Traditional Archery

In its purest form, archery requires a straight stick (the arrow) and another stick bent with a string (the bow). There is a whole lot of science behind archery. However, archery predates science. It has been around for thousands of years. It likely predates agriculture. So the term "traditional archery" doesn't really mean much. In reality, it would be better to refer to non-compound-bow archery.

Whatever the name, I have a fascination with traditional archery. The thought of going into the woods with a bent stick and a straight stick and matching my skill to the senses of another animal are highly appealing. Primarily, it comes down to one word... Skill. 

A compound bow can compensate for a low-skilled archer. Precision machined cams and sights and rests and releases make a beginner archer into a mediocre archer and a mediocre archer into a good archer. However, a traditional bow directly manifests the archer's skill.

In the past couple weeks, one thing has become apparent. My archery skills suck. I didn't shoot from January to July. Ideally, I would spend at least 3-5 days per week shooting year-round. Whatever...

I shot a few rounds at 5 yards, expecting to be rusty. Rusty would be good compared to the way I shot. After a couple days of shooting and bow adjustments, I was back into decent form. I moved back to 10 yards and have been getting better groupings each time. Soon, I'll move back further. I would like to be accurate in the 15-20 yards range before hunting season starts. If I can swing it, I'll push back to 25-30 yards but only take shots at 15-20 yard animals.

Fishing

It's been a long time since I posted anything. It seems like I should write something. So, what am I doing now? Among other things, I have been fishing. Well... That's not exactly true. I have been thinking about fishing and occasionally getting out. Now, I really enjoy fishing, but I'm actually really bad at it. Usually, I go out and fish for hours and catch 0-1 keeper-sized fish. Now, I can go catch scup all day, every day. Scup, for many, are the nuisance fish of Southern New England waters. They steal bait and are often too small to take the hook anyway. My favorite fish is summer flounder/fluke. That said, I have caught 1 keeper sized fluke in my entire life. One of the easiest fish to catch around here is bluefish. I have never caught a bluefish. I've cast into a frenzy and pulled a lure through without a hit. Meanwhile, everyone else on the shore was pulling in fish after fish. So, what's the point of all this? I made a list of all the types of fish that I've caught (keeper sized) and those that I haven't caught yet. On the "Caught" list:

• Striped Bass
• Fluke
• Black Sea Bass
• Squid (technically, not a fish)
• Atlantic Herring
• Dogfish (threw it back)
• Skate (also returned to the water)
• Sea Robin
• Scup
• Tautog

On the "Not Caught" (yet) list:

• Bluefish
• Winter Flounder
• Weakfish
• Mackerel
• False Albacore
• Bonito
• Cod
• Mahi Mahi
• Tuna

I'm sure, if I have any readers, this doesn't interest any of them. But, there it is anyway. I hope to add bluefish to my list this year. Only time will tell.