Easy arrow tapering jig!

I think I need to build this. Looks like an easy project. I love the way my tapered carbons fly.....very forgiving.

A friends friend and Historic archery - Howard Hill & Pope

Thought I would share some pics of two of Howard's bows: The gentleman said he got the bow directly from Craig Ekin. He has a handwritten letter from Craig about the bow. The name on the bow is "The Charm" so Howard must have liked this one! He does not know the draw weight of the bow but said, "it looks like a brute, with thick limbs.

"The second Hill bow I got directly off of Gene Wensel. I used to stay in close contact with Gene, but I kind of lost track of him, through his moves. I have a letter on his own letterhead talking about this bow, in his own handwriting. The tip was broken at one time, but you can't tell without close inspection. Except for a tiny pie shaped piece missing from the place where the tip broke off. It is either dugame (lemonwood) or lancewood backed with rawhide.It is a very early Hill bow, made in 1931 by Howard Hill while he lived in Florida. Legends Bert Grayson and John Schulz, who worked with Howard, assured Gene that it was legit. It is a BEAUTIFUL bow!!! It came from the collecting legend Bert Grayson Collection, who had it in his museum. He got it directly from Hill."

Here is the first Pope arrow: The first Pope arrow I got off of noted author- T.M. Hamilton, who got it off of noted artist- Remington Schuyler, who was a friend of Saxton Pope's. I've had it for over 20 years now. I have the packaging that I got it in, from Mr. Hamilton, with his handwriting on it.

The second Saxton Pope arrow, I also got off of Gene Wensel. Gene did a story on an identical arrow that he used to take a doe, in Traditional Bowhunter magazine. It was actually one he took to Africa, in 1926, I believe it was offhand. but never used. It is a work of art!!! Fletching is Goose feathers tied with Cat gut. It comes with a Broadhead, in beautiful condition. The only flaws are a slight flake off of the nock and a little spot in the fletching that was like that when I got it. The nocks are BONE reinforced. Also has a Gold crest put on it by Mr. Pope. It also has a number written on it. Don't know if Mr. Pope or someone else put this on, but I'd assume it was Mr. Pope. It is a real BEAUTY!!!

Thanksgiving weekend 2012

I had a busy Holiday season despite not traveling this year. Made the full blown Thanksgiving day meal and caught some kind of cold that day. I felt awful by the end of the day and I was worried Angela would get sick.

Friday I stayed home from work and tried to take it easy, but ended up cooking up a 15 pound batch of ground venison in to summer sausage with my smoker.

Saturday consisted of buying a new car, picked up the Honda CRV. Sunday Mike and I went out to check out the crowds at the R farm. We brought our bows. Only one truck was in the lot (Bear’s). Mike’s normal spot had a guy overlooking it in a ladder stand from the adjacent property. He backed out and hunted some thick stuff instead. I went behind the guy and walked to the back of the property. He was probably not too happy with me but, “oh well.” I set up in a deadfall there and the wind was howling! I saw another orange hat about 60 yards to my front, and after some time the person rose and I saw it was a gal. She was wearing blue jeans and had a walking stick with her Collie! Lying on the ground with only an orange hat during gun season at 6am?! My only guess was that she was the adjacent landowner and was attempting to catch hunters on her property illegal. I was behind her but she never saw me though. She walked back and forth a bunch of time below me almost to the point of hunter harassment, but eventually went down the hill toward the hardball road. About an hour later another hunter comes walking down the hill from our property and crosses into hers and walks down toward the road as well. Maybe this was the guy she was trying to catch? It was all very strange. The wind kept blowing so I decided to get up and walk back toward the truck. I saw several different fox squirrels and launched about 5 shots at them with no hits. Lost one arrow, broke one other, and lost the nock on a third. It was good fun though. Those squirrels are BIG! No deer seen. Once I got back to the house and warmed when up the wife informed me 4 deer were feeding in our landscaping….figures.

Sat. 11/17/12 morning

Brent and I headed to the farm to hunt some Saturday. Brent took his stand and climbed back in a chestnut oak at the back of the property in the Laurel bowl. I sat near the lower trail on the ground. I found some deadfall near some known fox squirrel trees and set up my stool. The deadfall made a really cool natural blind.

