Need a pack to carry climbing sticks, a stand, a blind, huntin’ gear, a deer quarter or extra cold weather clothes?  Please read on… 

After purchasing a Trophy Line Tree Saddle last year I looked for a pack to carry it, my Lone Wolf climbing sticks, my hunting gear and my extra cold weather clothing in.  While I was at it I thought I ought to have a pack that would carry a blind when necessary.  Although I think the SOP Blind Hog is a great, functional item for this the fit is simply too big for my small carcass.  A weight bearing waist belt on this new pack would be nice too.  Badland’s packs are very popular so I looked pretty hard at their line, but, again, nothing would fit my scrawny carcass.  Badlands will custom size the waist belt at no charge, but there’s shipping and hassle to contend with.  Then, what would the resale value be? 

While visiting Archery Headquarters (awesome selection of bows and equipment) in Chandler, AZ during a business trip I ran across the Eberlestock X2.  First of all, it fit.  It had “wings” perfect for carrying climbing sticks.  It had horizontal compression straps perfect for carrying a blind.  At a capacity of 1800 cubic inches it was right for what I needed it for.  The soft shell finish was nice and the organizational features were superior to anything I’d previously owned.   Upon arriving home I scoured the usual forums including Bowsite and ArcheryTalk for user feedback (all positive) and called Eberlestock not once, but twice.  They were helpful and one gentleman said the X2 fit his mother quite well which meant it’d likely fit me.  However, it’ll fit “normal” sized folks also as you’ll see further down.  They told me about a back log of the soft-shell camo versions, but a simple internet search turned up an in-state supplier with one in stock for $140 including shipping.

The Eberlestock X2.

Carry a Pack on a Stand or a Stand on a Pack?

The X2 is my first “real” pack.  I used it for the entire 2009 Wisconsin whitetail season.    I’m not sure the Tree Saddle was my cup of tea, but the X2 carried four Lone Wolf climbing sticks and the saddle quite well.  It also strapped right on my Lone Wolf Sit and Climb.  The X2 really shines at carrying all the extra clothes I need in my stand in freezing temps that I don’t want to wear in and get all sweaty as well as keeping my gear organized.  What it didn’t necessarily do well due to its internal frame was strap onto my Lone Wolf Alpha Assault and climbing stick combination.  I tried a number of ways to adapt the stand to the pack, but couldn’t get it right.  An e-mail inquiry to Eberlestock went unanswered so I kept searching. 

Then I ran into ArcheryTalk user Michigan Man.  I thought I’d done some clever mobile things with my stands, Packin’ It In And Out – Treestands, but I’m not even a dim candle flame compared to this brilliant bowhunter.  He sent me the following photographs showing how he uses the Eberlestock X2 to carry his Lone Wolf sticks and Alpha Assault.

The first photograph, below, shows the X2′s compression straps all open including the “wings”.  Note the black ball bungee ties (elastic cord with plastic balls on end), two on each side, attached to the webbing on the main body of the pack just inside the wings.  These are used to secure the sticks.  I’ve carried the sticks without these bungee ties, but it required a full pack whether I needed it or not and even then a set might slide down and whack me in the leg while walking.  Very clever.  For this blog post we’ll pretend like we can’t see that very interesting climbing rope set up replacing what can be the short, noisy, cam buckles and straps on those Lone Wolf sticks.

The X2 open with the climbing sticks on each side. 

The second photograph shows the sticks secured in the bungee ties with the wings closed and the compression straps buckled. 

The X2 with the horizontal compression straps closed.

The third photograph shows the Alpha Assault secured to the stand with the X2′s compression straps and a hooked bungee strap.  Michigan Man said the bungee strap provides a little more stability to the load.  He didn’t say what the bungee tie on the bottom was for, but no doubt something quite clever. 

The X2 with a Lone Wolf Alpha Assault, Lone Wolf climbing sticks attached and vertical compression straps closed.

Finally, Michigan Man, who looks like a normal-sized bowhunter compared to me, models the pack ready for transiting to his favorite whackin’ tree.

Michigan Man shows off the complete load.

