Sturgeon

Stick Bow

This is a Pacific Yew Classic Longbow 55 lbs at 28 inch draw.

The freedom and flexibility of a longbow over modern compound bows is unmatched. I embrace traditional archery and a commitment to ethical and fair chase hunting. The longbow is a simple yet effective weapon. There are not a lot of moving parts on a traditional bow as there will certainly be on a compound bow and the experience is very simplified. It is distilled to a stick and a string which the archer utilizes to flings stick arrows... Thus requiring the user to come close to his or hers intended target and close the deal without being detected. To me it was unclear how close I could get to animals such as a bear or deer until I hit my first bear at 15-20 yards in the Cascade Mountains.

Coming to grips with the limits of my traditional archery equipment and also becoming adept at shooting my longbow requires patience and determination to stalk close to my targets which are not often required for modern firearms hunting.

A longbow is a very light piece of equipment and is not very cumbersome. If you had for example a take down bow to fit into your backpack it's easy to see how you would take it into the back country. You can use a longbow for harvesting birds such as turkey or grouse and even large game such as deer, bear, moose or elk. All with the same weapon. Try that with a .30-06. I'm sure the turkeys would be vaporized. Taking a longbow on an international hunting trip is a lot easier than taking firearms. In Washington State there are firearms free zones where you can hunt with archery equipment and you absolutely are not permitted to using rifles.

Those are some of the reasons why I like traditional archery.

Ruger Super Blackhawk Bisley Hunter in .44 Mag

A great gun for most any application except for concealed carry. Dirty Harry would approve.

Effective out to 100 yards... Topped with a leupold 2x scope.
Every school child should get one.

Pronghorn Antelope Northeast Montana

Like rats. Everywhere

Montana Gopher Shoot

At the Wasson Ranch... Jay St. Charles takes aim at one of the thousands of ground squirrels in front of him. A target rich environment indeed! I've never done so much fun shooting in my life.

Columbia River Sturgeon Fishing

The norm of our sturgeon fishing fun! These are little guys....

How to make your own arrows..

Not from scratch but assembly..

I started with some parts most of which I picked up at http://3riversarchery.com/

• Arrow Shafts of Port Orford Cedar
  
• Tru Oil
  
• Bitzenburger Fletching Jigs
  
• Tru-Center Taper Tool
  
• Candle
  
• Hot melt glue
  
• Duco Cement
  
• Steel Wool
• Field Tips or Broadheads
• Nocks
• Fletching
• Pliers

The first thing I did is apply several coats of Tru Oil onto the shafts with either paper towels or a rag. In between coats I would rub them with steel wool to smooth out the Tru Oil finish.

Followed by that I usually begin cutting the shafts to the desired length. Basically about 1 inch from the front resting point on my bow I want my field tips or broadheads to be.

Then I begin either using a sander or Tru-Center taper tool to the nock end and the front end in order to get a snug fit for the nocks and broadheads or field points.

Then I glue on the nocks with Duco cement...

After that dries I place them in the fletching jig and put the fletching in the clamp and line them up to my desired spot. Usually about 1/2 inch from the end of the nock..

I apply Duco cement on the fletching and lay the clamp on the arrow shaft making sure there are no gaps between the fletching and the arrow shaft.

I wait until that dries and run the same operation 2 more times. Rotating the jig in between in order to move the shaft and apply the fletching appropriately.

At this point I can either put broadheads on them or regular field points. If using broadheads I will usually apply hot melt glue. I use a candle to melt the glue onto the arrow shafts and a pair of pliers to hold the broadheads and push them onto the shafts with the hot glue. Sometimes I use a twisting motion and press the broadhead against a wooden block to ensure they are on tight. If I am going to put field points on then I usually stick with Duco cement and just push it on there...