Meditating this evening. Little Jamey Johnson, Cody Jinks, and Tyler Childers to keep me company. A cold Madtree Amble Ale washes away those flyers. 
Who's shooting? Tuning? Tinkering?
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It’s reached a fever pitch around my house. Mason won’t shut up about deer and he is shooting constantly. I ordered him a new set of WC strings yesterday for his hunting rig. He keeps hammering me about getting my bow ready so I dug out my hunting bow and demonstrated that it still shoots well. I will need to screw on broad heads... the old bull vs the young bull analogy is more than fitting. I do wish I still had the youthful ambition.
After shooting a few rounds at Logan County and talking with members I've really started ramping up the practice sessions. Specifically, working on the release and avoiding any target panic. I haven't had any at all this year, thankfully. After being tossed down the "Nock On" podcast rabbit hole (thanks Jesse) I've really started concentrating on whats happening seconds before the release. John Dudley had a cast on "behind the line" that really hit home with me. I would suggest anyone trying to tighten their groups are gain some consistency to listen to it. While he pushes the use of a back tension or hinge release, I have applied the principles to my shooting. I'm still using a hook with trigger style release, but applied the back tension methodology to my release. I do plan on going with a back tension next spring, no doubt. But the principles can still be used with a standard release aid AND work with positive results. I'm out to 70 yards for my practice sessions and my groups are slowly shrinking. I have built up enough muscle and memory to shoot longer rounds. Roughly two months out from the opener and the confidence is being built daily.
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Good work! Shooting longer distance will always improve accuracy. It makes hunting range shots a piece of cake!
I’m not shooting much, but Mason is. He shot the Men’s Open Money class for the first time Sunday. He placed third, I think, with a score of 318. First place score was 323. Not bad for a 16 year old kid
Attached is a pic of a marked 12 ring he went for and got at 55 yards. The kid wants to shoot professionally and if he stays on track and disciplined, I think he can.
I’m not shooting much, but Mason is. He shot the Men’s Open Money class for the first time Sunday. He placed third, I think, with a score of 318. First place score was 323. Not bad for a 16 year old kid
Attached is a pic of a marked 12 ring he went for and got at 55 yards. The kid wants to shoot professionally and if he stays on track and disciplined, I think he can.
I'm shooting well enough to kill deer, but I'm going to make a last minute equipment mods. Sitting here at a conference, bored, and now two hundos lighter in the wallet. But... I can build 3 each of 4 variations of arrows. I'll do a 3 fletch and 4 fletch of each arrow, with a lighted and non-lighted variation. I'll do some math along the way on FOC and point weight to keep on track, then I'll get to shooting and see what it tells me. My form is to the point that I can shoot groups that show me which arrow performs best. Stay tuned!
Made up a new set of carbons and a dozen cedars for the recurve. Shooting the carbons at the 3d course. Shooting woods at home. Put some zwickey Eskimo 125 grain broadheads on 3 of the woods.
Really like the way everything is flying. I do have one of the broadhead tipped arrows that flies retarded. Looks like when I fletched it something slipped and one feather is curled bad at the end. Will move that head to a different shaft and see how it flies.
Really like the way everything is flying. I do have one of the broadhead tipped arrows that flies retarded. Looks like when I fletched it something slipped and one feather is curled bad at the end. Will move that head to a different shaft and see how it flies.
no more tuning and tinkering, just shooting. gots me a dozen Chundoo's breasted, stained, sealed, fletched, and ready for broadheads. got two bows that shoot same broadhead arrahs equally well. had a very good round of practice this afternoon with my static recurve. tennis ball suffered tremendously. 
All my parts are in and I got a little help re-tying my d-loop tonight. Sat down and mapped out 3 different arrows. The first version I'll build will be 505 grains and I believe I can push that @ 255 fps and 73.5 #s and an 8.5 FOC. I'm currently shooting a 465 gr. arrow at 265 fps and a 7.3 FOC. I really like the #s of the first build and hope to have them built on Sunday. I've been chasing a 500 grain arrow for years. Pretty pumped to build these missiles!
Once you go 500+ grains you won't go back. Ultra quiet and hit like a ton of bricks.
Jig built, squared and tested. Time to finish what I started back in September and see how they shoot!
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We’ve been shooting a lot. I’ve got my old Apex 7 set up and shooting probably as well as I ever have. Mason is gonna take a pounding tomorrow... well maybe not if we judge yardage.
Good lesson on weighing individual components today. The field points I ordered were all over the place and varied as much 2+ grains. Easton's components were surprisingly consistent, which made it easy to match everything up and get as tight a tolerance as I could. The arrows on the left are 501, 501.5, 502 grains. The ones on the right are 496, 496.25, and 496.5. Adding lighted nocks will bump those up 14 grains. The heavier versions are a right helical 4 fletch and the lighter ones are my standard straight 3 fletch. 125 grain heads with FOC at 10.71% for the heavy ones and 12.5% on the lighter ones. Time to shoot and see what I like best, then I select a final configuration. I'll probably experiment with 100 grain heads and lighted nocks on a 4 fletch. That's a 490 grain arrow with an FOC of 8%, which is low, but I want to see what happens when it's that low. If I add a 125 grain head back, it's a 515 grain arrow with an 11% FOC. Somewhere in all that is the sweet spot and I aim to find it in the next few weeks.
Those are some sexy looking arrahs Jesse! Nice work man.
Not to muddy the waters, but did you consider doing any bareshaft tuning? Just curious if you saved a couple bare shafts to tinker with arrow length/spine and rest centershot. Also, what's with the straight-fletch? Are they noticeably faster than a helical fletch? I've never played with straight fletch so I'm curious why you chose polar opposites for each setup... helical 4 vs straight 3.
Not to muddy the waters, but did you consider doing any bareshaft tuning? Just curious if you saved a couple bare shafts to tinker with arrow length/spine and rest centershot. Also, what's with the straight-fletch? Are they noticeably faster than a helical fletch? I've never played with straight fletch so I'm curious why you chose polar opposites for each setup... helical 4 vs straight 3.
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Mason whipped me today. I could not see through my scope today. Seriously, it was all blurred and I couldn’t find a spot to aim to save my soul. That’s my excuse anyway. I took the lens and clarifier out, problem solved but it was too late. That’s my excuse anyway. Mason shot really well and again won the K40. Kid has got it.
36 yard pig.
36 yard pig.
I still have 6 uncut shafts to mess with.
I've always shot a straight 3-fletch. I'll run a 1-degree offset, but nothing crazy. That's one of the variations Milo taught me and it's always served me well. I decided to try the helical 4-fletch because of John Dudley. Dude really likes 4 vanes, so it seemed worth a shot. They should help stabilize the arrow quicker and provide better "steering" compared to my usual setup. I wanted to try at least 4 variations of arrow on this switch to FMJs, so I figured I'd set the spectrum with these 2 versions and see how it goes.