Since I’m spoiled with a lot of trees I can use my Lone Wolf Sit and Climb stand (very, very comfy) in around my whitetail area I haven’t set up my X2 for this method of carrying the LW Alpha Assault yet, but I intend to for next year.  One thing I will do, due to the method I use for climbing with my sticks, though, is add a single strap to the stand I can throw over my neck and shoulder while I climb the tree fastening my sticks as I go.  That way I don’t have to come back down to the ground to grab the stand and then go back up to fasten it to the tree.  It’ll just be one trip up.

Thanks to Michigan Man for sharing this very clever set up.

X2 as Blind Hauler

Maybe I’m just a softy, but carrying a Primos Double-Bull Darkhorse blind with nothing but one shoulder strap is a pain in the… neck.  Like I mentioned before, the SOP Blind Hog is a great product, but the shoulder straps and waist belt are so large that I have to adjust the height of the blind in the carry bag or it hits me in the back of the calves and I can’t use the waist belt to relieve any weight from the shoulders at all.  The X2 allows me to fasten the blind at any height and while that can be inconvenient when traveling through brush it is certainly better than getting whacked in the back of the calves every step.  My chair gets bundled right up with the blind.  I’ve yet to figure out where I’ll put a full-body, non-crushable decoy, yet, but I’ll get there.

The X2 carrying a blind.  The blind’s height in the pack is adjustable.

If you are looking for an extremely versatile pack I’d recommend checking out the Eberlestock X2.  I don’t think you’ll be sorry.

happy hunting, dv

If you liked this blog you may like the following: 

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Do you need to put your bowstring on a diet?  

While working up some speed data, see Short Draw Bow Speeds And Technical Discussion, for Archery Report’s Bow Speed Database I needed to know how much weight was on the string.  Weight, or lack of it, on the string acts just like a lighter or heavier arrow.  More weight will slow the arrow down, less weight will allow it to move faster.  An old rule of thumb used to be that you’d gain one foot-per-second for each four grains reduction of weight.  The wide variety of bows on the market makes that number somewhat variable today.  In my recent experiment it turns out the number was between 3.15 and 3.88 grains per foot-per-second.  Managing weight on your string can have an effect on bow speed and the resulting kinetic energy. 

Most of my older bows needed some silencing on the string and cables.  Some of those silencers weigh more than others so experimenting with various options is a good thing.  My new Bowtech SWAT seems to be fine with silencers on just the cables.    

Below, you’ll find the weights of some common components we place on our strings. 

• Red nock set – 7.5 grains (a typical string set up would include two) 
• Black nock set – 5.1 grains (a typical string set up would include two) 
• Rubber eliminator button – 3.2 grains (a typical set up includes 2-3)

One red nock set, one black nock set and one eliminator button.  A 15.8 grain combination.

• D-loop – 6.4 grains (a very short 4.5” in length)
• Monofilament nock (in place of nock sets) – .7 grains

D-loop and and monofilament tied nocks.  A 7.1 grain combination.

• ¼” Meta-Peep by G5 – 6.5 grains

The 1/4″ G5 Meta-Peep.

• 1/8” Fletcher Tru-Peep – 8.8 grains

The Fletcher Tru-Peep.

• Spider Legs Silencers – 31.55 grains (a typical string set up would include two)

Spider Legs String Silencers.

• Sims String Leeches – 28.4 grains (a typical string would include two)

Sims String Leeches.

happy hunting, dv

If you liked this blog you may like the following: 

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Photographer and blogger Carrie Z of Carrie’s Fist Full of Arrows helps diagnose a few problems I’m having with hunting related photos. 

In Photographing Your Hunting Trophies I shared one of my favorite quotes, “Take care of all your memories for you can never relive them,” Bob Dylan.  As memories of my first deer, first arrowed fishes and a black bear fade into the sedimentary deposits of my cranium I rely upon photo albums to bring back those happy, heart-filling, sun-shiny (no matter the weather) moments in time. 

The photos are like my own mental fountain of happiness.  It’s not just the kill-shots, either.  It’s the vividly colored photo of the swan in the park near some public hunting ground in Montello, WI, the dining area at Fair Chase, Ltd in Indio, TX (say hello to my little 12 gazillion calories), the exposed flint on the trails at Shiloh Ranch Hunting Camps in Ada, OK and more.  With that in mind I attempted to get caught up on my hunting photo albums a few months ago, but when I ran into some problems I decided to consult an expert.   

Probably meaningless to most people this photo reminds me of ranch-cooked beans, mesquite grilled t-bones and cheese enchiladas.  Happy times indeed!

