  Arrows are not cheap!  But there were a lot of folks that could thread that arrow right down that hole with no problem….not me!  My arrows are sacred to me.  I will be shooting at the clay birds though.  If I win the sight I won’t have any reason to keep it as it doesn’t fit on a traditional bow.

No matter if you are interested in archery or not, you should treat yourself by coming out and seeing what these folks are doing!  Weasel is shooting for score today and I hope he wins some cash.  It will cost him $30 to shoot for the money.  He will have to do better today than he did yesterday in order to win anything, but he posted up a pretty impressive score yesterday even at that.  FUN!  I ended up with a 230 score (possible 600)!

Scoring went like this:  Hit the red dot on the target and get 12 points.  Any hit in the kill zone got you 10 and a hit anywhere else on the target got an 8.  My first two targets were dirt balls and the third I bounced one in to the leg for a solid 8.  Then another zero followed by 3 8’s in a row!  I was getting hot at that point!  With a ton of luck I hit the kill zone for a 10 on target number 8!  Number 9 was another leg hit and target 10 I hit two kill zones!  That wouldn’t happen again until target number 25, where I scored two 10’s on the carp!  It is hard to imagine not getting 10’s at targets less than 10 feet away!

Well, I’ll end this with my favorite picture of the whole day and probably the whole event.  I don’t know who the gentleman was that brought his young son out, but there is something to be said about a young shooter enjoying the day.  He shot 6 arrows at every target as he went along with his dad.

THIS IS WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT FOLKS!

Bears Butt

March 1, 2015

Yesterday I had the pleasure of working my butt off for something I’ve never done before.  In this picture please notice there is plywood all around the outside of this dirt field.  Well, that wasn’t all that was put out yesterday.  We actually added more plywood than you see in this picture.  The object of the plywood is to stop arrows from hitting the building.  Hopefully arrows will stay within the dirt area, but I’m not really sure that will happen.

Here is what I understand is going to happen for the next two days.  First off you have to know there are 25 stations for each of the archers to “enjoy”.  Each archer will shoot 2 shots from each of these stations and each arrow is to be shot at pre-determined targets and at ranges that vary from a few feet to many yards away.  Some target are large and some are very small.  None of the targets move, which is a good thing.  Well, by move I mean they don’t run or jump, they might sway back and forth because of the way they are mounted.  So, put 50 archers out on the line (2 archers p/station), sound the “shoot” whistle and 50 archers are going to try to hit their particular target.  Some targets are kitty corner across the field from both directions.  Some are straight in front of the archer, some are at a diagonal from where they are standing, either right or left of them.  Close, far, in the middle.  Can you imagine 50 arrows flying through the air at the same time from all directions?  Well, that is the fun the people in the stands will enjoy!  Sort of like watching a car race and hoping for a crash.  There are people who like that sort of thing.

Well, let me tell you there is a whole lot of work that goes into setting up a tournament like this archery event.  I’d like to now post up some picture I took yesterday of this arena coming together to look like an archery event is going to take place.

So, start with an empty arena and add the plywood.

Stand up a bunch of old Christmas trees and unload the 3D targets.  What do you have right now?  A mess.

You know what?  It takes a lot of people to pull this sort of thing off in such a short amount of time.

Someone has to put the stands on the trees if we are going to have them looking like a forest.

And what is an archery event like this without a lake?  Nothing!  HEY!  Quit showing off and get to work!  This looks like a typical government job…..One supervisor, one goof off and one worker.

Hey!  This is starting to take shape.  Maybe it will be done before the starting time.

I think I could hit that close target.

Let’s have some lunch!  Pizza and water!  There were lots of choices too!  Thanks Chris and Brigham Bowmen for the lunch, it was great!

Now, you have to know, I was in the middle of helping out and only once in awhile was I afforded time to take any pictures.  I almost lost my camera in this maylay and fortunately someone picked it up, otherwise it would have been buried in one of the piles of dirt used as backstops for some of the targets.

