swampmountaineer
FNG
- Joined
- Dec 29, 2020
- Messages
- 36
I did my first archery hunt this past fall, spent 5 days sneaking around a wilderness unit with a cheap recurve, got within 40 yards of a single forkie and came home hooked. I'd be grateful for advice from anyone that has been successfully putting animals down with trad tackle on how to train - and what habits folks have developed over the years that increased their chances of success. My big questions come down to these:
- Shooting Angles: I shot about a billion arrows at a bag on flat ground, even though I knew there's barely enough flat ground to sleep on where I hunt. How do y'all train for terrain and practice for the awkward angles? I'm mainly focussing on coues and mule deer at the moment, so expecting a lot of odd shots. I have plenty of room to practice and have thought about setting up a couple of shooting platforms at different levels, wondering what kind of set-ups people use to practice for hunting scenarios.
- Arrows: I've been shooting a pretty standard set-up, with a full-length 500 spine arrow and 125 grain field tips & broadheads. I've been shooting maybe 1.5 years and miss accordingly often, but I don't think it's the arrow's fault when I do. Are there any benefits to tuning it further if I feel happy with it as is? Trying to avoid rabbit holes both in terms of time and money but if people say I should dive into it at this stage, I'd consider it.
- Fitness / Training: I'm focussed on backpack hunting in wilderness/unmotorized areas and try to train to that standard, but looking for workouts/ exercises to prepare for trad archery under those conditions. I'm concerned about getting an opportunity but being too out of breath or amped up to steady myself, so looking to train against that, for example. I do a lot of calisthenics and some weight lifting to maintain upper body strength, but any advice for exercises that boost and protect the relevant muscle groups for shooting?
- Trad Tackle Maintenance, Protection and Repair in the Field: Last question and not fully related to training, but how do y'all handle protecting and maintaining your equipment on a multi-day backpacking venture? One appeal in the recurve to me was it seemed like less stuff for me to break, but carrying it around in nasty terrain last year I realized it's a little fragile, at least in my hands. Now I'm going so far in my head that I'm considering carrying an extra limb, so looking for some data on how how much and what kind of extras people take along. Do you break yours down to hike or just carry it? Is a case or cover useful to protect the string or just more stuff to carry and impede opportunities? I'd like to set up a second string with the identical silencers, nock points, etc. - but does that mean I need to use both strings while I'm practicing for the season so they'll shoot the same? Basically: what do you bring on these kinds of hunts, what should I expect to break or go wrong, what can I leave at home?
Big thanks in advance for any and all advice on these points or anything else folks should think I should be doing in my preparations to spook another forkie this year. I don't post a ton but have gotten so much help from Rokslide members every time I've asked a question, it's really appreciated.
- Shooting Angles: I shot about a billion arrows at a bag on flat ground, even though I knew there's barely enough flat ground to sleep on where I hunt. How do y'all train for terrain and practice for the awkward angles? I'm mainly focussing on coues and mule deer at the moment, so expecting a lot of odd shots. I have plenty of room to practice and have thought about setting up a couple of shooting platforms at different levels, wondering what kind of set-ups people use to practice for hunting scenarios.
- Arrows: I've been shooting a pretty standard set-up, with a full-length 500 spine arrow and 125 grain field tips & broadheads. I've been shooting maybe 1.5 years and miss accordingly often, but I don't think it's the arrow's fault when I do. Are there any benefits to tuning it further if I feel happy with it as is? Trying to avoid rabbit holes both in terms of time and money but if people say I should dive into it at this stage, I'd consider it.
- Fitness / Training: I'm focussed on backpack hunting in wilderness/unmotorized areas and try to train to that standard, but looking for workouts/ exercises to prepare for trad archery under those conditions. I'm concerned about getting an opportunity but being too out of breath or amped up to steady myself, so looking to train against that, for example. I do a lot of calisthenics and some weight lifting to maintain upper body strength, but any advice for exercises that boost and protect the relevant muscle groups for shooting?
- Trad Tackle Maintenance, Protection and Repair in the Field: Last question and not fully related to training, but how do y'all handle protecting and maintaining your equipment on a multi-day backpacking venture? One appeal in the recurve to me was it seemed like less stuff for me to break, but carrying it around in nasty terrain last year I realized it's a little fragile, at least in my hands. Now I'm going so far in my head that I'm considering carrying an extra limb, so looking for some data on how how much and what kind of extras people take along. Do you break yours down to hike or just carry it? Is a case or cover useful to protect the string or just more stuff to carry and impede opportunities? I'd like to set up a second string with the identical silencers, nock points, etc. - but does that mean I need to use both strings while I'm practicing for the season so they'll shoot the same? Basically: what do you bring on these kinds of hunts, what should I expect to break or go wrong, what can I leave at home?
Big thanks in advance for any and all advice on these points or anything else folks should think I should be doing in my preparations to spook another forkie this year. I don't post a ton but have gotten so much help from Rokslide members every time I've asked a question, it's really appreciated.
