Before And After

BEFORE AND AFTER

Our North Carolina archery season comes in this year on September 10, 2005 and I have struggled to get my shooting skills up to par. A couple months ago I did some serious handgun reloading which apparently took it’s toll on the ole elbows and tendons making it difficult to get my 1993 PSE Mach6 hunting bow back to full draw and holding it steady enough for a good sight picture, sight alignment, release and follow through. Any one of the above aspects of what it takes to make a good that is not correct will foil the shot! Also, the early “hatchet cam” on the PSE bow is a “dawg” to cam over and the kick of the bow upon release was paining my bow hand something terrible.

Realizing my archery equipment by today’s standards and new technology is pretty much obsolete; however being somewhat frugal with limited resources I have maintained the rationale that the equipment is still harvesting deer which is a true statement and why upgrade for the sake of getting something new. All anyone has to do is look at the vehicles I drive and it is very much self evident…..go ahead and grin now, because I know you are anyway.

Being right handed with a dominant left eye means you shoot left handed equipment and here is another potential problem. Left hand products do sell but dealers normally do not carry a complete line but a few basic items. For the most part, you have to order something and it is like purchasing a “pig in a poke” with the outcome uncertain.

Finally, I decided to find something which has less shock and my buddies told me about their Mathews bows which have very little hand shock/kick. To make a long story short, I shot John Gaddy, Cris Cranford and Frankie Cranford’s bows, all Mathews mind you and they were 100 percent correct, there is little if any felt hand show upon releasing an arrow.

I ran across an early Mathews Conquest Pro that was left handed, the correct draw length and within my normal bow weight range and got a good deal on it. Problem was, it was a target model with a bright red anodized finish on the aluminum riser and a chrome idler upper wheel which would definitely spook game by reflecting light and would stick out like a sore thumb.

Below are a couple pixs of the before and after conversion using a couple colors of spray paint. It should be noted that I spray painted (camouflaged) bows and guns long before they were ever available from the factory. I still have an early Remington BDL left handed rifle with my signature tiger strip camouflage pattern and once painted a Belgium Browning auto loading shotgun that sported a mahogany stock and on it.

Not a bad looking bow to be about five (5) years old! Notice I installed a Bracklyn Hi-Tech scope mount with an Ultra-Dot scope on this bad boy! This next pix might break your heart:

The camouflaged pattern on the bow should do the job. I did miss a place near the sight but is should not give away my position while hunting.

I told John Gaddy that I had to quite shooting the Mathews bow and he asked why…my answer was “I am tearing my equipment up, arrows that is from hitting them”! I could hear him grinning real big. I did exaggerate and embellish just a little bit!

Later, Bill aka Mickey Porter August 11, 2005

As Paul Harvey has said many times, “And now, The Rest of the Story”;

The ole adage, “It is hard to teach an old dog a new trick” is very much true, not an absolute but close none the same and in my case it probably fits most of the time. Let me explain a little to present my case. I have been using my ole PSE Mach6 hunting bow since the 1993 hunting season and as most know, I have bragged on that bow which at the time was probably a few years ahead of the pack with US Patents for their pivoting limb pockets, posi-lock accessories mountings, and extruded aluminum rise with CNC machining, etc.; the list goes on! I do believe PSE like other Archery manufacturers at or near the top of the “food chain” in archery sales got a little complacent and a allowed a new cam patent and the right financial backers with a top notch advertising campaign put them bringing up the rear in sales and technology.

To get to my point with all this rambling around on the keyboard here, I have been using the Mach6 bow and a Scott rope release aid as it seems forever. Most serious bow hunters will tell you of the disadvantages of using a rope release for hunting purposes, but after years of using the same rope release aid during tournaments and hunting, it is like second nature to use and it has not caused me to spook or miss a deer.

I practiced with the Mathews Conquest Pro bow and using a new caliper release aid attached to a loop on the string because the bow draw length requires the loop since the Mathews Conquest Pro can only be shortened in draw length without changing the cam, idler wheel and string and buss cable and even maybe another limb. Going to a new type release aid just did not agree and was down right awkward to say the least and doesn’t make too much sense to change setups this close to archery season.

I solved part of my problem by replacing an old X-Ring hydraulic stabilizer on the Mach6 with a Sims Limb Saver S-Coil stabilizer and a set of Sims Limb Savers on the limbs of the bow……this cut the vibration and recoil of the bow hand shock way down but my draw length was way too long. I installed a new Wonder String ¼ inch shorter but the draw was still too long and after twisting the string up even shorter the peak bow weight went down along with the percentage of let-off. I had a spare set of 40 inch split cable buss harness and installed the buss cables and the peak bow weight went back up and got the 65 percent let-off back and after several times “tweaking” the buss cable length to get the cams back into time, everything felt right again. You definitely have to own or have access to a good bow press to change your buss cables.

I shot the bow some yesterday after getting it set back up and it felt pretty good and my broad heads were in the kill zone; not tournament groups but good enough to harvest game.

This morning, I got my regular camouflage hunting gloves out to get a little more realistic with my shooting practice and I was very impressed. My draw length was right on the money and my arrows were grouping very well. In fact, I was impressed enough to get the little digital camera out and take a pix. The deer target is about 15.5 yards from my tree stand which is around my average bow kill but my broad head arrows were hitting and passing completely through the shot out vitals of the 20 yard deer target also.

The picture below speaks for itself. Don’t grin as big as I did!

You will notice that one of the plastic vanes from one of the arrows was sliced off and on top of the deer’s back. The vane landed about five (5) feet beyond the deer target and I positioned it on the back of the target for the camera as it was not in camera view at this angle.

I am getting a little antsy and have less than a month to get it all together before opening day arrives. Don’t think the 3-D deer target center replaceable cores will make it due to the horrendous slicing by the 125 grain Thunderhead broad heads!

Good hunting to all. Written by Bill aka Mickey Porter on 08-14-05.

Web published by Bill aka Mickey Porter 07-02-13.

LEAVING ON A SPIRITUAL NOTE

If you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, please take this moment to accept him by Faith into your Life, whereby Salvation will be attained.

Ephesians 2:8 - 2:9 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Romans 10:17 “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

Open this link about faith in the King James Bible.

Romans 10:9 “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

Open this link of Bible Verses About Salvation, King James Version Bible (KJV).

Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”

Micah 6:8 “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”

Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."

IN GOD WE TRUST - GOD BLESS AMERICA - "FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD, THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, THAT WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM SHOULD NOT PERISH, BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE" JOHN 3:16 KJV