wildcat junkie

As I carried two 40# bags of softener salt into the house yesterday, it really hit home that not so long ago I was carrying that much weight plus another 24# on my body. The difference is astounding.

Seems like you might have the shotstring thing bass acwards.

For now, this picture from November of 2017 would be a good "before" picture, although I was perhaps 20# heavier by the time February 2019 rolled around.

I'll be getting some soon when I visit a friend. I'll post them. Both before and after.

47 more pounds will have me at 150# total loss at 191#.

Winchester Super X loads are the same 1 oz payload as 20 ga and only 15 fps slower at 1205 fps compared to 1220 for 20ga. https://www.midwayusa.com/product/2900660032 They worked phenomenally well on pheasants in my DeHann 28 ga SXS. Dehann was the sole distributor of Huglu shotguns before CZ Squeezed them out.

For the past 29 weeks I have been following the Weight Watchers healthy lifestyle/eating habits. I have also been putting in a lot of miles on my bicycle closing in on 1200 miles since weather permitted. I'm now averaging about 25 miles per day when I ride with a 42 mile ride as my longest. As of the WW weigh in this last Thursday, I've now lost 103.8# over 29 weeks (3.6# average weight loss per week) Here are my 5#, 10#, 25#, 50#, 75# and 100# milestone tokens on my key fob. I feel better than I did when I was 1/2 my age because in those days I smoked cigarettes.

Have you purchased a chronograph yet?

'65 Plymouth Valiant 2 door. California car, all original.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRAMPY!

Our handouts from the 1990s had this spiel. Certain Native American tribes believed that if the hunter took the time to carefully craft his arrows, the game would gladly offer themselves up to be taken.

Morels just started coming in up here on the tundra. Wifey found the 1st one on 5-20-19. She brought n a pretty good haul that day..

Anyone that was paying attention would have noticed that there were 13 shafts in the dip holders and in the picture of the cresting. I made an extra shaft to bare shaft tune to her bow. We found that a 28" arrow with a 100gr point impacted straight into fresh cardboard without fetching at 6 yds. The bare shaft tuning worked quite well. After a just a few minutes she was shooting respectable groups from 10 yds. We had quite the enjoyable day on Sunday with lots of bows and wood arrows to try.. Oh and that extra shaft? After the bare shaft tuning, I made a Flu-Flu from it so Jess can try her had at aerial targets.

That's the plan. I have to get everything ready and invest in 1000 ea 50-55 and 55-60 11/32" shafts. Right now I only have 11/32" and 5/16" < 50" spine and 23/64" > 60# shafts in any quantity. I have 5 ea 4" x 18" and 2 ea 4" x 36" dipping tanks. that need to be stripped and cleaned. I also have to clean up my arrow dipping holders.

These were/are my personal hunting arrows. After 21 years they are still as straight as the day I made them. Bear Razorheads, best damned cut on contact broadhead ever made IMO. Unfortunately I can't draw the bow these were made for. At least not at this time. 66# @ 28". I'm shooting my wife's 42# Great Plains "Palo Dura" trying to work up to the the 53# Ben Pearson Hunter I just bought off ebay. That's the wife's bow in the background, the Ben Pearson Hunter closest.

Yes from 1993 to June if 1998 we traveled the midwest and east coast from Grayling, Michigan to Ocala, Florida and finished at the Hawkeye Bowmen shoot in Alden, NY in August. We hit all of the major traditional only shoots. Our business name was "Quality Crafted Arrow Wood" and we sold upwards of 300 dozen arrows a year when we were in full production more. We had arrows in France and Germany. Much of our business was mail order.

