Well, the last 7 months or so have been pretty interesting to say the least. Spent time in Nevada, Idaho, Washington, Oregon and a few weeks in the wild here in Central Ca. Thought I' d get away without getting poison oak rash, but I guess the last few days out I got into it and a spot or two showed up on my ankles. Not too bad for me, but I got a heck of a rash from what I used to dry up the rash (caladryl), guess I' m alergic to something in it. Anyway, I was doing service for different people. Helping them with chores they can' t do themselves and so on. Just figured that it was time to give back for all that' s been done for me over my lifetime. Did a lot of Elk and whitetailed deer stalking and did lots of stumpin while I was at it and met a whole lot of compound shooters that thought I was nuts for shooting perfectly good arrows into old cedar stumps, lol. Home now for awhile, then I' m hoping to get to do some serious hog and blacktail hunting for a few weeks down the coast.

Mike,

It is good to see you posting again! Glad you had a great time in your travels.

Wish you the best of luck in your hunting season this year. I hope to go hog hunting next weekend. We can hunt hogs yearround here in SC.

Bill

Thanks Bill, it' s good to be home. We got hogs year round here as well, but wifey is getting some time off pretty soon and she' ll be going with me this time out. Should be a great time for both of us.

Mike,

Glad things have been well for you. Moving back to my hometown of San Diego at the end of the month with family in tow. Hopefully I' ll be able to find a place to hunt hogs and deer somewhere in California. I' ll miss the whitetail deer in Ohio. Recently made the switch from recurve to longbow. Found a very nice Quillan Bamboo Longhunter. Not as fast or pretty as some of the other popular longbows, but it is still a sweet shooter, light in the hand, and spits the arrows out there with authority. I have to admit that I enjoy shooting longbows more then I did recurves. It was a just a matter of trying one.

Best Regards,
Jose

Mike,

Good to have you back -- missed your posts.

Jose, there is some good hog hunting down south. Don' t know how far you' ll need to travel though. Santa Catalina Island has goats and hogs if I' m not mistaken. Lots of open country to my understanding and I also understand that shots are longer than the average. I' ve never hunted the Island, but I hear it' s a real gas. Good luck to you and your family with the move. Hope all is well with you all.

Jack, thanks for the welcome back. Hope all is well with you and yours.

Mike,

Thanks for the tip. I' ll look into the Catalina Islands and see what I can find out about it. I' ve been told that there is good hog hunting at a military base somewhere in central part of the state. Ft. Ligget??? When I was still in the Navy I had some shipmates on base that hog hunted at Camp Pendelton. Don' t know if they' ve closed that down since 9/11. Mike thanks for the well wishes. Good luck and many blessings to you as well. Have a good season.

Jose

It' s been a while since I have posted. I' ve been shooting my new crusader since I received in back in April, what a sweet shooting bow. I can' t say enough good things about it, a true work of art.

Any tips on silencing my Crusader?? Also, I' m moving to Lemoore, CA in a few weeks (central valley, 35 miles south of Fresno) and looking for any info on areas to hunt out there??

Hey Dave--glad to have you back! To get the Crusader as quiet as possible, try this. First, start with a naked string--no silencers, just a nockset. Tinker with the brace height until you find the spot where it is quietest (it should feel/shoot the best at this spot also). Second, tie on some silencers (I like rubber whiskers) so they can be adjusted. Shoot, move the silencers, shoot again. You will find that silencer placement can make a lot of difference. Move them an inch or so at a time. A second small set might help even more--after you find the spot for the first set, do the same thing with the second (if needed). Of course the right arrow and heavier arrows do a lot toward quieting a bow too.

Hope this helps--if you need me, just holler.

Chad

dathein,

You might want to check out the state conferences on the LW. There' s much information on hunting in your area. Hogs, blacktail deer, Roosevelt Elk in Northern California, Oregon, and Washington. Good luck with the move. Looks like I' m not the only one relocating this year. God bless.

Jose