HH bug got me ... Part One!

[RLM]

Spanky, I really hated to trade that Wesley off but was forced to drop at least 10#'s off my drawing weight and I know Craig could not take that much weight off the bow. I did get a good trade from Mudd and am real happy with it.  Roger

[Dick in Seattle]

I have a friend with a 30" draw who wants me to build him a longbow.   If he'll spring for an extra piece of glass, I'm toying with the idea of building him a 74" Hill style so he can really experience smooth.   The idea won't get out of my head.   I"m going to have three guys, including him, here tomorrow and we will be talking it over.  It'll take a new straight form, no big problem, and a new backing setup for glue up, but it could be handy.  I think it would take a 74" Hill to let a real long draw guy feel like the rest of us do with 66" or 68".  It'd be fun to take a long one to a shoot and hunt out the long draw guys to see what they think.  Problem is most would want more weight than I am comfortable building to.  Fortunately, David wants 35@28, which I can do and would put him where he wants to be if I tiller it on out.   I feel the same way about real long draw guys as I do about lefties... they get short changed in the Hill arena.   One of the reasons I like to turn out the occasional shelfless bow.

[Ray_G]

Originally posted by Ben Kleinig:
There's snow in that picture, by the looks of it, and you are in a tee-shirt! You are one tough bloke, Rik! You are the polar opposite of some of the natives here, who, on a 40 degrees Celcius day (well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, I think), wear a jacket and a beanie.

Ben, that is how it is done in Idaho      
Actually, the temp was in the upper 70s today but may have been a little cooler up in the mountains.  Snow on the ground is not unusual this time of year.  Some areas will not be accessible until late June.  "Cabin Fever" makes a guy try, though.

[Rik]

Snow?

What?

Nah Man, that's just residual Winter.

An obvious optical illusion. Winter was over two months ago.

It never snows in Idaho. Especially in May, or June, or July, or August.

---And if you believe that, you will believe that Idaho was not the last of the 50 states to be colonized.

Seems the Idaho weather put a damper on the enthusiasm of Jim Bridger, Osbourne Russell, and the other high-hikin', serious mountain men of the day.

If Daniel Boone had set even one foot in Idaho though, he would have found home. Wild times back then, wild times. . .

(Like to read of the old days? Journal of a Trapper, by Osbourne Russell, might be to your liking).

Now, will someone please send some summer, bear-hunting weather to Idaho?

[2treks]

That is a good book Rik,I found my copy on a logging road on Fritz mountain in Montana.
 If I could, I would BRING you some Bear hunting weather(and company).
Good luck when you get to it. Nice looking gear you sport.

Originally posted by Dick in Seattle:
I have a friend with a 30" draw who wants me to build him a longbow.   If he'll spring for an extra piece of glass, I'm toying with the idea of building him a 74" Hill style so he can really experience smooth.  

***************************

Dick,

Just curious...is your friend a hill shooter?  

The reason I ask is that recently I have been practicing the proper "heeling" bow hold technique as I draw.  Had my wife take pics of the make-shift "arrow" with lines on it to represent 1/2" increments in draw length.

Bottom line is that my 30" draw turned into a consistent 27.5"....that was pulling approximately 40#.  When Nate is able to build my new Sunset Hill it will be targeted for 56# which will probably push my draw length closer to an even 27".

[Dick in Seattle]

Tony    I have a 40@28 Hill here that I will be testing him with.  We shall see...

[Cookus]

That's another fine looking bow Roy!   I too prefer the shorter Hills... With my 28" draw, I love my 64" Wesley!   Whatever works...  

[SpankyNeal]

Roger, I totally understand bud...happens to the best of us! I know you hated to let her go, but it couldn't have gone to a better home than with Roy! He'll take good care of her i'm sure. Glad you got a good trade for another Hill to keep the fire burning! Best of luck to ya!

Steve, wallet twitching is but one of the many annoying yet ever present symptoms of the Hill bugs bite. It never seems to go away once it happens either!  :D

[Looper]

I've got a 30.5" draw with a Hill and my 69" Halfbreed seems really smooth to me. It really is a fun bow to shoot. A 66" Hill is too short for me, and a 68" is pushing it.  I do think my next one will be around 70-72".

I think I have a pretty good technique and shoot a Hill quite well, but there's no way I could go from a 31" draw with my other longbows to a 28" with a Hill. My bow arm would have to have one serious bend in it.

