Arrow Rest

It's been awhile since our last post. What is everyone up to? We're going into spring here. If we can get the rain to stop I might even get out to the range.

I haven't been shooting long enough to have developed any rituals or exercises yet. I know I need to check over my gear, check my string and my arrows.

Maybe I'll get back to using my exercise device thingie too. I've been a bit of a lazy bugger this winter.

I should coat my leather shoes with waterproofing, maybe apply some to my quiver and pouch.

What do you do at season's turn? Do you have any autumn/winter maintenance? Any spring/summer exercises to get back into shape? I'd love to hear what others do.

If you don't have any maintenance or exercises you do, have you bought any gear? Has anything caught your eye recently? Any cool archery links, videos, articles??

It's been awhile. I've been to the range sporadically, I'm doing ok there but haven't been in about 6 weeks. :(

I've been thinking about maybe getting new limbs for my takedown recurve. I'm at a 30 pound draw but I've gotten used to it and built up some muscles so think I can go up. And that is one of the joys of having a take-down, I can switch out the limbs when it's time to change my draw. It should save me a bit of money (instead of paying for a whole new bow), although I should probably get it tuned again so it's all fit to the new weight.

And I still drool over this bow, sigh!

I've got archery-related picts to share but it's late.

The holidays are over & it's prime shooting season here! Have any of you made any shooting-realted resolutions? Did you get any gear for Christmas? Got anything on your wishlist?

I'm not a firm "resolutions" guy but do want to get out and get more shooting this year (and I've failed at that already with 2 long weekends that I didn't go shooting on). And I'd like to look at working on increasing my strength. I bought something to help with that about mid last year, but have used it sporadically. I'd like to use it at least weekly to build up my strength.

I didn't get any gear. I want to get some more arrows and have wanted to use a little bit left from our shares from that but haven't gone to the shop yet to do it. Now that the holidays are done I should be able to.

I picked up a new arm gaurd a couple months ago. I really liked the one I'd picked up from a local rennaisance faire but it was thin. I whacked myself a really bad one with the string and had a bruise for a couple weeks. The new, thicker arm guard won't stop the pain or bruising but it will make it less painful than the thin one. I switched out the elastic for leather shoe laces and it looks cool with the bone 'buttons'.

The good thing is that it got me to pull my head in and try to figure out exactly what the heck I've been doing wrong. The occassional arm slap isn't too bad but coupled with my arrows pulling to the left I knew my form was off and couldn't figure out why. I did some reading and realised I was holding the bow wrong, holding it in a way that was putting the string in the wrong place. And I was dropping my shoulder, enough to push my forearm in the way of the string.

Those were bad enough but I was also having problems adjusting my sight. I would get it dialed in at 10 yards but anything after that wouldn't work. I'd shoot too low no matter how I adjusted the sight after that.

So today decided to pull the sight off and see how it went. I only pulled the bit with cross hairs off initially, that way it would be easy to put it back on. I did pretty well. I didn't always hit the critter but I hit the target at least at 5 yards. I went the whole-hog after a few shots and pulled the full rocker off. And I still did better without the sight at 10 and 25 yards than I'd done with it. I only had one arrow not hit a bale in about 45 arrows, as opposed to 3 or 4 missing the bales when I was using it.

I've seen a few other recurve archerers when I've been practicing and they were shooting bare bow as well. It will take a little while to get used to shooting that way but it's working better than with the sight so shouldn't take too long. I can pick up some books and videos on gap shooting if I have problems.

Happy shooting!

I'm waking up. I am going to jump in the shower and the zoom off to go shooting in a bit, gorgeous day out.

Was checking emails while eating breakfast and saw an email from Three Rivers Archery that I'm on the mailing list for. It advertised certain arrowheads for hunting & had 3 guys' pictures with their kills. I'm not big on hunting but don't have a problem if people who hunt use their kills and don't just trophy hunt and waste it.

The last pict was a guy and his kill. A buffalo. He took down a buffalo with a recurve bow. Not a compound bow. Wow! And part of me thinks "well of course, that is how the Native Americans hunted them". I'm still impressed!

I'm back from a 2 week vacation and we're moving into winter. I still haven't picked up the bands nor the exercise item I posted about in my last entry here. I've been debating which one to go for, pay a bit (or quite a bit?) less and get the bands just to use for stretching & maintainig my drawing muscles or break down and order the thing with the fake handle. My biggest concern is that at least that one I'll be able to better figure out what draw weight I'm practicing, easier than with just getting the bands so I'm leaning towards that maybe after I'd paid a bit down on my cards since I used them for our trip.

Other than that, going into winter here. Any suggestions for staying in shape or building shape during cold and wet days? I went to the club today and didn't do a lot of shooting but am feeling it.

And for those of you in the Northern Hemisphere, anyone have any shoots coming up they want to advertise or chat about? Any new gear you are looking at or have picked up?

Here are a few Youtube videos that are impressive. Thought I'd share.

This guy is really good!



I've seen a few of Byron Ferguson's vids on Youtube, he shoots barebow and does amazing work. This was a real diamond ring, a pricey one but I can't remember how much it was worth.


Enjoy!

I recently ordered a couple books from 3 Rivers Archery. This was my first order with them. They've got a nice selection of traditional archery goods, books & dvds. They have product reviews on some items, which is nice to read if you aren't sure if something will work for you or not.

I haven't read the books yet (still working through 4 library books right now). The Shooting the Stickbow: A Practical Approach to Classical Archery one is a good-sized book and looks like it's very thorough. I recommend it for anyone new to the sport as well as anyone who has been shooting regularly and needs a good reference. The topics include basic equipment set up, common errors, tuning your bow, exercises, and has bowstring and arrow references among others. It's great value for money ($19.99US excluding shipping).

The other one I picked up is a thin book, very small but also packed with information. Simple Maintenance for Archery is geared towards either stick bows or compounds. It doesn't touch the bow maintenance so much as things like sights, serving, arrows, installing peepsights and kisser buttons. For a newbie like me, the sectionon waxing the string might seem "well duh" but is good to know.

3 Rivers was quick to ship and no fuss. If you shoot stickbows check out their selection of gear. If you shoot anything else check out their books & dvds or if you hunt check their treestands and blinds. If you are interested in history, SCA or anything recreation check their SCA-Medieval section. You can buy stone point knapping stuff, including blanks or already-knapped stone heads and metal trade points. They've got a nice selection of goodies.