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Hi other hunting thread! After years of being on the fence I’m jumping into hunting this year. I’m in Florida and my intended game is going to be wild pigs and deer. A few questions. 1. How big a cooler do I need for a field dressed animal and how long do I have to get it to the butcher to process? Or how feasible is it to do butchering at home? I don’t have a barn or shed but I have a large kitchen island that has enough space to work on a quarter at a time. I wouldn’t mind getting a small meat grinder but I don’t really want to go much further as far a equipment. 2. Is there a guide to public land hunting etiquette out there other than what’s in the hunter safety course (i used the NRA course)? 3. I know bow hunting is getting into advanced hunting, but when it comes to public land at least I would much rather stick to archery season than gun season. My scouting so far has been internet based but it looks like typical shooting lanes are 30-50 yards whether you are using a bow or rifle. I expect I would be hunting out of a tree stand or maybe a pop up blind. Am I putting myself at a severe disadvantage if I jump straight into bow hunting? 4. Speaking of tree stands, I’m looking into going with a tree saddle over a tree stand. The reduced bulk and increased mobility look really attractive. No one in TFR had first hand experience but people said they heard good things. Anyone here ever tried one?
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Jul 24, 2020 23:51
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CarpenterWalrus posted:My immediate family has about 500 acres of lightly wooded farmland in central IL and I'm thinking of the rabbits there--pretty fat and lazy. Whenever I visit to help out around the farm, it's not unusual to get within twenty feet of them before they take off. Clearly, I'll not be picking off rabbits in Naperville yards. As for guns, my spouse has chronic depression and I do not want a gun in the house, so I'd have to store it somewhere and it'd be more trouble than it's worth to get out of storage for practice or hunting. I'm not anti-gun, per se, and I enjoy shooting them, but I'm going to fail at bow hunting before I get gun. I've looked into the Learn to Hunt program and they're not offering anything now, but I will certainly keep my eye on anything they offer in the future. Hi there "wants to jump straight into bow hunting" buddy. I'm a new hunter looking to start out with bow hunting too. The more I look at it, the more likely my first couple of hunts at least will be rifle, but, you have a totally valid reason for not wanting firearms in the house. Still for small game hunting, particularly rabbits, any bow and especially a traditional bow is going to present difficulties even if your rabbits are as non-pressured as you think. In addition to the hide in plain sight behaviors mentioned previously, rabbits obviously have excellent hearing. They are going to hear the arrow leave the string and be bolting in an unexpected direction before the arrow clears the rest. They might not know that the sound of a bowstring is dangerous per se but at best they will know its not normal and their reaction is going to be to flee. I'm not sure what your predator situation is but rabbits are generally very attuned to raptors (i.e hawks, etc.) and the sound of something flying towards them will once again trigger a bolting reaction, even if they don't bolt at the sound of the string. Even very good hunting recurve bows do not generally have the speed factor of an entry level compound bow from an established manufacturer. And very good recurve bows are very expensive (though very cool). Assuming a rabbit doesn't bolt when you stop and draw, you will definitely need to be able to line up and then lead the shot, which brings you into holding the draw. Compound bows have "let off" meaning that a bow might have a draw weight of say 60 pounds but at full draw you only have to hold 25%% to 20% of that weight. That's (one of) the reasons hunters overwhelmingly use them. You can draw and then take your (relative) sweet time to line up your shot. Traditional bows do not have this. You can check out recurve shooters on Youtube but holding full draw for a five count would be a pretty long hold. On the other hand I watched a guy on a hunting show hold a compound bow at full draw for over a minute waiting for an Elk to break cover and then successfully execute the shot at around 35 yards. Really for your situation I would look into an air rifle. One suitable for hunting small game can be had for under $200.00 with an effective range of ~30-50 yards. However