Holy Crap Moment.

Maybe it's watching too much Walking Dead.  Or, maybe it's the fact that they've started coming out with recurve versions.  But...I broke down and bought a crossbow.

Honestly, I've always thought crossbows are really cool.  But, all the modern version seem to be of the compound variety.  I think we all know my abject hatred of bows with wheels on them.  Okay...maybe not hatred.  I have just always preferred traditional archery.  Honestly, the bows just feel better in your hand.  I have yet to pick up a compound bow that feels right.  And I will argue 'til the end of time that compound bows are NOT suited for Prepping purposes.  Too complicated...too many parts to break.

Anyway...I was flipping through a Natchez Shooters Supply catalog a little while ago and what should I find but recurve crossbows.  I honestly did not know anyone was making a quality recurve crossbow.  Which is why I hadn't really thought about them in a very long time.  Sure, they're are some recurve crossbows of questionable origin out there on the market.  I didn't give those much thought though. As it turns out, Horton, Ten Point, and Excalibur all make a recurve crossbow.  Matter of fact...Excalibur makes nothing BUT recurve crossbows.  Props to them for that!

Having the ability to restring a crossbow myself...in the field...is a HUGE advantage if you ask me.  No cams or axles to wear out...don't even get me started.

So...long story, just a bit shorter than the full length story...after a bit of research I ended up buying a Ten Point GT Flex. http://www.tenpointcrossbows.com/shop/shopexd.asp?id=397  What sold me on the GT Flex was the ability to set it up for three different draw weights.  I'm all about flexibility. And this crossbow has it.

I'd had it a couple weeks by the time I decided I really should shoot the thing to get familiar with it.  You know...in case of an ACTUAL spontaneous Zombie outbreak.

My first surprise was in how stout this thing was to draw.  I had it set up for 185 lbs draw.  And even with their AccuRope...this crossbow is freaking STOUT!  I loaded up a bolt, scoped up my target block, squeezed the trigger, and I know for a fact I said it out loud, "HOLY CRAP!"

Now...my frame of reference is based squarely in the Traditional Longbow/Recurve world.  Arrow speeds out of my bows tend to be...well...ridiculously slow compared to modern, or even not-so-modern compound bows.  The bolts coming of of the crossbow are HOLY CRAP fast! And GREAT GOOGILY MOOGILY powerful.  It buried the bolts to within an inch of the fletching.  That's something like 16" of penetration.  In my target block!  I honestly didn't think I was going to be able to pull them out of the target.

And quiet.  For something to throw a projectile this fast, it's weird how quiet it is.  It's not silent by any stretch.  But it's disconcertingly quiet.  I think the arrow hitting the target makes more noise than the crossbow launching the bolt.  Which, at ten yards, happens at exactly the same time.  Did I mention this thing is HOLY CRAP fast?

I am looking forward to doing some serious playing with this thing.  Once I get a new target that is.

PJ

Follow up to My Off-the-Shelf Archery Project

I did a review of the Martin Jaguar Takedown Bow a little while ago.  http://preparednessjunky.blogspot.com/2009/10/new-bow.html

I still love this bow by the way.

I was at Walmart this weekend, doing a quick grocery/misc. stuff run.  And, like I ALWAYS do, I made a quick pass through the Sporting Goods area of the store.  Now, what I observed is not really new to me.  I've seen it before from Walmart.  But, they have absolutely NOTHING is the way of hunting gear left on the shelves.  Let me correct that...what extremely little hunting gear they have on the shelves in all in one tiny, little clearance area.

Why this is important is because the whole point of my Off-the-Shelf archery project was to be able to get my archery supplies locally.  Granted, during the NORMAL hunting season, I can get just about everything I need from Walmart.  Once deer season is over though, forget about finding ANYTHING archery related at Walmart.

I haven't been in a Dick's Sporting Goods lately, so I have no idea what they may have on the shelves.  I'll have to check that out soon.  I suspect the will have a certain amount of archery equipment on the shelves year round.

The point of all this being...I can still call the project a success. With the one caveat that if I was only going to get the gear from my local Walmart, it would require stocking up during deer season.

 I did call a DSG the other day looking for Box Call Chalk.  I might as well have told the lady on the phone I was looking for double sided plumber's spackle.  Granted, I had no idea Box Call Chalk even existed before last week.  I don't work in a sporting goods store though.

So, if you were planning on re-enacting Zombie Apocalypse during the Summer months...you would be screwed if you were planning on raiding Walmart for archery supplies.

PJ

Someone Else's Teachable Moment

People are always busting my chops for the amount of "stuff" I carry on my person or in my vehicle at all times. To these people I usually say, "You just never know what may happen."  That or, a rather lengthy string of expletives followed by 'Mind your own *expletive deleted* business!"


http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/02/16/couple-survives-three-days-stuck-in-snow-on-girl-scout-cookies-peanuts/#ixzz1mXsBN1gl?test=latestnews


I realize it is EXTREMELY easy to Monday Morning Quarterback this story and point out what I would have done differently.  And to do so would be beneath some other people.  But, not me!!


