Bow hunting...

John A______ and I went out to a local farm to hunt last night. This actually was more of a scouting trip. The weather was beautiful the it was pretty windy. We had a good long walk of about 2 miles around the place finding scrapes, rubs, and crossing points. There is a good acorn crop, several corn fields, and other crops on which the deer have been feeding. We didn't see a single mourning dove and only a couple of squirrels. The groundhog holes were obviously long unoccupied. I need to take my laser range finder next time.

I carried my old Bear Grizzly bow and the arrows I've been using since about 1986 with the old Bear broadheads. I like the light weight and simplicity of the recurve. A new Bear Grizzly runs about $350.00. They have now returned to the shelf type rest. I like that best, one less thing to break and it seems more traditional. I like traditional.

John brought his crossbow, I have forgotten the make, but he forgot his cocking device crank. Neither of us could cock the thing with out the aid of the cocker. I personally think that crossbows are too awkward. They weigh about the same as a firearm but also have the limbs extending left and right to get in the way. Excellent for the tree-stand hunter, they don't suit my preferred combination of ground-stand and still hunting. They are fun to shoot though. Heck, just about everything is fun to shoot.

In all our walking we didn't jump or see any deer. We did see deer come out in the middle of the field right at sunset. All that I could see I thought were does.

John is going to take his grandson, Daniel, out this weekend.

Just order some new arrows!

I am really excited. Got motivated and ordered a dozen fletched 2117 gamegetters from 3 Rivers Archery. About time. I need to get back out there. Now to sharpen some broadheads. Maybe Mike and Dad will be out there with me...

UPDATE - the arrows were delivered within the week and perfect. 3 Rivers Archery is a great place with which to do business.

Videos from the past...

I was recently reading a book which mentioned the Jack Robertson and Arthur Young movie from 1926, "Alaskan Adventures". A silent film it depicts Alaska including the wildlife and shows Art Young, a rather famous archer, in action. Pretty neat!

Archery Wounding Rates

This has always been of interest to me. My wounding rate is zero but given the odds based on anecdotal information, I thought it likely that someday I'd wound and fail to recover (i.e. KILL) a deer. This study seems to support an 18% wounding rate with EITHER compound bow or crossbow (I am a recurve, or traditional bow shooter).

Making a 60lb PVC longbow...

I think one should because one can.

Pullin Archery

I had heard of Pullin Archery but wasn't really up on everything that David Pullin (and there are about 9 David Pullins in this area but that's him in the photo) has done. I'd say he's a pretty remarkable person and seems like a nice guy in person. I can say that last because I got to meet him yesterday. I think, also, that he has to be a special person because of the little extras he does for handicapped hunters and The Physically Challenged Bowhunters of America.

E.g. Mr. Pullin gives 4-6 day hunts with use of residence and property to disabled members free of charge. This hunt takes place on Mr. Pullin's own property in Highland County in Virginia and the residence is his second home! Hunters and their assistants need only provide their own food and leave the house as clean as they found it. Mr. Pullin will even provide a bow and arrows! While it is advertised as a Pullin Archery activity, this is really Mr. Pullin's doing.

Aside from the products he's created and sells through Pullin Archery, Mr. Pullin is a long time contractor and has built many houses and worked on some major building projects in our area. He also publishes a free outdoors magazine which he is trying to grow. "My Outdoors Virginia" is on the desk in front of me and has among the articles one about a hunter who fell from a tree stand who now uses the bow tensioning system.

This is a pretty remarkable system. Mr. Pullin was telling me that he tried to sell it to every compound bow maker and all of them turned him down. Several flatly told him that such a thing was impossible. You can buy a complete bow or the system can be adapted to nearly all compound bows. Here in VA lots of handicapped hunters have used crossbows. Not all of them like crossbows even though the crossbow is now legal here (with an additional license) during archery season.

Mr. Pullin is also working to help disabled veterans. If you have any questions or comments you can e-mail Mr. Pullin at pullinarchery@gmail.com.

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Mr. Pullin has reportedly sold his business.

Bear Grizzly

Dad bought his Bear Grizzly bow after the Browning Nomad II. I don't remember exactly but I think this was for two reasons. One, for hunting, it gave us a second bow that Dad would use leaving the Nomad for my use. It also didn't stack at full draw as the Nomad might have done. Dad was 73" tall and had much longer arms than I have, especially at that age, so I think the Nomad might have stacked for him.

Our Grizzly now has a good coat of Browning camo paint so that one can't read the markings, but it is marked as drawing 55 lb at 28 inches. I really like this bow. It is easy to shoot well and isn't overly long. I've been using plastic fletched aluminum arrows with it and have about worn out 1 dozen so I need to have more made.

I recently looked at a new Grizzly at a local shop and they've left the separate rest and gone back to the shelf rest. It is a good looking bow as you can see in the photo from Bear Archery.

Browning Bushmaster

I bought this from my sister-in-law to give her some much needed money. She no longer needed the bow but I couldn't warm up to it. I tried to get my 3 children to enjoy it but they apparently couldn't warm to it either. It still rests in my home. We did manage to use up the arrows with which my sister-in-law passed it to us and to break, age related to the plastic used I think, the snap on bow quiver.

I suppose that I should use it, that is, not let it go to waste. This will entail a new quiver and arrows and adjusting it to the top of it's draw range or about 45 lbs which will make it legal for deer. It will also likely need a new rest soon. Interesting how the "improved" bow needs as much or more maintenance than the older bows...

Browning Nomad II

The Browning Nomad II is a recurve pulling 45 lbs at 28" and Dad purchased this from a dealer in Verona, VA in 1967 along with a dozen cedar arrows. I think he paid about $75 for the whole thing. I know the MSRP on the bow was about $64.75 in 1967 (only $47.50 in 1966). I can remember being quite impressed!

We used to stand in the front yard of our house in Bridgewater and shoot across the street into a dirt pile in a vacant lot. No, there were no calls to the police or such things. Indeed a couple of neighbors would step out and have a chat as we shot. A different time indeed.

Like all bows of the period one shoots off the shelf. Call me old fashioned but I prefer that. That shelf sure is a lot more sturdy than those little plastic rests they often use nowadays. Some people think they are too short and they will stack at the longer draw lengths. Long draw is not a problem for me so I never experienced that problem. On the other hand, the short length has some advantages. You will also find some folks that don't like the low draw weight but 45 lbs is the legal minimum here in VA and it is more than adequate for deer at reasonable ranges, i.e. ranges at which I can put an arrow into a vital spot on a deer.

I am wondering if I can find out some info about the bow based on the serial number. If you can help, please, write me.