Archery – Sporting Road

Navajo Medicine Pouch, Taos Drums, and Mountain Smoke

Nature is My Religion, The Earth is My Church Diné, means “The People” in Navajo, and is often preferred throughout the Navajo Nation. Located in the Four Corners area of the Southwestern United States, the Navajo Nation occupies 26,649 square miles on the Colorado Plateau in portions of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. My great, great, great grandfather was a trading post owner in the Upper Sioux region and anyway this post will seem random to the uninitiated. The Navajo population was less than 7.000 in 1868 after the people barely survived removal from ancestral lands during the US Governments' campaigns against the Indian tribes of the American West following the Civil War. However, the Navajo proved remarkably resilient and the Navajo reservation is now home to over 200,000 people and nearly as many sheep. The Navajo are renowned for their belief in the integration of physical, mental and spiritual functioning, which we have fallen in love with as well. In January 2020, we bought two winter muskrat pelts for our friend, Chief, to make us a couple of medicine pouches. Chief says he is happy to do so, as we also bought a couple of pelts for him, as his children took the last medicine pouch he made after we saw him buying a pelt last year. Maybe we can get him to make a coyote arrow quiver some day as well. Anyway, it’s all good medicine, as they say. There are some other First American crafts that our daughter is up to these days after just returning from Santa Fe, Taos, and the Navajo Nation, which somehow I identify more with these days. Perhaps because we have several Dine’ friends. The Pipe

By Sporting Road|February 19th, 2020|Categories: Archery, Survival, Uncategorized|Comments Off

Game Calls

Lauren picked up some turkey and elk calls at the Colorado Sportsman's Show from these guys who hand make the calls in Colorado. Now, we just have to practice a bit more them them. Here is what turkeys sound like in the wild. https://youtu.be/MOcwkrl_pbI https://www.milehighnotegamecalls.com/ And, our daughter needs to find the turkey roost by the road next time we hunt our friend's property, so that we know where they go before they roost. This article may help which was recently posted over at Project Upland by AJ DeRosa. New post on Project Upland A How-to Guide to Roosting Turkeys by A.J. DeRosa ...Every night as the sun sets turkeys will go to roost. Those locations can reveal patterns and provide indications about where we should be hunting no matter what our method or tactics. Why Do Turkeys Sleep in Trees? Turkeys sleep in trees for one basic reason: safety (which comes from evolution). Trees provide the protection they need to avoid being eaten by predators in the darkness as well as offering safety from weather. Unlike other quarry we hunt (e.g., whitetail deer), turkeys never move during the night unless absolutely necessary. This is not unique to turkeys; other game birds like the ruffed grouse also roost in trees during most of the year. Turkeys predictably fly up in a tree at dusk and come down in the morning to begin their day. This fact is a building block for successfully scouting and hunting turkeys. Where do you Find Turkey Roosts? Roosting trees are often located immediately next to an area where they can fly down with a clear landing. This can be as predictable as a farm field or as surprising as a

By Sporting Road|January 13th, 2020|Categories: Archery, Hunting|Comments Off

Washing Wool Coats

Just looking at ordering a new wool jacket for Thanksgiving hunting. Found these great archery and bush coats from Fred Asbell, who is a legendary archery instinctive shooter, whose books were recommended to me 20 years ago by Buz Fawcett, our instinctive shotgunning instructor. All of his books are well worth reading for any archer. Anyway, back to wool, Fred's wife recommends the following method for washing wool, which is very similar to what English and Irish hunt staff do for their wool foxhunting coats. They just use cold water in a feed trough and a stiff coat brush to scrub out mud or stains, then putting between towels and walking on it, then stretching a little while drying flat. WASHING WOOL By: Teresa Asbell There hasn’t been a lot written about caring for wool. One of the things you often see on labels is, Do not wash, Dry Clean only. Dry cleaning will certainly clean wool, but it fills it with chemicals that smell bad and removes the lanolin and oil. And if you are an outdoorsman, you don’t want to do that. All wool can be washed. How you go about doing it is important…but it is simple. Forget the wash machine and dryer. All wool should be hand-washed in cold water with a gentle soap. We use Charlie’s Soap, which is totally biodegradable and unscented and works particularly well on wool and silk. Woolite has been around for a long time and works well, but it has a fragrance in it, and I’d as soon not have that on my hunting clothes. A big container, like a bathtub, that will hold lots of water is best. Dissolve the soap in the water

By Sporting Road|October 30th, 2018|Categories: Archery, Foxhunting, Survival|Comments Off

Compound Bow

After experimenting with Bowtech, PSE, and many others, we went with the bow that just felt right and that our daughter shot the best. So we upgraded our daughter from a PSE Nighthawk recurve to a Bowtech Intrigue Blackout compound bow, 32" length, where she is currently drawing 25.5" at 28 lbs as a 12 year old and is now over 45 lbs draw weight at 14 years old, so it is perfect for anything from small game to big game, as well as 3D target shooting. We like the pink Shooting Carbon Express Mayhem Hot Pursuit 150 Hunting Arrows - Built-in Weight Forward ™ technology for down range accuracy with broadhead. For target we are shooting the 150 Mayhem arrows with 100 grain points. Getting ready for spring turkey and deer archery season next fall. Jimmy recommended that she use 100 grain Muzzy broadheads, but he is trying a new Montec G5, as he can’t find the Muzzy and he strongly recommends against the expandable broadheads for white-tailed deer. We got both to experiment with, together with some grass tumble points for bunnies and prairie dogs. Working on 40 yard shots for whitetails, which is about the maximum effective range, though some cowboys will try to sell you on 60 yards.

By Sporting Road|October 23rd, 2018|Categories: Archery|Comments Off

Recurve Bow – Traditional Archery
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Recurve Bow – Traditional Archery

Our daughter started with a toy bow from the RenFest and graduated up to a small compound bow. While it isn't a Black Widow PX, she has now started with a Cabela Ranger Recurve Bow in a right hand 62:, 25# setup. but then decided that the PSE NightHawk was better, in a right hand 62" 25# setup. We started with what we were given, which was the Cabela's Stalker Extreme 4 L/W feathers arrows, 340, 65/80, 9.3 GPI, with 5/16" 75 gr. easy pull field points in a 31.5" uncut length. We found they were too long and heavy, and swapped them out for Stalker Extreme 45-65, in 29.25" length, 500, 7.3 GPI, with 75 grain, 9/32" diameter bullet points. We use a hay bale with a Morrell Target. We have a finger guard and ketoh arm guards. She is also experimenting with the much lighter 28" Beman ICS Hunter Junior arrows, which are 7.3 GPI and 600, feather fletched. PSE recommends Razorback or Desparado arrows at 30" and 800 spine for up to 40 lbs. Replacement limbs can be ordered from any retailer or from 800-824-8261 drop shipped to your location. Cabela's Stalker Xtreme™ Arrows Feathers, Per 6 Outfitted with 4" feathers, tradition meets technology Microsmooth surface finish is quiet and easy on rest and targets Added mass for better kinetic energy Straightness factor to ±.003" We started with our customer-favorite Stalker Extreme shafts, improved the straightness factor to ±.003'', and then outfitted each with 4” feathers to come up with an arrow you can count on for consistent, reliable performance with broadheads and field points alike. The high-strength carbon-composite fibers and unidirectional, carbon-filled core contribute to each arrow's light weight and professional-grade performance.

By Sporting Road|October 11th, 2017|Categories: Archery, Uncategorized|Comments Off