When you need a mountain….bring in a digger machine!

Targets are high and low!  Remember, don’t shoot at the antlers!

Now we are getting serious.  Placing red dots on the kill zones!

From an empty arena to this in just a few hours!  Now for the finishing touches.

Each of the 25 stations is placed along a line.  There is planned for two shooters at each station and each will be shooting at their respective target.  Most targets have two animals to be shot, but some only have one animal that needs to be hit twice.  One is a bear on a stump and the object is to hit the bear and the stump.  You will see that in a minute.

Well, it takes time to get them all trained to stand up.

It appears it is easier to train elk than is is to train foxes.

Now we are going to go down the line and let you see what the archers are looking at when they are at each of the stations.  Remember there are 25 stations!

I can’t remember what the targets are for each of the stations, but you will get the idea when you see which target looks like it is the most “broadside” to you.  Each one has a sign near it that tells the shooter “Hey, I’m your guy”!  Binoculars and range finders are both welcome in this event!  Even one guy gets to use a cross bow!  I hope I get to see him today when I go up to play.

See that elk way down there?  That is your target from this station!

Don’t shoot the close guys!  Those are for the kids!

How about this tricky shot.  Two foxes and one is on the other side of the pipe!  Gotta shoot through the pipe!

There are your targets folks, a deer and a cougar and try and miss the tree while you’re at it!

This will be fun!  Sitting in a chair and shooting out of a blind!

Ah Ha!  Kill the two wolverines!

Two fighting Jackalopes!  Get em boys!

And then a laying down bull elk!

It’s hard to see but there is a bear and the stump in there somewhere.  Let me see if I can make it bigger.

Here you go, shoot that Caribou down there.  And remember there is someone on the other end shooting at the standing bull elk at the same time!

Well you shot at the Caribou, now shoot for the buffalo!

And you are almost done.  You have shot big targets!  Small targets!  Close targets and far away targets.  You have shot and barely missed.  You have shot and barely hit!  You have shot and didn’t even make it to the target.  You have shot and lost your arrow in the forest.  You have shot and hit the sign that marked the target.  But wait!  You still have one more station!

It’s really close!  You should easily hit these guys!

Well, there you have it!  An event that will go down in history as one of the best!  Come on out and see what these guys have put together!  The event goes for today and tomorrow.  It’s at the Box Elder County Fair grounds in the newest building there.  An indoor arena that is heated, has lots of seating and every seat is a good one.  Follow your favorite archer as they move down the line taking their best shots!  Eat at the concession stand and buy some raffle tickets!

The Brigham Bowmen have really outdone themselves this year!  COME ON OUT AND ENJOY!

Bears Butt

February 28, 2015

This picture looks pretty interesting and today Weasel and I are going to be part of a team setting up for a 3D archery event that is taking place this weekend in Tremonton.  Having never even seen such a setup will be extremely interesting to me and hopefully I’ll  get to shoot in the event this weekend as well.  I have heard there will be targets from close up to as far away as 60 yards.  60 yards?  I hope it ain’t a rabbit out that far….maybe an elephant!

At any rate, we will be taking in old Christmas trees to make the event more realisitc.  I’ll take a bunch of pictures and post up today’s set up and also plan on covering the entire event over the next two days as well.  These guys, The Brigham Bowmen, work their butts off for the archery sporting world and deserve a hand.

If you aren’t doing anything tomorrow or Sunday, you really need to come out and see what is going on.  It will be held at the Box Elder Fair Grounds in Tremonton and it is inside the brand new indoor arena.  I understand there will be vendors there with goods and services offered as well as food!  We will know more tomorrow!

Bears Butt

February 27, 2015

The lanes were filled to near capacity last night as it seems most everyone was there to post up league scores for week 4.  Being new to this whole deal it seemed VERY crowded, however, everyone stayed in their particular portion of their shooting lane and it was quite organized.  Here is a picture of the shooters down range scoring their targets.

