Quote:
Originally Posted by noway
more TD photos;
Keith Hatfield T/D with Antler-burr-bolts for a tool-less takedown, I really want some 60lb limbs but it's great as-is. Killed 1 doe and hog with this setup
Jim Castro Jr was the original owner b4 I took ownership in 2000 and been hunting ever since with this bow or now the Super Kodiak. The TD goes when I go mobile as in car or plane.
Hand shock is a ease in this configuration and the past center shelf is great for arrow departure. Most longbows are not past center, so the arrows bends around the shaft in order to get out. I even ran a arrow-lift release from my compound era but I since remove that and kept it simple and straight. You can also attach sights and stablizers to the center if you so desire. Overall for a factory bow , quite entertaining and impressive and affordable.
My only complaint with the Martin T/D the grip can get very slipply at some times, but I learned to carry a strip of leather suede 1-1.5" in length and to wrapped the center handle. Great if you hunt in rain which is normal for me or have to carry in very wet damp areas like thru a creek or slough, which once again is very normal for SEFLA and the back pine islands or woods that I hunt in.
For strings I used champion Archery for most of my strings.
http://www.recurves.com/
or 3 rivers for other bow supplies including wood, shafts, fletch material, or in a rush bassPro.
http://www.3riversarchery.com/
I give 6 thumbs up for 3rivers for archery support and for bow hunters and any TBH groups ( traditional Bow Hunters ). You might want to take a look at tradgang website for other ideals, knowledge and skills improvement they can be big ASSes on that site, but a wealth of knowledge in that group and pertaining to just traditional archery and hunting.
I'm sure canyonman is going rechime in, and he has a wealth of knowledge, skills and stories that would be prelude to the Book of " Hunting with stick and string"  |
Noway,
Wow, thanks for the very kind words.. I do not think I can live up to all that though.. HaHa.
As I just told Big Bird in the post above concerning his equipment. You as well, have some really nice looking recurves there my friend. Man I really like the one with the deer buttons on the limbs of that TD Hatfield. Very nice, and really good pics as well man.
You and I have spent some real time on the phone over the years about bows and arrows and guns and everything else haven't we ? ! Ha. I enjoyed every call and email. Sure did.
Man I don't have to much to throw in the pot here.
I sure do agree with ya that 3 rivers archery is a great place to shop, and I throw in a cople more "thumbs up with ya for them." I been doing business with them since way back about the time they began (i think).
As I said above post, I at present, use the Martin Hunter and Fred Bear Hunter Recurves, and Long bows made by my brother and I. Down through the years, when I first got my reall first good recurve, as a kid it was a Bear Kodiak Hunter, and the Kodiak mag in 60#. They were the original Grayling Michigun (sp) made bows and not only good to look at but shot very well. I always in those days used Port Orford Cedar shafts with custom turkey fletching at 5" length feathers.
I went on to Easton XX75's Autum Orange, the Cadillac of shafts at the time, and frankly I still have about a dozen that have survived so I still use them ! I broke to many of the cedar, and had to many warp on me, but I tell you I still like the cedar shafts very much and am on the prod now for a few dozen that will meet my needs and hopfully last under this Texas humidity this time.
I am afraid if I really share much this post will be a new all time record for "Length." ha. I am trying not do that.
You have already given great advice here Noway.
I shoot off the shelf, and use strings in camo color and 3 strand bundle dacron by Linda Brackenberry. Her Husband was one of the best bowyers in the USA at one time long ago, and produced some very well made cutom bows. He is gone now, but she has decades of hand made custom string making experience, and at a really good price. I have used her strings for years, and frankly I cannot wear them out, and the serving last for thousands of shots and just will not seperate or fray.. Her # to order is 541-382-2434.
I still use my Easton Autum orange XX75's from way back in the early 70's, with a Eskimo, or Zwicky, or bear two blade broad head. I know there are other good ones out there, but I'm and old dog, ha, and these woked well for me all these years.
I am having to cut down on poundage due to my back in my 61 years of smashing and cracking and busting it all to pieces, so I will drop down to 55#'s I imagine in another year or two, and been used to up to 80# recurves, and my average I would say is a 60/65 pound. A man gets in close and does his part, it don't take much, even on elk size game.
I use three fingers on the string. Two under and one above the nock of the arrow, and anchor with the tip of my index finger in the far corner of my mouth. 'Pushing the bow', rather than "just" pulling the string will really help cut fatigue and grow good draw habits as well.
I come "up" with the bow and drawing, and anchor and release in one fluid motion with both eyes open and no aiming. Both eyes are on the target and 'never' on the bow, my hand, or the arrow or the broad head.
Only the target..
I have shot running ground quail and other such birds on the run with this method, and disciplined myself at the begining 45 some odd years ago to practice at different angles and ranges instead of standing always in front of the target, and decided in the beginng that i would not hunt untill I could keep all my arrows in a poker chip or bottle cap at a set distance I determined for myself.. (i'll keep that part a secrect haha), but it was a good medium range/distance.