Let's just go down the list...


"...they traveled down a remote road that had not been plowed and their car got stuck in snow."


You might think the mistake here was driving down an unplowed road, but you'd be wrong.  It's much more basic than that.  They didn't know, or acknowledge the limitations of the vehicle they were driving.  I drive down unplowed roads all the time...in my JEEP with 4WD and All terrain tires.  I've got $20 that says they were in an ordinary FWD car with All Weather radials.


"...with his cellphone almost dead and no charger. "


Seriously?  No cell phone charger?  This is a classic example of just how short-sighted some people are.  Cell phones probably save more lives than anything else.  How do you leave the house without some way to recharge your cell phone?  It can be something as simple as a cigarette lighter charger.  It doesn't have to be a solar charger or spare battery pack.  But guess what...those things will keep your cell phone running for a helluva' long time, even of you're not near your vehicle.  Like...while you're hiking 6 miles to get to someplace your cell phone will work.


"Searchers say it was difficult to find the couple because they were searching in the wrong area. The couple did not tell friends or family where they were going."


Freaking tell someone where you're going for crying out loud!  I mean, not necessarily if you're just headed to the grocery store for milk.  But, you're driving into the mountains.  THE MOUNTAINS!!!  People die in the mountains all the time by doing just this sort of thing.  Let someone know where you're headed.


"Schroeder is being treated for minor frostbite."  


Another $20 says he didn't have decent footwear with him.  Or gloves. Or a hat.  You know...the basics for driving into THE MOUNTAINS in the SNOW!!!!!


"DeGrace has a medical condition that, rescuers say, would have killed her if they stayed stuck a day longer."


Congratulations jackass.  You almost killed somebody.  Nice work.  Of course, the same could said for her.  If you med's you have to take every day, you MIGHT want to carry a couple days worth of those with you.  Again, incredibly short-sighted to think you will be home to take your med's every time you need to.  Nothing could ever possibly keep you away from them for any period of time.  Nope!!  Nothing at all.


Frankly, these kinds of stories piss me off.  I would LOVE to be stuck in the snow for a couple of days.  It would be like a freaking vacation.  God!!  The sleep I could catch up on curled up in my sleeping bag for three days...epic!  EPIC!!!!  And when I got hungry, I could munch on a Cliff Bar and make some tea.  If I got REALLY bored with sleeping all day(not likely), I could read a book on my tablet.  Oh wait, the battery on the tablet is getting low.  I'll just plug it into the cigarette lighter.


Three days later...maybe I should try to get rescued. Naaaaaaaaaaaa!  I'll give it another couple of days.  I am getting to the good part of "Lights Out" again after all.  Yeah, two more days and then I'll put on my heavy boots, gloves and hat.  That way I can walk to somewhere my freshly charged cell phone can get reception and not lose any fingers or toes.


But, in reality, the wife had the Search and Rescue folks out looking for me two hours after I'm "missing"(read: not home doing laundry) and they know just where to look. Despite my having buried the car in snow, on purpose, they go right to me.  


*Expletive deleted* Now I have to go to work tomorrow!!

PJ

Finally got it right. Well...mostly

My clothing for the weather that is.

Took another hike today during lunch.  3.4 miles with my 21 Essentials pack at 19.11 minutes/mile.  This speed  is showing a little slower than I actually walked since I did take a very short break at the turnaround point.

The temperature outside was right around 36 Deg. F.  It was overcast and the winds were very calm.

I wore a fleece jacket over the short sleeve shirt I was wearing for work today.

I started the hike pretty danged cold.  I knew better than to put on any more clothes even though I had a fleece hat, gloves, and my pack-able nylon shell in my pack.  I stayed cold all the way up until I stopped to turn around and head back to the office.  Something about taking that little break before I did head back helped though and I was really comfortable all the way back.

If anything, I would say I was a little too warm still.  Not too bad though.  I didn't really notice I was sweating until I got back in the building.  Maybe that had something to do with going from spending an hour in 36 deg. weather to instantly being in a 70 deg.+ climate.

Either way, I don't think I was sweating enough to have been a problem if I would have had to stay outside for a while.  I think I could have easily taken off the fleece jacket and cooled off enough to dry out before I did get chilled.

It just goes to show though, you really need to pay attention to your clothing when you moving around outside in the cold. It doesn't take much to start working up a sweat that could end up in hypothermia in the wrong circumstances.  It really does take some practice to figure out what is right thing for you to be wearing for the weather conditions AND level of physical activity you're going to be doing while out in it.

I said it once before, but I'll say it again.  Doing these little fitness hikes during lunch has been a real eye opener in several different ways.  The first and foremost being that I don't think I could actually hoof it all the way home from the office in a relatively short period of time.  I'm thinking it's going to take at least 8 hours or so.  Probably even longer.  I'm walking right around 3 1/2 miles per hour on a paved trail.  Going cross country is going to be a LOT slower.  And this is carrying a SMALL pack this is no where near the weight of my BOB.  And, I am walking alone and really pushing to maintain this pace.