With that many shooters there has to be some kind of “safe” and “organized” method to allow everyone equal opportunity to shoot and not be disturbed while doing so.  From my limited knowledge, when it gets this crowded, the lane captain (in last nights case, the lane captain was Weasel), will call for “double line” shooting.  What does that mean to you and me?  I suppose right now I should show you what the range looks like when nobody is around.

This picture shows a double row of “bunks” (bunks is what I call the big blocks of foam material that stops the arrows).  The Brigham Bowmen have a range that looks almost exactly like this one.  So, you have upper bunks and lower bunks on which to put your target.  When the shooters come up to shoot, they will place their target on either the upper or lower bunk to start with.  And with any competition, there are stinking rules.  No matter whether you place your target on the range, upper or lower bunk, after half way through the shooting, you will move your target to the other bunk.  HEY!  Don’t ask me!  I just follow the stinking rules.

So, folks come down to shoot and do as well as they can, but remember, no alcohol is allowed in the range building, but also remember, you left it at home and it’s getting warmer by the minute.  So, you want to get down there, shoot your target, get is scored and signed off and get back home as quick as you can!  Here is where the double line comes in to play.

Multiple targets down range!  Some on the top bunks, some on the bottom bunks.

If you are shooting in a lane with someone else and their target is on the bottom bunk, you honor their position and let them shoot first.  When they are finished, they move out of the way and allow you to shoot your target on the upper bunk.  It stays organized and civil.  However, if you are the only one with a target on your bunk it doesn’t matter if you are on the top or bottom, you can go ahead and shoot whenever you wish.  It’s the “lane sharing” folks that have to live by the stinking double line rule.  That is the price you pay to have someone who likes to be close to you.

So, last night was week 4 scoring for Weasel, Squirrel and I.  With this weeks trapping and archery and orchestra happenings, I felt Monday was the only day I could go up and have a “sort of relaxing” shoot in which to score.  And it was obvious that a lot of folks felt the same way.

Squirrel did not want to take my soda money away from me last night and so we just shot for our scores.  I offered, he turned it down and I’m glad.  Wait till you see the results of the scoring last night.  Conner came up as well just to get some practice in and both he and Squirrel were shooting some impressive groups.  Squirrel even took more quarters from Weasel with his “X” shooting!

Conner kept his score on his target and came away with a very impressive 212 (I think).  When you think about a 212 against a 300 that is not a bad score for someone relatively new to this sport.  The target we are shooting requires 60 shots in sets of 5 p/end and to shoot a 212, that means you gave up about 1 1/2 points each time you shot, or in other words, with a 5 being the most you can score p/shot, you averaged 3 1/2 points each time you shot.  Averages are meant to make you feel good.

(I worked with a guy who liked to golf and when he shot a bad hole, he would always put his “average” score down on his score sheet rather than the score he actually shot.  I know!  I know!  That is not how you are supposed to do it, but that was his way of making himself feel good).

Squirrel was shooting extremely well last night and came away with a scratch score (no handicap added in) of an even 200!  Someday I’m going to grow up and shoot a 200 score.

We were scoring a couple next to us and they were scoring us (that is another example of following a stinking rule) and he said to me “That little guy is kicking my butt tonight”!  I told him to get used to it, he is just now getting his game on.

Well, let me remind you of myself.  Recurve bow, no sights, 7 lessons under my belt, limited practice time, old, tired out from trapping, arrows I’m told are not made for my bow (is there anything else I can throw in here?)…..my raw score….144!

I was ON FIRE last night!  I only gave up 2.6 points each time I shot!  AND, I’ll add, I only missed the target (paper) 6 times!  AND…I got an X!

That 144, my friends, is my personal best!

Bears Butt

February 24, 2015

Most archery nuts like to wish they could shoot their arrows and have them hit the target like this one.  It’s all our dream and some of the better people can do just that, or at least get close to it.  For the rest of us our dream is a little bigger than that.  I like to just hit the target….anywhere.

If I could do as good as this target shows I would be very happy.