My future Son-in-law bought my daughter a really nice 62" Ben Pearson Colt that draws 30# on ebay. A perfect bow for her to get back into archery with. She started when she was about 7 years old but hasn't shot since about 2000. Since all of her arrows were cut to 26" or less she needed some new ones. I have found all of my arrowsmith tools in the barn as well as about $1200 worth of dipping lacquers with the seals still on the cans and a gallon if white already thinned and ready to dip. 21 winters in the barn didn't affect the lacquers much. I did have to strain the white to remove a few suspended lumps that would not dissolve, but it worked fine. I also have about 4000 Port Orford cedar shafts. After spine & weight matching some 5/16 shafts I had, I selected some from the most common group of 30-35# shafts and set about straightening/heat tempering them. Unfortunately, my large tanks need to be stripped and cleaned so I was relegated to dipping the shafts individually. As I said, the white dip went well, and after 2 coats and several hours drying time, I was ready to break out my cresting lathe. After some time, I was ready for the fletching jigs. It pays to have the right tools for the job. Time to start making some smoke. I love the smell of burning feathers in the morning. All that's left is trimming the lead edge if the quills and dabbing a bit of Fletch-Tite on them. All ready to be cut to length, tapered and have points glued on. Finished product.

Hard to beat Japanese glass and the Weaver base system is a very solid option.

There is one thing on which I think I failed elaborate.. Most varieties of apple will not "self pollinate". The one exception I know of is Rome. The Rome variety is a rather poor grade, mealy fleshed apple. They used to be popular with commercial growers because of the self pollinating properties and the fact that the fruit would not drop immediately upon ripening. They could delay harvest until all of the fruit was ready and utilize picking machinery. Having 3 fruit varieties in one tree will solve the poor pollination I have experienced in the past. The Cortland trees located on property I used to own just to the North would get pollinated by crab apples and some wild apple trees located along a right of way a little further north.

I can remember my Dad telling me about his Father grafting fruit trees.

Wifey decided to run the grails this morning before breakfast so I went out and checked out the grafts. They all seem to have survived the wind. The parent tree is just starting to sprout leaf buds so I think my timing was right. I hope to see some life in the grafted branches soon. One thing I observed was that when cutting the OHM tongue on the grafts, I could tell when I encountered a "dead" cutting. They were hard and would not cut like the softer "live" cuttings. I only encountered some of those in the "Romes". I grafted 6 "Rome" cuttings and about 5 of the "Cortland". If you look very closely just to the right of the "highest step warning" label of the 8' step ladder in the picture below, you can just make out the platform of my 20' ladder stand. It's about 100 yards or so away from the tree.I will be doing some cutting back of the Popples in the fencrow after the hay is cut & baled. We didn't get that stand up until late October so we didn't want to disturb things too much at that time.

If anyone with experience on this subject would comment or critique my methods, it would be appreciated. I'm strictly winging it here. What little knowledge of methods & technique I have is strictly from what I have been able to get form Google on the pruning and the instructions that came with the tool.. What got me motivated this spring was the grafting tools being advertised on Amazon, eBay, and social media. I particularly like the "Ohm" type cut as it tends to stay together as the tape is applied. I applied plenty io the tape until the twig graft joint seemed to have as much stiffness as the branch it was grafted to. I will go out after breakfast to inspect the results after all the wind we had yesterday.

18 years ago I planted several apple tree on my place. Not knowing much about drainage requirements, most of them did not survive. I sold some property that had several Cortland trees that survived. The only survivor left on my current property was a single Mackintosh tree. After applying a plastic mesh to the trunk for rodent protection in winter and some 4' woven wire fence around the base for deer protection, it was neglected for all of that time. Since it was isolated from other species of apples/crabapples , it seldom bore more that a few apples. Back in early March I took some cuttings for the Cortland trees now on my neighbor's property as well as some from a tree located on the outskirts of Potsdam, NY, about 18 miles distant. Over the years we noticed deer under that tree on winter evenings and the fact that the tree held apples into January. My guess is that it is some species of the Rome variety. Earlier this week I pruned all of the brush and lower branches that were entwined in the woven wire fence circling the base as well as a lit of the intertwined branches in the crown of the tree. It took quite a bit of tugging and cutting with fence pliers, nippers and a pruning saw to get to the tree. Now the tree looks much better. I grafted the Rome and Cortland cutting higher up in the crown to keep deer from getting at those varieties so that they should hold fruity throughout deer season and beyond. The pink ribbons identify the grafts and variety so that I can monitor success and avoid pruning away the new varieties in the future. I will post picture of progress in the future.

It's marked on the side and the tail. The tail is probably the only viable archery shot.

About equal to a .490 RB loaded with 100 gr of FFFg from a 32" barrel ballistically. Not impressed at all.