Daily Double

[Twanger]

Had a good opening day in Maryland.

About 5pm these deer came in on the trail from down-wind, but I had set-up cross-wind. ;)

I plugged the first one at 17 yards and it ran and fell about 40 yards away.

I quickly reloaded and shot the second one at 20 yards before she figured out what was happening.

Happiness is a quiet bow that hit's like a silent lightening bolt. :D

That doe on the left was old... probably 4.5. Had a Roman nose. She's the biggest doe I've ever killed and I was having a hard time dragging her by myself with the guts in her. She will probably go 125lb dressed.

So counting the button buck harvested in the morning that brings me to 3.

http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/twodoes_walt_091509.jpg

[dave-t.]

You killed 3 deer openning day?

You sir, are a mad man.:eek::D

Great stuff.

[GF.]

WhackThwackSmack!

Nice shootin', bud! And my, what a handsome Hero shot! What is that, your new publicity photo?:D:D:D

With all my trials and travails over the arrow delivery, I've kind of given up on noise reduction for my Commander. I have absolutely no basis for comparison, so it could be whisper-soft or loud as a gunshot next to anybody else's bow. All I really know for sure is that you don't hear that kind of noise coming from a recurve....

Do you think it might help if I backed off the limb bolts by just the tiniest amount? They're torqued down as tight as I dare right now..... It's just about enough to get me to stick a crow-bar in my wallet and get one o' those string-stopper deals.

[Twanger]

You killed 3 deer openning day?

You sir, are a mad man.:eek::D

Great stuff.

Truth be told I could have probably whacked another doe in the morning... three came by about 30 yards out, but I just don't like shooting that far, even though the 3D deer in the back yard says that ain't too far. Then in the afternoon I probably could have whacked 1-2 more in the group that the does were with. After whacking the first two, the rest (5 more, or thereabouts) were just standing there looking around at at each other wonderin' why all the sudden two deer went rushin' off! :confused: Anyhoo.. standing there in the tree I was thinkin' "do I REALLY want to have 5 or 6 deer to cut up by the weekend?" The answer was no.

So, as my mammy says "I might be crazy but I ain't stupid." :D

GF - I've heard that bows are most quiet if you bottom the limb bolts. Sounds like you're there. Also, a shop owner I know is not all that keen on those string stoppers. When the string impacts the stopper, one of two things happens... the string squirms to the left, or to the right. This can impart left or right English to the back of the arrow as it leaves the bow, causing horizontal stringing. Limb savers and string leaches or cat-whiskers are good. You can also put little weights on the string with nock-sets about 3 inches from the cam to eliminate string vibration. This takes experimentation because it can also increase string vibration if put in the wrong spot. The arrow scraping across the rest at launch makes noise. The Whisker Biscuit on my bow is very quiet in that regard.

[dave-t.]

GF- Don't back anything out, tight should be more quiet every time. If you are shooting inside 20-25yrds anyway, noise shouldn't be an issue while hunting. Hasn't been for me anyway.

Twanger- I know what you mean. One gun season I filled three tags in about 2 minutes. Processing three deer at once was nowhere near as much fun as collecting them. Actually I kept the back straps and had the rest made into burger, and that did not go over well with the wife. We do better with larger chunks of venison, that way we can make jerky any time of the year when we still have meat.

[Twanger]

Dave-t - I make Jerky out of ground meat extruded into bars. That way you can use scraps for jerky instead of good cuts. :D

American Harvest makes some nice seasoning packets and a jerky gun.
See: http://www.nesco.com/category_12e291b19e72/subcategory_d3464ecf5f0b/

Ronco makes a nice 5-tray dehydrator. $40 at Target.

[GF.]

Yup, I've got the little 'accelerator'/vibration dampener deals on there already - factory installed and shrink-tubed into place on my bow, with a note in the manual not to mess with 'em.

Interesting thought about the string-stoppers tweaking your flight, though if they were all that big a barrier to accuracy, I'm thinkin' they wouldn't have become standard equipment on so many of the higher-end models.... Not that you ever know for sure until the fad has passed , or has had enough time to, anyway... Brings rear-entry ski boots to mind....:rolleyes:

But honestly, I think that if the sound-dampening performance is there, I'd sooner have that than nock-splitting, 40-yard accuracy. Just so long as I can keep everything well inside the undersized vitals of the deer silhouettes on my Block....

Rest noise is no real problem with the drop-away, especially now that I've replaced the moleskin. It does make a little bit of a 'whack' when it snaps forward, but a clear plastic anti-slip heel pad made for women's shoes seems to have taken the edge off of that.

The oddest thing, though... Sometimes the shot just seems a lot louder than others. As if the tubing on the peep.... Hold on a sec..... No way that tubing snaps forward faster than the string, right? So the bowstring is probably smacking the tubing, which has got to be why the tubing takes off some feeps.... Man, I wonder what effect that has on shot-to-shot velocity - not that I think for a second I'm good enough for that to matter, but it could be interesting to know.... Might surprise me.

And speaking of putting a little English on the shot... The collision between peep tubing and string can't be too consistent, and it happens a lot sooner than the contact with the string-stopper....

So now I'm thinkin' the peep sight upgrade to a tubeless model is about due....

When I get back....

[GF.]

Dave-t - I make Jerky out of ground meat extruded into bars. That way you can use scraps for jerky instead of good cuts. :D



I just made a big batch last night for the trip. (Where's the 'licking his chops' smiley?) Took a huge shortcut and used Trader Joe's teriyaki marinade for 24 hours, with an unexpectedly large dose of liquid smoke thrown in (cap fell off :eek:) . It's awfully good for the amount of effort that went into it, except that I didn't get it in the oven early enough and ended up dozing in a chair instead of going to bed...:mad:


I wouldn't say that I used 'good cuts' for this batch, but I didn't grind it, either - just took some neck meat and a number of the large, thin, flat muscles and cut everything down no thicker than about 1/4". Did that cutting last fall, so the jerky-making boiled down to defrosting and soaking it in a zip-loc loaded with the teriyaki. Probably coulda used a shake or two o' cayenne, though...

[ncboman]

congrats Walt. :)

[DaveHawk]

Good job walt, , Well where is today double LOL you did say daily right ?

[Twanger]

Thanks Bowman!
You made me laugh there Dave. :D that would be a lot of deer!

Maybe I should have said the weekly double.:D

[DaveHawk]

LOL ya
I was out from 3 on yesterday and had a spike come through and that was it.

Heading down to watch Jake play this afternoon and do a little dove shooting on the farm in Va.