J. Rob Davis gets a deer at 86 years young with his recurve!

I just received a letter dated December 27, 2012 from Maryland bowhunting legend Mr. Davis. He expressed his Christmas wishes to all and described the taking of yet another MD deer with his recurve bow on November 30th. At 86 and unable to get around Mr. Davis hunts from his golf cart. He managed to score a young doe! What an accomplishment. He is an inspiration to us all. Merry Christmas Mr. Davis indeed! Keep on at it!!

socked in with snow and venison stew

Nothing better than hot venison stew when the weather makes it impossible to hunt.

Young Garrett dreams of the days afield he will experience!

121912 Happy Birthday & Happy Holidays

Happy Birthday Garrett! I hope everyone has a joyous Holiday season with family and friends.

Yup....still waiting!

Still waiting on the baby. Over a week late now. I briefly got a chance to get out to the woods Saturday afternoon under the guise of collecting some pine branches and cones for Christmas decoration. The woods was nice and the sun made it feel like April rather than December.

Is eased through the woods and saw no other orange clad hunters for the second ML season. I think they are all gone for the year and things can get back to normal. I crept up on a few squirrels and launched an arrow at one about 30 yards away and came darn close for that range.

I got my branches with my trusty K-Bar, which proved easier for the task than the hawk I carried, and quickly left for home….expecting something to happen at any time. Nothing did. Seems patience is important for other things in addition to hunting. Sold the jeep to the landowner that afternoon also! I hope her son likes it and secures us continued hunting privileges.

I also had a chance to whittle some on my hickory selfbow I had been working on for a couple years now. I only work on it when the humidity gets lower in the winter.Made me pick up my older selfbow and I was hitting well with it…..hmmmmmm. I may have to try for one of those backyard feeder does with this and the homemade arrow I have. Another quest still unfulfilled ;-) My hideously bright squirrel arrows are coming along also. They will be too ugly to lose I think. another coat of poly and I will be ready to fletch.

Venison Jerky

Had a chance to make a couple batches of jerky. Mike provided some ground for the project. Used a commercial mix.

Loaded up the jerky pistol. Set the timer on the dehydrator. Yummy snacks in no time!

I did have a chance to hit the woods on a very foggy Saturday morning for a few hours. Nothing seen except a squirrel I had come about 4 feet away before he saw my eyes move. I missed him as he scurried off at about 15 yards.

Never forget!

My great uncle Julian:

caught a glimpse in daylight

Still roaming!

The gun is no fun

Brent, Mike and I joined up early Saturday morning for a gun hunt at the R farm. I carried the flintlock, Brent his shotgun, and Mike the contender pistol.

The parking area only had one vehicle in it. I headed to the back of the property on the rocky ridge. Brent was down in the bowl in his tree stand a couple hundred yards away. Mike headed to the left property boundary adjoining the park land.

Right at first light through the foggy air, a shot booms from down in the adjoining valley. Approximately 30 turkey that were roosted and about to fly down, get startled and fly across the ridge I am on. What a sight! I watch the group that fly by calling and a sentry bird stays high in the tree at their new location guiding the rest in. The other half of the birds start gathering up and crossing the ridge in front of me on foot. I counted 13 birds that crossed in bow shot distance in front of me from that small group. What a racket they made. They continued to feed a few hundred yards away for about an hour until they finally wandered off in front of Mike. They were very loud with so many in number. When they crossed Mike he had a doe sneak in behind him and all he saw was the tail waving through the thickets. I had to take Mike back around noon and wouldn't you know there were 7 deer bedded down 10 yards from my truck. Those deer are not dumb. They knew it was safe by the houses. I dropped off Mike and went back to the woods where Brent was in the process of moving his treestand. As I eased back along the trail I heard a BOOM very close. I saw the guy in orange quickly afterwards. I looked down the trail and saw 2 deer heading towards where Brent was in the morning. Figures.

Then this lazy guy has his friend drive a pickup truck through the woods to pick up the deer he just shot. Right through the middle of the hunting woods. Thank you! Against the landowners explicit directions mind you. We sat the rest of the afternoon and saw nothing besides other hunters...lots of them! Then, I went to unload the rifle and the pan failed to ignite the charge. Then I reload and the pan fails. Then, the third time, the gun goes off. I head to hockey for my last game before my "baby break" and I end up blowing the game. Wiffed on a point shot with less than a minute left in the game and an empty net. The guy easy takes the puck and they score. Game over. What a frustrating weekend.

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.