at very close range you are looking at something as potentially deadly as a .22 long rifle, so if that concerns you and you really want to stick to a bow, then I would suggest looking into an entry level compound bow. You will have to learn your draw length, because a compound bow will have to be set to that, but you can do that at home. There a number of methods you can google. Diamond Archery and Bear Archery both offer entry level bows that you can adjust both draw length and draw weight without anything more than an Allen wrench. I found a seller on ebay selling the new old stock of the discontinued version of the bear entry level (Bear Cruzer vs Cruzer G2) set up in a "ready to hunt" package (means it included sights, quiver, whisker biscuit, etc.) for $240.00. https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Bear-A...fac95%7Ciid%3A1 Before shipping they set it to my requested draw length and draw weight. I started at 50 pounds which was really heavier than I should have, but I am at 65 pounds now, and it is very easy to adjust at home. As long as you don't draw longer than 30 inches (you probably don't) its also pretty easy to adjust the draw length if you need to change it for some reason. If i stick with this I am sure I will want something nicer, but this provides a decent place to start and room to grow. What is not included is a release aid, which for a decent budget model will be another ~$50.00 and can go much higher. All this does bring you into the lower end of budget hunting rifle territory even on a close out deal like above. Now if I were going to get a budget recurve I would probably get this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Bear-Arche...fac95%7Ciid%3A1 Bear is known for good traditional bows. You would still need a sight (and maybe a stabilizer), but this is a pretty good set up. While a 50 pound draw on a recurve might be overkill as far as killing force for a rabbit, any lower and I don't think you would have even a fighting chance as far as arrow speed versus fleeing rabbit. The arrows included might be fine for practice but I would not expect them to be good enough to hunt with. You will also want a release aid for traditional bow. I am not sure what those go for. If you are new to archery this will be very heavy especially with no let off at full draw. Sights run from $25.00 to the hundreds of dollars, depending on features. The one that came with my bow is probably $25.00 retail. Add that and the package above is about $185.00. You still save some money but I think you will be wishing you paid the extra $55.00 for more holding time, adjustability of draw weight, arrow speed, and other features if you hunt with it. Whether you go compound or traditional, arrows will be something you will want to study up on. You will likely want around a dozen at least. Six for practice and six for hunting. Gold Tip and Carbon Express make moderately priced quality hunting arrows. You can get them pre-fletched but you will need them to be cut to correspond to your draw length. Some bow packages include them (like the one above) but the arrows are usually not high quality. This actually can have a place for practice as low quality arrows will punish your mistakes more and as a result tighten up your form. However hunting arrows that are the correct stiffness and length are simply a huge step up. After about a month of my crappy amazon practice arrows I got a set of Gold Tips. It was like going from launching telephone poles to shooting lasers. I would think a set of 12 hunting arrows and small game points would set you back somewhere around $100.00-150.00. It sounds like you have your practice situation already in mind, but since I've paddled down this far on my stream of consciousness, you might also look into getting a target for home. I use a Morrell double duty in my garage. I only have about a five yard shooting lane, but it is enough space to build muscle memory and work on form. Its no substitute for a 50 yard range, but thirty to forty five minutes per day will build up your archery muscles, let you iron out your release and is a pretty good way to decompress at the end of the day. They are usually around $70.00 but I've found them for as low as $50.00 on amazon and I have never had an arrow penetrate more than half way through using field points. If someone tell you not to listen to me, take their advice. I am very new to this too and I am learning from the internet, the most unreliable teacher there is and I may never be able to successfully hunt anything more challenging than a 3D course. Any way you choose to go, good luck! Its really just about getting outdoors anyway.
