Ironic confirmation in Field and Stream
So yesterday morning I posted a technique I've been using to improve my release and form. Well, yesterday afternoon I got the most recent issue of Field and Stream and one of the articles in there was about how to improve your shotgunning, bowshooting, and rifleshooting. Oddly enough, there was a similar technique mentioned in there about closing your eyes as well as shooting at "the whole bale" or something like that. You know, not focusing on one point, but shooting the entire target while concentrating on your release. Boy and I'll tell you what, I was getting to the point where I was concentrating really hard on my pins a couple weeks ago and forcing them to the target. See, I thought that was how you were SUPPOSED to do it. When I was in high school I used to shoot a bow a lot, my form was terrible, and I'm sure I did plenty of things wrong. BUT, I could nestle those arrows together pretty darn well. I even got to the point where I wasn't using pins (it was an old Bear compound) and I was shooting it instinctively. (My buddy had a recurve, so I thought I'd play with the idea of instinctive shooting.)
So the other night in the yard I was shooting and forcing pins to move and whatnot, then realized I wasn't having any fun. I decided to relax and NOT concentrate so hard. What this ended up doing was making me look at the target more...I had in essence begun to shoot instinctively while using the pins to estimate range. Make sense? To make a short story short, I began grouping my arrows much better and actually had more fun doing it. My Block is taking a beating with all these broadhead shots though, last night I had one arrow sink in almost 3/4 its lenght. Not sure I'm too happy about that.
I discovered something the other night with that National Geographic TOPO! program. When you are trying to set it up for use with a GPS, it only looks at your COM ports! Now, if it was me, I would have it look at USB ports because who in the world uses COM ports for anything anymore? It's obviously an old program that needs some updates to continue being competitive...at least I think so. I still need to go to Radio Shack or somewhere and find something that will convert USB to COM because of COURSE my Garmin has it's interface cable go to USB. But anywho, last night I was looking at the 22 x 34 map I printed the other day and go the idea to actually hand-transfer some waypoints to my gps. You know, once you get in the timber, sometimes it's really hard to figure out if your NEAR a finger ridge you saw on the map. So I made some points along ridges, on some saddles, and marked some small marshes I want to check out for any wallowing activity this weekend. I figured, when I'm out there I can get to the point on the top of the mountain or ridge and then use the compass on the GPS to tell me which way I need to move to get to those marshes and saddles...because it'll give me distance too. The goal with that is to be able to better prepare a stalk if need be. This weekend will be the first time I've ever been in this area and the last time I will be there until hunting season; I need all the help I can get.
So yea, speaking of this weekend, I'm going to go in on a dirt road and find somewhere to park then hike a long ridge to what I hope is a relatively open mountaintop...I know there are trees on it, but sometimes you can see off of them. After I hit that spot, I will continue down through some saddles and look for sign while evaluating areas for cover, bedding activity, and food. One of the most important things is to look for a good spot I can put MY OWN camp come opening weekend. I have the idea of camping near (NEAR, not right with, and elk if I get one. I just got thinking about bear safety...) BUT, I also want to be able to drop some unneccesary camping weight while hiking around. I have a pack that separates into a day pack (which'll hold the camping stuff), a fanny pack, and a duraflex frame. What I want to do is to leave the daypack part at a good location that will keep me "out of their bedroom" so to speak, but still close enough that it won't be too much of a hump to get back to. AND, if all goes well, then I can take a load back toward camp on the first trip out.
I'll tell you what. The pack is small enough it's keeping me from loading it down with unneccessary gear. However, the longer it sits there in the house, the more I'm putting on it/in it. Like last night, I put my tent in a compression sack and was trying to figure out a way to include the thermarest and tent poles. (I do not really like the idea of sleeping on the cold ground without a pad...and then I got worried about rainstorms. They kinda suck when you're sleeping under a tarp...I mean, I'm tough, not stupid.) So what I'm thinking I will try is to roll the tent poles into the tent, then wrap the thermarest around that and THEN put the compression sack over it. This isn't like your normal compression sack that only works on one plane, this one you have the option of decreasing the circumfrence AND the length. And there's a great little spot for it between the fanny pack and the day pack on that frame.
