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Tip of the Week

MEASURING YOUR DRAW LENGTH

The AMO standard draw length is the distance, at an archer’s full draw, from the nocking point on string to the pivot point of the grip plus 1 3/4 inches. Simply put, the draw length is the distance from the bottom of the nock groove at full draw to the front of the riser.  

Safety Tip: I would suggest you never cut your arrows shorter than your draw length for two safety reasons.

  • Reason 1: Some shooter's have a "lazy index finger" that may rise above the shelf just as the shooter releases an arrow with a broadhead, that can lead to a horrible outcome.
  • Reason 2: If an arrow is to short and falls off the rest at full draw, well, that is another disaster in itself and you can see that picture in the photo gallery.
  • A typical arrows weighs from 7.4 grains to 8.9 grains per inch. You only lose one foot per second for every 5 grains of weight, therefore, you would lose roughly 3 fps if your arrow was 2 inches longer. 
    Is 3 fps that really important? Peep sights 5-10 fps loss. String silencers 2-3 fps. Brass nocks 3-5 fps. Human release factor is about 5 fps. Vanes are 4-6 grains per vane, nocks run 11-14 grains each and inserts 10-14 grains each. It is never about speed in my opinion, it is about accuracy! 

ARROW BUILDING

The "Tip of the Week" for arrow building now has its own page. This pages discusses arrow choice, cutting, vanes, feathers, inserts, nocks, squaring, fletching, field tips, broadheads, arrow prep, fletching jigs and F.O.C. The tips covered January 22 through March 12

CAMOUFLAGE

Several customers has ask me to build a "camouflage" page. That new page is now completed. Hopefully that will answer most of your questions. If it does not, be sure to email me with your questions. If I do not know the answer to your question, I will have an answer for you in a few days. My answers are based on my experiences and the experiences of other hunters in the field.

HOW TO MAKE YOUR CAMOUFLAGE MORE EFFECTIVE

Look at this picture carefully. Can you see the English sparrow. The sparrow is located in the center of the picture. There are four major factors that make him nearly invisible. He has multiple colors and those colors are random. The colors are a near perfect match to his surroundings. Finally, there are no hard or straight lines in his color scheme. Do not be afraid to mix and match your camouflage to match the surroundings.

Finally, there are no hard or straight lines in his color scheme. Do not be afraid to mix and match your camouflage to match the surroundings. Take old camouflage or camouflage handerchiefs and tear them into approximately 1 inch strips about 10-12 inches long. Tie those strips to varoius parts of your backpack, hats & clothing. Those strips will break-up those straight lines created by anthing your are wearing or carrying. Finaly, take a picture of yourself when you are scouting. Look at that picture on your computer and decide how your could make yourself more "invisible". I have had deer at 10-15 yards look diectly at me for several minutes and never reacted until I moved. The deer did not think I was a threat and some went back to browsing. Your eyes are your biggest give away. I have found that if game make direct contact with your eyes, they become very nervous and are keenly aware that you are a possible threat. Face masks with a see through netting solves this problem. Photograde prescription glasses works as well.  

YOU HAVE BEEN "BUSTED"

If you are in the field and are lucky enough to experience this, you have done several things right. However, if one thing is out of place, this doe will bolt. If that happens, try to remember what caused her to bolt. It was probably one of four mistakes. Did she smell you? Did your move? Did you make eye to eye contact? Did you make any type of noise? If she goes back to browsing, you have done what you need to do to be successful. Remember, when your are bow hunting, the game always have the advantage.

SOMETHING I LEARNED BY READING AND APPLYING TO THE FIELD 

I like to make natural blinds using the material around me with some type of netting if I feel it is necessary. I have always been careful with scent but discovered I had been making a simple mistake. I had set-up my ground blind in an small bowl. There were 5 major trails leading into that bowl. The deer would go to that bowl to feed on acorns. I noticed that when I was present, one of the 5 trails was never used by the deer that entered while I was present.

I started questioning everything. Did I walk on that trail? Was the wind blowing my scent toward that trail? What was I doing that made the deer avoid that specific trail? leaving scent on the "trail" by touching leaves or pine needles on limbs with your hands. Most of us try to move them "quietly" out of the way while we are entering a place to hunt and avoid walking on the trail itself. I rarely wear gloves when walking or shooting. I thought to myself, that could be it because I was paralleling the trail and usually moved the same limbs that were very close to the bowl entry. I went to that spot for the fourth time in three weeks but this time I sprayed my gloves and wore them to the ground blind. That day, multiple deer entered that bowl using the trail that "had not been used". I know that could have been just a coincidence but I also realized that the limbs I was pushing out of the way were the height of most deer noses. I knew there was a nice buck in the area so I gave that bowl one more try. That buck used that trail and we had backstrap for dinner.

SOUND AND SPEED OF AN ARROW   

Sound travels at 768 miles per hour or 1127 feet per second at 68 degrees Fahrenheit in dry air. That means that a game animal will hear any vibration your bow makes or any sound your arrows makes during flight. Therefore, keep in mind the last paragraph of "MEASURING YOUR DRAW LENGTH" in "Tips of the Week". Here are some numbers that might surprise you.

If your bow speed is 200 fps, it will take approximately .3 of a second to hit a target at 20 yards and approximately .6 of a second at 40 yards. Most bow hunters in the West have bows that shoot around 300 fps or less. If your bow speed is 300 fps, it will take approximately .2 of a second to hit a target at 20 yards and approximately .4 of a second at 40 yards.

They will never be able to make a compound bow or long bow that shoots the speed of sound in my opinion. 

Since the game you are hunting will hear you bow twang and your arrow, learn how to quiet your bow and your arrows. Remember, control what you can. Always take the shot when the game animal is not alert when you can.

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