Stikbow Hunter eMag Sep Oct 2010

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September/October2010


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September / October 2010

2010 Page 1

Well here we are again. Another 2 months has come and

gone and we are fast approaching the end of the year. So

dont forget you have one more issue left to get your stories

in for a chance at our end of year major prizes.

For me it has been a busy couple of months preparing and

concluding in my Elk and bear hunt over in Colorado USA. I

had an absolute blast over there and really have the bug now

to get back there again to chase those big bugling bull elk.

The country side and hospitality of the local hunters was out-

standing. See further on in this issue for more details.

Looking at the various forums it seems there are some

pretty good adventures and animals being taken with the humble stick and string but Im

still finding it difficult to get submissions of hunting adventures. Im not sure what needs tobe done to encourage more readers to send in stories so I would like to invite any of you

readers out there to email me at [email protected] phone me on 0401292311

with suggestions as to what would make writing for Stikbow Huntermore attractive. I am

open to all suggestions and will try to accommodate them where possible.

As you would have read in the last couple of editorials, the magazine will be go-

ing to a paid download next year which will be $20.00AUS (6 editions) per year. I

asked that people contact me with their thoughts on this and have so far received

some very positive feedback from not only here in Australia but from the USA, New

Zealand and even South Africa. I would still like to hear from anyone else and en-

courage you to contact me via email at editor@stikbowhunter or via mobile0401292311

So with summer approaching most will be winding down their hunting but I know I will be

heading up into Sambar country to chase them when the doggers are not allowed to be in

the hills. Could be hard going but could also be very rewarding. Time will tell.

Shoot straight and happy hunting,

Matt

Freelance Contributions - Email submissions to the Editor, [email protected]. Submissions must be in wordformat and be accompanied by high quality Jpeg photos (usually 3000 pixels wide/high or larger are sufficient).

Alternatively, send files on a CD or Flash drive to; Matt Curry, 6 Clarendon drive, Melton South, Victoria, Australia 3338.Include your postal address if you would like i t returned.

EDITORIAL


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CONTENTS

Cover Photo: Luke Morgan

Location: MilduraPhotographer: Matt Curry

Page.

8

14

30

Content.

Bowhunting Adventure: First Trad Goat Luke Morgan

Bowhunting Adventure: Colorado Bound Matt Curry

Bowhunting Adventure: There is Just Something About Pigs Tom Baxter

Regular Departments

Gear Review: Eberlestock X2 Back Pack Matt Curry

Bow Review: Trad Tech Onyx and Recon ILF Risers Pete Ward

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Like many a bowhunter I am always looking forthe ultimate in gear whether it be a new bow, bet-ter broadheads or a new backpack, to help maxi-mize my time in the bush. Being a bit on theshorter side I have always struggled trying to find

a decent day pack that would fit me well but alsohave all the qualities I needed. For me a gooddaypack must meet the following criteria.

Comfortable Breath well on my back Almost bullet proof construction. Multiple storage options Multiple well organized pockets Hydration compatible Water proof Able to handle heavy loads

With all the above in mind I have been throughquite a lot of packs looking for the right one. Unfor-tunately all up to now have fallen short in one area

or another. Some were just about right but toolong for me. Others were almost there but too hotto wear while others just couldnt comfortablyhandle the loads I wanted to carry with them.That was until I got my latest pack an Eberlestock

X2. Searching the net and various forums thispack seemed to tick all the boxes so much to thewifes horror I ordered yet another pack this timethrough Prarie Traditions in the US. Customerservice was awesome and I had the pack on mydoor within 10 days.

About the Pack

SPECS:

Capacity: 1800 ci or 30 litres

Empty weight: 2kg

Material: 1000d nylon

We take a look at the 2010 Eberlestock

X2 Day PackBy

Matt Curry


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The 2010 Eberlestock X2 comes with a new tubularexternal frame which the pack itself straps to. It is a veryhandy method of attachment as it allows for some ad-justment. Upon arrival I did the usual of opening everypocket, zip etc to have look at what the pack had to of-fer.

There is the usual large main compartment with adraw string closure. A large top lid with two pockets

completely closes the main compartment off. The largerof the two pockets is ideal for a good sized first aid kit aswell as a few other items while the smaller pocket islined for a mobile phone etc. There is also another exter-nal pocket further down on the main compartment whichis ideal for smaller items. On the outside of the maincompartment there is very handy heavy duty elasticstrapping which can hold a rolled up jacket etc.

Looking to the right and left of the main compartmentthere is two side bat wing pockets that run the length ofthe pack. Both are hydration compatible with hooks at

the top to hold your hydration bladder in place. They fit


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a full 3 litre hydration bladder just nicely with anoutlet at the top corner for your drinking hose. Thetwo bat wing pockets strap together across themain compartment. These two pockets also havetwo external pouches that you can fit knives etc in.There is also a draw string mesh pocket on theoutside bottom.

At the bottom of the pack there is a flap thatacts as a meat shelf which the top compartmentbuckles down to, this closes off the whole packmaking it a good sized day pack.

To utilize the meat tray it was designed in away that you would put the wide end of a leg onthe tray, then run the leg up through the elasticstraps. Next you would buckle the two bat wingpockets over the top then extend the top pocketstraps out to buckle to the meat tray.

The harness system on the Eberlestock X2 isvery comfortable with all the usual adjustmentsthat you will find on most high quality day packs.There is also a load lifter strap on each shoulder

harness that is positioned in the right place to ac-tually work as they were intended. The waist beltis nice and wide with good padding and a goodsolid buckle. There is a good sized pocket on eachside of the waist belt that can easily fit a goodsized GPS or camera. Up top is the usual cheststrap. The whole harness system is held off yourback by strong mesh webbing and is very effectivein creating good airflow to keep your back cool.

On average I carry about 8 - 9kg of gear includ-ing water for my daily hunting. This pack with the

external frame carries the load as if the pack were


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empty. So far I have loaded the pack up to about15kg and have not been disappointed in the waythe pack rode. It remained very comfortable withno apparent sag or sway. The one thing that Ifound whilst over in Colorado recently was thatonce the pack was loaded up it became a bitnoisy. The pack would continually squeak as youwalked, loud enough that it would spook game if

you were on the final approach in a stalk. A littleinvestigation revealed that it was the straps thatheld the pack to the frame rubbing on the frame atthe attachment points. To fix this problem I simplyloosened the straps and wrapped the frame inelectrical tape at the problem area. It was literallya 5 minute job that solved the problem. The packis now completely silent.

