AHAMO ARCHERY CLUB June 20, 2003 June 2003 Newsletter CLUB OFFICERS President: Bill Rhoades (932-0417) Vice President: Bill Lewis (498-9364) Secretary: Dave Wise (498-0186) Treasurer: Dave Holthouse (291-0211) Trustees: Ed Rebarich (345-7608) Steve Murphy (291-7554) Sergeant at Arms: Dick Sousa (592-8045) News Editor: Lee Pereksta (592-3856) 3D Coordinator: Mike Vandeman (332-4625) VP of Indoor: John Terfone (738-1692) Indoor range phone (734-7272)
Key Dates to Remember
July 5 Workparty 8:00AM Outdoor range July 6 Ahamo Outdoor 3D July 7 7:00 Club meeting,indoor range
June Club Meeting
There were 10 members at the June meeting. We discussed upcoming work parties, and the outdoor shoot planned for June 8.
New members:
There were no new members voted in at the club meeting.
3D News
The June Shoot went pretty well. We had almost 70 shooters and seemed to have plenty of help. Set-up was on June 7, and if you remember - it rained pretty hard that day. However everything was set up before the rain started - and there was no rain on Sunday.
Thanks to all that helped with the June 8 3D.
The next shoot will be July 6th. Come on out to help set up on Saturday and also to Shoot on Sunday. Hopefully it will be another nice day and we will have plenty of shooters. The work party to set up will start at about 8:00 am. on Saturday the 5th. Registration for shooting on Sunday will be from 8:00 to noon. Tear down will start at about 3:00, depending when the shooters are finished.
Workparty to rotate cardboard:
The workparty to rotate cardboard was canceled. There wasn’t enough people at the workparty so we decided to put it off till later this summer. A tentative date is September 9th. Watch for information in the August newsletter.
Newsletter Items
If you are a club member and have an item for sale, send me the information to put in the newsletter. Also, if you have an interesting deer story or any archery tips you would like to share with club members please send them to me for the newsletter.
My Email address is: hunterlee@MSN.com
A Hunting Story:
Here’s a story from Nick Tramp. It’s about a gun hunt, but it is a pretty good story of persistence that ended up successfully. Thanks Nick for sending me your story for the newsletter.
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Well... finally got my bird this spring, it was the most difficult spring I have hunted. I wanted to try to get one off public land, and finally did in the end. But it did test my merit.
The story of the bird.
Last week the birds quit gobbling so I suspected they were done mating. I couldn't get a gobble for anything. So Saturday morning I was heading to a spot where I had seen a lot of strutting action. As I was walking in I heard treed gobbles from several birds just as I suspected and hopped for, but as I neared 75 to 100 yards from the spot on the public land I was planning on trying an ambush/silent style hunt. I saw a silhouette moving in the distance. I stopped, watched and listened not knowing quite what it was yet. As I stopped there I heard the soft yelp of a box call and saw the form move enough to know it was another hunter, this brought back memories from other hunts on this property where one morning a fellow hunter ran within 20 yards of my decoy set up and then sat up himself half way between me and a treed tom and called as loud and hard as he could (that is just on of the many incidents from the extreme pressure on these birds in that area). So trying to be a good sport, and not interrupt the other hunter who obviously got in the woods earlier I backed off slowly and quietly, and made it back to the car and drove like hell for a different spot 15 miles west I had permission for.
My other spot had the gate shut so I figured they probably had cattle in the pasture and didn't want a hunter in there currently so I turned around, and raced to another spot about 30 miles east of where I was. Getting there, I scouted it out and didn't see any birds, so I decided to call it a season, which really disappointed me. I started driving back roads just watching deer and turkeys and other wildlife on land I didn't have permission to hunt.
I happened to drive by the state land I had previously decided to set up on and didn't see any signs of the other hunters but did notice about 6-8 birds where I figured they would be, with 3 jakes down there strutting. I thought about it and decided to take a chance by stalking around the creek to get at them. So I went 1/2 mile down the road to where the creek runs under the road and started the stalk. I worked my way back down the creek toward the birds and worked into about 100 yards from the birds. There I started calling very softly with my push button yelper, and the birds looked but kept moving westward, the direction I just came from ignoring my calls. I called for about five minutes and decided if I made a run for it I might be able to work my way back down the creek and get ahead of the flock to where they were heading. I got back over there with out a hitch and slowly made my way up the creek bed and saw the birds about 60 yards ahead of me just entering the trees. I called softly with some real soft yelps and received the same response. Beginning to get frustrated I quickly worked my way back down to the creek and came up out of the creek and into the area I knew the birds went into. As I stood up not seeing a bird a hen flushed, then I saw one ducking into bush 50 yards into the woods, then about 25-30 yards in front of me a jake ran out of the bush and was crossing the creek. I quickly brought up my gun and put a fatal shot of number 5's into him.
I ended up with a young tender bird with a 4 1/8 inch beard not the biggest I have ever shot, but a tough hunt during a tough season and a bird which I had all but given up on for this year. Now after this year I know why public land turkeys have the reputation they do. What a season.
...Nick Tramp
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Thanks Nick for a great story. If anyone else has one they would like to share, please send it to me.
A couple of tuning tips:
Here’s a couple of notes on tuning.
Arrow flight is based on many things: The proper size shaft for your bow weight and draw length, the length of your arrow, the size of your fletching, the weight of your point, the setup of your bow... etc. etc.
The best way to start is to select the proper shaft. First, you need to know your bow weight, draw length, point weight, and type of cam on your bow (or the lack of a cam). Start with an arrow chart and study it to find the proper bracket of shafts for your setup. If you have any questions here, it would be best to work with a pro shop to have them select the best size for you.
I always look for the lightest arrow for my setup and trust on tuning and form to make it shoot well. If you have any concerns about your tuning capability or form, then select the shaft size that is printed in bold for your setup because that will be the easiest shaft for you to tune. If you are buying new shafts, you may also want to find the size you want to shoot, and check with others to see if they have any of that size to try out before you actually buy your arrows.
Next you need to position your knocking point or string loop. Use a bow square to find the 90% mark on your string so the arrow will be absolutely level. Then, if you are shooting fingers position the knock 1/4 inch above level. Release shooters should position it 1/8 inch above level. Next position your rest so that when you look down the back of your bow at the string and the arrow, the point is to the left of the string slightly for finger shooters, and level for release shooters.
From this point you need to shoot and tune until your arrow is shooting it’s very best. I like to use a paper tuner, and adjust my rest from this point until my arrow makes a perfect bullet hole when shooting through the paper. I move my rest down if the fletching is lower than the point in my tear, vice versa if the fletching tear is higher. For left fletching tears I move my rest left, for right tears I move it right. Note, that is me... the book says the opposite for left and right, but the same as me for up and down. You may want to try both ways to see which works best for you.
It is important to note that if you cannot get a perfect tear, it could be because of bad fletching clearance. Work on rotating your knock, moving your rest out more, or even going to a drop away rest. If none of this works, then your bow may be out of tune and you may want to consider replacing your string and cables. You can check your setup yourself if you know how, or have a pro shop check it. A final thing to do is check your form. Your grip may be causing torque, or you may be hitting your arm on your release. You need to keep tuning until you get the best arrow flight you can get.
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