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Aug 7, 2020 20:36
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So I’m not really the best person to write this (and I welcome corrections where I am wrong) but bow hunting is something that I think is of interest and hasn’t been covered in a cohesive way here or in TFR so in the name of being the change you want to see… Bow hunting: “Who are you to write this? Are you a seasoned hunter?” I am not. I did some half assed small game hunting when I was young this will be my first year hunting large game. I actually was planning on gun hunting only, but one too many beers and boredom browsing on e-bay landed me with a beginner compound bow set up and I have been traveling down the rabbit hole ever since. “So why would I want to hunt with a bow?” Seasoned hunters appreciate bow hunting for the increased challenge, but more practical reasons are you typically have an expanded season, access to bow only units, game is generally not feeling as much pressure, its easier to travel with your weapon, you just don’t want a gun in the house and if you are hunting public lands you don’t have to worry as much about randos shooting you by mistake. In some places bow hunting may be the only type of hunting allowed. The venn diagram of people who are pro gun control and anti-hunting is probably pretty close to a circle, but in general bows tend to freak non hunting and non gun people out a lot less than guns. Without getting into politics, state and national gun regulations can shift on pretty arbitrary grounds. The concerns that drive these decisions don't usually affect bows so much. Having said all that: Flatland Crusoe posted:What’s crazy is how variable bowhunting advantages are place to place. When I hunted Mark Twain national forest in MO I could go all fall and see one other person during bow season in a place with 50 trucks at a trailhead during gun season but in NW Illinois bow season pressure was nearly worse than gun season. Where I am in TN now there is next to no reason to bow hunt because all you really get is October which is 90 degrees still and solidly prerut with gun seasons running November-January. Two Firearm elk tags I’ve drawn in AZ and WY are actually harder to draw during archery than rifle season. It’s all over the place and archery/muzzleloader seasons aren’t really a statistical advantage in a lot of cases anymore. So your results may vary in regards to extra season, reduced pressure, etc. Hunting forums geared to your particular locality are a good source for which type of hunting makes more sense for you. The consensus on my local forums was that general gun season in my area is poo poo show on public land, but that might not be your situation. EDIT: "Why should I not hunt with a bow?" Flatland Crusoe posted:
So I didn't originally cover ethics, humane shots and arrows vs. bullets, mainly because my knowledge is limited to the academic and also because this got much longer than I a planned so I sort of just quit, but this part is worth talking about. So lets jump straight to the gore. I assume we all know this, but to reiterate, no matter what you are using the ideal ethical shot would drop an animal in it's track with it never knowing what hit it. I am assuming that if you have read this far you understand rifles are not laser beams so I won't go into ballistics. Suffice to say that at 30 yards a bullet in reasonable hunting caliber is moving much faster and carrying a metric poo poo ton more kinetic force than an arrow. Its also moving on a much flatter trajectory. Even if your country or state doesn't specifically forbid full metal jacket ammo for hunting (and it probably does), hunting ammo is almost always expandable tipped, meaning that supersonic lump of metal dumps all its remaining energy into its target, pretty much all at once. The end result, assuming a clean vitals shot with an appropriate caliber, your animal has good chance of dropping where it stands. Even with rifles this is not guaranteed. You can still just wound an animal with a poor rifle shot (or even a good rifle shot) but you have more working in your favor. Arrows still have a kinetic force aspect (see the Realtree calculator below), but they really more about bleeding than knock down force. Bottom line is a clean hit on the lung/heart sweet spot can still result in a clean and humane kill based on bleeding out very quickly. But if you miss that you are more likely to get into a wounded animal situation. Season 8 Episode 2 of Meateater shows the host make a bad archery shot on an Elk. I couldn't find the clip as of this writing but it is worth watching for what can go wrong. And they eventually recovered the animal so it would still be considered a moderately successful archery shot. Since this is a pro bow hunting thread here is a video of America's most trusted Meat Head executing pretty much dead on shot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1okPzr4wVlI I will defer to more experienced hunters but I think the Elk he shot dropped just about as quickly as you could hope for from a rifle shot. You will notice Joe Rogan also pointed out he had been practicing that shot on a daily basis at home, and if you ever listen to him discuss his practice routine, he claims to shoot one hundred arrows a day. Obviously Joe Rogan has resources at this disposal we can only dream of, but putting the work in should be the take away. EDIT: A note on Joe Rogan: I really just