Hi!

Phish, I' d try and get ahold of Mike Collins in Juneau. SEAK can lead you in the right direction to him. I think he' s got the only archery shop in town, and he' s a board member of the ABA. SEAK comes through town on the 21st, so you might drop him an e-mail and see if you guys can head over Mike' s way. Tell them I said hi when you head over there. If you want, I can try to get some contact info for them so you can head over sooner.
I' ve got a couple boxes of caribou for you that is in my freezer up north, but seak is going to wait until November to take it to Juneau with him. The caribou are still up north, so I plan to try and get after them when I go back up north on Thursday next week.

Off to Colorado first thing in the morning! 9 hour drive up, and I' m meeting my cousin in Glenwood Springs, then another hour off to the hunting area. We are crashing in his camper Thursday night, then heading to a camp 2 miles in Friday morning, do some scouting that night and the season opens up the morning of the 18th. YEHAW! Can' t wait to get back out there! Got all my gear ready to go and my pack packed. A little food here and top it off with the camcorder and we are off!

phish-on- yea i would have to agree with abm see mike collins. he may even have some used bows the big advantage is he can get you fit properly. don' t get over bowed. 60# will kill anything in north america. a bow that is 55-70 # would be good but a 50-60 would be fine . marv walters there in juneau would probably be helpful as well. if you can catch seak in juneau he could be of some help.
juno grl so now you are getting me going on the goats.....were the goats bow killed or rifle. my guess is they were rifled.

Nim, they were rifled, I' m sure...I don' t think the guys are bowhunters at all...

Lil - I lost track of that Bear recurve ages ago (after a couple moves) once I got out and off to College. A lot of my stuff seemed to disappear even more quickly once I got married. lol I' d donate it to you if I knew where it was! With my luck its probably some sort of collector' s item by now!

VBM - I' ll talk to Juno grl about SEAK. I knew a Mike Collins over in Sitka, but I' m sure this is a different fellow.

Damn, the Yankees are in the Series. So much for the Cubs and the Red Sox. . . [:' (]

Heck Phish, thanks for the offer but with as many bows as I have I am starting to hang them from the ceiling. I am not much into collecting them persay but wont turn cheek to a good deal on history!

What I was really wondering (subliminal messages) is why you were looking for a new bow when you had/have a perfectly good one. I can give you one small bit of adivce, take it or leave it. Find a bow you like and buy it used lol. Its much much cheaper. Try and by the bow bare, put your add ons you like after you pick it up. This allows you to do two things. One you wont be spending hard earned $$$ on someone else' s crap gizmo' s. 2nd, you' ll be saving money on what was a top of the line bow of its time. People now a days are selling bows just to buy the new ones every year or three so their is a ton of quality bows out their to be had for cheap compared to new. They really dont seem to hold value very well imho. I would do one thing before buying a used bow though, or do it first thing after it arrives. First call the shop who makes the bow and ask about their warrentys. Second take it to a local shop or local knowledgeable person and have them give it a good look over. Chances are you wont have any issues 99.999% of the time, but it covers your butt so you dont end up spending twice as much. Usually sellers will do a buy back deal or not cash the check for a week or two so you can shoot the bow some. Some kind of pre arrangement is usually all it takes.

Its really hard to tell someone one specific bow to shoot. We all have our favorites. Heck look at all the stickbow bowyers out their as opposed to when I started now 13 yrs ago. Their is a TON in just that short of time, not to mention all the compounds out their. Try one, find one you like and buy it! dont get impatient with the trying out period and hopefully you can find enuf down their to shoot, be it somone else' s bows or one at that shop you have (I think). Just becareful, its addicting and it wont get any better. IE no cure for the disease but more bowhunting [X(]

[8D] just got back from night bowfishing for pike..got two lost a 3rd at the boat. quit at 11:15pm had a blast needed more lights had my generator and one halogen portable light.

LIL - All good advice on buying into archery hunting - thanks. If I perform in this slice of the hunting sport like I generally do with firearms, I' ll have a closet full of bows and only use one favorite! Except for rabbits, grouse, turkey or waterfowl - I just naturally reach for the .338.