My problem of late is the fact that I can’t seem to get the right arrows for my bow.  I’m learning a thing or two about arrows in my attempt to find ones that fit my bow and my type of shooting.  You see, most people shooting bows and arrows use compound bows.  They kind with wheels and strings going everywhere around the bow.  They have sights and long stabilizers sticking out the front, the sides and the back.  They are rock solid when it comes to shooting and the arrows fly straight and hit very hard.  The targets down range don’t have a chance.

Me, on the other hand, have a recurve bow, with no sights, no stabilizers, no wheels….just a stick with a string on it.  That’s all OK….I like it that way….simple.  And to hit the target is all on me to make it happen.  BUT, I need the right arrows.

There is a thing called “Archers Paradox”, you’ve no doubt read about it on here, or seen videos about how it works.  You nock the arrow, pull back the string and let it fly down range.  Upon movement toward the target, the arrow has to overcome the “nothingness” of being resting on the arrow rest.  You know, resting.  When that resting arrow is interrupted by the string and power in the bow’s limbs, forcing it to fly somewhere away from the rest, the arrow actually bends and it bends around the handle of the bow.  Once cleared from the bow handle the arrow wants to bend back the other way and then fly toward the target with ever smaller and smaller bending from side to side.  Like a fish tail.

So, what I have learned so far is that the stiffness of the arrow has everything to do with that bending process.  In order to achieve the correct archers paradox, the arrow has to be able to bend properly.  That bending must be proper for the draw weight of the bow.  The more powerful the bow, the stiffer the arrow shaft has to be.  My bow is considered a light weight.  It is only a 30 pound draw weight and so to find an arrow with a light weight stiffness is my latest problem.  I have contacted two different archery places and asked them to provide me with proper arrows for my 30 pound bow.  Both of them have provided me with arrows that are too stiff.  Experts?  I’m sure they shoot bows and arrows all the time and in my mind they sold me arrows that worked for them at some time or another when they began shooting bows.  But they probably started out with what they considered light weight bows in probably 40 to 50 pound draw weights.  I’m guessing.

Well, if I were their boss’s I would commend them on a job well done.  They sold me some pretty expensive arrows and I’ll be back to buy more.

Now, I have been researching arrows and spine weights and what can be done to make them work for my bow.  My buddy and mentor Lynn told me that the 500 spine weight arrows I have been using are too stiff and I need 600 spine weight arrows.  He also told me I could add weight to the front of the arrow to make the 500’s work with my bow.  His words were something like this:  Add weight to the front of the arrow to make it bend more.  Add weight to the back of the arrow to make it bend less.

When thinking about this theory, or law, or whatever it is, I like to think in extremes.  So, to add weight to the front of the arrow to make the spine weaker, I will add a huge block of lead, maybe 5 pounds of lead, melted to the point of the arrow.  I’m going to teach this arrow spine to bend and it will bend damn it!

Try shooting that one!  When you draw back and let that string go, the only thing that is going to happen is the arrow is going to break in half and teach the shooter a lesson on broken arrow shaft penetration!

On the other end of the spectrum, adding weight to the back or the nock area of the arrow will make the shaft stiffer.  Add that same 5 pound chunk of lead to the nock area and try shooting it.  The first pain will be in your bow holding hand, the second pain will be the doctor bill and the cost to replace the bow.  There is a lot to be said about “the stiffer the shaft”.

So, there is definitely something to be said about “compromise” when it comes to adding weight to either end of an arrow.  Try cutting the weight of that lead block down by half.  And then half again, and half again and half again.  At some point in time, your experimenting will arrive at the right amount of weight to be added to get your arrow to fly straight as a dart and end up where you desire it to be in the target.  That is, if all other things remain the same.  Remember form, draw, stance, bow straight, anchor points, release and follow through.