As the red sun came up Brent kept contacting me on his deer sightings. They kept just out of range as they traveled over the ridge into, and out of the laurel. Meanwhile, I was not seeing crap as it was too windy for even squirrel. I decided to see if I could push one of those deer Brent was seeing toward him. I slowly still hunted to the complete back of the property following the property boundaries. There is a lot more property back there then I suspected. I found a really good trail skirting the property line. Sandy has taken a toll back there and many groups of deadfall were across the trail. I jumped a bedded doe and fawn in one such deadfall. At about 20 yards they high tailed it toward Brent and I gave him a heads up on the radio. He saw them pass by out of range again up the hill. I proceeded to still hunt my way around the back side of the property until I could see Brent in his tree about 60 yards in front of me as I crested the rocky ridge. Then, all of the sudden that doe and fawn come trotting back down the hill! I took a knee and she actually skidded to a stop right down onto her belly and bedded about 35 yards in front of me. I did have a brief broadside shot before she went down, but now she was bedded and all I could see was her head between two tree trunks. Her fawn just milled about. I figured if I stayed hidden she may head either toward me closer for a shot, or go toward Brent who had heard her approach and was watching, with no clue I was there behind him. It would have been cool if I did have a shot and he could watch the action from there. I could imagine his surprise when an arrow would come out of nowhere and stick the doe he was watching 60 yards away. In any event, the doe rose and immediately headed directly away from us down the hill. Oh well. She had no clue we were there. Brent told me she had bedded down again about 100 yards to his front, so I decided to try to backtrack and put a sneak on her again. When I got there she was gone. It was starting to get warm at this point and all my running around in wool was not working. We decided to call it a day and I went home to do yard work.

Opportunity to learn

I went out for half a day sit in my backyard yesterday to try and catch that big ol’buck I saw at breakfast the other morning. I only had a tall 6 point that was not wider than the ears come in out of range. Next time I sit back there, I may move back to his travel line and see. I learned an important travel route back there funneled by a down tree. Mike took off the day before for an all day sit and had a great hunt. He had a bunch of deer moving and got a really good chance at a mature buck. He will remember this hunt for a while. Here is his story: I made it to Jack's right at first light. I geared up and headed straight up the hill from his driveway. Just at the crest of the hill I spotted a healthy rub on a good sized tree.

The frost made the leaves damp and I was able to sneak quietly toward the back the property. I climbed up in my hang on and got ready for an action packed day! Around 7:15 I caught movement out ahead and saw a single deer headed down the hill at about 80yds. A few squirrels were active until about 8:30 then nothing...

I was spacing out at 11:00 when I thought I spotted some movement through the brown leaves on Beech tree. Sure enough a herd of six were heading up the hill at about 80yds. At 11:30 I caught movement in the same area as the previous herd. I was unable to get my glass up in time but I think it was a small buck.

Nothing at all for the rest of the afternoon... The steady cool breeze died down around 4:00 and the sun started getting low. A few squirrels started running around just about sunset and I was hoping one would offer a shot. Still no deer... I was just about to start packing it in when I heard movement behind me. I turned and saw a solo deer headed diagonally behind me. It was moving at a good pace down a trail. He made it down to my 5 o'clock then turned off the trail and headed directly towards me! As he stepped over a downed log he dipped his head and I saw his antlers were out to the tips of his ears...It's on! He took a few more steps towards me then froze and looked right in my direction. I was waiting for him to commit to a line so I could get setup. He was only 25 yds at this point and looked like he would come by on the right side of my tree. As he started moving again he turned hard down hill and was still closing the distance between us. I quickly moved my tether over to my left shoulder, grabbed my bow off the hook and readied for a shot. He stopped about 15yds at my 7o'clock. I was already drawing as he came to a stop and paused for a moment as I came to full draw to concentrated on hitting my anchor. I loosed the arrow and heard a rattling sound as he reacted? He didn't spook too bad and was slowly walking away after a few steps. I looked hard but couldn't see my arrow on the ground anywhere. The deer was definitely acting like he wasn't hit and continued over to the area where my cam is and then on down the hill. I decided to shoot another arrow at the spot where he was when I shot. I then noticed how difficult it was to aim for that spot while keeping my limb from hitting the stand. I shot and managed to find a nice rock which sent sparks flying:) I climbed down and went to check for my arrow. It was buried deep in the mud about three feet behind and directly in line with my second shot, fletchings clean as a whistle. I'm not sure exactly what happened but I guess it just wasn't meant to be... Could have caught my limb tip on the seat or support cable?... Could have not aimed low enough causing a high miss?...Did I fail to burn a spot before I loosed the arrow? Who knows but I wasn't tracking a deer!

With all the dues I'm paying I should soon have secured a lifetime membership to the happy hunting club! I pulled the card on my cam on the way out and guess who was on there... At least I have pics to haunt me if I never see him again.

