Wintertime blues? Trad Gang time!!

[Mike Bolin]

We've been getting a pretty healthy dose of old man winter here in the Midwest this year. Just shoveled 7" of snow off the drive, but the job was shut down today and shoveling snow is good exercise! with more snow and extremely cold temps on the way, work is going to be hit or miss (more miss than hit) at best and that is hitting the bank account pretty hard. I've had to put my Ontario Moose hunt on hold for this Fall as I am just not sure how much I am going to get to work until the weather breaks.
Oh well, it could be worse.....I am healthy and my family is healthy and I've turkeys and Whitetails to chase here in Indiana. Plus I will have job to go back to, so I've got no reason to whine. Ontario isn't going anywhere so I can keep planning. Family responsibilities ALWAYS come first. In the meantime I will hunt Moose and Elk through my Trad Gang brothers, so keep posting your hunting adventures and thanks to all of those that share there stories here! Mike

[mgf]

Tell me about it. My deer season fizzled out to nothing due to truck problems, plumbing problems and home furnace problems. Oh, then I missed the last two weeks because I was sick.

I don't have anyplace private to hunt so even rabbits are closed to me now.

To continue the sob story, I'm self employed and the weather has taken it's toll on my income too.

I've been thinking about a pig hunting trip to someplace warm but I have to get some money coming in before I can get too serious about that.

I'm wishing my life away one hunting season at a time. It's time to move to where the hunting is better!...I should say to where access to hunting is better. The hunting is great here for the select few who have access to it.

[mgf]

A person can't spend all their time complaining so the question is how to keep busy with bows when there isn't any hunting available. No turkey hunting for me...no place local to hunt and $32 for tag and bird habitat stamp sounds like a rip-off.

I shoot almost everyday even out in the snow and cold.

I have a piece of hickory out in the shop that I'll get busy on just as soon as it warms up a little (my shop isn't heated).

I built 3 board bows last year. Two of them survived quite a bit of shooting but eventually came apart. The tiller was nice on all of them but it's hard to find a good board. This piece of wood is a "stave" so it'll have one ring on the back.

By the time I get a couple of bows made and shooting it'll be getting close to hunting season again.

[Mike Bolin]

mgf, where are you located in IN? Once this weather breaks maybe we can get together and shoot some arrows? Mike

[Sam McMichael]

Yeah, it was a slow year for me , too. I only hunted 4 times. I did see a couple of small bucks and a yearling doe in bow range but chose not to shoot. Maybe next year will offer more opportunity.

On the bright side, I did attend a rendezvous in Florida during January where I picked up an English long bow made of yew. I don't have arrows worked up for it yet, so I do have that to look forward to.

We got a bit of snow down here and a good bit of rain, but the cabin fever is not anything like you northern and mid-western folks have had to contend with. I hope you have some good indoor projects to work on till spring comes.

[-snypershot317-]

been slow for me too...i missed most of the hunting season moving back to IN and getting ready for our little one to arrive in April. Jobs doing fine actually today is my first day off in a while with me working two retail jobs its hard to find time to do anything really. But really no complaints here; yeah i missed hunting season but found out that my stand from a few years ago is still getting some attention so i still have a hunting spot, got money for the bills and groceries, and the family is healthy too..and the car will be fixed to better conditions also. so really i cant complain other than cabin fever kickin in and no time to work on backing my bow  :p ...what part of indiana are you all from?

[mgf]

I'm a little bit north of Logansport.

I'm in for shooting!

[Mike Bolin]

West Terre Haute....right off of I-70 before you get to IL. Once this weather breaks, we should find a place to get together and shoot. Mike

[mgf]

Lets do that.

[ISP 5353]

Lets get some of the other Indiana shooters together and shoot a few arrows.  A get together with some other trad folks would be a good break from the Winter blues!

[mgf]

Great idea! I don't see other trad shooters very often. I'm the only one around here that I know of. LOL

[Bowwild]

I'm planning for the first time to attend parts of both Compton (Louisville)and PBS (Cincinnati) this year. Both are next month. Both are within 1.5 hours from me this year.

[RAU]

[Mike Bolin]

Hoosiers, we need to figure out a place to shoot that would be as convenient as possible for all of us. I think that Cloverdale has a shoot on the 1st Saturday of the month, at least they used to. Maybe there is a place that would be better for everyone? Mike

[mgf]

I'm open.

I don't know of any clubs or ranges up this way. I doubt it would be a "convenient" location but I live on/own 4 acres that we can shoot on.

Sans a "range" I suppose we could do some camping and stumping in the national forest south of Bloomington or something?

Just throwing ideas out there.

[achigan]

Hey Mike, I can identify. I've got a plumber in my basement right now replacing drain pipes.
 My season was cut short by carelessness loading my woodburner.http://i1228.photobucket.com/albums/ee458/jimavelis/5618d5f0-0704-421a-aa2e-ac7117adc911.jpg

[achigan]

[halfseminole]

I missed the entire season either flat of my back or in a wheelchair.  I'm up and toddling some now but a supposed stroke in October really did a number on me.  I gave away my long bows as I have to learn to shoot seated and 6'+ bows do not lend themselves to such.  I've been working on a bow experiment and some other projects, but when it's warm I'll park my chair outside and hit some targets...  They tell me stay inside if I want to keep my feet, so I'm doing so until it's warm again.  Maybe next season I can move them enough to get after it again

[achigan]

Originally posted by Mike Bolin:
Hoosiers, we need to figure out a place to shoot that would be as convenient as possible for all of us. I think that Cloverdale has a shoot on the 1st Saturday of the month, at least they used to. Maybe there is a place that would be better for everyone? Mike

I was just looking up Deer Creek (Cloverdale) yesterday Mike. The CCC has a shoot March 1.
  The Bloomington Archery club has a 2014 sked out, their shoots are Saturday's with the 15th and 22nd (Feb)on their list. Jim

[Mike Bolin]

So there should be a shoot at Cloverdale on Saturday, March 1st. I can probably make that one. Anyone else want to make that shoot....maybe grab breakfast in Cloverdale beforehand? Mike