I took the first step.

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I strung up my recurve for the first time in years. I had others strung up but sold them. Slipped on the Cavalier Elite tab, and pulled to full draw, thought I was pulling a 60 pounder. Going to have to work on the muscles. :sad:

Now, I have to find some 600 carbons, or aluminums spined for a 36#@ 31" draw.

Jim
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Re: I took the first step.

2
Excellent.

If your muscles aren't ready, just draw it all the way back and slowly relax it twice. I do that on each side. Then rest a day, then do it again. Do that for maybe two weeks, then increase the number to three. Do that for a week, then increase to four. After two weeks of that you'll be able to shoot. Old farts such as myself have to learn our limitations. I'm always shocked--shocked! I tell you--when I discover I'm no longer 19.

Here's my recurve as it hangs above my desk, hanging from strings that held 7.62x54r ammo--sort of swords into plowshares. I always wonder about the people who originally tied up that ammo.

You can see my only Robin Hood. It's from 2009.

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I do break a lot of nocks. Here's the closest I've gotten to a Robin Hood on an aluminum arrow:

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Go slowly if you've not shot for a while. There's no use creating an unnecessary injury or even unnecessary pain. There's enough of both in life.

I spent some time repairing nocks last night, and today I'm going to use one of those fletching jigs and see what happens.

Draw well.

CDFingers
Crazy cat peekin' through a lace bandana
like a one-eyed Cheshire, like a diamond-eyed Jack

Re: I took the first step.

3
CDFingers wrote:Excellent.

If your muscles aren't ready, just draw it all the way back and slowly relax it twice. I do that on each side. Then rest a day, then do it again. Do that for maybe two weeks, then increase the number to three. Do that for a week, then increase to four. After two weeks of that you'll be able to shoot. Old farts such as myself have to learn our limitations. I'm always shocked--shocked! I tell you--when I discover I'm no longer 19.

Here's my recurve as it hangs above my desk, hanging from strings that held 7.62x54r ammo--sort of swords into plowshares. I always wonder about the people who originally tied up that ammo.

You can see my only Robin Hood. It's from 2009.

Image


I do break a lot of nocks. Here's the closest I've gotten to a Robin Hood on an aluminum arrow:

Image


Go slowly if you've not shot for a while. There's no use creating an unnecessary injury or even unnecessary pain. There's enough of both in life.

I spent some time repairing nocks last night, and today I'm going to use one of those fletching jigs and see what happens.

Draw well.

CDFingers


I plan on taking it slow. Went shopping for arrows this morning. All I came home with, is sticker shock. Cabelas and Academy are nuts!I'm going to try a little sporting goods store that cuts them to length and fletches them to order. they'll do one or 100. I'm going to start with 3 2016XX75's. It should be enough to practice shooting tennis balls, and Bois D' Arc Horse Apples with blunts and Judo tips.

I think my daughter still has my banana peel Robin Hood. Best one I ever shot.I left the arrows together. it was pretty neat except the part of losing two arrows.

The fletching jig is easy to use.You may make a few mistakes to get the hang of it. Nothing that can't be redone. I fletched the two Easton carbons w/vanes a few weeks ago with the jig.

What brand of recurve bow and draw weight? Looks sort of like an old Shakespeare.

Jim

Re: I took the first step.

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Mine is a Ben Pearson Cougar at 48 pounds.

Yeah: those two arrows hanging up there represent twelve bucks! Hey Zeus Creesto on a pink Palomino! That's two six packs...well, an eleven pack of Sierra Nevada Torpedo Ale. Gotta keep things in perspective, you know.

I have my compound set at 54 pounds. That has some exit velocity, I tell ya whut. Goes right through my back fence--that was back when I'd just gotten it. Stripped off the fletches, went through my rear neighbor's fence--there's an alley back there, and I found it lying on her lawn. "Hey, can I get my arrow out of your yard?" I didn't ask. I snuck over while she was at work. :oops: So I have a 4X8 piece of 3/4 CDX behind my bag. Just in case. But I've not missed the bag for years. >knock, knock< on me head.

CDFingers
Crazy cat peekin' through a lace bandana
like a one-eyed Cheshire, like a diamond-eyed Jack

Re: I took the first step.

