Top_Heavy's World

I am sorry, our wireless router died and I am unable to get internet access from home. We will have this fixed as soon as possible, but for now I will try to keep this up to speed around my incredible work schedule. We are so swamped it is tough to keep up and I have had the kids each night for a few hours before dealing with work again... 2 busy parents make it tough on the little ones, but we are doing the best we can. I will start coming in early each day to bring you the latest from here at the office.

Friday night a friend from the IowaDeer.com site came down for bow tuning and lasagna. Cody is shooting an XForce Super Short, about my draw length and it was maxed out! We chrono'd the tiny thing and my eyes bugged out as it read 322 fps! It is hard to believe a bow so small can create so much energy. We sighted in his pins out to 50 yards and while struggling with the huge winds, we both felt pretty good about our shooting. I did notice that Cody shot better with my Drenalin than he did with his bow... he is a very good shooter, but a bow as touchy as the Super Short, requires constant practice. The term used is Forgiveness, the ability of the bow to shoot accurately by not over exaggerating small imperfections such as wrist torque. We refletched some arrows for his brother, another ID.com friend... Tyler got PINK and LAVANDER blazers on his new hunting arrows! We did spend a little time fishing... about 25 casts each, and considering the 20 mph NW gusts, I was happy with the one nice bluegill that Cody caught... I was even the one who suggested going inside! I must be getting soft. Thanks for sharing your time Cody, it was a blast.

Saturday found me being lazy, I did the "Dad's cooking pancakes, eggs, bacon etc for breakfast" thing. Mornings like this are still a fond memory of my youth, so I was doubley blessed when my father actually showed up for breakfast and spent the morning with us. The household chores took priority and we ended up having a great day indoors. I started a serious excercise program again... Weights, cardio, heavy and with purpose... I have never bench pressed 400 lbs before, and I have always wanted to. I set a goal to be benching that mark in 10 months when I turn 40. I was in the mid to high 300's when I was 33, (I leaned down to 218lbs to try and better the weight differential) but this poundage has always been a life goal. There was a free weight "machine" called a Wide Chest Bench Press and I was able to do 425lbs, but that isn't a true free weight flat bench, lift off the rack unassited, drop to chest, lift again, press. I will try not to bore you with too many nights of my goal, but I figured I could share now, a month into the training. Feeling pretty good about where my pins were set, I spent time working on my release trigger. Squeeze practice is very good for the shot, and I started shooting small dot targets at 6 yards. My 30 yard pin is perfect here, but my 60 is needed when I move to 3 yards.

Sunday morning started with more 6 yard practice, perhaps 60 arrows or so, then Jody and Craig showed up with a friend of theirs. I was asked to help sight in a low poundage Bowtech bow for a slightly older doctor, who is just learning to shoot. The sight bracket was lowered as far as possible, the pins were as low as possible, and the bow was shooting high at 2o yards. I raised the peep, changed the serving distance from the peep, compensated for the string twist and served the G5 back into place. The D loop was pinching the arrows hard enough to lift them from the rest when drawn, so the knock was removed and I served the D to proper gap. We double checked the timing and other set up options until we were happy and we headed to the Waltonian Archery Clug. I spent the next 1/2 hour with Doc getting his pins set and keeping him company. I let Jody and Craig warm up by playing a game of Cricket. Most people know this game from darts, but Craig brought archery targets that look like dart boards. I don't remember who won the first game, but I managed to put together a good game and took the second fairly handily. Doc was grouping great for a beginner but his unused back muscles soon tired, so we called it a day. The snow was starting to melt by the time I got home,so shoveling wasn't needed, so I worked with my brother Andy to get his river boat ready. We are traveling N in 2 weekends to fish big walleye. The reports were good last weekend, and we would have been there if the snow wasn't in the forecast.
Off season training, 3 kids and goals as lofty (foolish?)as mine sure can make for some CRAZY days!

