The countdown thread got me to thinking about what I'm needing to get done to get ready for my first season. So here goes:

I've gotta get my new bow dialed in. And since I've never used a climber stand before I need to get started practicing now so I'll be ready and safe when opening weekend rolls around.

How bout you guys, what did you do today?

I had my bow restrung last month and I've shot over 250 times.
Monday I put a couple of trail cameras on some Bow Only TVA land

Nothing... Sit on my azz....

I've had my bow dialed in for several months now. This time of year I spend my spare time getting everybody else's stuff ready. When I got in from work about 3:30 this morning I built a string for Wade's Z7. He's bringing his and his son's bows down Friday afternoon to have them restrung. Reptar, Hoyt3006 and Sappsman are coming down Sunday afternoon to have their bows restrung as well. Never fails, as soon as they have the deer show up in Birmingham, I start getting buried with string orders.

Working my butt off at the office to have money to buy seed, fertilizer and fuel!!

I thought about it

Shooting my bow everyday

Me too!

yup me to.

Worked so my 2 ex's can get their pay checks for f***ing around on me. In other words trying to stay out of jail so I can hunt

I shot my bow 3 or 4 time a week and I fletched a friends arrow tonight ..

X2

Reminded myself to call about my new string order.

The last few weekends I have been running cameras and hanging stands.

Pack training, running stairs, intervals...and Shooting!

looked on ALDEER

Checked cams, freshened up bait sites and surveyed food plots to see how much seed they need.

Paper tuned my bow, actually just verified it. I didn't have to make any adjustments since it was already shooting bullet holes.





Bought some stirrups for my Summit and gonna practice climbing tomorrow morning for the first time.

Bush hogged and trimmed shooting lanes

I shot the bow for the 1st time since Feb? 20 and 30 was stacked. Checked out the loc-on for a new stand placement.

Prayed for a good acorn crop! Have not had many in two years!

Shot 5 groups of 3 at the target. Wow those muscles disappeared since last january

Sat. 8/2, put out cameras, checked stands, trimmed shooting lanes, all the while watching out for snakes.

blowed $1500 at bass pro

Yesterday I built strings for Hoyt3006 and Reptar's bows. Just finished up a set for Sappsman.

Got a new target at Gader Mt yesterday. Hopefully I'll get to shoot some in a little while.

Can't hide money.

Rested

Rode around the club looking at wiped out soybean fields.

Thought about shooting deer and watched hunting shows

Scouting new stand sites, hanging loc-ons, putting out cameras.

Somebody is hiding it because I can't find any more. Lol

Today I calculated the FOC of my arrows. It was 10.9% with the regular nocks and 10.2% with the nock out lighted nocks. That was with 100 gr tips.

x3 hehe

Sold my old bow and bought a new one

Got my bow set up again...new string loop, peep, served it in, put rest and sight back on. Gonna get back to shooting this PM.

I climbed my first tree with a climber and shot my bow from a tree stand for the first time.

I climbed to about 30-32' up in the pine in he fore front of the pic, right where the two lowest branches fork off. I'll be honest, if was a little scarier than I thought it would be, even with a harness. I guess I'm getting old.



Pretty view from up there!!

Traded for a rifle and shot it .. Then got my bow out and shot it

I installed uni-bushings and G-nocks in my Gold Tips yesterday afternoon. Got in from work and shot 4 arrows from 40 yards. The one flyer to the right is because I busted the nock on the arrow on the left. Your turn TC.

Got the Muddy out and figured out how to get a little higher elevation with the 5 climbing sticks...take 5 feet of climbing rope and tie the ends together with double fishermans knot. I hang the climbing rope on the first step of the first three climbing sticks....puts the bottom of the stand in the 21 to 24 feet range, depending on your height. I'm 5 10.

Started building two new shooting houses his last weekend.

I didn't get a chance to shoot today but hopefully will tomorrow. Watch out Shaw I'm coming for you.

[img:center]http://[/img]
Trying to improve at 50 yds. I can't even sniff Shaw's ability.
Good looking group Shaw

??? How do you step up into the stand?

Those are great groups. I've got to practice a LOT more.

Feeling a little cocky today. 70 yards



Pic taken with my phone from where I was shooting at with no zoom. I'm going to be PISSED if I miss a deer this year.

My next group opened up a bit.

JA: I only used the climbing rope "step" on the first three sticks. The last two sticks are used as normal and I just step off the last stick onto the platform of my stand. Hope that makes sense.

60 yd







and 70yards








I think i can do better with a good release. I'm still shooting a $35 true fire.

Good shooting TC. Do yourself a favor and invest in a Scott release.

Thanks man...working on it.