5
I had a Pearson Cougar with a twisted limb. It still shot decent. I installed a new furnace and ac for a guy. I noticed he had the Cougar standing in the corner of his den. I mentioned to him I would be interested in buying it. He went over and handed it to me, and said it's yours. :yahoo: I shot the living crap out of that bow. Sold it to a buddy of mine a few years later when I thought I needed a big name uppity bow to shoot 3D.


Arrows have gone up as much or more than 22RF ammo :o .You'd would think with the price of arrows they were blessed by Hey Zeus himself.
Cabelas wanted (I think) around $100.00+ for some 3 Rivers cedars. Don't recall if there was six or twelve. I was seeing stars about that time, and fled the store before making a purchase I would later regret.

Lancasters has better prices than most online stores. If the local shop has gone the way of Cabelas and the other chain retailers. I'll buy from Lancasters.

I once missed the target with my 70# wheel bow. My neighbor found the arrow a block away under a car. I came to the conclusion it ricocheted off the top rail of the chainlink fence, went airborne over the neighbors roof, and skidded down the street under the car. That was the end of backyard shooting for me with a wheel bow. It's a wonder I didn't hurt or kill someone. I was young and not too bright at the time. :crazy:

Jim

Re: I took the first step.

6
My local store is Deer Creek Archery. They'll also cut and fletch one or 100. So when I'm flush with bucks I'll buy six. But now that I have these fletching jigs, they're gonna lose a bit of biz. Just as good, though, as they close up during deer season.

www.deercreekarchery.biz

They also do taxidermy and have a back room sort of range where they'll let you shoot any bow in the house. Very nice guys--talk your ear off if you even mention "deer." I think they sleep with camo paint on their faces--pisses of their wives, not to mention the ruined pillow cases.

CDFingers
Crazy cat peekin' through a lace bandana
like a one-eyed Cheshire, like a diamond-eyed Jack

Re: I took the first step.

7
I bought 3 2018 XX75's this morning, I wanted 2016's :( . I think they're are little over spined for my bow, but they should fly well enough to hit a tennis ball at 30 paces.

The archery salesman told me that when the aluminums are gone, they weren't restocking them. I'm not a big carbon fan. I've seen what they can do to your bow hand, if splintered.

Jim

Re: I took the first step.

9
CDFingers wrote:How goes it? How's the muscle-making going?

CDFingers
It's going well, so far. Light workouts with a 20# dumbbell, and some fancy surgical tubing with handles. I can hold at full draw for ten seconds without shaking. I'm working up to three 10 second reps.

It's been a few years since the triceps, biceps, deltoids, and trapezius muscles have gotten a good workout.

Now if I could only find a place to shoot. The city owns a large parcel of undeveloped land close to where I live. I'm going to contact them and see if it's okay to do some target shooting there. I have a place on the property where I live, but the owners are a little hesitant about me shooting here, liability concerns. Since I'm an employee that lives on the property, it would make for a sticky situation IF someone accidentally caught an errant arrow.

Jim

Re: I took the first step.

10
Oh, that is good news. I'm really glad for you. I'm also glad you're going slow. As an old fart, I always want to go like I'm still 19. Danger, Will Robinson. Nothing like a torn rotator cuff to put a crimp in your day. Sweet news, man. Don't quit.

Today, 9 out of 10 into the jug with the recurve, my best yet. The one flyer was my bad. I knew I'd lapsed in concentration and called it in the air. I was all, "Dude: go for ten out of ten." Best way to wreck it. So: I have my challenge. Like I'm short on challenges as an old fart. >giggle<

With all those repair parts from you, I have 13 for the compound--and I still have a nice pile to repair; I don't throw stuff away, so I have pots more to fix. Got 10 out of 13 into the jug--but I must say, I now have a wild collection for the compound. Some skinny carbons, some fat carbons, and five aluminum ones. Short vanes, long vanes, feathers, fat nocks, thin nocks. So now I have to learn to heft the arrow and check it out first and decide where it's going to go. Fun city, man. Fun city. Yeah: like I'm going to be able to do that. I mean, sometimes I get lost in the bathroom... I'm all, "WTF?"

Finding a spot is tough. You could always shoot at uber close range down your hall, depending on who lives with you and would slit your throat in your sleep...

CDFingers
Crazy cat peekin' through a lace bandana
like a one-eyed Cheshire, like a diamond-eyed Jack

Re: I took the first step.