Recently on a local sambar outing we encoun-tered snow (in the middle of October) that did notlet up for the whole day we were there. The packgot absolutely soaking wet. Once I got home Ipulled everything out to have a look if any waterhad got in. All the pockets were almost 100% dry. Isay almost because there was a tiny little bit ofseepage around a couple of the zips but that wasabout it. I was quite happy with this as the packwas probably as wet as you would get it unlessyou actually threw it in the river.

So to sum it up I am very impressed with theEberlestock X2. The fit and finish is first rate. Thecomfort level as good as I have owned and theoverall performance is exactly what I need in a daypack. It makes a great day pack but also hasenough capacity to easily cater for lightweight 2-3day hikes. I think I have finally found the pack I willbe staying with.

You can check out the packs by following the be-low link.http://www.eberlestock.com/X2%20Pack.htm

I purchased my pack through Prairie Traditions inthe US and was very happy with the level of cus-tomer service.http://www.prairietrad.com/page24.html

If you are after a great quality pack that has alot of versatility then check out the Eberlestock X2.I don't think you will be disappointed

Happy hunt ing

Matt.


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It all started one morning at work when, over achat at morning smoko, my mate Matt mentionedthat while out shooting bunnies down at our localbunny spot, he spotted 3 goats, one of which, aftera short stalk he managed to get a shot at, but for-tunately for me missed. From then on it was on.We decided we would head down the followingFriday after work and see if we could get a nice bitof goat meat for the table.

2:15pm. Knock off time and off we went. I hadbeen suffering a bit of a crook gut most of the daybut chose not to mention it to Matt to save myselfbeing ridiculed and branded as soft and thoughtit would probably get better as time went by. Aswe left work the outside temp was about 33 de-grees, a stark contrast to the cool 4 degrees insidethe chiller room I work in. Having packed my hunt-ing gear rather hastily the night before, I had for-gotten to include my boots and my backpack,bringing only my bow and arrows, a pair of shorts,and my 3d leafy suit for camo. I had a 600ml bottleof water I refilled at work before I left. Luckily Matt

had his 3litre water bladder in his backpack, whichwould come in handy before the day was over.

The area the goats were in is a long and rockygorge, a creek flows at the bottom then there is asmall flood plain, now covered in box thorn andwheel cactus and a steep cliff comprising largeboulders and more box thorn!

Arriving at the hunting spot, we geared up andset off. The heat of the sun, pleasant at first, soonbegan to make me regret not having a more sub-stantial supply of water as we hit our first obstacle,a trackless ascent up the rocky slope to gain thetop of the cliff. Hopefully we would be able to spotthe mob of goats with our binos and work out ourplan of attack.

Luke Morgan takes us along for

the ride for his first tradit ion al

bow s hot goat.

By

Luke Morgan


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Stopping at the top for a quick swig of my in-creasingly warm water, off we went again. Thewalking along the top is nice and easy, flat grassyplains boarded by farm land. Further along the boxthorn is more established along the top but pro-vides good cover for stalks. This way in give us agood opportunity to look down into the gorge andalso have a few practice shots on the way to

where the game had been seen previously, proba-bly a good 30 minutes walk, maybe a bit more.

As we rounded a bend and started headingacross an open grassy area, 3 goats wandered upto the top via a trail connecting the creek with theplatue like cliff top. Matt and I both hit the deck,having no cover at all any where near us. Thegoats were about 200 metres away, so out camethe binos. We were both cursing the wind, blowingour scent straight to them. It wasnt long before all3 goats turned and looked right at us, then they

were off, up along the top some where, lost to usin the box thorn thickets.

Still cursing the wind, we decided it would bebest to drop down into the gorge and try to workour way around and in front of them and get our-selves down wind to try again. As we hit the gullyfloor and proceeded along, Matt spotted themagain. They had bedded down up the top, one ofthe goats standing sentry on top of a rocky out-crop. We headed for the nearest cover but wereeasily spotted from the goats high vantage point.Trying to sneak forward on hands and knees wequickly realized we would be unable to make anymoves without the look out spotting us. So, after aquick discussion, we decided that we might beable to fool the goats if we walked away from themin plain sight, then double back along the bank ofthe creek, which would provide us lots of cover.Unfortunately, there was a little bit too much cover.

We soon found ourselves scrambling underbranches and over logs perilously close to thewater. While moving over one branch and underanother at the same time, Matt suddenly let out abit of a yelp, followed by several words too ob-scene to include in the story. He had stuck hishand on a cactus that had been hiding in the longgrass and had several spines protruding from the

palm of his hand. Stifling a laugh, I told Mattwatch out, theres a cactus there! then waitedwhile he picked the barbs out whilst mutteringsome more obscenities.

Moving on, we finally got to a position wherewe could leave the cover of the creek bank andmove along at a more comfortable pace. The sunwas really hammering us now, so I took the op-portunity to drink the last of my water, which bynow was so hot that it had next to no refreshingqualitys left.

Knowing that it would be a while before we gotback to where the goats had bedded down, wedecided to try our luck on a few bunnies whichpopped up from time to time. It helped take ourmind off the hard slog wed had so far.

Coming up to a nice shady area, we stoppedfor a rest by a big sprawling fig tree, it held goodnumbers of ripe figs, which Matt and I happilydevoured. The energy boost it provided was justwhat was needed to complete the hunt, as it wastime to head back up top and take another crackat the goats. This time with the wind in our facesand a rough idea where they were, our spiritswere high. We moved along very slowly stoppingto glass every few meters. There they were, twobedded down, one on lookout. The approach of-fered lots of good cover, with box thorn the mainvegetation. The goats were about 80 metresaway and oblivious to our presence.

