Full Moon Productions

Archery Advantage Part 2

Munsy — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 19:59:15 +0000

Newbie Orientation -continued

Here are some helpful hints of things you can do for yourself and questions to ask the pro-shop:
1. Do some personal research. Ask friends, read magazine arti-

cles, and check the Internet (websites like www.bowcast.com and www.archerytalk.com) for information and shops in your area that will be most helpful. Look into your top three bows, but be ready to be flexible.

2. At the pro-shop, ask for someone by name. Get references. This is a big deal to most archers. It is your weapon and you don’t want to get someone too under-qualified. You wouldn’t want a Hyundai salesperson trying to sell you a Mercedes; the same principle holds true with your bow.

3. Createabudget.Youobviouslywanttogetthemostbowfor your buck. Set a price you want to spend and stick as closely to it as possible. Include bows and all the accessories in your research.

4. Know your bow brands and some of their features. Check some facts and get as much detail as possible.You won’t retain it all, but when you talk to someone at the pro-shop you won’t look like a deer in the headlights when he brings up axle-to- axle, brace height, let off, limb technologies, riser materials, wheel or cam options, draw length, and weight range.

5. Physical limitations. Tell the pro-shop about any injuries like strained muscles or a torn rotator cuff. Age and gender may impact your choices also. Shoot a weight that is com- fortable and will allow you to enjoy shooting your new bow. For almost all hunting, and especially target situations, 50-60 pounds is sufficient.

6. Choose your style of archery. Do you plan to get a setup just for 3D or do you want to shoot paper? Do you want a bow that is setup more for hunting mulies or whities from a stand? These are all important questions and good information to offer for the setup of your bow.

7. Shoot your set-up. Ask the pro-shop to setup your choices so you can shoot them. Compare the different draw cycles; feel the wall when at full draw. Feel how smooth it shoots and how well it balances in your bow hand. Take note of axle-to-axle and brace height when comparing. These things, along with different wheels, affect how a bow will shoot. They are also good things to discuss when comparing bows.

8. Ask for help on form. If you’re new to archery, have the pro- shop show you proper form techniques and anchor points.
If you’re an aged archer, have them evaluate your form and anchor point. Don’t forget to ask them why they are making suggestions? Try to spend at least 15 minutes working on this.

9. Bow maintenance. Make sure you buy the right items to care for your bow such as a hard case or soft case, wax, axle lube, and string cleaners. Ask the pro-shop what they can offer you to help keep your bow shooting well such as periodic cam timing checks.

10. Accessories. Arrows, rest, sight, quiver, stabilizer, releases, peeps, and strings must all fit into your budget. Should you get custom strings or stock strings? Why? If your budget does not allow for all the bells and whistles, you may want to buy more expensive accessories and get a lower-priced bow.You can resell and upgrade your bow a year from now, but keep the high-end accessories because accessory technology does not change as fast as bow technology.

11. Range time. Does any shooting time come included with the bow purchase? Can you get continued help on your setup? 12. Support your local pro-shop. After working in a pro-shop for

sometime I have a bit of an opinion on this. At most pro-shops you’ll find guys who are more educated and helpful than at the big box stores when it comes to bows, accessories, and set-ups. The pricing is usually close, but the service is far better. Also, if you want this year’s hottest flagship bow, you’ll only find it at a pro-shop.

13. Become a shop rat! Hang out, have a good time, and learn about new equipment and techniques to strengthen your archery success.

I, too, was once the new guy. Watching Mike put me into the back of my head, and brought back the feelings I once felt when I decided to become a better archer. I remembered walking through the door and feeling as if all the eyes where on me and the intim- idation that instantly came with it. I remember observing as everyone listened to what questions I asked. Man, if I could only hear what they said as I left. p

High Alpine H20

Munsy — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 20:34:13 +0000

You need water and here is one way to get it!