NIM - Every pike killed is at least a couple dozen more ducklings that will make it next Spring. Those damned pike eat anything that doesn' t eat them first (the closest thing we have to gators and crocs up here)! With any luck that one you lost won' t survive.

TOO DARN HOT HERE IN COLO. 85 YESTERDAY[X(][&o][:' (][:@]
PHISH-ON- I DON' T THINK THAT ONE WILL SURVIVE BUT THEY ARE SO TOUGH. HE WAS SMALL ENOUGH HE HAS A GOOD CHANCE OF BEING ATE BY ANOTHER PIKE. HE WAS NEARLY TORE IN HALF. BURIED HIMSELF IN THE LEAVES AND WEEDS ON THE BOTTOM ALONG THE SHORE I COULD NOT DIG HIM OUT.

yo dudes and dudettes, hopefully fall went well and your doing good. I am vacatin this place for a spell! Adios.

WOOHOOOO!!!

Just got back from HOT Colorado. Sunburned, beat up and sore as heck, but in about a year, I' ll have a nice 5X5 shoulder mount hanging from my wall!

Took a decent sized 5 point on opening day at 2:00 in the afternoon. We started out that morning at 8500 feet, and I killed the bull just under 12000 feet. [X(] That mountain kicked my butt, and I have the scars to prove it.

We got up there before light and sat waiting for the herd we saw the day before to feed out into the timber. Nothing came out, so we worked our way up higher, and sat down to eat lunch. While we were eating, I heard some crashing in the woods a few hundred yards away, so we grabbed the rifles, and headed over into the middle of the draw to see if anything would come out. We were looking right, left and down, then my cousin Jeff looked up and 5 bulls went running across " low trail" He went high above them after they entered the timber, and I went low and around them so if they stayed in the timber, he would push them out to me. It worked out great except the bulls came out about 350 yards up, and I didn' t want to take a running shot that high. I kept going to the next draw (they were like fingers coming down the mountain) and saw one bull about 120 yards out, but he only had 3 points on the one side, and there was a 4 point restriction in the area, so I didn' t shoot. I had the scope on him, and when he turned, I saw 4 points on the far side, so I clicked off the safety and he ran down the mountain... oh well.

I work my way back to the draw that my cousin and I saw the bulls, and he' s nowhere to be seen. I started up the draw, which was pretty steep, and about half way to the top of the timber, about 300 yards, I hear some crashing in the timber to my right. There was a small deadfall pine up about 20 yards, so I rush up to that, and set the rifle on a root of the pine, which made a perfect rest. I look through the scope, pull my head up and out comes a 5X5 bull about 50 yards up on a big game trail. I whistled a couple of cow mews at him, and he puts on the breaks, looks down at me perfectly broadside and I let him have it right behind the shoulder. He ran into the timber about 20 yards to the left, and I saw him start to wobble, but offered another shot, so I took it and he crashed down into some deadfall as soon as the bullet hit. Man, it happens quick out there!

After a couple of 100+ pound packs down the mountain, a few tumbles, blisters, and countless bruises, we got the bull off the mountain the next day. We boned the quarters out and got everything packed up this morning, and I drove 650 miles back to Vegas. Just got back from Home Depot with the new freezer, and about to throw all this stinky gear into the washer.

My body aches, my feet hurt and my legs are sore, but it was all worth it and I couldn' t be happier with my first elk. He had two broken tines, but a beautiful cape, and my cousin is good friends with his taxidermist, so they are going to swing me a heck of a deal on a shoulder mount. It' ll be over a year though he said. Oh well, gotta pay off my black bear rug first.

Got alot of meat to package up tomorrow, then back to Alaska on Wednesday night.

Ya' ll having fun?

Nimrod, I take it you didn' t have luck in Colorado? Are you still there? It took me 7 hours into opening day to tag out, what' s taking you so long? [>:]

I' ll have some pictures in a few days, didn' t get any of the full elk though, just antlers and of the mountains.