Matt decided to let me stalk in, while he got

some footage on the video camera. I croucheddown and positioned myself behind the first de-cent box thorn. Off I went, stalking slowly towardsmy quarry, 70,60,50 still unaware of my pres-ence, the wind still in my face. I came to about 40metres from the nanny that was on lookout. I wasbehind a large box thorn and couldnt quite seethe other two goats, so I decided to move arounda bit to see if either of them were a bit closer tome. Everything was going great, until my bootkicked the bottom limb of my bow as I was takinga step, the bow was then bumped forward and hit

the box thorn making a clicking sound and alert-


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-ing the goats to my presence. Cursing, and realiz-ing that Id just blown a great opportunity to bagmy first trad goat, I peered around the side of thebush, they hadnt run off but were standing atabout 35-40 metres away on the edge of the ridgeready to make good there get away.

The black billy was presenting a perfect broad-

side shot, and weighing up the options in my mind,I decided that, at that distance (just outside mycomfortable range) and being so alert to the dan-ger, that taking the shot would probably at bestend up with me loosing an arrow over the cliff, orat worst the billy jumping the string and ending upbeing poorly hit, resulting in a difficult follow up.

Taking one last look, I stepped out from behindthe cover and the goats bailed over the precipice.Shortly Matt joined me and I recounted what hadoccurred. Oh well, theres all ways a next time. As

we walked back to the cars I replayed the stalk inmy mind, wondering if perhaps I should havedropped the string on that billy, but decided I washappy with the way it had ended, I hadnt taken ashot that I was unsure about, just for the sake of it.And there would be more opportunities to come.

Thoroughly exhausted, we arrived back at thecars, by this stage I had the beginnings of a badheadache from the lack of water coupled with theeffects of walking around in full sun for four and ahalf hours after eight hours of work. I thinkKnackered would be the right term.

Eager to make amends, we were already plan-ning our next chance to have another go, as weheaded for our respective homes.


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at one but had no luck, loosing his arrow amongstthe boulders and box thorn.

We decided there was time for one more go, soafter locating the goats, I again set up in a positionhalfway down the gully, where I thought theywould come and Matt moved to the opposite side.

They took off out of there at top speed headingmy way. Poised and ready to take what I expectedto be a nice close shot, I waited They had beencoming my way, where were they! I left my posi-tion to check it out, Matt was walking back, thegoats nowhere to be seen. Apparently they hadhightailed it to the top and ran straight past, all un-beknown to me. Well, wed chased them enoughfor one day, and the goats having gotten the betterof us again, had disappeared, so we started backto the cars, swapping bows along the way, for a bitof stump shooting.

They were certainly making me earn my firsttrad goat. Two unsuccessful attempts! Although, Ihad had a ball so far on both hunts. The fact that Ihadnt taken any game was neither here nor there.I just love wandering around with my longbow andmy mates, and if it didnt work out, there would al-ways be next time.

We decided to give the goats a rest for a while,we didnt want to push them too hard, so in theinterim, it was back to bunny bustn and targetpractice in the back yard. A couple of weeks later,I got a text from Matt, saying the wind would begood tomorrow, if I was interested. IF I was inter-ested of course I was interested!! I packed allmy gear, making sure to remember my backpackand waited for the following afternoon to rollaround.

2:15pm and we were on the road again, I had

Round two, the following Friday, after sufferingthe sweltering conditions of the previous Friday,the promise/threat of rain was more than welcome.We headed off from work, this time parking at thetop of the gorge, to save us the climb up. The walkin was the usual discussion of tactics, mixed withsome target practice and lots of glassing.

We were determined to spot them before theyspotted us this time. The wind was swirling all overthe place and we decided to stay up the top andglass down into the gorge until we found some-thing. Peering over the edge every ten metres orso, we were surprised we had not spotted any-thing yet, they must be further down. So on wewent. continuing to move slowly and glass everybit of ground we could, bows at the ready.

After moving to the edge to get a better view ofthe rocks, I looked back only to see the three

goats standing about half way up the gorge, at thebottom of a sheer drop looking at us. We hadwalked right past them!! Matt and I both croucheddown and quickly came up with a plan of attack. Iwas to continue on until out of sight of the goats,then pick my way amongst the boulders and dropabout half way down the gorge and wait for an op-portunity as they made their way in my direction.While I was doing this, Matt would back out of thearea and try to get a shot from the other side,hopefully sending them my way in the confusion.

I found a likely spot for a shot if they came pastand settled in to wait. About 20 minutes later Iheard a whistle, waited some more, then anotherwhistle came on the wind. I climbed back out ofthe gorge and headed to where I had last seenMatt. He was heading in my direction, indicatingthat the goats had gotten past him and bolted inthe other direction. He had managed to get a shot


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forgotten my boots again! But wasnt going to letthat stop me. (Even though my work boots areabout 2 sizes too big and not good for walkinglong distances in.) Today was the day, third timelucky.

We headed back to where the goats should be,where we had seen them the hunt before but all

we found were empty beds. Matt decided to dropover the edge and contour along, incase they weresomewhere that we could not spot from above. Icontinued along the top glassing as I went. A cou-ple of hundred metres further on I spied somemovement in the binos, finally I had found themand the wind was in my face for a change.

Having no idea of where Matt had gotten to, Idropped my backpack and began to stalk. I closedthe gap as much as was possible with the avail-able cover, but it ran out at about 50 metres out.

There was an open area before some more coverabout 15 metres away. On my hands and knees, Istarted crawling across the open grass towardsthe next bit of cover, which would give me the per-fect shot. But the goats werent having a bar ofthat and over the edge they went. I quietly joggedup to where they had gone over, only to see themheading in the direction which I had last seen Matt.Thinking that they would run into him and possiblyturn around and head back my way I took up a po-sition in the rocks and waited.

Back they came, stopping around 80 metresfrom me behind some box thorn. I waited andwaited and waited. Not sure if Matt was having astalk. I didnt want to move toward them incase Iblew it for him. So I waited some more. Eventuallythe goats moved away, I had no clues to Mattswhereabouts, so I started to head back in the di-rection of the cars looking for him. I was just aboutto grab my mobile phone to find out where he was,when I saw the white nanny goat standing about35 metres away looking in the opposite direction. I

could hardly believe it! I had to look twice to makesure it was real.