Anthony Dixon
I don’t own horses or mules, just my own two feet. So how do you get 10 days worth of water to your base camp at 10,000 feet above sea level? Needing at least one gallon of water per day, at just over 7 pounds per gallon, I was hauling up at least 70 pounds of water, along with all my other gear. It often took me five different trips just to get my water to where it was needed. After eight years and countless water-hauling trips, I began to think about what I was doing. I was burning up my body and a lot of time hauling water up mountains. The most water I ever hauled on one trip was about 30 pounds. We were going just over 3000 feet in about 2 miles. That’s with my Nikon EDG spotting scope, my tripod, 10×42 binoculars and other hunting gear. That’s a hard pull at 3:30 AM. There had to be a better way. The plan was to set the tarp down on the ground, stake the top of the tarp and elevate the bottom to pool the water and snow. Put a small hole in the tarp and put the cooler drain/ overflow pipe through the hole. The cooler drain has threads, two rubber gaskets to go on each side of the tarp and a plastic nut that screws down over the rubber gasket to create a seal around the tarp. So let’s get down to business. I had a plan and I needed the following supplies:
1. 2 five gallon buckets with tops 2. 3/4 inch hose, 8 feet long
3. 8’x 8’ tarp
4. cooler drain/overflow pipe
5. duct tape
6. stakes
7. small aluminum shovel
8. smaller gage rope to tie your tarp to some logs
I had $39.00 into supplies. The last and most important ingredient is found at the top and it doesn’t cost a thing. . .snow.
The plan was to set the tarp down on the ground, stake the top of the tarp and elevate the bottom to pool the water and snow. Put a small hole in the tarp and put the cooler drain/ overflow pipe through the hole. The cooler drain has threads, two rubber gaskets to go on each side of the tarp and a plastic nut that screws down over the rubber gasket to create a seal around the tarp. Next, hook the hose to the bottom of the cooler drain and put the other end into the bucket. I did pre-drill a 3⁄4-inch hole in the top of the bucket so that the hoses would fit snugly in the hole. We placed the bucket on the downside of the hill so gravity could work for us.
My hunting partner, Shawn Monsen, and I started shoveling snow at the bottom of the tarp first and slowly moved our way up to the top of the tarp. It took about an hour to fill the tarp up, paying attention to not get any debris in the snow that could clog the hole (perhaps should have tried a piece of screen in front of the hole but we did not think that far ahead).
As soon as we started moving the snow, water started to move through it. Shawn and I had one five-gallon bucket filled in an hour and we put the other bucket in place just before we left. Keep in mind, this could vary based on the temperature, elevation and what side of the mountain you are working on (we were on a north facing aspect which allowed us to get the last bit of snow at 10,000 feet).
The gear I hauled in order to make this water collection system weighed about five pounds. Of course, I also had to haul the water from our collection area to camp. That distance was 40 yards and with the buckets weighing 46.7 pounds each, that was the best 40 yards I ever walked. $39.00 dollars, five pounds of supplies up the mountain and 92 pounds of water carried 40 yards was a much better situation. We had enough water for two guys for ten days. Not everyone will be as lucky with their situation but if you can find some snow pack, this could work for you

Archery Advantage PART 1

Munsy — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 19:58:18 +0000

Newbie Orientation Part !

The chirp of the door goes off and all heads turn as an unfa- miliar face walks through the door. The guy (we’ll call him Mike) asks for Big G. Big G speaks up and instantly identifies himself by sayinghisusualline,“Yep,that’sme,thelegend.”AsIwatchanall too familiar scene, I sit patiently on my Hoyt stool and observe as it all goes down.

Mike: I need a little help finding a new bow.

Big G: How did you hear of me and my shop and what kind of bow are you looking for?

Mike: I have a friend that referred me and he said this was a place to get a good bow and help setting up the bow.

Big G: All right, well a couple of things we need to go over and a bit of info we need to get from you.

Mike: My friend sent me in here to look at bows and see what is out there, but he recommended brand “X.” What do you have?

This is where you would here the big rip and scratch on the soundtrack, and possibly the disaster warning come in. Not only will that question throw in some alerts on the guy trying to sell the bow, but could also make you feel inadequate yourself and a bit uneasy. After listening in on the rest of the conversation and seeing and feeling what was going on between Big G and Mike, I decided I would try to come up with a list of things to better educate a new archer or maybe an archer that wants to dig a little deeper and possibly stray from his friends to better his archery experience. I came up with a list of items that hopefully will bet- ter help and educate all levels of archers wanting to make a new purchase or update their arsenal.

First, some definitions and explanations:
Draw Length – Here is a simple way to measure your draw

length at home and get close by using your wingspan measure- ment: hold your arms out as if you are being frisked by an officer at the club last night. Have someone measure from middle finger tip to middle finger tip then divide by 2.5.

Example: wingspan = 71.5″, draw length = 28.5″ (71.5 / 2.5 = 28.6) Brace Height – The distance measured from the throat of the

bow’s grip to the string at rest.
Axle-to-Axle – The distance measured from the center of the

top axle to the center of the bottom axle.

Reflex and Deflex Risers – This simply refers to the geometry of the riser. Deflex risers have a higher brace height and are more forgiving tack drivers for long and short distances. Reflex risers have shorter brace heights and are usually higher-performing bows such as when it comes to speed, but are not as forgiving as deflex risers. Measuring reflex/deflex risers is a bit more difficult. Basically, you draw a line connecting each of the pocket pivot points and measure from the throat of the grip. If the throat of the grip falls in front of the line you have a deflex riser, if it is behind the line you have a reflex riser.

