We all know someone .

[Learner]

quote:Originally posted by K.S.TRAPPER:
Flipping a coin a deer hunting are far, far from the same.    

My most successful deer arrows are the old cedars with heads that have sharpened many times that getting to the point that when i shoot at a pheasant or turkey, I won't cry myself to sleep over losing an old arrow.  The embarsssing part is  the last three deer in a row were dumb luck.  One i didn't like the thermal shift, pickup my stuff in both hands and just walked into a buck, the one before that I was trying to line up to some approaching turkeys, the one before that I saw three cock pheasants go into clump of brush across the valley, with my most worn Hill ready to shoot, an 8 pointer stands up.

[SAM E. STEPHENS]

I believe you get luck on your side sometimes , but to say it's all just luck I don't think so. I would venture to say the ones that put in the hours and days and years learning everything possible about the gear and the animals have more " LUCK "
I also tend to post a few pics so I guess I'm a bragger and if that's the case I sorry if I have offended anyone. I will from now on only post a pic of every 3rd animal I kill.

,,,Sam,,,

[4dogs]

Sam, I think you should post all the pictures you want. I would bet the vast majority of the folks around here very much enjoy your pictures and the stories that go along with them. I cant remember the last time I read a story around here that I thought came off as boastful. Half the reason I get on here is to talk hunting, read about what works for some folks AND look at the pictures. To see stories and pictures about hunting in places I may never get to visit in person..... Please continue.    

I don't care, post all the pics you want.  Some folks, just don't do that.  There are some very good hunters around here that have no connections to any internet forums and when they get their deer, the hunting story goes only as far as the friends that stopped by.  Many of them shoot wood arrows and they are not always looking to change things up. Some also have very good places to hunt, they tell very few people of what they see out hunting.  Problems come when the very wealthy hunters hear about a large buck, they come to the farmers with open check books to get total access control.  A farmer friend of mine was offered $500 for a single day of access to one switch grass plot that I think is about 40 acres. He turned them down.

[Michael Arnette]

...some people ruin all the fun.

[Michael Arnette]

Originally posted by ron w:
What about the guys who killed stuff every year before carbon arrows.             I don't think gear has anything to do with it. You either have good spots to hunt or you don't. You either practice hard or you don't. You put the time in.......or you don't. The last few years I have been closer than ever, because I have been working harder to make it happen and I sure it will if I live long enough....lol

I wasn't necessarily saying that primitive equipment doesn't work, obviously it does and well in the right hands. I was just saying that some hunters put efficiency/ease-of-use (read this as more hunting time) ahead of aesthetics.

...meanwhile the woody shooting, plaid wearing, ground sitting folks (as cool as they may be) can't relate when someone points out the reasons they don't enjoy piddling around with equipment as much. You are making it harder on yourself in one way or another. Good for you really! I'm impressed!

Also, apparently they don't post pictures of their success which is a terrible tragedy for us all!  I get every bit as much a kick out of enjoying another's success as my own...which is why unlike some on here I will jump at any chance to bowhunt with my brothers, in fact I wish I could.

...two similar paths that sometimes lead to a different end.

Nah, its all fun.  Really now, how bad does a set of wood arrows have to fly to really matter at 25 yards.  I have carbon arrows that out of one bow are like darts, as they say.  Of course, I have wood arrows that match them.  I have also seen a few times where the carbon arrows do not perform in real hunting like they did in close practice, to the surprised users of them, especially ones with mechanical heads.  The human element throws in too many variables to predict such things in a universal declaration.  Besides having game to shoot, what I see with the most consistent trad archers is simply knowing what to do when the time is right and  executing the shot as practiced.  I have also seen them do everything that they can think of doing right and then punt when the pressure is on and their perfectly tested set up goes haywire with a short draw and a flubbed release.  In other words they may shoot at a safe patch of dirt one way and then contort into  something completely different when shooting at a deer.  My 12 arrow 30 yard groups go from a small water melon to a cantaloupe, I am not the best shot in the world, but I do pride myself in having excellent shot timing.  One of the advantages of having many wood shafts to play with is that one can tolerate more arrow loss when hunting small game and flying game.  many cp shooters have 3 arrows and they practice much less than someone with a back quiver full of wood arrows at things other than flat targets, stumping, small game, and fun shots.  When the pieces and parts of the arrow are cheaper and part of nature more, there is more freedom to chase the adventure.  I occasionally cross paths with a fellow that roams the public woods with a metal detector and a rake.  He is looking for lost arrows and native points.  He has an incredible stash of aluminum and carbon arrows, along with a number of very interesting native artifacts.  It looks like missing is nothing new and is not going away any time soon.

[Michael Arnette]

For me, terrible! Because I don't know how to straighten them or value the making of my own as much. I commend you if you do, it's a fine art and skill which I strive to learn better. Until then I'll stick to foam with woodies since I value a clean kill as well as any

Yes my first 100 arrows were pretty much failures. I thread fletched them, snakes with feathers.  Then I talked to Lamont Granger and Louis Armbruster and they set me on the path to straight flying wood arrows that stayed straight. Lamont lived 60 miles north and Louis lived 60 miles east. Most of the time I get my wood arrows to show nothing more than feathers spinning around the nock after the 's' curve.  I do not believe that I am doing anything special.  They are either net or bop net.  Through trial and error with various shafts used for experiment shots with a different shooter or a different bow, I usually get it right the first try. I do not bare shaft test or paper test, I simply shoot the test shafts or have or have the recipient shoot them from about 40 yards and we watch where they go and how they fly, the right one will be the right one. I can say this a wood arrow likes to have something to fly around.