wayne nicol

DONT give up on the bow hunting, recurves or longbows are very efficient weapons when used correctly and within their limitations.
they are a perfect weapon, when one is able to carry them with you all day everyday as primitive peoples did- and to hunt opportunistically. to only carry them that once a year during hunting season- when we go out a few days during that season- is reducing your chances of success further.
now that does not mean they dont work- i bow hunt exclusively during that "hunting season"- and i put meat on the table. for primitive folks it wasnt just about deer - it was everything and anything- the bow and arrow was merely a tool to extend their reach- frogs, squirrels, rats/mice, fish, anything was fair game!

bow hunting has its own challenges and rewards- solitude , silence- close proximity to your prey- and one will inadvertently learn more about the bush and your prey- as everything has bearing on what you do and what you  see. you will become a better tracker, a better observer- and will get closer to the land. dont get disheartened by your failures- remember a primitive soul might have had a bow of some sorts in his hands from as early as he could hold something. when we pick up these tools later in life- we have a steep learning curve ahead of us.

in my opinion- stay away from the crossbows and compounds- they are both bulky items to lug around all day- sights to get bumped- get hung up in the bush- i can throw my bows down the side of a mountain( well not really!!) pick them up- and they will still hit the same target.
get something that is comfortable and easy to shoot- find your effective killing range- the range where you can absolutely put every single arrow into a realistic kill zone sized target- reduce that distance somewhat- and keep that as your max- realistic hunting range- all situations and prey body positions will have an effect on that range- but thats just a good starting point.
our society is ( remnants of rifle  ideology) so focused on small tight groupings- and i know when i started out- i wanted to be able to get 4" groupings out at 30 yards- my good mate taught me to understand- that was not important yet- and was just putting pressure on me, as the shooter- and was effecting my shooting- - he said if a whitetails kill zone is say12 to 14" diameter, find a distance that you can put all your arrows into say a 9" grouping( dinner plate size) without fail- increase your range to establish you maximum- now you have a max hunting range on whitetails- suddenly changed my whole focus- accuracy went up- confidence increased.  i still limit my range to about 18 paces- but shoot most of my deer in between 5 and about 12 paces.

stay away from the paper punching target shooting- focus more on stump shooting   https://survivalsherpa.wordpress.com/2013/09/08/stump-shooting-as-a-survival-skill/ -  it will give you varying ranges- varied targets- varied positions- will make you a better hunter- and is way more fun- shooting at a target for hours on end- and a known range- unless you plan to be a target archer- is a waste of time- compared to effective stump shooting practice.- you can stump shoot in your own yard- i do most of mine on my front lawn! get some judo points and get started.

if you do shoot at targets shoot one arrow at a time- walk retrieve - shoot and so on- your brain needs that bit of time to process and store the data- your body needs a few seconds to recover from  each shot- or as your body tires your form wll suffer- and that bad form is what will be imprinting in your brain. take it slow.

best advice i can give you- i find a mentor- a good mentor- and learn the skills right- or alternatively check this guy out- get his video- i have tried many different techniques in my hunting and shooting journey- and this guys system is the best i have ever come across- best of all attend one of his clinics- they are phenomenal!!!
 

thanks for the response mate, sorry looking back i realize i was a bit vague in my post- and i seem to be hijacking this thread now- so i will start a topic on its own- but i was specifically referring to the plastic lining on the metal lids- i mean plastic is essentially petrochemical- they tout that things are BPA free etc etc- but what about all the other toxins in the compound that has not been brought to the fore yet!

so heres my question about canning- now normally this might be a moot point on a cooking network etc, but on the permie forum- hoping to get an idea- how healthy is canning for one- with the plastic lining to the jar lids??

wow!!
we have some of the nicest music grade sitka spruce right here on island- have good friends in the figured maple music wood industry too!!
i can get wooden shafts here pretty easy for you- should you ever need.
best place to buy completed arrows etc is from http://www.3riversarchery.com/

cheers
wayne

thanks mate- much appreciated
do you do any archery?

thank you,
no osage in that one my friend- but i do love working with it- its an awesome wood to work with- built many self bows from osage staves.

i have a replica of an asian bow- but it is not the original sinew and horn- i would love to build one some day- it is the only bow i have ever bought. made in hungary.
i have built some static tip recurves- that the design originates from those early asian bows.
additionally i have been working on the forms for two asian bows- 1. a scythian, and 2. a hagyar bow. but they will be synthetic, but will still have the wooden levers( siyahs).
need to get cracking on those two bows!

here is my hunnish horse bow


one of my very short ( 48" tip to tip) static tip recurve bows- not quite finished- just checking tiller


here is one of the tips finished



thanks for looking-
cheers
wayne

thank you so much

the kayaks were covered with a synthetic- (polypropylene) and saturated with a goop- creating a beautiful translucent effect. we did add some tints to some of the boats- we built 8 of them for a local rediscovery youth camp.
need to find some pics of them finished.

that particular bow was a real challenge - a mate gave me a small board of very high quality curly maple- he was in the music wood business, and had always kept the primo pieces for his own stash.
the piece was only about 22" long, 4" wide and just on an inch thick- so to stretch it out, in order to make the required 34" ( x2- as overall length of the bow is 64") needed for these bow limbs- i spliced on a pretty piece of yew wood-and i used some Brazilian Walnut( Ipe) for the piece in the splice. I used a combination of curly maple for the sides of the riser, with plain maple floor board left over for the center I beam with two american walnut accent stripes- the flared piece in the middle of the riser is also yew, with some more walnut accent stripes.
the bow limbs are made with 4 lamination's - so the two inside lams- that are not visible) are plain yew.

this bow was a real challenge to build- in an attempt to get an attractive bow that didnt look like a bunch of odd pieces thrown together- but was in reality a bow built from scraps- left overs from so many other bow projects.

thanks for looking
cheers
wayne

hi Dave
yup found it down in the vancouver area
http://www.bwgreenhouse.com/ link to their business- speak to James- say wayne from the queen charlotte islands sent you!!
he may be able to put you on to someone closer, or they may have a branch out there
the product is called "solar soft"
cheers
wayne

great post steve- good points all round!
i let many deer walk- due to the shot not being perfect- and i now have a dedicated tracking dog- specifically for my bowhunting- really helps with recovery in our extre,ely dense bush and very wet climate- where poor blood trails are near impossible to follow.
i have spent a lot of time tracking in my life- having guided in africa etc - and tracking is one of those things , like archeryu- it takes continual practice- believe it or not. your eyes need to train to see the secret little signs!
cheers

ok seem to have found my own answer
a new type of double wall polycarbonate- R value 1.7 with a transmission %99 and a diffusion % 80
and its about as local as we can get on island here- its only 1000 miles away
cheers
wayne