Welcome to TheOhioOutdoors
Wanting to join the rest of our members? Login or sign up today!
Login / Join

What have I done?

Creamer

Active Member
1,584
81
Athens
I ordered a couple of small things from 3Rivers (hex blunts for stump shooting and calf hair silencing pads for my limbs) and also checked out their target options. Nothing wrong with the Rhinehart cubey thing I inherited from my father in law, just wanted something different to put my eyes on. This should be fun.

 
  • Like
Reactions: brock ratcliff

Creamer

Active Member
1,584
81
Athens
I watched about 2 hours (maybe more) of Tom Clum videos on YouTube last night. So much of what he was saying, especially diagnosing misses and focusing on finger hook for a smoother release made a ton of sense. My most common miss is low-right, which he pointed out is caused by a collapse with the bow arm. I still had a couple today in half an hour of shooting. I really tried to focus on contacting the string between the pad and joint like Tom kept harping on, and that did feel a lot smoother and more consistent for me. I was hooking the string deeper into the joint of the index finger and that was probably causing some of my squirrely releases. One other thing I took his advice on was to film myself because you'll see things you didn't realize you were doing. Watching a grouping filmed on my phone I don't think I was quite drawing back far enough to truly engage back tension, if that makes sense at all. It's a more simple thing to see and feel than explain, I guess. I wasn't shooting poorly drawing like I was, but it felt a lot better to me when I was getting my back more involved. This was my last group at 15 trying to focus hard on my draw length and engaging my back more.



I also shot two 30 yard groups, one was good one not so good. I caught foam on all 8 arrows at 30 so I guess it wasn't too awful. My 20-22 yard groups were better today, too. Much more consistent.

 
  • Like
Reactions: Sgt Fury

triple_duece

Ragin Cajun.
9,126
159
Dang your pretty good. Remember the first shot is what counts the most. Yes I have a trad and hunted maybe 3 times with it.

I shot from the ground and went to a bow shop. He had an elevated deck to shoot off of. Well let’s just say I shot a lot higher from an elevated position.

Trad bows are very fun to shoot,, more than anything except guns w ammo. I had an online friend that built my bow according to my specs. I shoot a 589 grain arrow at 179’ per second.

It’s been over a year since I put my hands on her.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

triple_duece

Ragin Cajun.
9,126
159
Shane Wink. He lives in west Monroe and is a firefighter like me. He has been lifelong friends w the duck dynasty boys.

I told him I’d have a kill in a year, well it’s been over 5 now. I have to just dedicate myself to using trad only. My problem is there is not many opportunities and struggle to kill one or two w a compound bow.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sgt Fury

triple_duece

Ragin Cajun.
9,126
159
Creamer you shooting 3 under ot 1 and 2 under? I know enough to sound like an idiot when talking traditional bows.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
  • Like
Reactions: Creamer

triple_duece

Ragin Cajun.
9,126
159
we call that "split finger" or Mediterranean style, deuce.

Yeah split finger. I tried 3 under but didn’t like it. Kept plucking the string. My issues I have are from several issues. First is probably the draw weight, it’s 51# at 28. Second would be I’m not consistent with my draw length. And third would be I don’t shoot it enough anymore. Usually my first couple arrows hit close to where I’m wanting to hit. After that they tend to be higher or lower. This is to do with me not being consistent on my draw. When I shoot a few shots, if I start aiming or compensating I need to put it up as I’m all over the place. I need to dedicate myself to it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Creamer

Active Member
1,584
81
Athens
I had thought for a while that my bow was just a little noisier than it should be. The calf hair pads I put on the limbs helped a little, then last week I ordered a new set of wool silencers to swap out for the beaver balls I was using. I didn't want to mess with my brace height to see if that would silence it just because I'm shooting the bow well and arrows are flying well right now with it braced at 7 1/4". These wool silencers are much more dense than the beaver balls and actually made a big difference in the noise I felt like I was hearing. Seems like that's a beauty of trad archery, accessory changes like that are really cheap.



As for the shooting, when I do what I'm supposed to do, arrows are going in the kill zone.



Until I step back to 30 yards. I actually had a really good 30 yard grouping yesterday with 3/4 in the kill. This one wasn't it.



I'm getting more confidence at longer distance, though. I was honestly missing that giant target at least once out of four shots a month ago. In no way do I plan to lob arrows at deer from 30+ yards, but gaining confidence at that range does seem to be helping me shrink my 20 yard groups.
 

Creamer

Active Member
1,584
81
Athens
I only shot two groupings at 30 today, neither were bad, this was probably my best 4-shot 30 yard grouping so far. 4/4 in the kill, 3/4 in the white ring.



My second to last group at 20 I nearly had my first ever Robin Hood. The last arrow made an odd noise when it hit the target, sort of a crack. I didn't even notice until I went to nock the arrow again that I was a millimeter or two from splitting an arrow. Personally, I'm glad I didn't destroy the arrow.

 

Creamer

Active Member
1,584
81
Athens
I was close to mangling an arrow on Friday. Saturday, not so lucky. I went stump shooting for the first time Saturday morning, armed with some Ace Hex Blunts on my arrows. I shot pretty well, was almost done, and spotted a P&Y rotten tree begging for a few arrows. First shot, good. Second shot, a touch high. Third arrow? Why not, what could go wrong?



I was lucky all I really lost was the nock. The arrow's last 1/8" or so was mushroomed out, but my father in law was able to slice the damaged section off the arrow and it's still flying fine. On a bright note, I did find some more good public land setups to try this fall. Lots of sign, pretty good hike in from the road, I liked what I saw.



I got a trad bow kill on the way back to the car. I stalked within range of a 20oz Aquafina bottle and let fly. Gut shot, but it went down in sight.



Yesterday I shot really well. This was my last grouping at a beagle-sized deer.