11
CDFingers wrote:Oh, that is good news. I'm really glad for you. I'm also glad you're going slow. As an old fart, I always want to go like I'm still 19. Danger, Will Robinson. Nothing like a torn rotator cuff to put a crimp in your day. Sweet news, man. Don't quit.

Today, 9 out of 10 into the jug with the recurve, my best yet. The one flyer was my bad. I knew I'd lapsed in concentration and called it in the air. I was all, "Dude: go for ten out of ten." Best way to wreck it. So: I have my challenge. Like I'm short on challenges as an old fart. >giggle<

With all those repair parts from you, I have 13 for the compound--and I still have a nice pile to repair; I don't throw stuff away, so I have pots more to fix. Got 10 out of 13 into the jug--but I must say, I now have a wild collection for the compound. Some skinny carbons, some fat carbons, and five aluminum ones. Short vanes, long vanes, feathers, fat nocks, thin nocks. So now I have to learn to heft the arrow and check it out first and decide where it's going to go. Fun city, man. Fun city. Yeah: like I'm going to be able to do that. I mean, sometimes I get lost in the bathroom... I'm all, "WTF?"

Finding a spot is tough. You could always shoot at uber close range down your hall, depending on who lives with you and would slit your throat in your sleep...

CDFingers
Slow is the only speed I have these days. For my age I'm in good health (my doc says), and as strong as an ox, except for drawing a bow. ;) Not about to quit, I have the bow bug again. :fun:

What distance are shooting? 9 out of 10 shoooting instinctive is good. Get you some tennis balls and Judo tips. Stump shooting (tennis balls) at random distances is my favorite form of practice. Water balloons are fun also.

My hallway is about 20' long with a low ceiling 6'6", the air duct runs down the hallway. I shoot with very little bow cant. I would probably ruin my bow or the ceiling.

I'm living alone at the moment. No chance of throat slit, unless I do it myself. :no:

Jim

Re: I took the first step.

12
It's about 27 yards, about 30 paces. I shoot way more arrows than bullets, to tell the truth. Wish I could afford the time and ammo to hit the range as often as I shoot arrows. I'm a target-directed motor skills junkie.

I used to shoot from inside the house--hence the throat slitting comment. I used to wait until my wife was taking a bath. I'd stash the cats in the back bedroom, then I'd shoot from the living room, through the dining room, through the open swinging door, through the kitchen, through the laundry room, and out the back door to the back fence. That's maybe 50 yards or so, give or take.

The way the house is set up, there's a wall between the living and dining room, but, like through a medieval arrow slit, I'd have to cut it close. I'd have to stand just so, so I could clear that part of the wall and still make it out the back door. As I think back, the arrows probably just cleared the top of the back door. Luck was with me. Plus, that was back in my compound-only days. 225 fps is pretty zippy compared to maybe 175 fps with the recurve.

Once, I did a premature expostulation into the dining room wall above the kitchen door. I was drawing, so it was not at full draw, and my fingers slipped off the string as I was beginning to pull it back--maybe it was 1/4 draw or less, but the compound is still pretty strong even at that draw. It made a little divot, which I stuffed with toothpaste. So when we re did the paint in the dining room a few years later, I made sure it was me who "patched up" all the cracks in the lath and plaster ceiling and walls--glad it was plaster instead of dry wall. To this day she does not know. Hey: don't tell her. I'm already in the dog house for cleaning the Old Turk yesterday in the living room when she was at the store. Wretched Hoppe's No. 9. I no longer notice the smell, but she can pick it out of the seventeen different flower scents I'd pulled in from the back yard to nail me. Had to cook dinner and do dishes.

But once, she came out of the bath early and found me shooting from the living room. Then she understood why I was always encouraging her to take a bath--I'd get her bath salts, and all that smelly stuff women use. "Take your time, dear. Enjoy," I'd say. Busted. So I had to move outside for shooting. I've paced it off a few times, and as close as I can come it's about 30 paces, so about 27 yards.

I sure love that sound when the arrow hits the orange juice jug. There's a handle on them, and sometimes I think I made a good shot and there's no sound. Inside the handle. So that's cool. I count that as a hit--after all, it's still within the target perimeter. ;-)

CDFingers
Crazy cat peekin' through a lace bandana
like a one-eyed Cheshire, like a diamond-eyed Jack

Re: I took the first step.