I quietly closed the gap to around 25 metresand bought my bow to full draw. The nanny wasstanding broadside to me looking down into thegorge, I picked a spot and let fly. The arrow struckits mark and the goat took off down the gorge, tak-ing the other goats with it. I ran to the edge of thecliff to see where they went. Thats when I sawMatt, further down in the gorge. My goat hadbolted straight to him, taking him by surprise as it

rounded the corner of the ledge he was standing

on, nearly sending him backward over the edge,a hurried off balance shot whizzed past the goatand into the boulders, sending the arrow ricochet-ing into the air in several pieces.

Regaining his footing he signaled to me tocome down as he could see where the nannyhad dropped. When I got to Matt's position, he

congratulated me, and told me what had hap-pened from his point of view, saying the goatlooked well hit and hadnt gone far before pilingup amongst the rocks. We waited a little while,discussed the events that had led up to my firsttrad goat. I was absolutely stoked with the shotand happy to be going home with some meat forthe fridge.

As we made our way to where the goat lay,we spied the billy hanging about the nanny. Wewere still climbing down the cliff and a very steep

downhill shot was offered. Matt moved to theedge of the ledge. The loose rocks gave way,nearly sending him over the edge for the secondtime. Luckily the goat some 25 metres belowwasnt spooked and Matt took a magnificent shot,taking the billy in the top of the shoulder and exit-ing out the bottom of the chest on the oppositeside. Congratulations all-round. We were bothwrapped with how things had gone. We wentdown to where my goat lay, took some pics andproceeded to harvest the meat. Matts billy hadclimbed back up amongst the boulders and laiddown, where he was quickly finished of with anice follow up shot. More photos and some moremeat packed into my backpack. I had five legs ofgoat loaded up and an unbelievable feeling ofaccomplishment, as I had worked so hard to takemy first major traditional archery kill.


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Saturday the 11th of September 2010 saw me

fulfil a dream and arrive in Denver USA for 10

days of hunting Elk and Black Bear in the Colo-rado Rockies. I was over there after accepting a

very generous offer from one of the nicest guys

you are likely to meet, Will Nelson, better known to

many on the bowhunting forums as

iamyourhuckleberry. Will had extended an open

invitation to us Aussies to come and spend some

time with him and a bunch of other fellow bow-

hunters from around the world hunting in his back-

yard, the Colorado Rockies. With an offer like that

how could I resist? We ended up with two Aussies,

one Kiwi, three from the UK and fourteen guys

from all over the USA in camp.

I had been up since 3.30am the morning need-

ing to be at Melbourne Airport by 4.00am for a

6.00am flight to Auckland then onto LA and finally

arriving in Denver a 4.00pm the following day. The

flight over was very LONG but luckily there was a

good selection of the latest movies to watch.

Will met me at Denver airport, a quick stop to

grab my bags and bow case and then we piled

into his Hilux (or Tundra as they are known over

there) for a trip out to Bass Pro in Denver to pick

up my Elk tag. I had heard a lot about Bass Pro

shops but was not prepared for the sheer size of

the place. It was literally the size of a small shop-

ping centre but two stories, including a fish tank

the size of my lounge room with all manner of fish

in it that were big enough to eat you. It even hadan elevator to get to the next floor. The archery

department alone was about the size of a 30sq

house. Very impressive to say the least. There

were full size body mounts of every animal from

the area.Unfortunately we ran into a few dramas

By

Matt Curry

The editor fu l f i ls a dream

and heads to th e USA to

chase Elk and Black bear.


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getting my tag to go through but after some really

good customer service from the Bass Pro staff and

long phone call to the Colorado Fish and Game all

were sorted and we left with my credit card limit

somewhat still intact.

After picking up a few supplies we headed off

for the two hour drive up to camp which was situ-

ated between a small town called Redcliff and an-

other called Leadville. On the drive up we saw a

number of mule deer including one really good

buck on the hillsides as well as a big group of Elk

on the fringe country. We rolled into camp just on

dark where I was introduced to Scottie (NZ), Grant

(AUS) Paul and Rex from the US. A few hours

talking then off to bed for an early start to my first

day in the mountains with bow in hand. To say I

was excited was an understatement.

Day one saw me heading up to about 10,500ftwith Scottie and Paul. We dropped down into aswamp where I officially donated my first arrow tothe Rockies while stump shooting. It was a beauti-ful area and we were seeing some good sign.

We decided to split up for the walk out and

meet back at the truck. The climb out was where

you really started to feel the effects of the alti-

tude. Contouring along the side of the hill I came

across my first Colorado game. It was a really

cool looking Snow shoe hare that still had his

grey coat but big white fluffy feet. I played cat

and mouse with him for about half an hour butno shot presented. Climbing out further I found

some really fresh Elk droppings and a fresh rub.

Movement in front of me drew my attention

which turned out to be a big Bull Elk heading my

way at about 70 metres. I couldnt see his head

gear but the body colour and size meant he was

certainly a bull. Unfortunately the wind was quar-

tering from behind me resulting in the bull wind-

ing me and bolting. Still I was stoked; I had seen

an Elk on the first day and had a ball. Back atthe truck the others boys had also seen a couple

of Mule deer.

Day two Will was taking Scotty and Grant to

another area for a few days to try for Mule deer

that they had tags for leaving Rex and I in camp.

Rex had some stuff to do so he dropped


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me off first thing in the morning at around 11,000ft.We arranged for him to meet me back at the samespot around lunch time. I headed down hill againand came across a really nice looking openmeadow that stretched for about 2km and wasabout 400m wide. Found some wallows and de-cided to sit just in the timber and give the PrimosHoochie Mamma cow call a try that I had bought

at Bass Pro.

I gave the cow call a few goes for about tenminutes when I detected movement across fromthe other side of the meadow. Throwing up my

Vortex binos I couldnt believe my eyes when Isaw an Elk trotting across the meadow straight forme. A closer looked revealed he only had twopoints and wouldnt be legal to take. Bull Elk to belegal in Colorado have to have at least four pointsor 5 inch brow tines. I put my bow down andgrabbed the camera. By this stage he was about100 metres out but the wind was swirling and hepicked up my scent. He turned to go back the wayhe came but a quick cow call had him stopping.With the wind back in my face he relaxed a littlehaving a bit of a feed but not willing to come any

closer. Still I got a few photos and was able to

watch him for about 5 minutes or so.