Lot's of practice, and much discipline, and good form/proper form. I believe the bow arm locked, and the string arm back to anchor at the corner of the mouth and elbow slightly up just a tad, is good form (for me at least and those I've taught).
Passion for it is one of the biggest advantages there is ! You can have good equipment and all the best money can buy, but with out the practice and disipline, and "PASSION," especially, IMHO, it will never be as satisfying without the passion.
Great satisfaction in cleanly taking game with a stick bow, be it long bow or recurve. It is a absolute romantic in it's own way, and man there is just nothing like being in the woods, and having a stick and string bow, and the absolute quite shoosh of that arrow coming off the silent shelf, or your hand ( with some long bows) shelf with others, and then hitting the mark with no gagets, sights, or scopes or help other than your human skill against whatever your hunting.
No cut on any man with a compound and all the things needed with it, NOT at all... But I been there and done that "once." I can tell you, there is a world of difference with the stick bow.
Well, I could go on and on, and have went to far already. Got a line of stories to fill a barrel, as do the rest of you I am sure.
I will close with just "One" story maybe you will enjoy.
Way back in the 70's somewhere out on the ranch in Oklahoma, I went out the back door one evening with my Fred Bear 60# Kodiak Magnum recurve and 2216 XX75 Autum orange shafts, and Bear razor heads with NO bleeders in them, (never liked bleeders on a perfectly made two edged razor BH.
My intent ! Spring turkey in our winter wheat field before roosting time. My plan ! I placed my self on the edge of the deep cotton woods towering, some of them over 90 ft tall, and some as big around as a pickup hood and almost old enough to have been around with Robin Hood ! ha.
I sure felt like him as I eased through there being quite as a mouse. I got up to the place where the woods met the edge of the wheat field. There they were ! A sea of fans strutting and thumping to impress the ladies of the evening.
I had the desire to call, but that would have been a bad move with so many hens showing their 'garters' to the boy's.
I got down on one knee and rested my bow tip on the ground with an arrow knocked and ready held on the shelf by one index finger, and waited, and waited.
It was going to be in this situation a "luck of the draw" as I could not afford to call as badly as I wanted to.
Finally after watching these magnificent birds strut and gobble and mate, and fight, which I got so caught up in, though seeing this so many many times before, it is always a rush to see. Finally a huge Tom came my way as the sun was setting and it was getting to be roosting time in the cotton woods behind me. A small patch of buffalo grass on the edge made for good cover for me, and so the time had come.
The huge tom got closer and closer, and although I had killed many birds already, and guided hunts for others, i was still feeling the heart pound and the lump in my throat. Hold still man, I said to myself as he kept coming closer and closer.
He came within about 30 yds, and stopped. I started getting cramps in one leg from kneeling all this time, and then he turned his back to me and stayed pat and would not budge.
He made a few turn arounds with wings out and down towards the ground and bellowing gobbles that vibrated all through the cotton woods behind me.
Finally a coyote started wondering around and I knew everything was going to go south, and i was determind after all I been through on that knee, that I was not going to loose this big boy.
He folded his fan with his back still to me, and had his neck and head "straight up" and in an instant he opened his fan again, and something told me this is it, now or never !
I estimated where his "craw' was at in front of that fan, as I could see just the very tip of the top of his head. I came to full draw anchored and released as I have trained myself to do over the years, and watched as the arrow went through the big toms fan then it disappeared from sight while at the same time I heard a loud POP and the big tom was on the ground and not a flutter !
Birds were going every where in the wheat field and the glimmer of light left allowed for the quick glimpse of the coyote having his fun in all the ruckus.
I went out to see my bird, and found that the arrow had passed just as planed through the upper part of the craw, but it also broke his neck, and that was the POP I heard !
I found my arrow, although almost dark now, about 10 feet away where it came to a stop in the dirt.
I did not officially weigh him, but knew he went at least 24 #'s with a 10 1/2" beard and real nice spurs.
There were longer beard's and longer spurs, but as I slung him over my shoulder in the cool of the night heading back to the ranch house through the cotton woods trying not to bump into trees in the dark, and hearing that old coyote yappin I was the happiest guy in the world for the next few hours.
I've had the blessing of going out to so many places before and after that with nothing but a stick bow and a back or bow quiver, and each time a new experience, and I cannot think of one thing that has given me more pleasure "hunting wise," than these solo quite times one on one in the woods or plains or canyons with my stick bow.
Well, these are a nickle a copy ! HaHa !!!
Seriously... Go bow hunting, and take a kid with ya when ya can ! It don't get any better than this, and IMHO, with all traditional archery equipment !
Good hunting/shooting amigo's !
CM
Linear Mode