posted the video above to illustrate an effective long range archery shot made in what would be easy rifle range, and to make the point a lot of practice goes into being able to make it. As has been pointed about below (and elsewhere on the interwebs), Rogan has the resources to pay for guided and heavily supported hunts on otherwise closed lands and uses them. In this video he also happens to have one of, if not the, foremost names in archery on hand to personally coach him through the shot. Joe Rogan's name comes up a lot because he has a huge platform and has become a major ambassador of hunting in general and particularly bow hunting. That makes many hunters cringe. Personally I think he is a big step up from Ted Nugent. Having said that but I did not include him in the resource list. He might be an introduction to good hunting resources (Steven Rinella, John Dudley) but I would not consider him a source of practical advice that the average person can use. If on the other hand he ever gives you tips on how to kick someone's head off, you should probably listen. The Hunting Public isn't really how to per se (though they have a few tip videos) but they do a lot of bow hunting, and they are not afraid to show the hunts that fail (which are quite a lot). If you want to watch examples of what can go wrong, what can go right and effective strategies that a normal budget hunter could employ for DIY hunting, watch their channel. Their hunts are what hunts will look like in the real world. Randy Newberg's show "Fresh Tracks" is on Amazon Prime. Its not bow hunting centric but one episode follows him through a spot and stalk bow hunt on an elk, in open New Mexico country. He ultimately lets the Elk go because he's not comfortable with the shot once he is in very close range. Its very worth watching for his discussion of why he passed on the shot, because it looks like a gimme shot and he had spent three hours crawling over three miles to get to it. So I might have drifted a bit but the bottom line is that solid shot placement is much more critical for bows over rifles and it is harder to achieve. Plenty of rifle hunters act like they don't even like guns, and will go to the range just enough to sight in their rifles. If you are going to bow hunt, you are going to need to practice a lot more aggressively. Also take bow hunters education. If you have access to a 3D course, use it. “Are bows less expensive than guns?” Not really, and in fact after you add in associated cost of arrows and other things you are likely going to come in the same as a or more than a decent rifle, even if you get a inexpensive compound bow from a trusted manufacturer. I got into this almost on impulse because I ran across a bargain on my bow package but after everything else I am easily in for the cost of budget rifle from a reliable manufacturer. Here is a guy from The Hunting Public demonstrating a budget entry into bow hunting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnhFyxDA93Q Obviously there are online options and you can find heavy discounts buying used or new old stock. You absolutely need to know your correct draw length first (see below) and you should take your purchase to a local archery shop for inspection and fine tuning. If you buy used off ebay I would probably upgrade "should" to "must". Beware of buying too much bow. Entry level models aimed at new archers tend to offer a very wide range of adjustability on draw weight. Higher end models tend to have a narrower range. As you advance you might want to upgrade but your new you probably won't grow into an advanced bow. If you get a bow with a weight range of 60-70# and you find you are only ready to pull 45#, well obviously you have a problem. They also tend to have features that make them faster but at the expense of making them less forgiving of new archer mistakes. “Where do you practice ?” So the nice thing is you can practice some important things in pretty small areas as long as you have a solid target. I generally shoot for about thirty minutes a day in my garage in a five yard lane with a target rated for crossbows. This will allow you to practice form and release as well as group small areas. I aim for a silver dollar sized group at five yards (see the pie plate at 30 yards below). alnilam posted:Re: backyard/garage archery setups, always consider the worst case scenario of an errant shot and make sure there's no chance whatsoever of an errant shot hitting a passer by or neighbor. Like what if Dennis the menace comes in and hits you in the back of the knee the moment you're releasing. A 6 ft wood fence alone is not enough. EDIT: This is a good point. My set up is in a garage made out of concrete block. When I first started, I did miss the bag. The very "slow" arrow I was using coming off a bow set at 50 pounds, with bullet style (not pointy) field point, and a not very clean release (further slowing things down) still had plenty of force to lodge itself in a concrete block. I had to use pliers and a significant amount of oomph to get it out. Even at low weight arrows are moving fast and are dangerous. Have a good back stop! For real practice you need an area about 50-100 yards of open space. A lot of towns and cities have 3D archery courses as well, which starts training you for actual hunting. “So anyone can jump right into this?” Well you can, and depending on where you live you really might not have any other options for hunting, but if feasible rifle hunting is the