I was lucky enough to have Adam Boysen stop over tonight to work on his new Bowtech bow. Adam moved his old sight to this bow to make it shootable until he chooses a permanent one. The bracket sits in a more favorable position on this bow, so he raised it up and centered the 3 pins. After a few warm up shots indoors, we moved outside and sighted at 20 yards. 3 shots and we had him hitting close, 3 more shots and he was centered. Adams large shoulders and arms were much better in the wind, my skinny frame was blown back and forth to the point that I couldn't group 3" at 20 yards! Great at 20, we backed off to 30. Adam is shooting only a couple of feet per second faster with the same arrows, so we set the pins to approximately the same gap as mine, and in no time he was again shooting very tight groups. Backing off to 40 I dropped to a better shooting position. I shoot the best while sitting, on a chair, on my feet with my knees in front, or even slightly raised in a modified kneeling position. I sent my three arrows down range and even in the wind I put them in a 2 1/2" circle. Adam kept shooting and I was amazed at how well he shot, each arrow slipping into the vitals on the block target. Shooting 40 yards with .029" pins is tough, but he kept at it and soon had arrows touching each other. We finally called it good enough, as the groups were as good as the weather would allow.
We stripped the long vanes off of his Gold Tip arrows, cleaned them and refletched them with 2" blazer vanes. I like to let the Goat Tough glue dry a few hours before shooting, so we will chronograph them again this weekend. Changing vanes dropped less weight than expected, only about 6 grains per arrow, but it should be better than the ragged old ones previously on there. Adam picked out 2 white and a bright chartruese yellow... I wasn't about to put them on a man's bow, so I talked him into 2 white and a white zebra pattern for the cock feather. The arrows look great and I am sure he will give them the "air mail" treatment tomorrow.
The night was great, I got to hang out with a friend, pimp his bow, watch him shoot better than he ever has, and feel like a part of helping him grow in the archery game... I just don't know how it could get any better!

I have been shooting Bowtech bows this week. The first, a 27" draw bow set at 68.8 lbs but the owner has it set up poorly, with loose screws and heavy arrows. He claims it is how he likes it so I don't feel it is right to comment on a bow that produces almost 10lbs less KE than it takes to draw it! The bow I spent time with tonight is a 29" General set at 68.6 lbs, the maximum I could get. The shape of the bow was nice, the thin firm handle was nice, as it didn't stick to my hand and create torque as the PSE bows did. This bow is set up with a really neat fall away rest with a capture bar to hold the arrow in the deep V shape created by the fingers of the rest. The fingers move to 70 degrees upright by thumb pressure and then the line connecting it to the string of the bow pulls it to 90 degrees when drawn. It is then free and falls forward at the shot. I used my 370 grain Maxima 350 arrows for the testing. I drew the bow and wasn't impressed. The first 3" of string movement just pick up the slack in the string and only draw at up to 8 lbs, then as the dual cams start to roll the poundage quickly jumps to the maximum of 68.6lbs in only a few inches of draw. The pull is very long as you must pull about 9" at maximum draw before the cams roll over to a fairly solid wall. I tried to over flex the bow and wasn't able to create a variation in speed over 2 fps... that is really good when compared to the 15 or so bows I have done this on! The average speed of the 370 grain arrow was 295 fps, with the max a blistering 297. while I didn't like the length of full pull poundage (my Drenalin pulls about 2" less travel at max draw weight and has a 1/2" longer draw) the shot was smooth and quiet. I liked the bow overall. I did try to let down from full draw and was reminded why I don't like dual cam bows, it was better than the X force and the Monster, but it is also much slower than they are. The bow was nice to shoot, but I struggle with the thought of buying a slow dual cam bow if it is equal price to something like the Mathew's Reezen or PSE X force. I would choose one of those bows first and shoot it at much less draw weight while still getting better performance. If you win it, get it as a gift or are allowed to shoot a friends, enjoy it, it is a top end bow and it shoots like it. If you are spending $750 on it, save your cash as it is nice shooting but not worth the tough draw due to lack of performance. Mathew's Reezen is still the best hunting bow for the mature audience looking for a 60lb draw set up.

I wrote about another shoot at the Waltonian Archery Club in Toddville for this coming weekend, March 28. I was informed today that this shoot is actually April 4 and 5, I will be working on a hunting cabin, so I will be unable to shoot. I wanted you to know the correct dates in case you were going to show up! The club is always looking for more members and there is usually food going in the kitchen and guys around to help. Please think about attending, it will be a blast.... maybe you can beat Jody for me!