Well, I’m not the first person shooting a bow that has come across this issue of finding the proper arrow for my bow and this is what is so frustrating to me at this point.  Why on earth can’t I go to a store and buy the arrow I need?  How hard can that be?  They should be over stocked with arrows that will work for me and my bow…but NOOOOO!  The store guys always say the same thing, they must be taught it when they begin working at the arrow department….We Don’t Gots your arrows….

Let’s look a the following charts and try to figure this out on our own:

You must know the parts of the arrow first of all in order to properly fit your arrow to your bow.  This chart shows you just what you need to know.

Next you need to know what size the arrow is and how much it weighs in gpi (grains per inch).  Then the flex in the spine in inches.  And don’t forget what we have already said about the weight in the front of the arrow and the weight in the back of the arrow.  Both of those will affect the flex…If you have too much weight in the front it will flex more and if you add weight to the back at the same time you will take that flex away and maybe even make it stiffer.  So the weight of the tip and the weight of the nock have to compliment each other.  And with that it is a good thing there is a distance between those two worlds.  “Hey tip, you sure are a cutie!”  “Nock it off bucko or I’ll reverse the archer paradox and have you hit the target first”!

 This chart is tossed in here just so you can see that someone made a chart about arrow drop vs distance shot and how much energy is still left once the arrow reaches that distance.  Nothing more and besides you are not really interested in these charts anyway.  You just want Bears Butt to find the right arrow and get on with shooting perfect scores, right?

This chart is to show you how you can be nocked up.

This picture shows you how not to miss the target.

And the last one is me trying to figure out what arrow I need.

Bears Butt

February 22, 2015

After a full day of trapping and several hours in the skinning shed, Weasel, Squirrel and I hit the range for some “bow time”.  Squirrel and I had to post up our week 3 scores for the league and Weasel is trying for a personal best at practice.  For some extra fun, Squirrel and I had a shoot off to see who would owe who 50 cents.  We worked with our handicaps and when it was over Squirrel beat me by 12 points.  My game was way off, well, maybe it was right on, I’m not sure at this point in the learning curve.  But the score I turned in for week 3 was not very high, 97.

I missed the paper several times and I’m not sure why.  I’ll blame it on lack of practice.  Maybe I was tired from the trap line and skinning shed.  Maybe I needed a couple of beers.  I don’t know for sure, but one of these weeks, I’ll get into a groove and settle down.

Bears Butt

February 21, 2015

My friend Lynn made me an arrow rest that looks very similar to this one and placed it on my bow.  The arrow shaft rests on top of it and helps to keep the fletchings (feathers on the back of the arrow) from hitting the bow.

Last night I went to the archery range to post up my third weeks league score.  I was pumped to get a good score with my new found knowledge (taught in the last two lessons).  I have not had the practice I need, but none the less I can practice and still post up my score.  All of this “getting good at archery” takes thousands of arrows being shot.  So, the other day I was told the arrows I am so proud to own and shoot are the wrong size for my bow.  Not that they aren’t good arrows, they are just not flexible enough for the bow weight I’m shooting right now.  Maybe in a year or so when my bow weight it up around 45 pounds or so.

Well, Chris wanted me to try some arrows she had at home and met me at the range with them last night.  Really nice looking arrows in a 600 spine weight.  Just what I’ve been told I need to be shooting out of my bow.  I was quite excited to try her arrows and was ready to shoot all of hers (11 of them) and then my 5 and see the difference.  When the lane captain called for the archers to go to the line, I was ready.  I nocked up one of her arrows, set myself, drew back and anchored and followed through with one of my best shots….The arrow came off the bow twisting and turning all the way to the arrow bunk…I missed the target, but safely planted her arrow in the bunk…undamaged.

However, when I went to place number two arrow on the rest, the rest was gone!  I looked down range on the floor and there that little bugger laid.  This is not good and my night was over before it had even began.

Chris let me use some glue they had there for securing just this sort of thing back onto the bow, but it would have needed an hour or so to dry in order to be secure enough to shoot off it.  So even after a half hour of trying to get it to secure to the bow, I knew I was defeated and packed up my stuff and came home.