recommended starting point and then a move to bows. As I said above the number one reason you will hear for bow hunters being bow hunters is that they are experienced hunters wanting more challenge. I still plan to start with guns myself, but bow hunting is where I want to end up. Eastern style bow hunting, particularly from stands or blinds, is not insane for a newer hunter as your shooting lanes are often at 25-50 yards no matter what you use. I would never jump right into western style spot and stalk big game hunting with a bow. That’s just asking for heart break. However you can watch YouTube videos of very experienced western style bow hunters executing shots in the 75-80 yard range. Don’t try and start there. Typical rule of thumb I have seen is once you can reliably hit a pie plate size target at thirty yards you can start thinking about hunting. If you are out West and hunting open areas I would just automatically add twenty yards to that. “So what kind of bow should I hunt with?” You can use traditional (“Trad”) or compound bows. TFR already has a thread that covers traditional archery, so I am going to stick to compound bows, especially since this is the overwhelming choice for bow hunters and is probably where you will start. For bow hunting traditional bows are hard mode (even if the bows themselves are simpler) and that is for a sub-group of hunters already upping the challenge level. "What about crossbows?" These are forbidden by the Church! Seriously I don't know much about them. Some states treat them the same as bows, some have separate seasons, and some simply don't allow them. My state (Florida) has an separate but overlapping season Statewide , but a lot of the individual hunting units set their local rules to make bow and crossbow season the same months. Other units don't ever allow crossbows. If you are interested check your State regulations and unit rules to make sure you can use one. “So a compound bow is the one with the cables and pulleys right?” That’s right. “They look complex! And there is a ton of jargon! What does this mean?” So let’s look at the terms: Draw Weight: how much force to draw the bow. This is usually adjustable within a ten to fifteen pound range (i.e. 55-70 pound range). A lot of beginner sets up have an even bigger range and are designed so you can adjust them at home with only an allen wrench. Draw weight is used by a lot of states as a stand in for humane harvest, typically with minimum weights generally being 35-40 pounds. Honestly this is not the best measure for actual kinetic force on target, but be aware of your state’s required draw weight for hunting. Heavier draw weights equal faster arrow speed and more force. Most bow models max out at 70 pounds, but higher end models can go to 80 pounds. EVEN IF YOU ARE IN GREAT SHAPE DO NOT START AT MAX WEIGHT. I started at 50 pounds about three months ago and it kicked my butt. I practice daily and I am just now closing in on 70 pounds. If my shoulders tell me they don’t like what I am doing I listen and stop and you should to. Let Off: Compound bows typically have somewhere between a seventy and eighty percent let off, which means at full draw your “holding weight” is only twenty to thirty percent of the draw weight. Once again on high end bows this can go as high as ninety percent let off. In hunting situations you will often have to draw and then hold your draw for a relatively long time. Typically you want to draw when the animal can’t see you, for instance as they are walking behind an obstruction, then hold until the animal presents a good shot. If your animal finds something interesting on the other side of the obstruction you might be waiting at full draw for a while. Higher let off percentage gives you more time. Draw Length: In traditional archery the draw length is basically how far you can pull the string but compound bows need to be set your particular draw length, which is based on you arm length. You can do this at home fairly easily or if you go to an archery shop, they can do it for you. Here is a video of John Dudley (a very big name in bow hunting) setting up a new archer on a compound bow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvgyI-Zyf-U It’s well worth watching for how to set your basic stance, actually grip the bow, anchor your shot and if you plan to buy online pay particular attention to the part where he measures draw length. If you are interested enough to have read this far Nock On archery channel should probably be on your YouTube subscription list. Anyway longer draw length also equals faster arrows but don’t try and set your bows draw length long. You are basically born with your draw length IBO Speed: Compound bows speeds are measured by a couple of standards but the main standard is from the IBO. Speed is measured in feet per second by using a machine to release an arrow of standard weight from a bow set to 30 inch draw length with the limbs set to 70 pounds. Even if you pull the maximum weight and maximum draw length you will not get these speeds in the real world. To know how fast your bow really shoots you will need to shoot it through a chrono after you have a hunting set up including the arrows you will use but here is a handy broad strokes guide to figure how your shooting speed will be affected by pretty standard factors: http://bestcompoundbowsource.com/whats-bows-real-speed/ And here is a calculator to give you an idea of what level of game your set up is suitable