That's enough for this morning. I can ramble on and on. One of these days I am going to buy a scale and weigh some of this stuff. It'll also be fun to make a list of what I think I'm taking, that'd be an interesting post.
So the other night in the yard I was shooting and forcing pins to move and whatnot, then realized I wasn't having any fun. I decided to relax and NOT concentrate so hard. What this ended up doing was making me look at the target more...I had in essence begun to shoot instinctively while using the pins to estimate range. Make sense? To make a short story short, I began grouping my arrows much better and actually had more fun doing it. My Block is taking a beating with all these broadhead shots though, last night I had one arrow sink in almost 3/4 its lenght. Not sure I'm too happy about that.
I discovered something the other night with that National Geographic TOPO! program. When you are trying to set it up for use with a GPS, it only looks at your COM ports! Now, if it was me, I would have it look at USB ports because who in the world uses COM ports for anything anymore? It's obviously an old program that needs some updates to continue being competitive...at least I think so. I still need to go to Radio Shack or somewhere and find something that will convert USB to COM because of COURSE my Garmin has it's interface cable go to USB. But anywho, last night I was looking at the 22 x 34 map I printed the other day and go the idea to actually hand-transfer some waypoints to my gps. You know, once you get in the timber, sometimes it's really hard to figure out if your NEAR a finger ridge you saw on the map. So I made some points along ridges, on some saddles, and marked some small marshes I want to check out for any wallowing activity this weekend. I figured, when I'm out there I can get to the point on the top of the mountain or ridge and then use the compass on the GPS to tell me which way I need to move to get to those marshes and saddles...because it'll give me distance too. The goal with that is to be able to better prepare a stalk if need be. This weekend will be the first time I've ever been in this area and the last time I will be there until hunting season; I need all the help I can get.
So yea, speaking of this weekend, I'm going to go in on a dirt road and find somewhere to park then hike a long ridge to what I hope is a relatively open mountaintop...I know there are trees on it, but sometimes you can see off of them. After I hit that spot, I will continue down through some saddles and look for sign while evaluating areas for cover, bedding activity, and food. One of the most important things is to look for a good spot I can put MY OWN camp come opening weekend. I have the idea of camping near (NEAR, not right with, and elk if I get one. I just got thinking about bear safety...) BUT, I also want to be able to drop some unneccesary camping weight while hiking around. I have a pack that separates into a day pack (which'll hold the camping stuff), a fanny pack, and a duraflex frame. What I want to do is to leave the daypack part at a good location that will keep me "out of their bedroom" so to speak, but still close enough that it won't be too much of a hump to get back to. AND, if all goes well, then I can take a load back toward camp on the first trip out.
I'll tell you what. The pack is small enough it's keeping me from loading it down with unneccessary gear. However, the longer it sits there in the house, the more I'm putting on it/in it. Like last night, I put my tent in a compression sack and was trying to figure out a way to include the thermarest and tent poles. (I do not really like the idea of sleeping on the cold ground without a pad...and then I got worried about rainstorms. They kinda suck when you're sleeping under a tarp...I mean, I'm tough, not stupid.) So what I'm thinking I will try is to roll the tent poles into the tent, then wrap the thermarest around that and THEN put the compression sack over it. This isn't like your normal compression sack that only works on one plane, this one you have the option of decreasing the circumfrence AND the length. And there's a great little spot for it between the fanny pack and the day pack on that frame.
That's enough for this morning. I can ramble on and on. One of these days I am going to buy a scale and weigh some of this stuff. It'll also be fun to make a list of what I think I'm taking, that'd be an interesting post.
posted by geotracker12 at 6:04 AM
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