End of an Era...and the beginning of another!

[yoderjac]

Bowhunting has been a passion of mine for many years. When they first legalized crossbows in VA, several manufacturers sent reps to the training for our Hunter Education instructors. That was my first experience shooting a crossbow. As an instructor, I ended up buying a Parker crossbow, as they were a VA based company. I took it for a couple of hunts and killed a few deer, just to get enough experience to be comfortable teaching it as part of our Hunter Ed classes. It mostly sat on the shelf.

As time went on, and my arthritis got worse, I found that In colder weather I could not reliably draw on deer depending on how long I sat in the stand. At that time, I mostly used a bow regardless of the hunting season. I then moved to using a crossbow during colder weather. That still gave me plenty of early season compound bow hunts.

As old basketball rotator cuff injuries came home to roost and the arthritis got worse, the percentage of the season where I could use a crossbow diminished. The last couple years, I did not hunt at all with my Switchback. This spring, I re-injured my rotator cuff. It is no longer plausible that I'll be able to return to the compound for hunting. A couple weeks ago, I was at the neighbors. The 14 year-old son told me he had been saving his money and has saved up $250 and asked for a recommendation on a compound bow. That was all the convincing I needed, a good home had presented itself. I told him to save his money and he could have my switchback.

I had some time today, so I had him come over. I had to cheat a little adjusting it slightly below the poundage range. He will be fine practicing with it on a range, but he is not quite strong enough to hunt with it yet. The test I use is to have him sit on a stool, lift one foot off the ground, and draw the bow. If he can do that, he can draw on a deer in a hunting situation. He still has to point the bow slightly upward in a standing position to draw it. There is enough letoff that he has no issue shooting it. We did not get a chance to paper tune it yet. I had to order more paper for my tuner.

As I was going through my gear, I also came across a youth bow that will fit his little brother.

So as my compound bowhunting time is ending, it is really nice to know the bow found a good home and a new bowhunting career is just beginning!

 

[yoderjac]

The roll of paper I ordered for my paper tuner came in last week, so I called the neighbor boy over. We spent about 4 hours working on the bow. I had not used it in a few years, so it needed some TLC. We found a few small maintenance issues so I put it in the bow press and we got them resolved. The bow has a red dot sight on it, so it took him a little getting used to, but by the time he left, he was shooting bullseyes at 20 yards.

The draw weight is probably a bit too much for him to hunt from a treestand this year. He may be able to hunt from large blind where he can shoot from a standing position. He still needs to elevate the bow slightly when he draws. For a hunting draw weight, I like the hunter to be able to draw from a sitting position with one foot off the ground without elevating the bow. This significantly improves one's ability to draw in the presence of game. The draw length is also a bit long for hunting. It is fine for the range, but because we often have to shoot from awkward positions when hunting from a treestand, a slightly shorter draw length makes it more likely we maintain correct from.

At the rate the kid is growing, I'm sure by next year, he will be able to hunt from a treestand with it, and we may have to increases the draw weight.

Watching him shoot the bow let me know I made the right decision.

 

[Drycreek]

Good on you yoder ! That was a very selfless thing to do and benefited both parties. I’m sure he appreciates it and I hope he keeps it up. I had to quit from mostly the same issues you have. I miss it……

 

[yoderjac]

Good on you yoder ! That was a very selfless thing to do and benefited both parties. I’m sure he appreciates it and I hope he keeps it up. I had to quit from mostly the same issues you have. I miss it……

Yep, I miss it too, but I can now live vicariously...

 

[Mennoniteman]

Bowhunting has been a passion of mine for many years. When they first legalized crossbows in VA, several manufacturers sent reps to the training for our Hunter Education instructors. That was my first experience shooting a crossbow. As an instructor, I ended up buying a Parker crossbow, as they were a VA based company. I took it for a couple of hunts and killed a few deer, just to get enough experience to be comfortable teaching it as part of our Hunter Ed classes. It mostly sat on the shelf.

As time went on, and my arthritis got worse, I found that In colder weather I could not reliably draw on deer depending on how long I sat in the stand. At that time, I mostly used a bow regardless of the hunting season. I then moved to using a crossbow during colder weather. That still gave me plenty of early season compound bow hunts.

As old basketball rotator cuff injuries came home to roost and the arthritis got worse, the percentage of the season where I could use a crossbow diminished. The last couple years, I did not hunt at all with my Switchback. This spring, I re-injured my rotator cuff. It is no longer plausible that I'll be able to return to the compound for hunting. A couple weeks ago, I was at the neighbors. The 14 year-old son told me he had been saving his money and has saved up $250 and asked for a recommendation on a compound bow. That was all the convincing I needed, a good home had presented itself. I told him to save his money and he could have my switchback.

I had some time today, so I had him come over. I had to cheat a little adjusting it slightly below the poundage range. He will be fine practicing with it on a range, but he is not quite strong enough to hunt with it yet. The test I use is to have him sit on a stool, lift one foot off the ground, and draw the bow. If he can do that, he can draw on a deer in a hunting situation. He still has to point the bow slightly upward in a standing position to draw it. There is enough letoff that he has no issue shooting it. We did not get a chance to paper tune it yet. I had to order more paper for my tuner.

As I was going through my gear, I also came across a youth bow that will fit his little brother.

So as my compound bowhunting time is ending, it is really nice to know the bow found a good home and a new bowhunting career is just beginning!

Nothing is quite as satisfying as passing along good equipment to the next generation. I passed on a 2005 top of the line used Darton with all the fixin's to a local farm boy who couldn't afford much, and he was grinning form ear to ear, all the pay I needed.

 

[yoderjac]

Nothing is quite as satisfying as passing along good equipment to the next generation. I passed on a 2005 top of the line used Darton with all the fixin's to a local farm boy who couldn't afford much, and he was grinning form ear to ear, all the pay I needed.

Kudos! I've been teaching Hunter Ed in a suburban area where there is not much hunting heritage. I've taken a number of kids who had no mentor out for a few introductory hunts. You just have to love those smiles!

These kids of rewards are worth far more than any harvest I've ever made and more than all the equipment I own.

 

[Mennoniteman]

Kudos! I've been teaching Hunter Ed in a suburban area where there is not much hunting heritage. I've taken a number of kids who had no mentor out for a few introductory hunts. You just have to love those smiles!

These kids of rewards are worth far more than any harvest I've ever made and more than all the equipment I own.

That's an awesome clover plot!

 

[yoderjac]

It was a pretty new plot. Planted in the fall with a WR nurse crop, followed by spring mowing of the WR each time it hits a foot to 18", releases the clover and keeps weeds at bay. So, I start off with a really clean plot. However, after that first spring, I let weeds infiltrate. I only mow once in the fall right before the season when cool nights and fall rains favor the clover. If you saw a 2 year old plot in the summer, you wouldn't even know there was clover in it for all the weeds unless you got on your hands and knees.

I've found that ugly is good for deer.

Gobblers, on the other hand, love a mowed clover plot in the spring where they can strut and be seen from a long distance.

The tall brown stuff you see in the background is bicolor lespedeza. It does not green up until later in the spring. It can be invasive in some circumstances, but I have not had any issues with it. It is great escape cover to have next to clover for turkey. When hens bring poults to the clover field to bug after hatching, the can go into the bicolor to escape avian predators. Bicolor also produces millions of tiny seeds that poults (and quail) love.

 

[Mennoniteman]

It was a pretty new plot. Planted in the fall with a WR nurse crop, followed by spring mowing of the WR each time it hits a foot to 18", releases the clover and keeps weeds at bay. So, I start off with a really clean plot. However, after that first spring, I let weeds infiltrate. I only mow once in the fall right before the season when cool nights and fall rains favor the clover. If you saw a 2 year old plot in the summer, you wouldn't even know there was clover in it for all the weeds unless you got on your hands and knees.

I've found that ugly is good for deer.

Gobblers, on the other hand, love a mowed clover plot in the spring where they can strut and be seen from a long distance.

The tall brown stuff you see in the background is bicolor lespedeza. It does not green up until later in the spring. It can be invasive in some circumstances, but I have not had any issues with it. It is great escape cover to have next to clover for turkey. When hens bring poults to the clover field to bug after hatching, the can go into the bicolor to escape avian predators. Bicolor also produces millions of tiny seeds that poults (and quail) love.

I wonder how that bicolor lespedeza would grow in PA? I usually have rye for poult and fawning cover, but I'm always looking for other options.

 

[yoderjac]

I wonder how that bicolor lespedeza would grow in PA? I usually have rye for poult and fawning cover, but I'm always looking for other options.

Bicolor lespedeza is a non-native species that can be invasive under some conditions, so use caution. It is a perennial legume that fixes N into the soil. It is slow to establish and likes a firm seed bed. Cultipack both before and after broadcasting in the spring. It takes a couple years to establish. One trick I've learned is that it greens up after most other plants in the spring. If you time it right, you can spray it the second spring with 2qt/ac of glyphosate before it greens up but when other weeds are actively growing. By the second fall it will be waist high and 6 to 8 feet tall by the next fall.

It escaped in VA and can be found in the south east. It can be grown as far north as NY and Michigan.

It prefers fire, but can be maintained with a bushhog. Every 3 or 4 years is about right. You can disk around it and burn it or you can mow it high in the winter. It will regenerate from the root system and from all the seed it produces.

As I understand it, it can become invasive in areas that get fire regularly. I have been using it for 10 years with no real expansion out of the planted areas. I had one area that I decided to remove it and plant an annual. I mowed it in the spring and let it green up and then hit it with gly and planted buckwheat. I sprayed again after the buckwheat was done for a fall plant. I sprayed and planted gly again the following spring. I have not seen any bicolor show up in that field since. So, I had no issues controlling it.

I like it because it is a perennial and needs little maintenance once established. We began using it in 2006. It has been fine for us, but each place is different.

 

[Drycreek]

Nothing is quite as satisfying as passing along good equipment to the next generation. I passed on a 2005 top of the line used Darton with all the fixin's to a local farm boy who couldn't afford much, and he was grinning form ear to ear, all the pay I needed.

When you passed on that Switchback you passed on one of the best bows Matthews ever made.

 

[yoderjac]

When you passed on that Switchback you passed on one of the best bows Matthews ever made.

It totally changed my success rate when bowhunting. Prior to that I used a Martin Scepter. The reason was that my most significant mentor was a state champ target shooter and he used a Scepter. He taught me all my bow mechanics skills. I was a good shot with it, but the biggest problem was string jumping.

One day I had some time to kill before a meeting and I passed a pro shop. I stopped to kill time. I had absolutely no intention of buying anything. The owner talked me into just shooting a Switchback. They were new at the time. He was willing to set it up for me and I had time to kill so I said "why not?". Well, needless to say, I left with it! My first shot was smoother and more accurate and much quieter than any shot from my Scepter. It didn't take me long to fall in love with it. I've never had a deer jump the string when using it.

When crossbows were first legalized without a doctors note in VA, I went to a training session for Hunter Ed instructors. Several manufacturers brought in their crossbows for us to demo and for them to train us on safe use. One of them was the big recurve Excalibur with recurve limbs. It sounded like a .22 when we shot it. When the rep was ask about noise and string jumping, he spouted the company line and said "Our crossbows are so fast, deer can't jump the string". He was red faced with embarrassment when the entire class of HE instructors laughed at the remark.

I ended up buying a Parker (now defunct) because they focused much more on quieting the bow and they were a local VA company that I wanted to support. Even with the quieting focus, because crossbows have such a short power-stroke, they are loud compared to most compounds. I'd say that first Parker was about as loud as my old Martin Scepter.

When it was time to purchase my most recent crossbow, I ended up going with Mission, which is a spin-off from Mathews. It is by far the quietest crossbow I've used, and it is the first crossbow I've used where I have not experienced string jumping.

I have not used any Mathews bows since the Switchback, so I can't speak to them, but the Switchback was undoubtedly a great bow!

 

[buckdeer1]

Theres always some way to keep hunting if you want to,if you can't shoot a vertical bow, shoot a cross bow,if can't shoot a cross bow shoot a muzzle loader. If you want to add some challenge shoot a flint lock.Good luck

 

[Mennoniteman]

Theres always some way to keep hunting if you want to,if you can't shoot a vertical bow, shoot a cross bow,if can't shoot a cross bow shoot a muzzle loader. If you want to add some challenge shoot a flint lock.Good luck

Good thinking, that's also my mentality. To me, the weapon used for hunting is not important, getting outdoors, observing and enjoying nature and the challenge of outsmarting the biggest buck in the neighborhood is what it's all about. I know that some people get very obsessed about one particular weapon, one of my friends in particular refuses to hunt anything anywhere except with a Matthews compound bow, and that's ok, each to their own.

 

[yoderjac]

Theres always some way to keep hunting if you want to,if you can't shoot a vertical bow, shoot a cross bow,if can't shoot a cross bow shoot a muzzle loader. If you want to add some challenge shoot a flint lock.Good luck

Hunting is far from over for me. It has been a long transition from vertical bow to crossbow for me, but vertical bow hunting is no longer practical. I hunt with a muzzleloader as well. I'm well past the "challenge" phase of hunting. I'm more focused on ensuring clean kills and recovery. In fact, I recently switched from a black powder equivalent inline muzzleloader to a smokeless powder muzzleloader. I had several close calls with recovery. Hunting on a still day, I shot at a deer. By the time the smoked cleared, I saw nothing. There was no sign of blood. I had no place to even begin a blood trail and no visual cues as to which direction the deer ran. It took hours of searching and I was fortunate to find the deer using a FLIR after dark. I had another similar incident soon after. There were too deer. As the smoke cleared, I got a glimpse of one running off. Again, no blood trail, but I had a visual cue at least, or so I thought. Again, after a long search with a FLIR after dark I found the deer. The deer I shot had run a completely different direction behind the smoke than the deer I saw run off.

I'm now at the "giving back" phase of hunting. I'd much rather take a kid out and help them kill their first deer than shoot any big buck. I love teaching hunter ed. Our state, Virginia, recently began accepting on-line classes for the basic hunter ed class, so demand for the in-person classes dropped way off. I'm now working with a few other instructors and developing a turkey hunting workshop. We are now finding that folks take the on-line hunter-ed class and get a license and if they have no mentor are saying "now what?". These kind of hands-on workshops are aimed at taking them the next step with some "how-to" skills.

As for me, I'm just as happy sitting in stand enjoying watching deer and enjoying nature. I still shoot deer cause we love venison, but now, when I see a deer, my first question sis "Do I really have the energy to recover, dress, and quarter this deer today? Will I have the energy to butcher it later this week?" I probably enjoy the management and habitat work s much as hunting these days, but the days of physical labor are probably numbered as well.

 

[Drycreek]

Hunting is far from over for me. It has been a long transition from vertical bow to crossbow for me, but vertical bow hunting is no longer practical. I hunt with a muzzleloader as well. I'm well past the "challenge" phase of hunting. I'm more focused on ensuring clean kills and recovery. In fact, I recently switched from a black powder equivalent inline muzzleloader to a smokeless powder muzzleloader. I had several close calls with recovery. Hunting on a still day, I shot at a deer. By the time the smoked cleared, I saw nothing. There was no sign of blood. I had no place to even begin a blood trail and no visual cues as to which direction the deer ran. It took hours of searching and I was fortunate to find the deer using a FLIR after dark. I had another similar incident soon after. There were too deer. As the smoke cleared, I got a glimpse of one running off. Again, no blood trail, but I had a visual cue at least, or so I thought. Again, after a long search with a FLIR after dark I found the deer. The deer I shot had run a completely different direction behind the smoke than the deer I saw run off.

I'm now at the "giving back" phase of hunting. I'd much rather take a kid out and help them kill their first deer than shoot any big buck. I love teaching hunter ed. Our state, Virginia, recently began accepting on-line classes for the basic hunter ed class, so demand for the in-person classes dropped way off. I'm now working with a few other instructors and developing a turkey hunting workshop. We are now finding that folks take the on-line hunter-ed class and get a license and if they have no mentor are saying "now what?". These kind of hands-on workshops are aimed at taking them the next step with some "how-to" skills.

As for me, I'm just as happy sitting in stand enjoying watching deer and enjoying nature. I still shoot deer cause we love venison, but now, when I see a deer, my first question sis "Do I really have the energy to recover, dress, and quarter this deer today? Will I have the energy to butcher it later this week?" I probably enjoy the management and habitat work s much as hunting these days, but the days of physical labor are probably numbered as well.

That’s a great post Yoder, mainly because I agree with every word. I used to handgun hunt some long ago, but when I took up bowhunting it became my obsession. I never did get to the “bowhunt or die” stage but came close. I killed a truck load of deer, a handful of antelope, and several hogs with several different bows. When I got to the point that my accuracy was not up to par I sold my bows and bought a crossbow. I only hunted with it a couple times and never shot it at anything’s other than a target. It just wasn’t for me, so I sold it. This year I’m gonna take the Ruger Super Blackhawk Hunter to the deer stand with me and try my best to at least pop a hog or a doe. If they get within 75 yards I believe it’s doable. We’ll see. If I screw it up y’all may never know, but if I’m successful there will undoubtedly be pics. That’s how I roll !

 

[yoderjac]

That’s a great post Yoder, mainly because I agree with every word. I used to handgun hunt some long ago, but when I took up bowhunting it became my obsession. I never did get to the “bowhunt or die” stage but came close. I killed a truck load of deer, a handful of antelope, and several hogs with several different bows. When I got to the point that my accuracy was not up to par I sold my bows and bought a crossbow. I only hunted with it a couple times and never shot it at anything’s other than a target. It just wasn’t for me, so I sold it. This year I’m gonna take the Ruger Super Blackhawk Hunter to the deer stand with me and try my best to at least pop a hog or a doe. If they get within 75 yards I believe it’s doable. We’ll see. If I screw it up y’all may never know, but if I’m successful there will undoubtedly be pics. That’s how I roll ! View attachment 25959

The parallels are kind of funny. When I was a boy and just started hunting, my dad started me on squirrel with a 20 gauge break action. We also hunted rabbits and pheasants which I liked more because I did not have to sit still so long. As I got older, my squirrel hunting moved to .22 because I wanted more challenge. The first gun I bought myself as a kid was a Marlin 39A. I still have it. Eventually, I wanted more challenge and in college I bought a .22 revolver that I used to hunt squirrel. That was a challenge. There were very few deer and many hunters in my part of the state, so I did not start bowhunting for deer until I hit college. It did not take long for that to become a passion. When I was a kid, my dad also took me to a fly tying class, so my spring passion was flyfishing for trout.

When I moved to northern VA, it was all warm water fishing. It did not take long for my springtime passion to become turkey hunting. Between bowhunting in the fall and spring gobbler hunting, I just could not get enough. For many years I bowhunted through both muzzleloader and firearm seasons. I would pick up a firearm from time to time if I needed more venison but bowhunting was primary.

As arthritis began to have an impact on bowhunting, I limited it to the warmer months of bow season and began muzzleloader hunting during that season. That is when I got my first inline. I still have flintlock that I used for a few years when I lived in PA. You were limited to one deer back then and it was primitive weapon only for the muzzleloader season which did not come in until after firearm season was over in the middle of winter. I never killed a deer with the flintlock. I had lots of opportunities that ended in "Click", some that ended in "Click Flash", and even some that ended in "Click Flash......Boom!" but by the time Boom came around, I was never steady on target.

Challenge was the driver for my younger years, but that is now in my rearview mirror.

 

[outdoorstom]

Love this thread. Good for you guys for passing on your equipment and mentoring those kids. Awesome!

 

[Triple C]

@yoderjac - Been an enjoyable read. Good on you for your involvement with young hunters! I'm 67 and still shooting my Black Widow PTF V @48 lbs. However...noticing my left shoulder is bothering me in a nagging way. Hoping it fades away. So many my age have had to give up stick n string due to shoulder issues. I'm not much of a killer but sure do enjoy chasing 'em with stick n string.

 

[yoderjac]

@yoderjac - Been an enjoyable read. Good on you for your involvement with young hunters! I'm 67 and still shooting my Black Widow PTF V @48 lbs. However...noticing my left shoulder is bothering me in a nagging way. Hoping it fades away. So many my age have had to give up stick n string due to shoulder issues. I'm not much of a killer but sure do enjoy chasing 'em with stick n string.

Goof for you. I wish I could, but it was too many years of athletics when I was young. It is not worth shoulder replacement surgery and recovery just to shoot a vertical bow. While it is not the same, I've come to enjoy crossbow hunting. I also feel more confident of shot placement and recovery with the new technology. While I enjoyed the extra challenge when I was younger, I don't want to increase challenge beyond my tolerance for wounding rate.