After the spike bull headed back into the tim-ber I hunted back up to about 12,000ft and turnedback for the pickup point. Arriving a little earlier

than anticipated I decided to head down the trackback to camp or meet Rex on the way up. Alongthe way I had a bit of fun stalking the local squir-rel population and also saw a couple of grousebut unfortunately couldnt get close enough for ashot.


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Cutting the corner through the timber I bumped

a Mule deer doe and watched her bound off down

the mountain side. Rex met me three quarters of

the way down on his ATV, so I jumped on the back

for a quick ride back to camp. We decided to head

into Leadville for the afternoon and had a late

lunch at a nice little Mexican place. After lunch

Rex and I headed back up to the meadow for theafternoon but only saw two Mulies. Next time Im

there I am definitely putting in for a Mule deer tag.

We got back to camp about 9.00pm, had a quick

bite for tea and then headed to bed, exhausted but

happy with the days efforts.

Day three Rex and I headed across the other

side of the Highway 24 up to the top of Mt Resolu-

tion which was 11,900ft. We spent most of the

morning driving the back tracks just taking in the

views. Saw a heap of different squirrels, a golden

eagle, marmits and a really cool ermine which is

part of the weasel family. I managed to get within

2 feet of the ermine and got some cool pictures.

We parked up and headed down the North

side of the mountain splitting up about half way

down. I didnt see any animals but fresh sign was

everywhere. Rex saw two more mule deer and

also a cow Elk. We arrived back in camp to findSteve from Minnesota had arrived. Steve was

another trad bowhunter. Steve had bought some

Bear meat burgers with him that we happily

tucked into for the evening meal. I had been keen

to taste some bear meat and was not disap-

pointed. It really had a nice flavour to it.

Day four was a bit of a lazy day with the

morning spent in camp relaxing. Steve and I

headed up to the meadow again for the after-

noon. We hunted the west side finding lots ofgood sign but no animals sighted. We had an

enjoyable afternoon with a bit of stump shooting

thrown in. We made it back to camp after dark

and enjoyed some venison burgers for tea.

Day five saw me heading out solo. I took

Rexs ATV up to about 12,000ft with my longbow

strapped into the rifle holder on the front rack.


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I slowly dropped down about 2000ft to the val-

ley floor, contouring along as I went. The area

looked very positive with plenty of sign. I hunted

hard all day without luck then faced the long

2000ft climb back out to the ATV. The climb out

was a killer with the altitude really taking its toll.

Taking my time I made it back to the ATV just after

dark. The ride back down in the dark was a realblast. It was hard to believe that I was riding a

700cc ATV down a really cool rocky track in the

dark up in the middle of the Rockie Mountains. It

doesnt get much better than that. Back at camp

Tim and Daryl from Minnesota, Rob from Alaska

and another Steve from the US had all arrived. It

was a good night meeting and getting to know all

these guys. They were all die hard bowhunters

that just loved to be out in the mountains.

Scotty, Will and Grant arrived back in camp

with reports of multiple encounters with good mule

deer. Scotty managed to arrow a real nice buck

which was recovered very quickly. I might also

mention that Scottie had only picked up a bow

(compound) three weeks ago. Outstanding effort.

Day six, Steve (Minnesota) and I spent the

morning scouting other areas for an afternoon

hunt. We headed around the back of Redcliff then

through and up the Tigwon rd to the trail head for

the walk up to the Mt of the Holy Cross. We saw

about 6 grouse on the way up. On the way down

we saw a young Mule deer in the Aspens as well

as a hen turkey.

For the afternoon we again headed over to Mt

Resolution and hunted the North side down to the

valley floor.Not a lot of action with only one mule


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deer seen. Driving back out just on dark we saw a

good bull elk on the clear ground just above tree

line. Back at camp Marty, Dave and Mark from the

UK had arrived along with most of the other guys

from the US. The camp was really getting big now.

We had a good feed on buffalo for tea then hit the

beds again.

Day Seven saw a 4.30am start with 7 of us

heading up to Mt Resolution again. Steve, Scotty

and I were to drop right down to the valley floor

then head left along the creek flats. Tim and Daryl

were to head right with Will and Grant working

about 1000ft above us. We didnt see any animals

but did hear a couple getting up around us. We did

start to hear some bugling which would hopefully

make life a little easier. Up until this day we hadnt

heard any elk bugling at all. The problem was that

the temperatures during the days were around the

mid to high 20s (Celsius) which apparently the Elk

dont like. Back at camp the story was about the

same with no Elk sightings.

About 4.00pm that afternoon Steve and I

headed back up above timberline at Mt Resolu-

tion. The plan was to sit in ambush till dark and

hopefully get another elk coming over the top like

the previous day. Unfortunately there was a small

camp set up exactly where we wanted to be so wewere forced to head further to the right. We found

a good spot and set up to wait. I moved from my

original spot after about 30 minutes as I only had

one shooting lane. Just on dark we had a cow elk

come in and prop at 18m from Steve but keeping

timber between Steve and her. She ended up

walking away never giving a Steve a shot. If I had

stayed where I was originally I would have had a

ten yard broadside shot but thats hunting for you.

Still a good result for the afternoon.

Day Eight. With Steve 2 and Rex in tow we

headed up to Ptarmigan pass on the South side of

Mt Resolution to hunt a big valley that ran all the

way down to HWY 24. It had a really nice creek

with beaver dams along the bottom of it. We all

split up for the hunt. I took the left while Steve took

the right with Rex and Steve2 going around the

back. It was a pretty uneventful walk but I did seea nice Ptarmigan. I also managed to stalk in on a

Beaver and get some good pictures and video.

They are actually quite a large animal.

Got back up to the car on dark to be greeted bya rather aggressive dog. I didnt know if he was acamp dog or a wild dog. He was growling and

moving closer and was about two seconds awayfrom getting an arrow when the owner turned up.A few choice words about leads etc and all wasgood.

Back at camp Paul and a few of the boys had

got right in amongst some good Elk, having bulls

bugling around them but no shots.

Day Nine. Steve and I took the long drive up

No Name rd to a reported good Bear area. I was

really keen to at least see a bear but also had a

bear tag on hand if I was lucky enough to get a

shot away. We hunted real hard with the going

getting real tough. I was constantly hemmed in by

impassable rocky outcrops and had to continually

back track to get around them. It was a little frus-

trating but the scenery was well worth the effort

alone.