Carrie is owner/operator of Zylka Photography and author of the blog Carrie’s Fist Full of Arrows.  Below, she addresses some of the problems I’m having.

dv – I am very careful with picture composition and often fill the viewfinder to the max to get the best photo.  However, I’ve noticed when the photos are printed in 4 x 6 (my favorite size) that heads and bottoms are cut off.  The photo isn’t like that, just the print.  Why is that?  Something to do with the ratio?  What do I do about it?

My 2007 Wisconsin whitetail picture as taken.

My 2007 Wisconsin whitetail picture as it printed.

Carrie – Check the settings in your camera; it may be set to automatically format the photo to an 8X10 or 5X7. 

-Resolution settings are actually more important than megapixels when it comes to printing.  The easiest way around this is to leave some negative space around the subject. 

-A very good rule of thumb is to “shoot wide, crop later”.  Once you have downloaded the photo file to your computer you will be able to crop it before uploading it to a website for printing.  If you are taking the memory card directly to a retail store take advantage of the cropping features available at the kiosk before printing.

-If you have photos you have already taken that won’t print in a 4X6 format without cropping off the sides or the top and bottom you will need to manually create the negative whitespace around the photo itself.

dv – I printed a bunch of photos on my home printer and the color (amount of light) was great, but they had some oily residue that weirded out the photo album.  So I took them into a retail store and had them printed.  No oily residue, but the color (amount of light) is horrible and much of the detail can’t be seen.  What happened and what can I do about it?

A picture, as taken, of a motley crew of Kansas-born hog hunters at Shiloh Ranch Hunting Camp, Ada, OK.

The same motley crew picture, as printed.

Carrie – In my opinion there are 3 types of printing mediums for the consumer:

1) At home printers:  These are great for the average “Joe” that doesn’t care too much about the archival quality or the perfect contrast ratios that hobbyist/amateur/professional photographers get really finicky over.  Don’t get me wrong I have a printer at home that I use.  But, most of us have inkjet printers and depending on the quality of the ink that the manufacturer provides for a particular model you will get your oily residue.  It’s the “super glue” that holds the actual ink together. 

Another reason may be the paper you are using.  Some paper brands are more compatible with some printer brands.  If you have an HP printer, use HP paper.  The chemical composites will mesh much better than if you use Kodak (which is actually a superior paper – it is incompatible with an HP printer, yet fantastic with a Canon printer).  You will also have to periodically calibrate both your printer and your monitor to achieve matching results.  The color on your monitor may look perfect, but when you print it out it may be too light or too contrasty or vice versa.  If you want to achieve the commercial quality in an at home printer it will cost you.

2) Retail printers:  These stores rely on quantity not quality.  They have printers that are bigger and more sophisticated than the at home printer, but they are calibrated for speed and they need to be recalibrated several times a month.  I am not confident that my local retail store calibrates their printer even once every 6 months. 

When using one of their kiosks the card reader pulls the file off your disc and saves it to their server.  The printer then pulls the file off the server and onto the printer’s hard drive.  Every time you save a photo you lose some resolution.  So, it’s been saved 3 times by now and if your file isn’t at a maximum resolution to begin with you will lose a lot of the detail.

3) Commercial printers:  The ideal way to create those photographic memories is to go through a commercial-grade printer.  Sounds expensive right?  Nope – places like Mpix.com and even Shutterfly will create photographs at an extremely reasonable price that are archival quality with maximum resolution.  The only downside is that they are exclusively web-based and you will have to pay for shipping.  But, at Mpix.com it’s $1.99 for an 8X10 and a flat rate of $5.99 for shipping.  At my local retail store it is $4.99 for an 8X10.  Order two 8X10 prints from Mpix and you break even except you are receiving commercial-grade prints that will not fade after 20 years and have been color corrected by top professionals in the business.  Also, the shipping for 4X6 prints, especially if you are only ordering 20 or so, is much lower.  You could visit a local commercial printer like Ritz Cameras or Mike Crivello’s.  They only charge $0.29 per 4X6, but you get the benefit of a commercial printer.