I haven't shot 70 yards in a long time. I set a 70 yard mark on my HHA yesterday evening after shooting that group at 40 because my sight tape only goes to 60. Anything you're doing wrong will show up at 70 yards, even the small stuff will matter. I'm left eye dominate, but shoot right handed with both eyes open. When I started shooting at 70, I was squinting my left eye to focus more. Doing so pushes my groups about 4" to the right at that distance. Also, if I shoot with my normal open hand with two finger tips touching the riser, my vertical grouping suffers. I found out today if I close my hand and lightly touch the front of the riser with 4 fingers, it tightens my verticle groups up. So looks like I'll be modifying the way I grip the bow now. I'm also shooting with my quiver attached. I've always removed my quiver because I sit with my bow in my lap. Since my back surgery, if I sit with the bow in my lap, the weight of it makes my back start hurting after about an hour in the stand. Now I hang my bow on a hanger.

My normal practice routine from now until hunting season normally consists of shooting one arrow a day. This year I'm going to take that one "cold" 40 yard shot like I normally do then practice at 70 and 80 yards up until the season comes in. Since I've given up tournament shooting, practicing is actually fun again.

How important do you think it is to practice from an elevated platform? Sometimes I go to my warehouse and get someone to lift me up on the forklift for some elevated practice. Waste of time or not?

I wish I had more room to shoot longer distances at my house. I can get to 40 yards. The main thing I will be practicing now is using this single pin sight. I need to decide what distance I'm going to leave it set at and practice the different distances without adjusting it. Up till now I have been moving the pin at every distance. I know I might not be able to move the pin in a lot of hunting situations.

Paging Mackdaddy, That joker use to be able to thread a needle at 70 yards.

Good shooting to yall.

Definitely not a waste of time. I seldom do any practice from elevated stands anymore. I probably should, but I don't have any problems shooting from elevated positions. As you probably already know, bend at the waist. One thing I will practice is shooting while sitting, with my feet in different positions and while twisting. 99% of the time when you get that shot you'll have to do some acrobatic shooting from a stand.

I shot my 30 yd pin and step back to 40 yds and shot it. The arrow dropped about 5 inches

After seeing some of the long range groups some of you are shooting I decided to see what I could do at 80yds.
First group is 40yds.


This group is at 80yds.

FINE shooting there...well done.

X2.

Was that with your Buckmasters rig or your hunting bow? You ready for tomorrow?

Buckmaster rig. For the last two days I have been going out about every 4 hours and shooting a round of 10 shots at my targets. I have 10 targets ranging from 19 to 57 yds. 57yd target is a runner. Some rounds I shoot 10 for 10 but most are 9 for 10. It's usually one of the closer targets that I miss. I hope I am ready because it looks like I am ready as I'm gonna get.

Good luck tomorrow. Kick RobertM in the nuts when you see him.

i decided to shoot my bow today. i would post a pic but the groups were so good i wouldn't want to make y'all feel bad

Just tried out my new bow press... Broke my bow down... Played around a little and ended up with leftover parts.... It should still shoot fine don't ya think?...

i think its a great idea for you to shoot it...

Got a new release and shot 80 today for the first time. Love this release!







I want to improve alot obviously but that's a decent start.

Thats a dead deer..

[quote=TChunter]Got a new release and shot 80 today for the first time. Love this release!







I want to improve alot obviously but that's a decent start.

[/
quote] what kind did you get. Good shooting by all of y'all

I shot a couple several different ones at the store including scott and liked a true fire edge the best. I love the fold back feature and it fit my hand best. The trigger is also like butter.

Today I read a thread on Archery Talk about carbon arrows grenading upon being fired and impaling the shooter....now I've scared the crap out of myself.

that's what I did today....

Check them often for splinters and bend then slightly to listen for crackling. Especially if you are shooting close groups and hear them "thwack" together. You should be fine.

If a carbon arrow cracks while trying to pull it out of a petrified 3D target, don't get pissed and try to snap it off. You'll end up with 6 stitches in your trigger finger. So I've heard.

Man, y'all are some arra slingin machines!

I shot some this afternoon for the first time this week bc of working late. Just trying to get a little better each time.

Shot two groups from 80 yards this evening. The first 4 shots was to get my sight set for 80. This is the next 3 shots:



On the 4th shot I took a step to my left because the sun started peeking out from around a tree and was glaring off my level. A small limb about head high 25 yards in front of my target decided to get in my arrow's path on it's way to the target. Spent the rest of the evening trying to find that sumbitch. It's still MIA.

I took my bow back to the dealer and got the peep moved down a bit and my draw length adjusted down to 29.5". 30" was just a little to long. It shoots even better now!

Shot my first Robin Hood today with my week old bow. It's kinda cool I guess, but it's not that cool that I have to trash another arrow. I had been just shooting spots around the target, but stepped back to 25 yards today for the first time and decided to shoot a couple groups. Bad choice



Last Friday I shot through the fletching of another arrow too.

You're gonna have to stop shooting groups. Lol.

