Archery

So I've been doing archery with an interest group from church.  I started out with some of the beginner bows but wasn't satisfied with the inability to actually shoot accurately with those bows...not to mention that they're sited for other people.

I bought a PSE bow off someone and quickly realized that my wimpy little cyclist arms didn't have the strength to draw a real bow.  I took it to Bass Pro and they dialed me down and hooked me up with a trigger release to improve my accuracy and draw capabilities.  The bow's full draw weight is 70 lbs (which I had not hope of drawing back) but it's much more manageable when dialed down to 53 lbs (about as low as this bow can go safely).

I've learned some things that I'll share in future posts but one thing I'll say to anyone thinking about archery is - make sure you get a bow that fits your draw length!  The bow I bought is a bit long in the draw for me.  As a result, I need to draw the string back behind my ear before the cams turn over (the point at which a compound bow becomes easier to hold).  Being left handed, this means that my shots go off to the right slightly based on how I'm holding the bow (people traditionally hold the string right by the corner of their mouth...behind the ear puts the string off to the left a bit when drawn).  I've adjusted my sights over to try and compensate but I can't move them over far enough to where I could actually see them (they'd be behind the bow itself).  Once I realized this I learned to compensate while shooting and it's payed off.

Not bad for a newbie

I'm looking into selling this bow in favor of one that fits me better but will continue using it in the meantime.  I'm told that I'm about good enough to actually take hunting this fall if I wanted...At this point I'm still not sure if I could kill Bambi yet.

Speaking of Bambi, Ben (roommate) and I were talking about hunting dear and I said that I'd probably have as good luck if I just carried a wakizashi while biking since I get so close to dear on the road or while mountain biking.  Sure enough, I passed really close to a deer yesterday at WsW while on Landing road.  I was so tired, I didn't even notice the dear until its fawn spooked and ran away from the road...at which point I was about an arm's length from the mother.  It definitely surprised me!

That's all for now!  Next time, beer!

Tom