All of these companies will have calibrated their printers weekly if not more and have fancy software that automatically color corrects the file to match their printers’ settings so that the colors printed are true to tone.  They keep up with software updates and patches to provide maximum output.  Remember, these are the printers that professional wedding and outdoor photographers use with the highest standard of quality.  If it was anything less than perfect they would not only have angry customers demanding refunds but they would lose out on the thousands of dollars these clients provide in revenue.

dv -  What is the best way to store photos and what is the best way to store them and then share them with friends and family so that they might actually want to look at them?  Sometimes they are landscape, sometimes portrait, etc.?

Carrie – Truly, the best way to “archive” actual printed photos is to place them in an airtight box, front of the photo to back of the next photo, in a cool dry place.  But, what fun is that?  Who gets to see them?  There are always fun ways to show off those prized memories.  Photo albums are the most logical but you do have the dilemma of portrait vs. landscape photos and turning the book back and forth may not be very feasible.  Especially if it’s a large album with hundreds of photos and is very heavy. 

Scrapbooking is another way.  It’s very neat but extremely time consuming and the materials can be very cost prohibitive.  My very favorite way is the digital photo album or coffee table book.  Depending on the quality you are looking for and budget you may have there are many options.  Mpix.com offers a mid-range digital book for between $35 & $100.  Shutterfly offers one for less than $40.

Carrie says a digital photo album is a good way to display your hunting memories.

dv – Any tips, etc, you’d like to share…. Pet peeves…?  You’ve got the floor (blog).

Carrie – Exciting backgrounds are awesome for taking visually interesting shots.  Just be aware of what’s directly behind the subject.  A stray tree limb behind someone’s head may look like they have horns!  Nothing is more unappealing for hunters, anti-hunters and pretty much everyone than an animal that looks like it has been slaughtered rather than just shot.  It doesn’t take much to wipe off some of the excess blood, hide the tongue (even cut it out) or if one side looks like a grenade went off then turn it over and take the photo from the other side.

Now here’s something weird.  I was talking to outdoor’s buddy Seth, see Foundation of an Outdoor’s Person, about this the other day.  I just shot the animal, right?  Eventually I’m going to remove its “bits”, field dress it, cut its hide off, quarter it, chop it up and package it and throw it in the freezer, but I just can’t bring myself to cut its tongue off.  Weird, I know.  I’ll stick with Carrie’s advice of hiding it.  Anyway, in the future I’ll be composing pictures differently and visiting Mpix.com and Shutterfly as well as my local camera shops to figure out the best options for preserving my memories.

Thank you to Carrie for taking the time to answer my questions and sharing with us here at dv’s Mostly Archery.  Please visit Carrie’s Fist Full of Arrows for other great resources.

happy hunting, dv

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• Game Camera Photo Contest

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A found piece of schoolwork reminds me of the importance of passing on the outdoors traditions.

Last Friday I picked up outdoors buddy Seth and headed north to partake in Wisconsin’s final weekend of the 2009 whitetail season.  As we tried to find room for his gear among the three kitchen sinks in my truck he placed a stapled stack of paper on the driver’s seat stating it was for me.  His mother had been going through his old school work and found it.  Placed with my deer hunting regulations I was determined to read it later.  The weekend was busy with hunting, eating and sleeping including Seth’s harvest of a nice 6-point whitetail just hours later.  The contents of the school assignment follow shortly. 

Not long after picking him up Seth took this nice late season Wisconsin whitetail.

I met Seth and his family in 1994 or 1995 while volunteering as a 4H archery instructor.  Seth was fourteen at the time and I was active duty U.S. Navy stationed at nearby Naval Station Great Lakes.  He asked me to teach him to bowhunt; I and his parents consented.  Below is the unedited work with the exception of the photos I’ve added.  I do want to make one note, though.  Seth learned to climb trees using a safety belt (before harnesses and vests) and was wearing one in the incident described below which took place while practicing three to five feet off the ground.

Remembering

Every one looses a friend at some point in life for some reason or another.  When we loose a good friend we are all sad but we remember the good times we had together.  This is a story of the happy times I had with a good friend.

My best friend’s name was Jerry and he was a grown-up who was into everything I was.  I only knew him for about 6 months.  He was in the Navy and he got transferred to Washington state.  He liked to shoot archery and loved to hunt.  Jerry was a very smart man, he taught me a lot.  One of the things I like about him was his motto, which was “Don’t go around life holding onto the hand rail.”  Meaning, if you try something new don’t just try it, go out and give it all you can you can get back up when you fall and keep on going.  Jerry is a good friend to me and influenced me in many ways.