I bought the new Mathews Creed XS today! It's one of the best decisions I've ever made when it comes to hunting. I may not kill one this season, but I'm gonna look good tryin!

Nice bow for sure. Congrats and good luck.

Set out trail cams x2

Tried out my new TRU Ball Max Pro release I bought from PassThru .. nice!

I walk back tuned today. Then I shot a rage hypo practice head. No adjustments were needed.

Met a man name Donnie Burns at BPS today and got a couple of good pointers to try out.

Shot my bow for the first time with my new string and cable. Shot about a foot high, missed my target, hit my wooden fence and broke my arrow.

Bought a dozen new Bemans since my old ones are too short for my new bow...

Prayed to The Lord that this joker will get close enough in about 3.5 weeks for me to let all my practice pay off:).

Praying for you to brother.

Shot today for the second time this year. Shot a few at 35 and felt good moved to 45 and shot good then I made a critical error.. I shot for a group... 2nd arra destroyed my first arras nocturnal... Thankfully the nocturnal deflected arra #2 so arra #1 is still good.. All I lost was a nock.. DONE SHOOTING GROUPS!

Hoss606 and I shot from a stand with field points and practice heads

Here's Hoss ...

I did that yesterday as well. Sweated my balls off, lol.

Got my bow turned down to 60# and shot it 30 times

Got a few more pieces to the puzzle today.... Getting ready to close shop and serve my peep once my arrows get here....

I lived anuther day.....

Shot a couple groups at 70 and 80 then shot 60,40,20.

Rode the mountain bike about 3.5 miles and scouted for elk. I saw A BUNCH... I also shot my bow a little bit and made another target. Oh, I checked my order for shipping and my 5 pk of Thunderhead 125's are on the way for my son's arrows along with my "windicator" and some face paint.

Adjusted my peep down just a hair, then while looking at my bow I noticed the axle was out farther than it should be because the c-clip on the backside was missing. So I replaced it and thanked my lucky stars that the axle hasn't popped out while I've been practicing.

Today I ordered the 85% let off rock mods for my Chill R. Also got a pack of QAD Broadheads. Maybe l will get a chance to shoot them tomorrow.

I didn't shoot my bow today but I did help my daughters shoot a NASP bow.

I had about an hour to fool around with my new toy this evening. Probably won't be hunting with it any this season since the Z7 is set up and shooting so well. The ChillR will definitely be in my hands if I get to shoot Buckmasters next year. I put the rest and sight off my back up bow on it, took a few shots at 20 yards and backed up to 40 and did this.



This bow fits me better than any bow I ever owned. It has 60# limbs on it and is pulling 63# bottomed out. It honestly feels like I'm pulling 50# and the back wall with the 85% Rock Mods is unreal. When things slow down I'm going to build a solid fluorescent green string set for it and start setting it up for Buckmasters.

I think I've found my broadhead for this year. I shot the QAD Exodus today. They fly great and hit with my field tips out to 40.

I found a DIY thread on building your own small game heads for under $5.00 so I gave it a shot. They turned out pretty good I think.

Did a little shooting at 35 yards. I need to tune my field points and broadheads now.

Finally finished up my new bow...cut my arras... and got er shooting.... Now I'm ready!!

About time little buddy

I rode an old mountain bike with a bent wheel 1.5 miles and hid it in a thicket. Gonna set it in the middle of a little two track headed into a clear cut when I pass by to make it look like someone's hunting there and maybe make some people turn around ... I've had at least one a$$clown come in and screw a hunt up on me so, gonna try to keep the pressure down in there.

cut six arrows to length. shot several arrows at different, unpaced distances. trying to get to where every, first, cold shot hits minute-of-deer-heart. running about 70-75 percent now. not good enough.
oh yeah, i shoot a recurve, no sights ...

Shot from the stand again. This was from 30, don't mind the high one I was shooting at the wrong shadow lol

Replaced Quikspin fletching with Blazer vanes and fixed my issue with broadhead flight. I'm dead on now.

Stuck an arrow in neighbors garage... Again

At least you get your arrow back. I've lost 2 in my neighbors pond.

In order:
scouted for elk, saw 3 legal blacktails...
shot my bow
put broad heads on my arrows, oh, my son's too
went and pulled a camera
shot my bow again
Getting ready top go glass for elk again.
Can't wait until Saturday!

I shot my bow a bit. Stepped back to 30 yards for the first time and shot pretty well considering how long I've been shooting. Busted ANOTHER arrow though, so that's good and bad. Shot until my form started suffering and packed it up. I've been getting some good pointers from a buddy that shoots 3D all the time. Going to keep practicing at this range for a week or so, then move back again if I'm consistently grouping.

Shot for the first time yesterday. 10@40 10@30 10@20. Then my arm was shaking so bad I had to stop. Funny how it works, I get better every time I shoot. I need to shoot more