Back at camp Steve decided to break camp

and head north for some bear hunting with people

he knew. We said our goodbyes. It was really


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good to be able to meet and hunt with another fel-

low trad hunter from half way around the world.

Day Ten: Scottie and the boys had seen a few Elk

the day before in an area that needed a bit of a

walk to get to so it was decided that a bunch of us

would hunt this area. Dave, Mark, Scottie, Matt,

Tony (Texas), Justin, Grant and I all headed up to

the timberline to walk over the top to a valley that

the boys had seen the elk in. Once we made it to

the top we glassed the valley floor seeing at least

one bull. We decided to drop down and have a

hunt. The walk down was pretty treacherous be-

ing very steep and loose gravel. Once at the bot-

tom we split up a bit and headed into the timber.

We found plenty of good sign but could not locate

any elk. Once we regrouped Dave said he had a

cow come past him but couldn't get a shot.

We decided to make our way back up top

knowing the walk out would be very tough. We

probably had to climb out about 1500 feet that

was basically straight up. We took our time and

eventually made it to the top. Funnily enough we

found fresh tracks from a decent bull over the top

of our tracks from the walk in. Thats irony foryou.

Later that afternoon Dave, Mark and I headed

halfway up No Name rd to about 10,600ft. We

then split about 50 metres or so apart and con-

toured up the side to the timberline. I was just

enjoying my time taking in the surroundings when

cresting a small rise I came onto 3 Mule deer. I

good buck, a doe and fawn.I tried to manoeuvre

around to get some photos but the ever swirling


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wind gave the mulies over ideas.

It wasnt long after that I heard some cow calls

coming from behind and above me. There seemed

to be more than one cow. Knowing Dave and Mark

were above me I couldnt decide whether or not it

was the two boys calling or actual elk. I decided to

have a look anyway and began a stalk. I was get-

ting closer and the calls were sounding real good

when I spied Mark sitting on a log with Dave about

30 metres away. It was a good stalk I reckon and

had the heart rate up a bit. As it was getting late

we headed back down to the truck and back to

camp. Had a good night chatting to the boys. I

knew the next day I had to start packing as I had

an early flight out the following day.

Rob and Marty arrived back in camp with re-

ports they had seen a good bear and that Will hadmade a shot on a Monster mulie buck. It had got

late so they were heading back the following

morning to track the animal.

We had a bit of rain come in and the temps

really started to drop. We even had snow up on

the tops.

Day eleven: I spent the day just lazing in camp

and getting all my gear packed. Matt (Utah) was

heading out early the next morning for his long triphome. He had to head past Denver airport so I

thought I would grab a ride with him to save any-

one else having to make the 2 hour plus trip both

ways.

Later that day Scottie, Grant, Matt (Utah) andJustin rolled back into camp looking completelyworn out. Glancing at the back of the truck I no-ticed the tips of antlers sticking out. They hadbeen hunting an area way in the backblocks

around the hidden lakes. They had walked right inwith Justin setting up to do some calling. They hada real big bull come in but not close enough for ashot. Then a smaller 4 x 5 bull came into 15m. All4 boys were at full draw (compounds) with the bullgiving Grant a good stare down. He turned andwalked passed Justin who put an arrow straightinto his chest. He didnt make it far. The boys thenhad the massive job of boning out the animals andcarrying out all the meat which they did in one go.A huge effort.

That night I said my goodbyes to all the boys

and wished them luck for the remainder of their

hunt. They still had a few days left in camp so I

was hopeful that they would have some luck. Withthe weather finally changing signs were looking

good for the 4 days left of the season.

Day 12: I was up early and on the road withMatt by 6.00am. My flight out of Denver wasnt un-til 4.00pm that day but I thought I would just killtime reading a book or two and looking for gifts forthe kids. Thanking Matt for the ride I bid him a safetrip and settled in for the long wait and ensuinglong flights back home.

The flights all went well and many hours later Iwas greeted at Melbourne airport by my wife andtwo kids. I was exhausted but glad to be home.

I really need to say a huge thank you to Will

for everything he did to make this dream come

true for me. His generosity and willingness to

go the extra mile just made it all that much

easier. I would also like to express a sincerethank you to every bowhunter in camp. The

camaraderie, generosity and just general good

nature of everyone of you made the trip just

that much better. I cant wait to hunt with you

blokes again in the near future.


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Stikbow Hunter eMagazine is extremely happy to announce that thanks to some very generoussponsors we will be running an end of year BEST STORIES competition along with a photo com-petition to be held every issue.

Bi Monthly Photo and Writing Competition:Send in your photos and stories to be in the running for some great prizes. A top secret panel ofreaders will decide which photo and story they liked best for each issue. The winning photo andstory will be awarded some great prizes kindly donated by John McDonald at A.M.S.O 128 arch-ery supplies and Darren Amos form Trash Boys DVDs

All entries to be sent via email to [email protected]

or via mail to:Stikbow Hunter Editor6 Clarendon driveMelton South,Victoria,Australia, 3338

End Of Year Writing Competition::

The writing competition will be judged after the last issue of Stikbow Hunter has been releasedfor the year. The winners will be decided via a voting system that we will be setting up on theStikbow hunter web site. We have three great prizes to be awarded to the top three stories.These prizes were very generously donated by Mark Harvey of TradBits archery, Russell Barberof Kanga Custom Bows in the USA and Ben Mayer. The prizes include a TradBits Rising pig 3Dtarget, a Caldwell Camp knife valued at about $400 and a Custom made Kanga bows Take downLong Bow.

All entries to be sent via email in a word doc. with separate photos to [email protected] alternatively on disc or flash drive to:Stikbow Hunter Editor

6 Clarendon drive,Melton South,Victoria, Australia 3338


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The first Riser I received in this series was theOnyx. It arrived with a set of Black Max glass andcarbon wood limbs to try. The first impression ofthe riser was good. It feels very good to handle,and it looks good to, The Phenolic riser with Zebra

wood accents is a good match with the all blacklimbs. There are enough wood accents that thewood veneer Pinnacle limb also looks good on it.Better yet they all shoot good on it. The CarbonBlack Max limbs have brown phenolic overlays atthe tips and limb buts that some might say lookbetter.

