A while back I was talking to the guy who built my bow and asked him what he uses for small game, he showed me a cheep, easy to make point. I didnt make one because I didnt think it would work with aluminum arrows, well it dose.

With wood arrows all you do is take your glue onfield points (they should be glued on the arrow for this to work), drill a hole threw them (the drill bit should be alittle smaller then a wire coat hanger), cut two,1inch longpeices from the coathanger,then just drive the hanger threw the hole, next you need to drill another hole at a90 deg. angle from thefirst hole (drill italittle higher so you dont cut the other hanger),and drive that one threw as well. For the final step bend the hanger wire towards the end of the point and cut to length (I keep them around 1cm long, but it dosnt matter).Cutting the hanger with pliers puts a good sharp edge on them.

As for aluminums, it helps if you shoot long points. I use 175s so I have alot of room to work with. This may be hardto do on a 125 grain point.

I still have yet to kill anything with the bow but bow guysaid theywork great. Had my first good shot at a grouse today and blew it, went for a head shot and missed by an inch (15 yards) I think the fletching brushed his head.

Sounds pretty good, By the way you seen this??? From the tradgang This is from the Tradgang and Lance colman but I thought you guys would like to see it there cheep and work hella good

John "son of Glenn" Pardue's "Tree Rat Specials"





Hey Boys, Lance got to talking about the cost of carbon woods and the cavalier way I fling arrows at tree rats. Usually cull p.o.c.s. Now my p.o.c.s. are lite and uh hit high. So I went and redid some arrows I made a couple of years back. Now these arrows are cheaper than Van/TX and tougher than a raw hide milkshake. How cheap? 71 cents. With salvaged fletches. Whole arrow. Shaft .48, nock .20, head .03. Check my ciphering if you like. I ain't gone to school for a while now. Broke one today shootin my 1/2" steel pistol target. They weight around 630-800 grains. So you don't shoot over many squirrels.
Get the hardware store to order you a 100 3/8" dowels. Get a box of 7/16 nuts too. Sort the dowels by weight. Roll them on the table while you mark um at 8-12 inches.
Roll and plane at the line, and then plane again at 20" or mid shaft. Think making an octagon, and then make it round again. Lance timed me at 40-42 seconds a shaft. If you are taking more than 2 minutes, you are straining toooo hard. Just bust them down and move on.




Lance gets all fancy and sands his, then spines them to boot. (see pic of me sandin one of Lance's to see our fancy schmancy sanding jig) Me, I'm shooting rocks, trucks, and hornets nest, so I don't get all Prom-nitey with them. Lets all take a sip of sweet tea and move on. Arrer ain't gonna last long nuff with what I'm shootin at to matter.


Fletch them up, screw the nut on the end, and shoot it. If it kicks, plane a little off the love handles till it shoots straight. I burnish, straighten them, they fly straight. Remember to use salvage feathers to keep cost down, got to get a Morrison or a shrew one day you know.

You can use a fletching jig if you want'ta. I don't dance any more but I will ride a plastic barrel. But that's best discussed at a different camp fire.




After I fletched up a couple for Lance. He went and stuck Grizzly/Grandes on some. And shoot for groups with his carbon woods. (Now y'all don't pick on the lil coony cuz he hadda stand in a chair to be tall nuff ta shoot out the shop window!)


Here is proof the carbons are faster. Hits a quarter of an inch higher at 25 yards than my couthless-arrows. Yellow feathers penetrate a quarter of an inch deeper then white feathers. So keep this in mind as well. If you hit a rock or an engine block and knock the nut crooked.......just shoot a chunk of pine board. It will bust the board, but the nut will straighten right up.

Bone-apperr-teat!!

John "son of Glenn" Pardue



[hr]


In all seriousness folks you can spend a short bit of time and get a fine shootin twig this way. You can adjust your own weight and own spine accordingly to get them shooting right for you. The planning takes from 75-100grs off the shaft as well as around 20#s in spine as a rule of thumb. Fine tuning with the sanding taper can adjust your spine by a couple pounds at a whack.
It ain't rocket science and it ain't difficult at all. John has a way of inducing simplicity into it and making it stupid simple to get scary close spines and ugly heavy arrows.
Like John said don't dawdle.. move on. You spend too much time knit pickin and you'll over analyze it . Like John said bust'em down and move on.
Oh yea. The big nut screwed on the end works a trick too. Johns not kiddin. Get one crooked?? Just shoot a tree or a board with her from about 30yds and it'll straiten the nut right up! And these combo are tough. I mean you can literally bounce a metal water pail 'round the yard with em and cave in the sides of it like it was a beer can.
Hunt Hard,

Lance

Another cheap and easy blunt is .38 or 9mm shell casings. Just glue them straight onto a wood shaft, or over a field point if you need more weight. You can add wires or finishing nails as above, and they are easier to drill though. I put a drop of epoxy inside when I did that to make sure they didn't slide out, and it adds a little more weight.

