left field

"Suicide themselves" is something my six-year-old nephew would say. I'm beginning to have a better sense of how to deal with you.

Again, thanks. I'll try it on this string. Does twisting a string to change brace height move the nock point or is it marginal? Favourite tab? Right now, I'm using an old glove.

Thanks. I couldn't have hit that plate any better if I had aimed. Good penetration too. But it was stupid on my part. The brace height is 7.5" The bow calls for 7.5 - 8.5" so I will experiment a bit. I have a new string coming from Steve B this week. Any advice on how to set a nock point without a square? I'm also looking at grips and see what you mean about holding with the thumb and first two fingers. My draw is approx 28". We left the arrows full length for now. Happy to use (and abuse) these arrows just to get myself into the motion, but I think a lesson or two and being measured for proper arrows are in my future.

Thanks. I'm slowly getting the idea of rolling my elbow in and my wrist out, though it is uncomfortable. Here's a sobering moment of the power of the bow and my stupidity. I was doing well shooting this target with a tree stump as a backstop. But the sun changed so I flipped around and now the target was on the lawn. I was still 10 yards away and 20 yards past the target was a wooden shed. 10 yards past that and 45 degrees to the left was my truck facing me. Do you see where this is going? The occasional miss would go into the ground so I wasn't that concerned about errant arrows. But then I missed a touch high and the arrow hit a small stone past the target and deflected 45 degrees to the left. I heard a metal thunk. I felt like an idiot as this was a pretty rookie mistake. Lesson learned. Be aware of what's behind my target. Think.

@Doc Not sure if you were referring to me as I picked up a cheap starter bow with a 30# draw. Don't think I'm over bowed. Having a blast. Only three volleys of six arrows yesterday but am managing to hit 18" target at 20 yards. Question about arm guards. Does good form mean you don't hit your arm with the string. If so, not there yet. Damn.

Fair enough. I say that as someone with a good degree of experience with biting dogs and keeping dogs at bay. While curious, I doubt a coyote would see a full grown man as easy prey. And easy is what they're after

Finally picked up the bow. Sage with 30 lb limbs. I thought he was setting me up with full length 500 spine carbon and 125 points but I just checked and they are 600 spine. I guess I should be fine. Ordered a endless loop string from mountain muffler which should arrive next week. Shot a few rounds at the shop and put them all at the same height at 20 yards. No where near the bullseye, but at least some consistentency. Apparently I need to relax my shoulders. Have no idea how to aim. I'll pick up a target tomorrow. I think it needs to be a very large one. Thanks for all the help.

On the same trip I met a ghillie who was taking a break from the river and I asked him why he fly fished. He thought for a moment and said, "there are two things in life that I know are coming but I don't know when. The first is the strike of a trout and the second is death. And to be honest, Iad, I quite like the anticipation of each." I bought my first fly rod the next day. Up the Irish.

Doesn't someone die at Kaaterskill Falls every year? I was in the Aran Islands in Ireland and there's a cliff that is literally a 90-degree angle - walk straight out, fall straight down 300' to the sea. I asked a local guy if anyone fell off and he said, "the Irish tend to not be idiots when it comes to this stuff." For those scared of heights, enjoy...

There was a young woman who was stalked and killed by one or two coyotes in Nova Scotia a few years back. She was tiny though - about 5' and slight if I remember quickly. I have to think that an average man could handle a 40 lb coyote, even with bare hands.

I don't think I would put a pond in unless I had a year-round spring. One the depends upon run off will be in sorry shape by mid summer. On the plus side, my excavator told me he only needs only a pencil-thickness spring for a small pond.

So cool. Wooly, any chance I can leave my skull to you? I'm thinking you can carve something menacing and judgemental that can hang over my bed in case my wife remarries.

As a mostly old guy who has been at various times: orca fat, skinny as hell, kinda ripped, and fairly strong; and followed body recomp, IF, and "don't eat like an idiot" I would say the most important part of age and fitness is flexibility. Once that goes, it's hard to get back. One word ... yoga. I'd rather have the body of a 70-year-old yoga dude than just about any other discipline. Better looking workout buddies as well.

Old school is the way to go. Like Milo of Croton.

One of the smarter things I heard about age and fitness was, "put on as much muscle as you can in your 20's and 30's then, lean the hell out in your 40's and 50's". Sounds like you're right on track. Good luck.

Amazing looking animal. Thanks for sharing.

Nor did I. Are you standing 10 feet behind it?

I've been bitten all over the body including the face - that cost me 10 stitches and a tooth - but always while training dogs so it went with the territory. My only advice is to keep wound open and clean it continually. They can get nasty if infected. Good luck.

We're lucky there aren't major marijuana grow operations out here. Following a stream in the Sierra and coming across a black pipe in the middle of nowhere is an "oh shit" moment. Turn around and hightail it out of there.

I was in Xitang, a river city in China where they shot a scene from MI3, eating lunch when I saw a young kid walk down the steps to the river and relieve himself in the water. Not unusual in Asia. But once done he pulled out a water bottle and dipped it in the same spot he just pissed. I looked down at my cooked chicken rice and just shrugged. Found the scene:

Riffing off this for a moment and putting in terms of trout again, it's never me against the fish. I know that the trout will act in a predictable way, be found in an expected location and respond appropriately to a measurable prompt. The failing - if there is one - is mine and the competition is between the angler I was yesterday and the angler I am today. Or maybe not... Well, Stu, I'll tell you, fishing hunting surfing's not a sport, it's a way of life. It's no hobby. It's a way of looking at that fish deer wave and saying, "Hey bud, let's party!"

I'm not unhappy with a big trout, especially one I targetted and worked to get. But I am also not unhappy if I go fishless. In terms of trophies, I've only ever taken two caught fish pics - a seatrout in Iceland that the guide asked me to do for his website and a bonefish another guide insisted on as we were fishing in a federal biosphere that had special regs and he legally had to document the fish. (Not sure about that last one, but what the hell.) I do take a close-up video of every river I fish. I guess I am haunted by waters or something like that.

Thanks, Culver. That's about it. I'm pretty much at stage 5 but will drop into other stages depending on the water, day or my needs. Last week I fished the EB Delaware. For those who don't know this is just about the most difficult water on the east coast to catch a trout - educated, spooky fish with an abundant bio mass. To trick them with your artificial you need the right fly in the right size and colour with a perfect presentation on a 15' leader. I started out at stage 5 then after four hours (and about 20 fly changes) was very much in stage 1. But at the end of the day, I was well back into stage 5.

Just add another POV to the mix. I am a novice deer hunter but a fairly accomplished fly-fishing angler and there is an old adage in fly fishing that like all old adages, rings true. The stages of an angler: I want to catch a fish I want to catch a lot of fish I want to catch a big fish I want to catch a challenging fish I just want to go fishing Lot's of people stop or get stuck on 2 & 3 and some on 4. Does that apply to hunters?

Thanks.