All of the limbs I have are ILF mediums, makingthis a 58" recurve that draws and shoots like abow costing a lot more. The first set of limbs I triedwas the Black Max Wood glass. I am very im-

pressed at how well they shoot, considering theyretail for $130 US. They are easy to like, and drawsmooth, shoot quiet, without vibrations. I prefer abrace height of 8 " to 8 1/2" on these risers withboth the carbon and glass limbs.

The mostly Phenolic riser is solid, and the grippositions my hand in a very repeatable placeevery time. I am able to shoot the Onyx accurately

like I have been shooting it for years. Tuning is a

Review su pp l ied by Pete Ward off his

web site PETE WARD

www.peteward.com

Pete Ward takes a look at the

new Trad Tech Recon and

Onyx Risers


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breeze with the ILF adjustable features. I set upthe risers to be stack free to just past my 27" drawlength. This is 2 turns out from the bottom settingon the limb bolts, which is also the most theyshould be turned in. For longer draws you willwant to back the bolt out a turn for each inch over27"to a max of 5 turns from bottom. With longerthan a 29" draw you will be better off with a long

limb, making a 60"bow. Those with a short draw of27" or less will be best suited to the short limbsmaking a 56" bow. ILF limbs come in differentlengths for different draw lengths. Short limbs,long draws and limb bolts tightened down are arecipe for disaster. The principle for ILF limb ad-justments is to make the bow smooth to yourdraw, and easy to tune, not to make more drawweight like the compounds. If you want moreweight do yourself a favour and order heavy limbs.

Recon / Onyx

I would not recommend short limbs for morethan a 27" draw, and medium limbs for more thana 29" draw. This is with the limb bolts backed off tothe minimum weight setting. Properly set up foryour draw weight with a correct set of limbs for

your draw length you will find the ILF bows are

For those not familiar with ILF, it is a systemthat allows us to use any make ILF limb on anymake ILF riser. The limbs slip in and out withoutthe need to use wrenches. It is a good Idea tocheck each set of limbs for proper tuning when wechange them.

The Recon and Onyx are nearly identical, with

the amount of wood accent being the only differ-ence. Both share the exact same dimensions.Both are fully ILF compatible and have lateral limbadjustment capability should you ever have a limbthat is not perfectly straight. We should not have touse this feature, as the risers are set up forstraight limbs when we receive them.

The 15" risers make for a good short bow that

can use an economical limb one day or a top ofthe line Olympic limb the next. I can switch to theBF extreme Olympic quality limb from the Titan ina matter of a minute when the weather gets coldand I want a riser that is not so cold to handle, andstill use the high end BF Extreme limbs or I justwant a shorter bow. I can also switch to the TradTech ILF longbow limbs just as easy. The Pinna-cle limbs look good with the clear glass and woodveneers, as well as the black Master Carbon long-bow limbs. With the longbow limbs the Onyx andRecon become a 60" longbow.


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The Recon and the Black Onyx are a reasonable cost riser that is well designed and easy to set up andshoot with a variety of limbs. The finish on the Onyx is good, but not perfect. For a perfect finish we pay alot more. The mostly Phenolic riser should be nearly bullet proof and last a lifetime. I see no reason not tothink the Black Max limbs when properly set up for your draw length will last you a long time.

I am currently shooting the Black Max Carbon wood limbs, only because I have them. I think the Woodglass limbs for a hundred dollars less are every bit capable of doing all that I want in a hunting bow. Theyare a great shooting bargain that you should seriously consider. The charts below will show what I am try-

ing to get across. Both sets of limbs were shot with the same string, 10 strands of DF97, padded loopsand beaver silencers. I also installed some yarn to cushion the string slap recurves all have. Pat, my wife ,confirmed the exact draw length and coached each shot. All shots were taken at a static draw length, witha well-worn cordovan tab. The bow was braced at 8 for the Carbon wood limbs. I switched to theglass limbs without making any adjustments and the brace height gained 1/8". The tiller remained thesame.

Black Max Wood Glass l imbs {10 strand padded DF97 str ing}


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Black M ax Carbon Wood limbs {10 strand DF 97 padded str ing}


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From the charts opposite it seems like theGlass limbs are performing equal to the more ex-pensive Carbon limbs. The main difference be-tween these limbs is in Torsional stiffness. Mostaverage shooters will not notice the difference thatthis stiffness with the carbon limb gives us in accu-racy. At 20 to 30 yards I can't tell the difference.Both sets of limbs shoot the same for me. I have a

27" draw length and I have set the bow up accord-ingly to give me 2 pounds per inch thru my draw.For a longer draw length all we do is back off thelimb bolts 1 turn each for each inch up to 30". Af-ter that I would recommend a set of long limbs. Ifyou have a short draw of 27" or less you mightprefer the Short limbs.

There is no need to have your limbs going from2 to 3 pounds or more when we can take advan-tage of the ILF adjustments and experience 2# perinch thru our draw. It makes the bow so much

nicer to shoot this way. If you want more drawweight order a set of heavier limbs rather thancranking in the limb bolts and shooting a stackingbow. Yes going from 2 to 3 pounds is stacking onthese limbs. I adjust my ILF bows to make thejump just past my draw length.

To sum up my feelings on the Onyx / Recon Ithink they a very nice to shoot bow. It is quiet, andhas good performance. The Black Max limbs, ei-ther Carbon or Glass draw very smooth and thoseGlass, Black Max limbs are a steal of a deal. I amvery impressed at how well the Glass limbs shoot,and I am also very pleased with how nice the Car-bon limbs are to shoot.

I have been hunting with the Onyx with bothsets of limbs, and feel that either one is just fine.Without looking, I can't tell which one I am shoot-ing. There are others that could tell, but I am notable to. This is a good mid range riser that shootslike it has a higher price tag. It is not a flawlessriser, however it takes a close look to find faults in

the finish. If it had another coat of finish you wouldbe hard pressed to find any flaws. This is a goodRiser and the Black max limbs compliment it verywell. As a blind hunting bow the mostly black riserand the Black Max limbs make it almost invisible.The short 58" length makes it easy to shoot in thepop up blinds .A set of short limbs would make it a56" bow that is even better for those of us withshort draws, {27" or less} that like to shoot a shortbow in tight places like Pop-Up blinds.