Been a while since I made any. I've tried lots of small game points, bought and home-made, and none of them worked very well on rabbits. On the shots they worked with, a field point would have been just as good (head or double lung). I've gone to Ace Hex-Heads, but I haven't had time to go bunny hunting since I did, and haven't tried them out yet. I had gone to broadheads-only for rabbits, but I think the Ace heads will do the trick.

I plan on trying the JSOG nutters one of these days. Right now I'm too pressed for time (or maybe I'm just too lazy) to make dowells into shafting--besides, I've got 15-20 dozen shafts lying around that I need to do something with. 3 or 4 dozen of these are chundoo, which I don't shoot anymore--they should be fine for rabbits and tree rats.

Chad

hey rich,,

could u shoot those arrows though a compound bow???

I might might have to try one of these ideas. I had to crawl up 2 trees to get my judos down this weekend. There's still one up in a nice big Red Oak I couldn't spot. I'll go back when the leaves drop.

BTW, had something happen that never has before. Hit a squirrel with a judo and he ran off!!!! I'm almost certain it was solid, sounded good and he grunted and fell down a few limbs. He made the mistake of pausing to look at me I was at full draw again by the time he looked around and I swear I hit him again. He hung on the limb this time but was off like a shot. It was a close race through some thick brush, but he had the manerverability on me. He hit a nasty little area full of briars and lost me as I pitched headlong into them. I think I found some kind or super squirrel. He's found him some magical acorns!

Anyway, anyone ever had a squirrel take a shot (more than likely 2)and keep moving?? The other one I shot is now in the freezer and acted as expected with a nice drop directly to the ground.

Heard a deer, saw a rabbit, shot super squirrel, and shot normal squirrel. All in all a very fufilling and enjoyable time, but I'm taking Kryponite next time. Maybe I should try some of those big blunts??
C-

CnOKC, I have been told that they can be real tuff. The guy who told me about the points uses them and only them, he said they kill rabbits vary well. I think they would work on tree rats as well. Hope to get out in the next few days and give them a try.

FALL IS SO COOL

Sounds like a great day C! I've killed some critters with judos, but lost enough to them that I won't hunt with them again--ever. I've put them through rabbits and had them run off. A friend hit a few grouse with them, and lost the birds. They work if the shot is perfect, but otherwist you just as well use a field point (IMO). Not enough shock, not enough tissue damage.

Chad

I haven't tried it but Id think it would depend on the dowel rod use oak and it should be ok. I shoot them out of a 60 lb recurve just fine. Killed me a squirrl just today

LBR,

Have you tried the ACE on anything yet? Sounds like I will discontinue use of the Judos.I used to just use field points, but they tend to keep on moving if you miss . Maybe some field points with some Flu-Flu.

Christopher

The only critters I've killed with the Ace heads are spruce grouse, and only two of those. However, it made me a believer. I was in Canada a few years ago on a moose hunt with friends. We took a day to grouse hunt, since the weather turned off hot and the moose weren't moving in the daytime. We had several birds hit and lost with regular steel blunts, judo's, and hard rubber blunts. I'd just gotten the Ace blunts, and for some reason thought to bring them with me--didn't even have them on an arrow. We swapped some over, and every bird that was hit with an Ace went down--some pretty marginal hits. We had two birds killed with other points--one was hit with a rubber blunt and the junction of it's head and neck (right behind the ear hole) with a 66# longbow, and I had to chase it down. Another very young bird was killed with a judo from a recurve--60#, I think. Four others were killed with the Ace heads. Not exactly a fool-proof field trial, but they made a believer out of me. I saw one bird hit square in the chest with a 600+ grain wood arrow and rubber blunt from a 65# longbow, from about 10 feet. The bird fell a few feet, straightened up, and flew up in the top of another tree. Another shot was a miss, and the bird flew off. I couldn't believe how tough these birds were!

I don't know just how well they will work on rabbits--I used to go after those a lot, but in the last few years I haven't been after them much at all. I have shot at a couple with the Ace blunts, but haven't connected yet. I had gone to cheap broadheads for those, but sooner or later I'll connect and see what the Ace will do.

They aren't quite as "unlooseable" as a judo, but close--they don't slide up under stuff nearly as easy as field points, and shouldn't bury up in a tree with hard bark (figure they would in a pine though).

Short answer, I like 'em.

Chad