[Looper]

I have a question about the Sunset Hills. They have a shorter riser, correct?  I was thinking that the string angle at full draw would be a limiting factor in how short a bow should be.  You don't want to get to 90*, do you?  How short of a Sunset could I use with a 30.5" draw?  I love the Hill-style and would like a shorter bow to use out of a blind.  I've been using a 69" Halfbreed, but it's a little long for using out of my blind.

[tradlongbow]

looper-

Send Nate a pm about the your question. I've spoke to Nate before and he has a very precise formula that he uses when building someone a bow. He also will have you send in a trace of your hand to get a perfect fit. Nate's bows a custom to the user, not a one size fits all. I remember having this conversation about hundred posts back.

Good Luck,
Darren

[far rider]

Holy Smokes! I leave for a short bit and we're nearing 3000 posts and nearly 200 pages for this post. WOW! Not even gonna try to catch up.

[Mudd]

The subject matter deserves the chatter...lol

God bless, Mudd

PS:Welcome back Tim!

[xbmedic]

Originally posted by Dick in Seattle:
I feel the same way about real long draw guys as I do about lefties... they get short changed in the Hill arena.  

Being a lefty is the main reason I started building my own Hill style bows. I love my HH Big Five, but it's hard enough to find any kind of longbow out here, and if you shoot lefty, good luck! Thanks for all your help, Captain Dick. Getting ready to lay up another one. I promise I will eventually get pictures up of the first one.

[Nate Steen .]

Boy oh boy,

started out with a rough weekend,  I've got bear fever real bad, and hills are loaded with snow, but I think I might just snowshoe in to get started with the hunting.....So I went out to shoot some arrows and every arrow was flying like wounded ducks..no good.  I got out several bows, about 2 dozen arrows,and nothing shot straight...aaaggghhh!!!

I gave it up, went and put the finishing touches and tiller on a bow, and just forgot about shooting in the wind, rain, etc.  You know you sometimes just gotta clear your head.....

Went out this morning before work and concentrated on.....back tension, release, and follow through!  Amazing! astounding! arrows flying straight!  this brings me to think about Hill going out and shooting arrows "just for form"....not trying to hit stuff, not shooting arrows for fun,  but seriously shooting "for form"....

even these easy shooting, casual style Hill style longbows need proper shooting techniques to make the arrows fly straight...and we need reminders about this now and again...

[Ray_G]

Nate, buddy, you should have called & I could have shown you how to shoot crappy    

Been working through the same things.  Weather isn't doin' us any favors to get out & shoot.  Weatherman said we had gusts around 60 mph, yet again.

[Nate Steen .]

Rik is seriously getting under my skin....he knows how much I want to go hunting and he's just egging me on with those photos......  

[dragonheart]

Nate,

I hear you on the form and the constant vigile.  There are those days that you just have to get away from shooting when everything just seems to not work.  I have been focussing on my finger position of the drawing hand and allowing my finger to hook, but without tension.  

Watching alot of Howard Hill's videos of him shooting.  You can see as he begins his draw he brings his little finger back and then through the draw cycle the thumb points down like cocking a pistol.  I have been working on this and I tell you I can really feel the back tension and feel more stable at full draw.  The fingers are a hook and I hook pretty deep.  

One of the best pieces of guidance you gave me was to put more pressure on the bottom 2 fingers of the bow hand on the grip.  That helped a bunch.  

Bear hunting would be awesome.  Someday I would love to do that.  Glad to hear that your focus on form got you back regrouped.  If a bear gets after you are you pretty fast running in snowshoes?  

Longbows & Short Shots,

Jeff

[Rik]

Nate, this is going to be one challenging year to hunt bears. It's snowing like crazy in the high country today, on top of the existing snow pack that is still 140 percent of normal.

Here is the highway cam image from this morning on the hill I drive over every day to get to work.

 

I feel like just crawling back into my cave and sleeping until mid June, when me MIGHT be able to get into that sweet bear country that is calling our names.

TWO TRACKS ---- that is an absolutely amazing find on a logging road. Methinks you were meant to have that book. Do you remember the part about the 13-point bull elk and the fat running in torrents? I only have to think about that section of the book and I start-----to------get------elk-------fever. Arghhhhh----- I've done it again. I thought about it without realizing I was thinking about it, and now, gulp, I've got elk fever already. 14 weeks and counting. . .Oh this is going to be a long summer------if it ever stops snowing!