for. https://www.realtree.com/kinetic-energy-and-momentum-calculator I would treat both of these are “broad strokes” resources. Axle to Axle (ATA): How long your bow is measured from the cam or pulley axle. This is good to know when trying to find a bow to fit your build. See the video above. Brace height: Basically the distance from the forward strings to the grip. Broad strokes longer brace height equals more forgiving while smaller brace height equals faster. There is a lot of weeds in this areas but from what I have seen recommended is 6 to 7 inches for hunting. Most hunting bows will be in that range and you probably won’t have to worry about it. Cams and pulleys: This is the heart of your bow. Once you start diving into the gadgetry this could be a thread all of its own but basically you have bows with dual cams and single cams. Dual cams have the issue of “cam timing” which basically means at arrow release they have returned to the release point at the same time but are generally faster. Single cam bows do not have this issue but are generally slower. Release aid: (not part of the bow but you will need this) Trad bows typically use leather gloves or patches for arrow release, but on compound bows you typically use a handheld mechanical release. There a bunch of different types and can be as long a discussion as discussing bows but the most popular are wrist strap releases with a trigger mechanism. A note on operation. The temptation for someone who is coming from guns is to use the trigger the same way you would on a gun. I am sure there are archers who get away with this but this is not the correct way to use it. Here again is John Dudley on how to use a trigger release. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHh2_OdZ-8Y At first I was using the trigger on my release the same as I would on a rifle. Once I switched to the "pull through" method in the video my shots immediately released cleaner, straighter and based on the arrow penetration on my target, much faster. There are a class of releases called "back tension" releases (most famously the "Silverback") which are becoming very popular. Without getting too deep into operation the idea is that their release mechanism works based on pulling through the shot to make the mechanism release rather than using trigger. They are expensive, but even with practice and knowing you are doing something different, years of trigger finger muscle memory can be tough to overcome. I haven't tried one yet but I am looking into getting one. “Hey that sure was a lot! I’m glad we got through all of that!” It sure was! Now let’s talk arrows! So what to look for in arrows: Spine: Spine is the term used to describe the stiffness of an arrow. To add to the fun, different manufacturers seem to have slightly different ideas of how to measure spine. Fortunately they have calculators on their web sites to help you select the appropriate spine. Gold Tip and Carbon Express make quality arrows. For daily practice I typically shoot a target in my garage at five yards with garbage arrows I got from Amazon. These are great for practice because they magnify every little mistake so good habits are built. I would never consider hunting with them however. Length: This will be a function of your draw length. You will probably want to have your arrows cut to about a half inch to an inch longer than your draw length. Consult with your pro shop. Fletching: These are the vanes on the back of the arrow that stabilize the arrow in flight. You can do this yourself if you wish, but assuming you are having a pro shop build your arrows you will likely want helical fletching. This means the vanes are attached at an offset to spin the arrow in flight. This tends to keep broad heads more stable in flight. Grains per inch (GPI);The grain system is used for measuring arrow weight. Just like it sounds, GPI is how many grains your arrow shaft weighs per inch of shaft. This does not include the weight of the nock, fletching, insert (where you screw in the point) or weight of the point you have on the arrow. Heavier arrows hit harder but move slower and vice versa. The Realtree calculator I posted above can help you work out the trade off for selecting arrow weight. Nock: What holds you arrow on the string. For hunting arrows you will probably want to spring for lighted nocks. They will light up on release and act like a tracer to your target. Pointy things you stick on the end of the arrow shaft: Field points: You can technically (but don’t try) bring down an animal with these but really these are to practice with. Fixed broadheads: Nothing fancy here. Just a fixed point with three or four blades. These can be further broken down in to cut on contact and chisel heads. Which is better depends on game and whatever internet raving you want to believe but broadly chisel heads are designed to break through bone while bleeder blades open up the wound channel, while cut on contact go straight to cutting. Fixed broadheads are simpler but more likely to throw off your arrows flight characteristics. Mechanical Broadheads: These are like switchblades in that blades are folded into a point and expand in flight or on contact. The idea is that they fly more like field points, improving accuracy. However they are subject to mechanical failure, most notably blade deployment failure. Hybrids: A combination of the above. Typically fixed bleeder blades are stationed behind mechanical cutting blades. Small game and bird points: Hey if