BS: Any Archers out there?

Subject: RE: BS: Any Archers out there?
From: Phot
Date: 17 Nov 10 - 02:13 PM

I started this thread to see if anyone out there enjoyed archery as I do, not start a slanging match between trolls and mates! Either wind your necks in or I will ask Joe to close this thread!

Phot

Subject: RE: BS: Any Archers out there?
From: GUEST,Silas
Date: 17 Nov 10 - 03:51 PM

Hi Phot.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that just because you started the thread that you own it. However, you are quite right, it is starting to get a bit silly.

Subject: RE: BS: Any Archers out there?
From: maeve
Date: 17 Nov 10 - 04:24 PM

Phot- We have Arrowwood growing in our hedgerow, chicken and turkey feathers for fletching, and Milkweed, Dogbane, and Amsonia plant fibers for cordage bowstrings. Black locust, Brown ash, and hazel are available to use for a bow, then I can perfect design and materials over time. I like target shooting.

Subject: RE: BS: Any Archers out there?
From: gnu
Date: 17 Nov 10 - 04:45 PM

Phot... you know me. I don't often start fights but I usually finish them or apologize. Yes, I know I was a "mate" to a troll but I just don't like me and me mates being called morons by someone who hasn't a clue what they are talking about.

I shall not post again in response to any trolls.

My apologies.

Subject: RE: BS: Any Archers out there?
From: Phot
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 01:56 AM

Cheers Gnu. How's things going over there?

Maeve, I had a go with a 60lbs Longbow last week, which was just a bit different!

Wassail!! Chris

Subject: RE: BS: Any Archers out there?
From: gnu
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 07:20 AM

60#... that's a beast. Doubt if I could draw one of those anymore. You should alternate arms so you don't list!

Subject: RE: BS: Any Archers out there?
From: A Wandering Minstrel
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 07:46 AM

60 lbs is pretty heavy. My own club has had an outbreak of home built longbows recently but they average in the 35-50 lb range. even so they will easily cast an arrow 100 yards though the accuracy goes to hell beyond 30 as you have to shoot more like a clout.

When I responded to Silas I was thinking 60 yards which seems to me to be a likely distance for hunting. One of my compounder friends normally groups all golds at 80 yards. Using the recurve I'm lucky to group outer blue :)

Subject: RE: BS: Any Archers out there?
From: Phot
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 08:15 AM

Some of the longbows recovered from the Mary Rose were 180lbs! Archelogical digs have found the skeletons of medieval English archers to be deformed due to the enormous poundage they were pulling on a warbow! My left clavical is deformed anyway, so I guess a few years shooting recurve won't make things any worse!

Wassail!! Chris

PS. If any Mudcat archers are around RAF Wyton, give me a PM.

Subject: RE: BS: Any Archers out there?
From: olddude
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 09:08 AM

One comment and I will leave you as this thread did get on the nasty side. The rules on hunting vary from state to state. However, most require "compound only bows" The new pulley systems have tremendous pressure and the new arrow hunting design is formidable. In the state of NY you have to be certified by an instructor before you can get a license to hunt with a bow. Deer are taken from a tree stand. For the guys I know this is their life, they practice all year. The typical kill zone is marked by the hunter and practiced over and over from his stand. The normal distance is 15 yards or under. The shot is taken from above downward and is a kill immediate shot.   It may be surprising to most that it was the bow hunters themselves that pressured the authorities to place the strong limits on who could do this. There is little worries anymore about the wounding. However like anything there are people who should never do this.

When I first moved to this state, it was legal during the salmon run to blind snatch fish. That is guys would toss a big hunk of lead with hooks and just pull the fish out. It was the fishermen that screamed foul and got the law changed. Most of our really serious conservation laws were all enacted by the sportsman.

Now people who target shoot with a long bow, my hats off to you .. that is dang hard ... I would love to do that again, I can't but sure wish I could.   I watched on TV guys and gals splitting an arrow in half at a distance I could not believe ... amazing and fun sport.

Subject: RE: BS: Any Archers out there?
From: Phot
Date: 06 May 11 - 08:17 AM

Just a quick update.

PB is now 554 for a Portsmouth (5 Doz @20 Yds, 60cm face), and I went and bought a 27" Hoyt Formula RX riser, with 34lbs Med limbs wound up to 41lbs now, (Might save up for some F3 limbs), which is one hell of a bow. I'm currently ranked 3rd in Cambridgeshire (Shooting less than 12 months class).

Wassail!! Chris

Subject: RE: BS: Any Archers out there?
From: GUEST,Alan Whittle
Date: 06 May 11 - 09:11 AM

I wonder if that's what sunk the Mary Rose - a couple of archers with 180lb bows - doing target practice in their cabin.

Subject: RE: BS: Any Archers out there?
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 07 May 11 - 06:29 AM

I took my husband to the Norfolk Show last year for the first time. He's from the Senoufou tribe, but was born and lived all his life in Abidjan, a large city. When he saw the Archery stand his eyes lit up, so he had a go with six arrows for £1. (Full-size bows, not toys) He's never before held a bow, but he looked like an expert as he drew the bow and shot all six one after the other and hit the middle bull's eye every time. The man was surprised to learn it was his first ever time. Naturally he had lots more tries, and practically every time he did the same thing. His tribe were originally forest dwellers in the rainforests of West Africa, and lived by hunting with bows and arrows. I'm convinced that he's genetically made to shoot arrows with precision. What do you think?

Subject: RE: BS: Any Archers out there?
From: GUEST,Alan Whittle
Date: 07 May 11 - 07:45 AM

well you could try the apple on the head test, just to make sure.