Over-Bowed – This urban word has a lot of meaning. It’s like buying that 1200 CBR racing bike when you should really only be riding a Vespa motorscooter. Know your limitations. I would never put a beginning archer in Hoyt AlphaBurner because it is an aggressive bow with a brace height of 6″ and cams pushing arrows out of it at 340 fps. It’s just a fast aggressive bow. It’s a great shooting bow for a more educated archer, but I would suggest the AlphaMax, Maxxis, or TurboHawk for the beginner. Also, over-bowed can refer to price. As a comparison, the Hoyt Maxxis is a $900 bow while the TurboHawk is in the $550 range. Both are good bows and hold a lot of appeal. If you have the money, I would go for the Maxxis, but with a $1,000 budget, the TurboHawk leaves you the chance to buy a more expensive, moveable sight and a tight drop-away rest. You will have an all-around good hunting bow with a bit of technology behind it and top-end accessories mounted to it. Stay focused part two coming quickly

Adak day 3

Munsy — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 09:03:43 +0000

Trying to keep this up and found out they will all post about the same day. Ran out of bandwidth on sat phone for Internet service. It’s all good I am going to compile all into one. Also the footage can and will be seen on bonecollectors in late January 2012. We have some mini clips coming soon.
Adak, Alaska. Where the winds begins

Adak

Munsy — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 08:19:15 +0000

Day 2
As far as the airports are concerned we are done travels went pretty good no lost baggage. When Anthony, Michael, Steve an I arrived on Adak we quickly realized that the wind really does begin here!
After making a few more contacts and calls we got our transportation to get us about ten miles back in on the Argo and then hike from their. We where able to go through all our gear an make sure each guy was carrying equal weights.
More to follow trying to make this quick.

Lots of rain and wind
Gear list
Easton expedition tents
Osprey argon packs
Easton carbon trek poles!
Hoyt
Easton arrows
Cbe
Salomon boots!
Suunto nav
Primus eta stove
Brunton solar power
Mtn house
Steri pen
Nalgene bottle

AK day one

Munsy — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 01:25:03 +0000

DAY 1
Working through the packing process and combining our gear, meaning making sure we don’t double down on the items we take. I started off the day with a phone call from Steve from the Bone Collectors. Just tying up loose ends before we leave. All seems good he just needs a bed roll We can make it work we have a few extras. Steve and Michael starting off from Atlanta and Dix and I from Salt Lake.
As I scramble on and start adding gear to compression sacks and ultimately my osprey argon pack I keep checking weights with my Easton bow scale. Handy device for travel and for checking the weight of the bow.
Moving on and trying to keep this as a entertaining journal. My next phone call was from Dix. Not good, he is feeling like a$$ and is not doing good. He asks if I can come over and help him pack up his gear he has laid out. Done and done. I grab my gear and head his way. I grab my big mountain hardware bag and my big Brunton dry bags and start cramming it with dixs and my loose end. Did I mention I packed his osprey pack. Poor guy he’s not going to be able to find anything. So I got both our Hoyt bows and 4 pairs of trekking poles in our brownell bow case. Good setup for hauling and traveling with.
I will see what I can do to put a gear list up with this. We are on the plane an d Dix is not feeling so hot. Puked on the plane and now they have him on oxygen. Crazy! Better go check on the guy. First leg almost all done. Seattle then anchorage. We are meeting Michael and Steve in Seattle

Suunto

dave — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 03:46:09 +0000

Suunto is a leading designer and manufacturer of sports precision instruments for
diving, training, mountaineering, hiking, skiing, sailing and golf. Prized for their intuitive design, accuracy and dependability, their precise instruments combine the aesthetics and functionality of watches with sport-specific computers that help athletes at all levels analyze and improve their performance.

Suunto has channelled its engineering processes and sporting passions into designing the best instruments for the most challenging conditions. Whether divers, mountaineers, runners or other athletes, and regardless of skill level, the Suunto user community is bonded by a common passion for performance and design. Suunto products and services provide accurate and reliable guidance about their users’ environment and their bodies, and inspire them to push their limits and get the most out of their active lifestyle.

Go to Suunto.com to learn more.

Scott Archery

dave — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 03:42:25 +0000

To learn more about Scott Archery and their products go to www.scottarchery.com.

McKenzie Targets

dave — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 03:32:37 +0000

McKenzie provides 3D targets for all types of archery — for ASA and IBO bow shooting champions and amateur bow hunters. Their universal scoring targets conform to ASA and IBO requirements, making them ideal for archery tournaments and as practice targets for bow shooting ranges.

McKenzie is proud to be a Delta Sports Products company; every McKenzie bowhunting target uses advanced target technology. You’ll find features like layered foam and SuperFlex Foam™, as well as Welded Core™ construction, DuraCore™ technology, and the Easy Slide™ Insert System. They also offer hunter education targets and small 3D targets, as well as our famous ShotBlocker® line of blue targets.

To learn more go to www.mckenzie3d.com.

Bone Collector

dave — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 03:28:37 +0000