you can hunt it with a gun, you can hunt it with a bow! Its just harder! Small game points are also called Judo points (I don’t know why) and are basically clubs on the end of an arrow. Bird rigs look like snares attached to an arrow. I know of the existence of these specialty types but not much else. So that covers arrows, and now we are all done…except for accessories! Front sight: Come in multi pin and single point models. Basically multipin have three to five pins that are pre positioned to different ranges. This is quick but can get confusing if you are in the heat of the moment. On a single pin you adjust the pin to the range of target. No confusion but you can get caught screwing with your sight as an animal moves. Multipin seems to be the best option for hunters. Peep or rear sight: A peep sight is basically just a disc inserted into your string so that when you are at full draw your eye lines up with the front sight. This is the industry standard but can be subject to failures. Other options on rear sight attached directly to the front sight or no rear sight at all, but you would need a very consistent anchor point to pull this off. My bow came with one installed but on bare bow you will need a tech to put it in. Arrow rest: nope that flat part on the grip is not the rest. You will need something to hold the arrow in place. Most common is the “whisker biscuit”. This is a disc with stiff bristles that holds the arrow straight with the nock point. This is very reliable but places a fair amount of drag on the arrow as it Is released. Going up the chain you have a “drop away” rest. These are built that as the arrow releases the mechanism hold the arrows drops out of the way. This is to reduce drag. To make it all work you have to hook it up to the cable system. Quiver: Holds your arrows. On hunting set ups you will typically have one that attaches to the bow. Stabilizer: A rod that hooks onto your bow and, does... good stuff. Seriously they are supposed to do something about weight balance and shock reduction to increase accuracy. Target bows and long range set ups tend to have giant stabilizers on them and sometimes stabilizers hanging off the back and sides to. Mine came with a pretty short stabilizer and I don't know that it really does anything useful. We will see when I get to the range after the current heat wave breaks. Wrist sling: to keep your bow falling off your hand after release. In one of his q/a videos John Dudley said he didn't feel like they were really that useful or necessary. I have tried with and without and while the psychological effect of having it was somewhat comforting, I didn't really notice much difference either. "That a lot of stuff!" Yep so for beginners most manufacturers offer their bows in “Ready to Hunt” (or RTH), or “Ready to Shoot” ( RTS) packages particularly on entry level bows. It won’t be top of the line but will get you started. Resources: The aforementioned John Dudley. His youtube channel has a lot of great information. He also has cool stuff on his website though its more for his shop https://nockonarchery.com/ https://www.bowhuntingmag.com/ Peterson's Bowhunting. Lots of articles on bow hunting topics. https://www.archerytalk.com/ Most bow hunting (like hunting and gun) websites can be terrible. Archery talk is not always that great either but I have gleaned useful information and so far have not been horrified by the posters. The layout does hurt my eyes though. The Hunting Public: Already in the OP but they do lots of bow hunting and they show the failed hunts. DapperDraculaDeer has been bow hunting pigs and posting after action reports. Definitely worth reading. EDIT: Moved Cameron Haynes to the bottom of the list due to this valid criticism. Flatland Crusoe posted:Please don’t recommend Cameron Hanes as a bowhunting resource in the same vein as John Dudley. John Dudley is a wealth of technical knowledge and Cameron Hanes is just a social media ego comparable to that of a Kardashian. Cameron Haynes is another big name in bow hunting. I don’t necessarily find him to be very informative for a beginner but you can watch him do cool hunts that mortals like myself will most likely never be able to do. He’s on Youtube and https://www.cameronhanes.com/ So this got much longer than I intended and honestly there is plenty more that could be covered but I am stopping here for the present. More experienced peeps (like people who actually have moved beyond aspiring to hunt with a bow) feel free to fill in what I missed and point out my mistakes. iammeandsoareyou fucked around with this message at 14:15 on Aug 12, 2020 |
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Aug 9, 2020 17:52
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Thanks for input! Rather than reply I am incorporating feedback into the post.
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Aug 10, 2020 12:31
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So for those of us who live where cool weather is a relative concept and winter is not guaranteed, scent control is obviously an issue. I ran across this guy's system of "smoking" his hunting gear as a method of scent masking. According to the article he does his hunting in Florida and N.C. Has anyone tried this system? https://www.mossyoak.com/our-obsession/blogs/wild-hogs/hunting-for-deer-and-wild-hogs-in-florida
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Aug 20, 2020 13:32
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