Subject: RE: BS: Any Archers out there?
From: Phot
Date: 07 May 11 - 08:00 AM

Eliza, find your nearet archery club and enjoy! Sounds like your chap has a raw talent.

Wassail!! Chris

Subject: RE: BS: Any Archers out there?
From: gnu
Date: 07 May 11 - 01:58 PM

Indeed. Was it longbow Eliza?

Subject: RE: BS: Any Archers out there?
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 07 May 11 - 02:32 PM

Yes, gnu. The man on the stall had different sizes for men, women and children. He handed Ib (my hubbie) a man-size bow (like Robin Hood's one) which looked difficult to pull. But I don't fancy the William Tell test Alan! What struck me was his stance and attitude, he sort of transformed before my eyes to a Hunter. I was ever so proud of him!

Subject: RE: BS: Any Archers out there?
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 07 May 11 - 03:49 PM

Not since boy scouts....but I do still have all my fingers - V

Subject: RE: BS: Any Archers out there?
From: gnu
Date: 07 May 11 - 06:48 PM

Eliza... longbow... THAT is impressive! I was excellent with my compound but longbow? never having drawed? that is IMPRESSIVE!

Subject: RE: BS: Any Archers out there?
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 08 May 11 - 04:01 AM

I suggested he found an archery club, but he's quite shy and doesn't speak English very well. I think he really has got a natural talent. This year's Norfolk show is coming up, I'll ask the Archery man to give us the names of some clubs, as Ib is a bit more confident now. His people, the Senoufou, have all generally got the same shape, small, slim but with very strong arm-muscles. I'm sure his talent is inherent, like the Kenyans who run superbly well. His ancestors must have used the bow to survive on game in the rainforest. (My ancestors must have had fat bottoms and eaten lots of chocolate, 'cause that's what I have a natural talent for!)

Subject: RE: BS: Any Archers out there?
From: Phot
Date: 08 May 11 - 05:04 AM

Eliza, if you type 'archery gb' into google, it will take you to the sports website. You can find your local club there, and loads of information.

Hey, I didn't know you shot compound Gnu!

Wassail!! Chris

Subject: RE: BS: Any Archers out there?
From: gnu
Date: 08 May 11 - 02:38 PM

Eliza... it all in the back. Strong arms help of course.

Yes Phot. Pretty damn good back then. Sold my stuff... lots of stuff... over a hundred shafts and all the equipment except for my release and forearm guard in case I ever borrow a bow. However, the arthritis probably won't allow that.

Subject: RE: BS: Any Archers out there?
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 09 May 11 - 04:47 AM

When I was a child my boy cousin wanted to do the 'William Tell' test. Good sense prevailed and I declined.

Subject: RE: BS: Any Archers out there?
From: Stu
Date: 09 May 11 - 07:23 AM

English Longbow for me, mine is made by Pip Bickerstaff although it's been around 7 or 8 years since I've shot it.

As for shooting mega carnivores like Brown Bears . . . it's great for upping your ego and is basically a form of waving your dick about and being a rough tough alpha male.

It isn't good for the ecosystem and scientists are very worried about this: Tetrapod Zoology has a discussion on this very subject. Take out the top predators and the whole ecosystem eventually tumbles. I don't expect hunters to understand this or take notice as it's human nature.

The fact wolves can now be hunted in the US as of last week is a real step backward in re-establishing functioning ecosystems while we can. Wolf re-introduction has worked wonders in Yellowstone (as I saw for myself last year) as they control elk numbers and have reduced the overgrazing of saplings meaning aspen and willow can re-establish itself.

Subject: RE: BS: Any Archers out there?
From: gnu
Date: 09 May 11 - 05:58 PM

"The fact wolves can now be hunted in the US as of last week is a real step backward..."

Proper management will prevail. No whole sale wolf hunting will occur.

Proper management is the key in order to preserve a balance accepatble to humans. If it is not acceptable to humans, humans will eradicate the wolf and other large predators in their areas regardless of laws. As well they should. As for the ecosystem, when one is dead from predation directly or indirectly, one doesn't really give a care. As for someone from elsewhere saying they should change thier way of farming... oh, nevermind... youse all know what I mean... if the wolves are eatin yer sheep yer gonna shoot them. Plain and simple.

Subject: RE: BS: Any Archers out there?
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 10 May 11 - 12:08 AM

The argument that bow-hunting is not as "clean-kill" as gun-hunting is totally bogus. Bow-hunting has a different ethos than gun-hunting. The two basic rules of bow-hunting are "Be patient and wait for the right shot," and "If you don't get a clean kill, you have to track the animal down and finish the job, even if it takes all day." That stands in stark contrast to the "ethos" of most gun-hunters which seems to be "Blast away at anything that moves," and "If you wound an animal, track it for thirty minutes then say, 'Screw it! It's just a deer. There'll be another one along tomorrow.'"

Subject: RE: BS: Any Archers out there?
From: Stu
Date: 10 May 11 - 03:59 AM

" As for someone from elsewhere saying they should change thier way of farming... oh, nevermind... "

Actually, I was in a car with several palaeontologists crossing the prairie last year and as we journeyed on this subject came up (they were all Americans little gnu, so don't worry about us filthy foreigners getting ideas above our lowly station - this idea was planted by your countrymen. After all, what the fuck do we know?). It actually came about as we were discussing the keeping of range cattle and mega carnivore predation and the time frame of the establishment of ranches on the northern great plains, and it's effect on the ecology of that area.

I won't go into details as you're obviously not interested.