I have since secured it with a double sticky backed picture hanging material and it seems to be holding very well.  In fact, this sticky backed stuff was quite un-forgiving as where I placed the feather arrow rest on it, there it was and there was no un-doing what I had done.  I had to trim off the excess picture hanging stuff around the arrow rest.  And I was very careful in placing that on the bow.  All is well now and I will add some of this double sticky stuff to my growing bow shooting bag.  The bag for which I have not gotten from DI as yet.

I have also changed my order for arrows from Lancaster and asked them to make them 600 spine weight arrows for the four that they still owe me.  We will see how that goes.

Bears Butt

February 20, 2015

Lesson 6 last night and I almost missed it.  After trapping all day, then skinning 32 rats (with Bob of course), my butt was whipped bad!  All I felt like doing after 6 p.m. was sitting back, relaxing and drinking a few brews.  I could have gone to bed right then.  Well, I called Weasel, who was already at the archery lanes and told him to tell my instructor, Chris, I wouldn’t make it.  Then I sat back, watching a little tube, and drank two beers.  I was starting to feel human again.  So I ate supper and felt great.  I told Winemaker I was going to the archery lesson and off I went.

I’m sure glad I didn’t miss this one.  Chris had us shooting at a single target, about the size of the one in the picture above.  Well not quite that big, but pretty big.  It’s the same one we are shooting at for this league shoot I’m in.  But that is not the point of this writing.

Chris had us shooting our 5 arrow ends and after the third end, she came over to me and Sandra (both of us shooting recurve bows) and said something like this: “There is one thing we have not told you recurve shooters about arrow alignment with the target.  When you look at the compound bow shooters you see all sorts of stuff hanging off their bows that helps them get aligned with the target.  They not only have sights, but bubble levels.  Your bow must be level in order to consistently shoot where you want it to shoot”.

Now that is not exactly what she said, but that is what I took from it.

She went on.  “When you draw back your bow and get into your anchor position, align the bow string up with the shaft of the arrow.  Concentrate on the target and follow through with your shot”.

I was skeptical and told her as much.  But then said I would try it.  When I did, the arrow hit at 12 o’clock above the X, about 8 inches high.  HMMMMM.  I looked over at Chris, who was looking back at me with a smile.  My thought went to alignment, and how the arrow hit straight up and down from the center of the bull.  I nocked another arrow and followed the same routine.  The arrow flew like it had a mind of its own and lodged into the X!  Amazing!  I finished with four of the five arrows around and touching the bulls eye!

Chris took a picture of my X arrow and sent it off to e-land.

I was so elated, I told her “Chris, you just unleashed the beast”!!!!

My next 5 arrows felt really good and all came within the 4 count ring of the X.  After that they got a little wild, but still within the counting rings.  She said she wanted me to walk away from the shooting lanes and concentrate on something totally different than shooting.  Go look at the activity board or something.  Which I did and when I came back she had put a ballon over my X ring and four count rings.

I asked her about the balloon and she said just shoot it.  Now here is where things get really interesting.  I concentrated on a spot on the balloon and fired my first shot.  As big as that balloon was how can I miss with my new found knowledge?  Well, I did miss it.  In fact I missed it with all 5 arrows!  How can that be?  I readied myself for my next 5 arrow end and shot them with the same result…misses!  This is crazy!  I was doing so well, now what is going on?

Chris took the balloon away and posted it next to my target.  Told me to shoot two arrows at my target and the next three at the balloon.  My two arrow targets hit in the 3 count ring on my target and my first arrow at the balloon was dead center.  I shot the next two at the deflated balloon, hitting close enough to it that if it had been inflated they would have popped it.

There is some psychological thing going on here and Chris didn’t explain it to me.  I’ll be digging in to find out just what was playing with my mind and why I didn’t pop it with my first arrow.

So, there you have my lesson number 6!  Look out scoring rings, I’m coming to poke holes in you!

Bears Butt

February 12, 2015