One way he influenced me was that he was into archery and so was I.  I was just learning and he knew and was willing to work and teach me some of the stuff I needed to know.  He showed me a couple different tests to help sight in my broadheads.  He showed me how to set up my arrows so I could attach my broadheads.  Jerry also showed me how to make tree steps and how to use them.  Then he helped me put up my tree stand and when I fell out and hit the tree on my way down he showed me how to do it.  These are just some of the things he taught me.

Jerry showed me many spots that he knew to hunt and bow fish.  He took me up to Portage Wisconsin and showed me many of his secret hunting spots.  We went up scouting 3 weeks before season and he taught me what to look for when I am in the woods.  It rained the first night we were up there but we went out anyway.  I saw about 20 wild turkeys and found several of their tail feathers.  For 2 days we walked all over public hunting grounds and found several good spots and we found several good deer signs. We walked through lots of swamp and I got real tired.  When we were done we went back to the camp ground and ate, then we went out and explored the town.  The town had this pool in the rock were they took the rock for grants tomb.  There was also a river that was crystal clear.  We talk and fished for a little while then went to sleep.  The next day we went scouting for half a day the drove home because I had school.  I learned a lot from that weekend and will never forget it.

Seth, his brother Zach and I pose with our fish from a contest – we won “smallest” fish.

For the next 3 weeks I practiced and sighted in my bow.  The Friday before bow season open Jerry picked me up and we went north.  When we arrived up there the first thing we did was to go out and scout some more we put up some reflective tape to find our way in the dark.  Then we went to the campground and set up the tent, ate, and went to bed early because we were going to get up at 4:30 the next morning.

At 4:30 the next morning we got up and got dressed.  I saw a raccoon on a trail by our campsite.  We were in the woods by about 5:30 a.m. We followed the marks in and all of a sudden we couldn’t find the markers anymore.  I was lost luckily my friend wasn’t he found our spot and we set up.  Putting a treestand in a tree 20 feet above the ground is not easy.  It took me a half an hour.  Up in the tree I was holding my flashlight under my chin while holding my treestand to the tree and holding the strap in my mouth trying to keep my balance.  While doing all that I dropped the flash light so I had to do it in the dark.  Once I go t it hooked and tightened down I was able to get my other flash light out of my pocket.  It was an experience but I was glad that I was able to do it.  We didn’t see any deer that morning.  I did see two raccoons and two squirrels though.  We got down and packed up.  Then we went scouting and found a very good spot.  We were done scouting at about 12:00 so we went back, ate, and took a nap.  We woke up and it was raining.  We waited and headed out.  When we got there I didn’t want to be by myself so we went in together and set up in two small poplar trees.  After sitting there it started to rain and the winds was blowing.  So we got down and we went back to the truck.  On the way back we came around a corner into an open field and 150 yards away way a big doe (female deer).  So I saw my first deer while hunting.  I was excited and couldn’t wait until the next day.

The next day we woke up at the same time and went out to our spots.  To get there we had to walk through an open field.  It was beautiful the moon was full and we were able to walk through the field with out light.  We set up and sat till about 8:00.  I was frozen and wanted to get down.  I looked over at Jerry and saw him staring at some thing.  I knew it was a deer.  He pulled back are released the arrow.  The sound it made when it hit the deer was like a bass drum popping.  We waited a half an hour and went to find it.  That was one of the experiences that I will never forget.  He let me track it and showed me how to clean it.  That night we were headed home.

Seth and I with a young doe I harvested just two days before being transferred to Washington State.  He was in a treestand just yards away.

That is what it mean by even though you lose a good friend you still have a lot of good memories and chances are you have learned a lot from them and the experiences you shared.  Jerry moved to Washington but we still keep in contact.

Seth routinely takes young and old prospective turkey hunters, deer hunters, bowfishers and fisherpersons into the field as well as hosting an annual National Wild Turkey Federation Banquet.  He is passing on the tradition.  Something I’ve become less involved in over the years as my career became more demanding.  However, I’ve vowed to return to 4H archery this upcoming summer. 

So, please, if you have the opportunity to take a friend or family member into the field, do so.  You likely cannot imagine what the result will be or when you might be reminded of it.  

happy hunting, dv

If you liked this blog you may like the following: 

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