Not that I will be carrying by BOB from the office.  But, if it came down to bugging out from home on foot...I certainly would be carrying it.  I REALLY do need to make sure I have the Paratrooper set up to use if I did have to do this.  Walking is just painfully slow.  Yes, it's nice to get out for a nice little hike with nowhere in particular to get to.  I REALLY would like to be able to move faster if I had to get out of the area in a hurry though.

The other thing is gear.  I did end up buying a pretty decent pair of light hiking boots over the weekend.  These made all the difference in how I felt during this hike.  I had ZERO discomfort once I got back to my desk this time.  My shins were a little tight when I first started walking.  But they stretched out after the first mile and felt fine after that.  The moral of the story is...if you are going to have to hike home...make sure you have some decent footwear.  Walking home any kind of distance at all is gonna' SUCK HARD in dress shoes.

Even if you take leisurely walks all of the time...I would be really careful about thinking it's NOT going to be a very big deal to throw your BOB on and hike out of the area. It's a whole different ballgame when you're carrying a pack and trying to move as quickly as you can.

PJ

A Corollary to A Walk in the Park

A side note to yesterday's post....

As the afternoon wore on yesterday, my shins were KILLING me!! When I got home from work, I changed out of the shoes I was wearing during the day. This seemed to help the shin pain a lot. The Doc Martin boots I was wearing yesterday have certainly seen better days. This probably was the biggest source of my problem.

The pain I was experiencing yesterday afternoon got me thinking about two different things. First of all, I was wondering if I could make it all the way home on foot in a day. I would have about a twenty mile hike home. That's a haul! I used to think it was no big deal, I could do that easily. Now I know better. It would be a lot easier without any kind of pack. But, that's probably not how it would happen.

The other thing I was thinking about was how if you weren't ready for this kind of hike, and I'm apparently not, you could walk 4 or 5 miles and have to stop simply because of the pain. Then, it might be a couple of days before you could continue. I could barely move yesterday after my walk.

What this all comes down to is...I think most people, myself included, over-estimate their ability to bug out on foot. Even if I were able to keep up the pace of my 3 miles hike yesterday, and I'm positive I couldn't, it would take me 6 1/2 hours to walk home from the office. And if yesterday were any indication, I would probably have to stop after 4 or 5 miles. After that, I don't know how quickly I could start walking again. Also, I wasn't carrying my full BOB yesterday. I did have a significant amount of weight in my pack, but it was probably more along the lines of a Get Home Back...definitely NOT as heavy as my BOB. I REALLY don't won't to think about having to haul the BOB for any kind of distance in my current level of condition.

This is something I am certainly going to keep working on. Getting in better physical shape to the point where I could walk home carrying a pack if I needed to AND getting some better footwear while I do it. I've always been one who doesn't buy cheap shoes or boots. This has proved the importance of that once again.

Another thought I had yesterday after I got back to the office from this walk...BICYCLE!!

PJ

Just another walk in the park...

3.0 Miles in 55 minutes today. Which puts it around an 18.33 minute mile pace. And I filled the hydration bladder to add a bit more weight to the pack. And I carried the Glock. I'm working my way up to being able to carry my BOB for extended periods.

The temperature was a little cooler than yesterday. But, I still managed to work up a decent sweat. I really do have to get the clothing thing down if I'm going to keep doing this. If I could have zipped the sleeves off of the nylon shell I was wearing over my pullover, I think I would have been much cooler. It's amazing how a little physical exertion will really warm you up. I had a fleece hat and gloves with me in the pack and didn't even THINK about putting them on.

I talked to my buddy SnaFu for the first half of the walk on the HT. I have to admit, I'm really liking this little TYT TH-F5 HT. For a $50 radio, this thing really seems to get out there. Thanks for picking it up for me ID.

I ended up repacking my EDC pack last night. So, I did, in fact, have my "21 Essentials" with me. Alas, there was not a single Trail Nazi to be found though. Dang it!!

PJ

Operation "Move Your Ass" has officially begun

I'm not sure why I haven't done this before now. But, I took about a 2 1/2 mile walk today at lunch. We've been having a remarkably warm stretch of weather this week. And, my office is embarrassingly close to a paved path in the local metroparks.

I threw my EDC pack on just to have a little additional weight...like I need it...and headed out at noon.

I had my HT with me, as always and actually managed a QRP QSO(Low Power Radio Contact) on my favorite repeater while I was walking.

I did a rather brisk 2.6 miles at approximately 17 minutes per mile. I didn't actually intend to go quite this fast. I tend to walk really fast when I'm by myself though.

The temperature was right around 50 deg. F when I did this. I thought I was going to end up being cold because I was only wearing a light jacket and the wind still had a bit of chill to it. By the time I got back to the office though, I was actually sweating a bit. I should have taken my jacket off when I turned around and headed back. Sweating in the wrong situation will get you killed. It wasn't a problem today, just something to keep in mind the next time I do this.

Hopefully the weather will stay decent this week and I can get out at least one more time before the weekend.

A SLIGHTLY healthier,

PJ