I think I mentioned before that the buddy i was hunting with owns czechmark creations, and that he set me up to build my own quiver while I was there. It was pretty sweet to see his process and how it all goes together. Theres a few blemishes I won't zoom up on for you guys but all in all i think it turned out okay, like a bootleg czechmark 😆 Also got to stop at tyee marine finally and have a look at the checkmate bows. I've been wanting to get one (well two) for a while. Got to shoot a bunch of them, and all the guys there remembered me from when we shot together last year. Didn't expect that but what a great group of guys. Got a good deal on a checkmate beaver creek longbow for Melissa, not heavy enough for her to hunt with legally, but she has been wanting another light weight 3d bow. Her old one is an oak ridge ash, nothing wrong with it but it ain't no checkmate. These bows are incredible. They handed me a 52 inch recurve to try and I was kinda like, no, I have a 31 inch draw length, thats either going to break or its just gonna suck to shoot. They all smirked, so I tried it. Wow! I almost bought it on the spot. Zero stack, smooth, quiet and accurate. Just about robin hooded the arrow two out of three sets. I did pick one up for myself aswell. I've been wanting a stamp river takedown longbow, and a hunter takedown recurve for a while. They had one of each, both on consignment. I tried them both and fell in love with them both but unfortunately the longbowhad definitely been abused. The antler overlays were separated a little and the string to shelf alignment was off. My guess is this thing regularly got left in the hot truck under a bunch of gear for the last 15 years. Still felt great to shoot but ive been there before. It can't be tuned. They've sent it back to Marc for repair. I did buy the hunter takedown. It was in good shape other than some scuffing, it was the guys go to hunting bow for 10 years so it is being refurbished and then being mailed to me. Ill.share pics when it arrives

Texas pig killing this morning. 50# Self-bow 650 gr wood stick

Didnt have time to post the day 4 and 5 updates, but was so close to another bear day 4, and again with a bigger one day 5. What an experience it was. My hosts were incredible, we had a big barbecue last night and I got my quiver finished. Im sitting on the ferry now I'll post pics of it later. At one point a few of his other hunting buddies stopped by, everyone was taking shots, trying each other's bows out, having a blast. I brought out my slingbow 😆 none of them could quite get the hang of that, it was pretty funny. Som of my buddies bows are hand made with ebony, bog oak and copper back in Slovakia, they are just gorgeous and they shoot so nice. His wife's bow is etched with roses in the fade veneer, just beautiful work. They usually only shoot higher end customs, but they were pretty impressed with my kirkwoods. Especially it not having any hand shock and the speed. It was shooting faster than some of theirs and more comfortable. Not that their bows aren't incredible its just that mine were made by a wizard 🤷 now back home to see my pup! I learned alot, have a month of season left. Hopefully I find the time to get out there and see if I can put my new knowledge to work.

This is always the elephant in the room when it comes to archery seasons, and I’m gonna say right away that a lot of you followed me know that I’m not against crossbows per se, but I do not believe they belong in conventional archery seasons for the reasons I’ve listed below. I was asked to write a short treatise for a large organization on my opinion of crossbows why simply because I saw the creation of the laws in Ontario in the 70s for archery only seasons, and I saw those seasons created and allowed in the very beginning simply because of the constraints and the difficulty required, whether with a compound recurve or longbow to hunt effectively for any game you had to get close it wasn’t the weapons inefficiency. It was its range and its distance and the competency required to be effective with them! Read below and fill your comments in. Cheers! Grant In the mid 70s here in Ontario- my father and his associates of the then Ontario Bowhunters association finally convinced the province and the wildlife Enforcement Branch/management branch to look at archery only seasons, and there were some fairly strict parameters apart from the obvious poundage/ equip limitations. The argument that won the day was simply that archery seasons were longer because it was more difficult to hunt with the weapon (and be successful) what they called at the time primitive weapon seasons. This was entirely based on a very specific skill set in having to get close because of the weapons range and effectiveness, it was just more difficult. It was never meant to be the easy way or the sure way. The BowHunter needed to get close - much closer than other weapon systems to be effective. Of course the compound is started surfacing around that time, but of course the compound was a much more basic compound than the compounds-the wheel bows produced today let off speed - sights etc. etc. crossbows were somewhat prevalent but nowhere near as much as they are today.. the problem across the board we have in the hunting community now is that technology rules the day essentially based all around success, and of course, the profit margin of those companies pushing success..

Alaska was awesome. Not a fan of cruises, that was my wife’s choice. But Alaska is very beautiful. Now to plan a hunt there. Victoria was our last stop and what a pretty city.