Hogs, great food, new friends and an Angel

[BowHunterGA]

Thom that Hill of yours is definately quiet. I need to replace the puffs on mine, I think I trimmed them down too small. Was fine when I was shooting split but when I switched to 3 under they don't seem to be enough.

Like Thom said, I would'nt worry about getting too deep. Almost all of the pigs I saw were not in the swamp areas. They were turning the leaves scarfing up water oak acorns. Swamp areas are practically bone dry right now, perhaps when you guys are there in April there will have been some rain.

Regardless, I hope any that are going have half the fun the group I was with appeared to be having. Back to scouting and stump shooting for me, somehow I don't think it will be as much fun now.

[sticksnstones]

Well Steve, I'm glad it's 100 pounds too light for you then! Looking forward to our next hunt!
Thom

[BowHunterGA]

I will try that with the puffs Thom. The arrows I was shooting last weekend are just shy of 800 grains. I wish I had shot it a few times split so you could hear the difference. When shooting split finger it is very quite. I also have a dacron string for the croc that I may string up this weekend and try.

[sticksnstones]

Sounds good! For those of you following this thread we had a little offline aside about strings, here is a recap:

For me those little wool puffs always help a little on the noise so I use them. I also spray them with scotch guard after I put them on, you don't want to forget that step if you use them hunting! I put them closer to the tips, and trim them down to golf ball size to keep performance reasonably high. If a string seems loud I'll move them towards the center before I'll make them bigger in diameter.

I hear most guys brace Hill bows between 6 and 6.5", but mine has a buzz below 7.25 so I run mine high. I'm guessing even if I bought another 70" Big Five it might act completely different than this one in this respect.

Last thought on strings, I was a big B50 proponent for a while, but Rob got me to try FF and I really like it. No stretch, and it's far more abrasion resistant when you are in the thicket. Any more I just twist dacron when I'm creating a string to use as a model for a bow. I can make several mistake strings on B50 for the cost of one FF whoops.

As for your arrow setup, I know you are running heavy up front, but you need lots of total grains to keep that heavy of a bow quiet. I hope you are 800+ given your draw.

I've shot my Hill 3 under, 3 finger split, and 2 finger split. I never noticed a difference in noise, but I know everyone says 3 under is louder. I'm guessing with how many db my bow is, I just can't tell the difference.

It'll be interesting to see what combo works for that bow and you! Have a great one,
Thom

[Bruce Martin]

Steve,
Congratulations on a great weekend with Ray and associates! Regarding those artifacts, you should know that Ray and Squirrel Bait are budding new flint knappers. Woody Blackwell is attempting to teach them the art. However, I know those are not Ray or SB's 'leavings', cause they look too good! (Ray, the best defense is a good offense!). If in doubt, check for fresh human blood. If it was one of Woody's, then check for fresh hog blood.

Seriously, Hog Heaven is a wonderful place and a blast even if you don't score hogs. (but we had our chances).  i was there in January with Ray, Woody, Mike and some great folks from NJ. I am worse than Ray at flint knapping but the chance to get a lesson from Woody Blackwell was priceless.

[BowHunterGA]

Bruce, I thought about that while I was looking but the larger piece I found only had about 1/4" showing, had to dig it out of the roadbed with my knife. The other point was in a pile of dirt where an Armadillo had been digging. I almost didn't even pick it up as it was covered in dirt but I thought the shape looked a lot like a point.

I also picked up a few nice pieces of Chert to bring home with me. Maybe try my hand at knapping one of these days. Never know.