13
CDFingers wrote:It's about 27 yards, about 30 paces. I shoot way more arrows than bullets, to tell the truth. Wish I could afford the time and ammo to hit the range as often as I shoot arrows. I'm a target-directed motor skills junkie.
I used to shoot from inside the house--hence the throat slitting comment. I used to wait until my wife was taking a bath. I'd stash the cats in the back bedroom, then I'd shoot from the living room, through the dining room, through the open swinging door, through the kitchen, through the laundry room, and out the back door to the back fence. That's maybe 50 yards or so, give or take.
The way the house is set up, there's a wall between the living and dining room, but, like through a medieval arrow slit, I'd have to cut it close. I'd have to stand just so, so I could clear that part of the wall and still make it out the back door. As I think back, the arrows probably just cleared the top of the back door. Luck was with me. Plus, that was back in my compound-only days. 225 fps is pretty zippy compared to maybe 175 fps with the recurve.

Once, I did a premature expostulation into the dining room wall above the kitchen door. I was drawing, so it was not at full draw, and my fingers slipped off the string as I was beginning to pull it back--maybe it was 1/4 draw or less, but the compound is still pretty strong even at that draw. It made a little divot, which I stuffed with toothpaste. So when we re did the paint in the dining room a few years later, I made sure it was me who "patched up" all the cracks in the lath and plaster ceiling and walls--glad it was plaster instead of dry wall. To this day she does not know. Hey: don't tell her. I'm already in the dog house for cleaning the Old Turk yesterday in the living room when she was at the store. Wretched Hoppe's No. 9. I no longer notice the smell, but she can pick it out of the seventeen different flower scents I'd pulled in from the back yard to nail me. Had to cook dinner and do dishes.

But once, she came out of the bath early and found me shooting from the living room. Then she understood why I was always encouraging her to take a bath--I'd get her bath salts, and all that smelly stuff women use. "Take your time, dear. Enjoy," I'd say. Busted. So I had to move outside for shooting. I've paced it off a few times, and as close as I can come it's about 30 paces, so about 27 yards.

I sure love that sound when the arrow hits the orange juice jug. There's a handle on them, and sometimes I think I made a good shot and there's no sound. Inside the handle. So that's cool. I count that as a hit--after all, it's still within the target perimeter. ;-)

CDFingers

Oh my Gawd! I'd been killed if I pulled a stunt like that with anyone of my wives. :)

I tried shooting out of my garage walk-in door to a bag target leaned up against my storage shed. Never could get the hang of it. It was a big distraction. I couldn't imagine shooting through rooms of a house.

Jim

Re: I took the first step.

15
With so much time spent working, my archery schedule has had to change. Now I can shoot Friday mornings and hopefully Sunday later afternoons without wrecking myself.

Since I got those parts from you, I have all these strange arrows, so I thought I'd put a couple pics up from the compound. You can see in one pic that with the compound, sometimes I choose the wrong eye to aim with. So that's my mental lapse, one of my challenges. Sometimes after I've drawn the compound, I close my left eye to make sure I'm looking with my right, then open the left so I can tell distance. But as you can see from time to time I let my left eye aim instead of my right.

Image


Image


I hope your muscle work is going well.

CDFingers
Crazy cat peekin' through a lace bandana
like a one-eyed Cheshire, like a diamond-eyed Jack

Re: I took the first step.

16
I almost OD'd myself yesterday, so this morning my muscles are sore: mostly my left tricep, that's my recurve arm, and I can feel it in my trapezius on both sides.

I was shooting well, so I kept shooting. I probably shot 25 on each side, which is about twice what I normally shoot. I had a lot of fun, and these are just sore muscles. I did not throw out my back or anything.

I'd gotten a new three finger shooting glove, and this was about the fourth shoot with it. It's starting to mold to my fingers, so I can feel the release a bit better. So I was hot on it, man, shooting and shooting.

Ah, aspirin. Miracle drug, fixed me up fine. I think I'll do another 25 on each side maybe Friday. If I keep it up, likely I'll feel that tight knot in my left forearm that comes from pulling back the compound I hold in my right. That will be my signal to back off again.

If I pay attention to "the signs," once in a while I can abuse myself in pursuit of fleeting joys. "What a lot of fleeting matters you have spurned..."

CDFingers
Crazy cat peekin' through a lace bandana
like a one-eyed Cheshire, like a diamond-eyed Jack

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