Since I started this review the Recon riser hasarrived and I will make a few quick commentsabout it. For all practical purposes the Recon isthe same riser as the Black Onyx, but with somemore Zebra wood, and some overlays. The BlackOnyx has thicker phenolic, and thinner wood over-lays. The Recon shoots exactly the same as theBlack Onyx, and all the comments above for the

Black Onyx will apply to the Recon. I switchedlimbs back and forth and cannot see any differ-ence in how each shoots. The only difference isthe Onyx has a wider phenolic body and the Re-con shows more wood, and has Overlays.

To be truthful, I am not sure which riser I preferat this time. I do know that both are hunting risers,and in all probability I will put a set of short limbson the Black Onyx for hunting in the blinds, onlybecause this riser has more black showing. It mostlikely makes no difference at all.

Thanks for reading,

Pete Ward


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....I thought, as a boar screamed and roaredahead of me on the fern covered flat. It had beenraining ever since leaving the car and though bod-ily damp, my spirits were high with the valley floorfreshly churned over by a pig or pigs. The longwalk in and steep climb down now seemed muchmore worthwhile now with the sound of fightinggoing on less than a hundred metres ahead of me.

Creeping in slowly I spied the first black backamongst the waving ferns. No less than eight pigswere working into the soft soil but it was the larger

boar drifting around a sow that drew my immedi-ate interest. Two smaller boars were trying tostrut their stuff too but the bigger boar wouldhave none of it and was chasing them off when-ever they got too close.

Moving into thirty metres was easy enoughbut the smaller pigs kept me from getting anycloser. I stood behind a large gum with the lightbreeze in my face, arrow nocked and soaked upa bit more water from the constant rain, trying tofind an avenue to get closer.

Tom Baxter heads o ut

chasing something he

loves ....... Pigs

By

Tom Baxter


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Watching the black, dominant boar do his thingwas awesome. A smaller boar thought he wouldstand his ground to a head on charge and the bigfella hooked him up under the chin and flipped himhead over arse onto his back in a wriggling,squealing heap. A fantastic sight and a true testi-mony to this boars strength. I had been on themfor ten minutes or so when that terrible thing hap-

pened. Steam rising from my body started driftingtowards the mob and before I knew it the flat wasvacant of pigs. This was the first hunt in my weekoff and a disappointing end to the stalk and it setthe precedent for the next three outings, with rainmaking it less than comfortable and the windwrecking other stalks on a frustratingly regular ba-sis.

If hunting was like fishing where the old line of"you can't catch fish and be comfortable" was true,then this next day out was unlikely to produce,

unless the pig gods had finally decided to smile alittle.

With a crisp start it was a clear blue sky daywith nary a breath of wind. After crossing a coupleof small creeks that held a little water after rain Iwas again working my way up the valley lookingfor a pig or two. Following along a faint pad withthe breeze in my face for a good hour with no realsign I was beginning to get the feeling that it wastoo nice a day and it was likely everything will be

bedded down by now with the warming sun cover-ing the valley floor.

Pushing on slowly I came across multiple pilesof dung that suggested a bedding area. Withsparse tea tree among the tall gums it was a per-fect pig camp and when I noticed a pile of sticks atthe base of one gum had been pushed up to form

a small wall I felt sure that it was the old bed of along departed pig.


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Being that it was on a bit of a rise I couldn't see

into it properly but it was still a major surprise

when two black ears poked up from behind it. A

mere ten metres away the sleeping boar had

heard something of my approach but not enough

to really put the wind up him. He had been sleep-

ing facing away so did not see me in the first in-

stance. I stood deathly still as he rose with dust

falling off him before he paused and then saun-

tered off, quickly I managed to whip out and nock

an arrow as he went behind the gum.

He looked to be a youngish boar with a little bit

of size and a colour mixture of black and ginger,

with his short tail and small lip curl suggesting that

he was no monster hooked boar but in any eventcertainly worth following. He moved off to my right

a little and then paused listening.

Taking several more steps the boar again

stopped to listen. Each time he walked he was do-

ing something of a right hand u-turn that brought

him back towards me. He crested a rise and

walked up onto a small rock fall about twenty me-

tres out at my shoulder level but a large fallen tree

trunk gave only a view of the boar's hams. I began

to sense that a shot could soon present itself. The

boar was facing toward a pad that should bring

him walking past me broadside into a clearing at a

little over twenty metres, if he took it. There was

nothing I could do at this stage but wait and hope.

Taking several more steps he was onto the pad

but still obscured by timber, I was now very confi-

dent that the next time he moved off would be into

the clear shooting lane. With bow arm now raised

and finger on the string the excitement level was

high. As the boar stepped into the clearing I had to

quickly focus on the shot, drawing back and anchor-

ing with one of Black Widow's finest I picked a spot

and released, hearing the solid thump as the fletches

disappeared into the boars shoulder area. The boar

turned and bolted back the way he had come with a

bright red shaft only hanging in the by the feathers,

dislodging as he moved through a narrow gap be-tween two trees before he disappeared into an adja-

cent gully.

A little high and back I thought as I ran through

the memory of the shot and hit I had just witnessed. I

paused only momentarily before heading up to collect

the intact arrow. It was coated in good blood and I

was fairly confident of a good hit. I started tracking

his marks where he ran into the gully and after eighty

odd metres and only three small drops of blood I was

becoming concerned. I kept on the marks and then

found a relieving sign, a fifty cent coin sized splatter

of bubbly blood which suggested a good lung hit.

More blood started to show on the ground and then I

sighted the boar on the other side of the gully passed

out where he had rolled back down the hill into a

fallen log with all four legs in the air. Close inspection

revealed the hit was indeed a good double lung shot

and a resulted in classic one arrow kill.

He was a solid little pig with sharp, thin tusks, bro-ken teeth and a ragged ear and I was a happy bow-

hunter. The selftimer button on the little Olympus

copped a workout before the jaw was removed and

strapped to my pack for the walk out. A fitting end for

this finally lucky but mountain weary hunter.

The aurthor used a:

56 PCH Black Widow Recurve54#@28

Carbon Express Heritage 250s & 125gr Magnus heads.


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Stikbow Hunter eMag Sep Oct 2010

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Transcript of Stikbow Hunter eMag Sep Oct 2010