Scouting and Prepping Arrows

Scouting while there is still snow on the ground always feels a bit desperate and slightly futile. There are no dusting holes; wing drag marks; water is everywhere; and only the occasional track which disappear with rising temperatures. The season opens in sixteen days and youth weekend in nine.

The woods will transform quite a bit in the next few weeks. Temps are predicted to be in the high 60s. Bright sun and wind will melt the last vestiges of snow at an alarming rate and soon the bloodsucking insects will hatch and begin their hunt for food. The melting snow will reveal  caches of food for the birds and the north facing shaded areas will keep bugs in hibernation for another couple of weeks. Plants will not start growing new shoots and seeds dropped last autumn will not sprout in the still frozen ground. The turkey foodstuff locations will be quite different opening day so why even begin to scout?

Simple answer is scouting beats sitting around inside wondering about the happenings in the woods. Early morning walks chart the progress of the thaw and which edges of field are warm enough to begin providing nourishment for the animals of the forest. This time of year is a good time to become reacquainted with the sounds and rhythms of the dawn.

The quiet of the morning’s walk is broken by a far off gobble and recalibrated my ear to the sweet sound of hunting season. Soon there is another and another as toms awoke and begin searching for a mate.  When the sun reaches the base of the trees bordering the flat cornfields, a tom sounds off a few hundred yards away. Leaving the calls at home was a good thing as the temptation to lure in a bird might have been too great to resist. Why take a chance of educating the birds a ten minute walk from the back door? Save it for opening day.

After breakfast and delivering the kids to school, the next order of business preparing for the season can take place when domestic chores and duties have been completed. My goal as a bowhunter is a quick and efficient kill. The head and neck shot are the most effective way to either make the kill or miss clean. The head shot isn’t so much for humane reasons as much as the demonstration of skill required to make the shot. For me, the kill is about style over substance. Last season I was able to fire about a dozen arrows and only connected once. Using a mechanical broadhead required a solid hit to expand the blades and put the bird down for good.

It pains me to admit it publicly, but I’m not quite that good of a shot so this spring the first bird tagged will be taken using a guillotine style fixed broadhead. The Magnus Bullhead is well regarded by bowhunters so I had Kevin, owner of the local bowshop (Kevin’s Custom Arrows in Vershire, VT) order me a three-pack while I waited for the new Muzzy M.O.R.E. heads to arrive at the shop. The Muzzy will collapse for transport before opening up to a fixed blade head. In theory this seems easier to travel with but we’ll see.

There is a story I remember from studying the American Revolution when in grade school about the Colonists melting a statue of King George and returning the metal to the Redcoats as musket balls. Not sure of the story is true but the idea of returning a gift by propelling it with a weapon is pretty fun. What can I return to the turkeys? Feathers, used to stabilize my arrows on the path to the side of a tom’s head.

Taking a wing feather from the bird to the arrow is quite an undertaking. Below is a photo essay of the process. I'll shoot them tomorrow and report how they fly.

The raw materials

Splitting the feathers along the quill.

The basic grinding jig. The split feather is clamped between the metal plates holding it straight so the drum sander can remove most of the quill. The washer on the base of the sander limits the depth of the grind.

The setup on the drill press. The shop vac grabs most of the feather dust,

The ground feather in the cutting jig. The jig will finish to a 4" shield cut.

A quick rap with a hammer and the feather is cut and ready to be fletched or colored.

A small mason jar with soapy water removes the oils from the feather allowing the coloring to penetrate. A similar mason jar filled with dye from an Easter egg coloring kit adds color in about 15 minutes.

The red and blue feathers were dyed by me. The red and orange stripes are factory coloring

Four feathers fletched onto an Easton 2315 aluminum arrow. If these fly well my hope is to polish a few aluminum arrows to bright silver. Camo is too difficult o find after a miss.

The 125grain Bullhead.

On my palm just for scale.

The large diameter head requires a much longer arrow to remain clear of the bowsight and more importantly, my fingers. Here the guillotine arrow siting besides the arrow used with the NAP Gobble Getter mechanical head.