Lots of luck and a sharp broadhead

I finally had some luck and it ended up being on my backyard property. I went in at first light because I was not sure which particular tree I wanted to sit in. I had found some additional scrapes I wanted to cover. I ended up flushing out a number of deer (over 5 by the sounds) as I approached the area by the neighbor’s property where I wanted to set up, near a downed tree from hurricane Sandy. Around an hour of sitting and watching the sun come up over my house, I see some movement to my left.

I counted 10 deer, all does, approach from the valley to the left. I was looking very hard but never saw a buck. I thought that one would be near all those girls this time of year. They ended up in a grassy area directly behind and downwind of my tree. Just figures. The group was about 20 yards away and caught my scent. A couple stomped, they wiggled their necks like Stevie Wonder for about 25 minutes not knowing where I was. They were looking hard in the deadfall, in my ground blind a short distance away, and all over the area. I was above them slightly and behind a tree trunk standing. They eventually filtered away and I never had a shot. I think they were the group that was in that exact spot when I kicked them out at first light. I think they circled the entire neighborhood to get back from that direction. I sat there contemplating the incident when about 45 minutes later 3 deer come from the right side. I thought it was the huge doe I had seen with my camera earlier, as she had 2 fawns with her also. She was much bigger than the two little ones. They all approached and came right up to the deadfall tree I was above and started to feed on the maple leaves. I had only a frontal shot at the big gal so I waited her out. Eventually she wandered out to about 20 yards and finally went broadside. I was already standing, but had a heavy wool coat unbuttoned that was in the way of the bow string as I released. I watched in horror as the coat took about ½ of the power out of the shot and my arrow was wagging terribly and seemed to impact sideways in the ham! I hit just above the knee on the side of the ham and I saw only about 2 inches of penetration as she leapt over some brush and the arrow fell out of the wound immediately. As she hit the ground I saw lots of red on the leg and she briefly limped and the paused with the fawns about 15 yards away. I got out another arrow and flung it at her knowing I had already wounded her once. I missed by about 5 feet and they all bolted. I waited about an hour and put away my stand. Immediately found my arrow, good blood, but not pouring out. A “stand –up” blood trail. I trailed it about 35 yards more than where it had stood for the follow-up shot and found it there dead! I almost felt like not trailing it at all because I saw what I thought was a minor flesh wound.

It ran a total of only about 75 yards. I fried up the heart for breakfast and discovered 3 large blood clots in the heart chambers. I believe this was the cause of death and not bleeding to death. There just did not seem that much blood on the trail.

The “mom” was an adult and field dresses at 80 pounds.

Here is a close up of the wounds. The head did not penetrate to the inside of the leg and stopped at the bone! It just goes to show what a good sharp broadhead can do!

Thanks to Mike for helping me butcher her up!

Inexpensive homemade squirrel points

I decided to try the tip from the latest Traditional bowhunter article Marylander Rob Davis wrote about making small game heads out of field points. I took some needle nose pliers and bent out the base in a fan / flange shape and ground the tip flat to make a slightly smaller blunt. It was very quick and easy with my grinding wheel, and the entire process only took a few minutes to make a half dozen.

They are supposed to penetrate in the squirrel better and stay inside with the flanges. I am hoping they do not snag too much coming out of my back quiver. Hopefully I will give a report soon on the effectiveness on squirrel!

Urban Half Day

I went home at lunch to accept a furniture delivery for the nursery, and the thought of that big 8 point out there at 4:30pm on Saturday was too much. I decided to not go back to work and go directly to the tree. I was in my backyard right above the scrape about 12 yards back and 15 feet high. It felt like I was in the open too much. I put a frozen tarsal gland I had in the freezer from a buck in the scrape and got situated.

I watched the wife pull the car out and leave. Then about 15 minutes later I see a little 6 moving very cautiously behind me. He stops for a moment and looks like he does the pee-pee dance. I need to go back there and look to see if there is another scrape back behind. Then he eventually passed by very slowly and cautiously. He never saw or smelled me, so I am guessing he is just tired of getting his butt kicked by larger bucks. I saw the three turkey run across my yard, but no other action.

Mike was texting me pictures left and right of the bucks he was seeing at his “Jack’s place” urban property. He definitely had a great evening.

First weekend of November scrape cam

Awe man! So much of hunting is being in the right place at the right time. Mike and I almost had a shot at a small doe bedded in my front yard at the lunch break. Then we saw a large doe and a fawn in the back. I told Mike we could hunt hunt at my house instead of the R farm… Should have! 4:30 while we were in the tree…..at another area:

Also a pretty healthy looking fox:

Some other smaller bucks: