Tribute bow beginnings

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flyonline
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Tribute bow beginnings

#1 Post by flyonline » Sun Jun 03, 2018 7:37 pm

Firstly, many thanks again to Eddie and the La Varenne family for offering this bow up, I truly do feel lucky to be on the receiving end!

I've had it for a little while now and it is my first bow shot off the knuckle, so it was a bit of a tough initiation. I only had a couple of generic 500 carbons on hand that were likely to be close, so I flung a few through and quickly found I was waay off the mark. After a bit of mucking around, i started to get a bit of a better grouping when I changed to shooting instinctive and split rather than the 3 under/fixed crawl I've shot mostly so far.

With another 40#(ish) bow to tune up, I ordered a dozen .500 XX75 Gamegetters and some 100gr brass inserts. The inserts have a tapped thread in the back, so tuning with a 145gr field point gave me a bit of leeway with alternative broadheads while still maintaining my aim of getting a high FOC (>20 ideally). It took a few iterations of points, inserts and some trimming before I found a combo that bare shafted sweetly out of the imperial to 18m but like a dog out of the nominal 40# mongrel sage/nighthawk. 40# is 40# is 40# right? Sure, off the knuckle vs nearly center cut and the hybrid stacked badly from 27" but still none of the variations in tune were even close. Grabbing the hybrid, I put it on the tillering block and stepped back. Hmmm, 53 @ 28 - not even close. Still, problem solved and I put it aside to find an arrow combo later.

Quickly fletching up the test shaft with 3x5" parabolic feathers, I weighed and measured the finished arrow and arrived at a tickle over 20% FOC and 580gr :surprised: Stepping outside I hit the target bale and found that out to 18m the cast was fine, but I won't be shooting animals past 15m as it falls like a rock once past that. What surprised me most was that the benefits of a high FOC began to shine through despite the 15gpp - it hit harder and penetrated further on the bale than a lighter faster arrow, and the flight was as good as if not better than a lighter arrow with lower FOC. With such a heavy arrow, the bow is very quiet so I'm not going to bother fitting silencers as the loudest part seems to be the hollow aluminium shaft sliding past the wooden index mark, but I will probably fit a small leather patch to quieten it even more and give me a definite reference point.

With a freezer full of a goat and half, I can concentrate on bettering my groups within hunting distances and get back out in the hills chasing some goats :dance:

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Re: Tribute bow beginnings

#2 Post by Outbackdad » Tue Jun 05, 2018 8:13 am

Great to see you are trying the new bow, hope you enjoy it.

Eddie

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Re: Tribute bow beginnings

#3 Post by flyonline » Tue Jun 05, 2018 2:14 pm

Yes thanks Eddie, it's a lot of fun to shoot and so light in the hand I can stand at full draw for ages.

Obligatory grouping shot, bareshaft and fletched hitting together so good to go!

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Had a bit of an issue with the second bare-shaft flying stiff, which threw me until I discovered my tie-on nocking point had come loose so wasn't holding the nock true each time. Once fixed, back to matching the original. Threw a b/h on the fletched shaft and compared it to my 50# sage and was pleasantly surprised at penetration power so feeling confident to get out in the field soon. Just need to find some light wooden shafts for a full 'retro' feel one day :D

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Re: Tribute bow beginnings

#4 Post by Stickbow Hunter » Tue Jun 05, 2018 8:08 pm

Great to see the bow in use and all the best for the hunt you take it on.

Jeff

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Re: Tribute bow beginnings

#5 Post by flyonline » Wed Jun 27, 2018 3:30 pm

Fast forward a few weeks and I'm finally feeling like I'm in a place where I'd be happy to take a shot at a breathing animal. I've been trying the feather to nose shot initiation technique which has cleaned up most if not all the occasional wayward arrow and as a bonus has helped me shooting my other 2 recurves in upping consistency.
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However I just noticed some crazing on the surface of the bow just on the tip sides of the fades, all on the belly with a few wrapping around the sides of the limb. They are definitely a full crack as I can catch them with my fingernail (bitten though it its). I'm assuming that it's just some crazing of the finish, but I wanted to confirm this and that's it's ok to keep shooting before I do it any further damage. And, what options I have from here?
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Re: Tribute bow beginnings

#6 Post by Stickbow Hunter » Thu Jun 28, 2018 2:11 pm

It looks to me like the limb has chrysalled and those frets will not just be in the finish but also in the wood. If this is the case the bow will eventually fail I'm afraid.

Jeff

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Re: Tribute bow beginnings

#7 Post by flyonline » Thu Jun 28, 2018 7:28 pm

Bugger!

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Re: Tribute bow beginnings

#8 Post by Stickbow Hunter » Thu Jun 28, 2018 8:00 pm

flyonline wrote: Thu Jun 28, 2018 7:28 pmBugger!
Eddie is going to PM you about it.

Jeff

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Re: Tribute bow beginnings

#9 Post by flyonline » Mon Sep 17, 2018 8:27 pm

Well, time to kick this off again.

After a bit of too-ing and fro-ing, Jeff convinced me to take a replacement 50# version of the same bow after I initially declined (thanks mate, glad I did). What with one thing and another it took me a little bit of time to tune up some arrows and was lucky to be able to get the same arrows for the 40# version to fly with a bit of weight in the back and dropping to 125gr points - worked out well as I had some new Outback Supremes I was looking forward to flinging. The arrows ended up being quite heavy but the cast was fine out to 20-25m and I have recently started facewalking for further shots if required for a follow up shot. 3 under worked well, with such a heavy arrow (~15gpp) the bow was almost silent, but it felt like a dog no matter what I did shooting 3 or even 2 under. It actually worked out for the better as I now have 3x similar point on distances as my other regular bow (20m,27m and 36m).

Fast forward a few weeks and I arranged to take a day off from house duties to do a full day in the bush chasing goats, deer, foxes, rabbits - anything that should be there (ok, goats really). The plan was my usual one on this range: walk up one gully system against the katabatic morning wind, then cross over when the day warmed up and the wind switched to the usual W/NW afternoon breeze. Unfortunately despite a frosty morning and light strength, the wind gods hadn't read the script and I started up the gully with a tail wind.

Leaning the bow against a rub tree, I grabbed a happy snap then almost immediately spotted a pair of Crested Shrike Tits, and these 2 flew about hunting for insects in the tree tops for 5 min while I called to a few Grey Shrike Thrushes and snapped a couple of poor photos (oh for a DSLR!). These are the first of these I have seen, and when I spotted a small flock of Dusky or White Faced Wood Swallows (unable to identify clearly) I knew Spring was well on it's way as the Wood Swallows are a warm weather visitor.
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Moving on up into the start of the gully, I traversed easily through the soft rain and dew wet leaves doing a bit of stumping along the way. Cresting a corner in they gully I saw white and immediately was busted by a nanny - damn it! I doubt I would have been successful anyway as the wind was behind me, but I waited a bit before moving off to the other side of the gully and slowly creeping my way forward again as goats will often give another opportunity if they're not completely spooked. Nothing doing, so I continued up the gully until I was high up into the tall wet forest. Pulling up next to a fig tree, I had some lunch watching the family matters of some Superb Fairy Wrens, a pair of Rufus Whistlers and some Tree Creepers listening to the sounds of the bush. These figs pop up here and there throughout the range and I have a few marked on the GPS as they all appear to get hammered quite heavily by ungulates.
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Fig tree just right of center.

Turning across the ridge, I slowly crossed over into my intended gully before slowly descending along the tiny creek which appeared, disappeared and re-appeared through the gravel bed constantly along it's length like liquid magic. Reaching the dry granite/gravel north facing slope, the first of the Daisys and Happy Wanderer flowers caught my eye confirming that Spring (or first spring as my dad would say) was here.
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While take a pic, I spied a small yellow arsed ant (ok, not their real taxonomic name, but I'm no mymecologist). These things are ubiquitous with the dry granite slopes and I often come across them out in the bush or cutting firewood. It didn't like being a star and took off as soon as I took a pic.
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Crossing the ridge line I dissected one of the old mining roads that crisscross the whole area. This road I'm assuming, was headed to a mine only a short way above where I stopped for lunch. Many of these mines are still big and open enough to go in, but I'm in no hurry but have them marked as a storm refuge if needed. Keep in mind these would have been cut entirely by hand through hard granite rock up some pretty steep inclines - they were built tough back then!
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Dropping slowly I eventually made my way down until I spotted the back of a goat across the gully below me. Creeping in behind a Grass Tree, I grabbed the binos and spotted another 2 along side. Guessing their path would stay on the same side, I crossed over and snuck in close and bedded down in a crease in the ground surrounded by granite boulders and ledges which would give me a nice shot down on the goats as they passed below me. Nocking an arrow I sat for 5 min before they came into view, unfortunately they like the wind they hadn't read the script and crossed over onto the opposite face just out of bow shot. One of the nannies did come in close enough, but was partially hidden by a bush and I didn't want to take the chance and hoped they'd continue along the base of the gully in front of me giving a clear 20m shot. Had I waited where I first saw them I would have been on a direct path in front of them giving a clear shot. As they moved up the gully they climbed away from me at the same time, so I '"injun'd" my way in full view down the 10m or so to the base of the gully then crossed over and used a grass tree to close the distance.
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Suddenly a warning sniff rang out from one of the laggers alerting the closest nanny who I had my eye on. Dropping low, I lay on the ground smelling the earthy damp smell of the ground just inches from my nose. Although I was in no hurry with plenty of daylight hours left, a headache that had been building from the sun glare flared up and after waiting it out for 10 or so minutes, I chose to push things and stood up hoping to move them off and have a quick chance of a follow up shot as they turned around. When I took a spill crossing the slope, I gave it up and headed for the car with the goats watching me out of sight.

Reaching the car I headed home, stuffed but having enjoyed a nice day in the bush - the hunting is the icing on the cake, just watching, hearing smelling and feeling "nature" at it's best was tonic for the soul!

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Re: Tribute bow beginnings

#10 Post by Stickbow Hunter » Mon Sep 17, 2018 10:00 pm

Great write-up and you had a good hunt for sure. I'm glad you got to take the bow for a walk in the bush.

Jeff

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Re: Tribute bow beginnings

#11 Post by Outbackdad » Tue Sep 18, 2018 8:40 am

Thank you for another great story.

Eddie

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Re: Tribute bow beginnings

#12 Post by flyonline » Tue Sep 18, 2018 11:40 am

Thanks gents, both for the kudos and organising it all. Will no doubt be out there again with it ASAP hoping for a harvest to go with it.

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Re: Tribute bow beginnings

#13 Post by flyonline » Tue Aug 13, 2019 7:26 pm

Unfortunately this story doesn't have a happy follow up. Shortly after the story above I heard a 'click' on drawing and let down immediately to find a splinter had lifted. Throwing it in the corner (figuratively, not literally!!) I let it lie for a while until I got round to forgiving it and doing something about it. I glued and clamped the splinter with some CA, then backed the whole bow with 2x layers of light linen. Since then I have been able to get a few hundred shots through it until unstringing it on the w/e I discovered that another splinter had lifted on one limb, and serious crack had developed on the other despite some close inspections over the bow after most sessions.

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Again, thanks to Jeff and Eddie for organizing this, I had great fun and learnt a lot - in particular tuning a bow to the arrow rather than the other way around, and it's convinced me to one day to hopefully have a go at making a tri-lam.

Steve

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Re: Tribute bow beginnings

#14 Post by Outbackdad » Tue Aug 13, 2019 8:41 pm

Sorry to hear.
But it is good to see you enjoyed the fun of shooting the bow.
Eddie

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Re: Tribute bow beginnings

#15 Post by Stickbow Hunter » Wed Aug 14, 2019 8:55 am

Sorry to hear mate. I hope you do make yourself that tri-lam bow some day.

Jeff

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Re: Tribute bow beginnings

#16 Post by flyonline » Fri Aug 16, 2019 7:23 pm

Thanks Eddie and Jeff

yes, many hundreds if not thousands of arrows went through the bows and they converted me to the joys of wood bows!

Have most of the makings for a tri-lam here, just need to get my A into G and do a bit of work to make the last few bits and get 'er done.

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