The September meeting was held on the 8th. There were 14 members in attendance. We discussed the upcoming QDMA shoot our club was hosting and miscellaneous other items.
New members
There were 2 new memberships voted in at the September meeting. Our newest members are Tim and Wendy Delaware, and Jeremy Smetanta; welcome to the Ahamo Archery Club.
QDMA Shoot
Ahamo hosted the QDMA shoot on September 13th. Thanks to all of the members that helped out at workparties and during the shoot. We loaded a trailer on Friday for the shoot and set up Saturday morning. It was surprising how fast everything went. We were loaded in about 45 minutes, setup took about 45 minutes on Saturday morning (we were done by 7:45—and several members went out to breakfast and were back before registration started at 9:00), and clean-up took about a half hour. When we get enough members helping out, things go really fast and it’s a lot of fun working with and talking to other members at club events.
Club Web Site News:
We are getting closer to updating our web site. The Outdoor Network will be our new host. I have been in contact with our new web host and expect to be converted over to the new site sometime in October. We will maintain the same domain name (Ahamo.net), and will probably have only one year’s worth of shoots and newsletters copied over to the new site’s archive history pages.
The new site should have a new look and feel to it, and I am looking forward to having the ability to set up photo albums in it. So please send me pictures of any game you harvest as well as any pictures that could be shared with members.
Indoor Range News:
The indoor range steps are in and look pretty nice. We have also finished updating all of the equipment at the indoor range. We have a new bow press, bow vice, bow scale, and a tool box set up with a grain scale, knock pliers, and allen wrenches. The chronograph is also out for all to use. Please be sure to put it, and any other equipment back in the boxes they are stored in. An additional note on the chronograph, the battery was taken out on purpose. When left in, it drains until it has no more power… so be sure to put the battery in, and take it out when you use the chronograph.
As I mentioned in the last newsletter, please use care when using any of the tools and hardware left out at the range for your use. Take care of it like it was your own (and since you are a club member is yours to use). You should also note that when you use any of the equipment, you are using it at your own risk. If you don’t use the bow press correctly, you can easily crack a limb. If you have any questions on how to properly use any of the equipment, you can ask another member that has used it before, check with Bill Arledge (he gave us an overview of the proper way to use the bow vice and bow press at the last meeting), or you can attend a club meeting, where there will be plenty of members available to assist you.
I for one find it very convenient to use the bow press when rotating my string to line up my peep sight or my string loop.
Note that the old bow press is for sale if you would like to purchase it. Contact Steve Williamson if you have an interest in buying it.
How To Tie in Cat Whiskers.
I saw an article on this in a recent archery magazine and found it extremely helpful. I wanted to quiet my bow down and was getting ready to tie some cat whiskers on my string just before I read the article. In the past, I simply put water on the rubber strip to help me tie a knot on my string with it, stretched the rubber strip out and cut it carefully with scissors. Here’s a much better way.
Cat whiskers come in a four pack and with each rubber strip about six inches long and one and one fourth inches wide. Take one of the strips, fold it in half (to make it three inches long), and cut it in half. Then fold it in half once more and fold it around your bow string. You will have a one and a half inch piece of rubber folded sideways around your string. You can have someone pinch the ends together if you’d like to make it easier to tie. Then you take some serving string and tie it once around the center of the rubber and your bow string, and move the ends around to the other side of your bowstring and tie another loop (tie it only once and don’t tie a knot in the string yet). Do the same a third time, pull it as tight as you can and then tie it off as a knot. I then take a lighter and after cutting the serving off with some of it hanging loose, burn the ends of the serving.
You will end up with a folded piece of rubber wrapped around your bowstring and tied in the center with three fourths of an inch above and below the knot.
All you do now, is cut along the end of the upper loop to split it in half, separate small pieces of the rubber, stretch them out and cut the tips off with scissors, causing the whiskers to separate and make a very nice ‘ball’ of whiskers around your string.
If you have any questions on this, see me at the range sometime and I’ll show you how I did mine, or help you with yours.
I tied whiskers on both my bowstring and one side of my cables and they really quieted my bow down. I like these better than the string silencers that you need to separate your string with to install, that break after a few hundred shoots.
One Successful Hunter:
Congratulations to Marty Edwards for harvesting a very nice Mule Deer through an outfitter in Colorado.
Club Deer Awards:
As we do each year, archers that harvest a deer will be given a big game award at our annual banquet in January. If you harvest any game this season, let me know so I can add your name to the list of successful hunters and keep a record of your name for our annual deer awards. Ahamo gives out a very nice plaque for your first deer harvested as a member and plates for it each year until your plaque is full.
We also have an annual big buck award for the member shooting a white tail buck with the largest rack. Racks are measured for this award without waiting for the normal drying period. The measurements are for Ahamo only and are not official for state or Pope and Young awards. Call or email me to arrange to meet me at the indoor range to measure your racks. The best time to do measurements is during club meetings so you can show off your rack and get it measured during the meeting time. You can contact me (Lee) at 592-3856 or hunterleep@cox.net.
As a final note, deer pictures can be emailed to me or printed and given to me at a club meeting so I can add them to newsletters or to our web site. I would also like any stories you have on your deer to put in the newsletter.
Newsletter Items:
Besides pictures and stories, if you have an item for sale, send me the information to put in the newsletter as well.
Please email me anything you would like to add to the newsletter, or contact me for my mail address. You can even give me your article at a club meeting.
