bowhuntMN

I've always wondered that too when you see these guys spraying a full can and I can't believe that a stray gust of wind doesn't come by and coat them in doe pee.

I haven't used them in a while but I've tried Tink's #69 lure with the key-style dipping wicks in the past with mixed success (meaning I've only had a small spike buck come up and sniff it). Beyond that, I haven't carried them in a while because the scents always seem to find a way to sneak out of the bottle and coat my backpack pocket with doe pee and make a mess of everything. But this year I think I might try them again and wanted to know what you guys use that works and what you've tried that hasn't worked, and if you have any tricks to keep your backpack and pockets clean of the stuff I'd be happy to hear those too. Thanks for your input!

I've had that problem with a few of the broadheads I've bought from Rage but I've just kept them as backup heads, I've never shot them. I'll have to try what dbHunterNY said and see how that works. If not I can get ahold of my buddy who was an engineer on the design team for Rage and see if he can hook me up with some new ones lol

Graduated from Lake Superior College last year with an A.A.S. in Fire Technology and Administration. The school is located in Duluth, MN and has a very reputable fire program. We had people from all over the state and country enroll. I've been on the volunteer fire department in our township now for about two and a half years, my dad's been on for four years now I think. I also work part-time on the Lake County Ambulance Service in Two Harbors, MN. I've been there for almost two years now. We average anywhere from 700-900 calls a year on the ambulance which is a very manageable call volume. You might get one or two calls per 12 or 13.5 hour shift and maybe 3-5 on busy days. It's a good balance where you can relax and hang out but still get enough calls to feed your hunger for patient care lol. I'm actually on duty right now and just got back from a call.

I just bought the maximas last year and had my first ever robin hood within two weeks of shooting them. They're real durable and shoot flatter than any other arrow I've had. They are spendy (luckily I had a gift card to use on them) but their quality matches the price. You can't go wrong with them.

I brought it to the shop yesterday and ordered a new string and cable set. The tech said I could probably wait until later this summer to replace them if I wanted but I opted to just replace them now so they can settle into place while I shoot this summer. I'm not sure which company he ordered them from but I really trust this tech and I'm sure he set me up good. To ask the same question I had earlier, have you guys ever tried different cable slides than the usual factory black ones? I was looking online and there was one that rolled along the cable guard instead of sliding like the one I have now. It also has rollers for the cable I believe. The reviews were really positive with people really liking the way it's made their bow shoot. Just wondering if you guys have any experience with this.

I think I'll run down to the shop later this week. I looked online to see the types of strings and cables they sell and they have Zebra and Vapor Trail sets. Another question is that if you replace your string should you also replace the factory cables or only if they show wear too? Would that also give you better performance?

I have taken pretty good care of it. I don't notice a whole lot of fraying since I wax it just about every other time I shoot but there are a few broken strands up around the peep. I brought it to the pro shop this last fall because the cam timing was a little out of spec (the top dot on the cam wasn't visible over the top of the limb). I figure that a new string this year won't be such a bad idea and I'll probably go ahead with it, as recommended earlier. I have heard good things about Winner's Choice strings but I'll probably shop around and ask the local pro shop before ordering one. I was also wondering if they sell any upgrades for cable slides instead of shooting with those black plastic ones. And lastly what dampening kits do you guys recommend? I really loved the Diamond kit, it had my bow shooting whisper quiet, but the rubber dried out fairly quickly and I'm on the verge of losing two "spiders" and it's making quite a difference in string noise.

Ya every year seems kinda crazy! I can't imagine that a string couldn't take more than a year's worth of shooting. I'll look in the booklet this weekend and see if that's what it says.

I have an '08 Black Ice and the string is showing very minor wear marks in a couple places. I wanted to ask you guys how many shots a bowstring can take before it needs to be replaced or how many years of ownership is recommended on a single string. I've heard numbers thrown around but couldn't remember what they were exactly. It's the factory string from Diamond. And also, what brands make good quality aftermarket strings for Diamon bows? Thanks for your help!

Had MW3 pre-ordered and it came in the mail while I was gone for a week deer hunting. Our rifle season ended last weekend and I don't think I'll be able to get back out there to bow hunt anymore so this game might be just what I need to get out of the end-of-deer-season depression. I don't play online though. I'm on a college student's budget so I have to pinch my pennies and online gaming got the cut. Call of Duty is fun and it does a great job of keeping you on the edge of your seat, but the single player campaign on the newest Medal of Honor that came out, in my opinion, blows COD clean out of the water. It's a more tactical shooter requiring you to peek-and-lean and sprint and slide behind cover, not to mention your team is moving balls to the wall during the game. You cycle around as operatives from real U.S. Special Operations teams such as Navy SEALs and Army Rangers. The missions are based off of, and are incredibly close to, the fight for Takur Ghar mountain in Afghanistan from the early stages of the war, which was apart of Operation Anaconda. The developers consulted with real Tier 1 Operators and you can really tell because the weapons systems, gear, lingo, vehicles, and characters are spot on to the real thing, as far as I, and a knowledgeable military friend of mine, can tell. If you guys are into modern-day shooters, which I can see from this post, and are intrigued by work of our nation's elite, then you would definitely like this game.

Hey guys! Sorry it took me so long to get the picture up. Here it is! You can tell I was a little starstruck by the dumb smile I put on.

Really? I would've never known. Hopefully I can get the picture up here soon but my friend took it with her camera so I have to wait for her to email it to me.

A friend of mine, who works at a pizza shop in town, said that a hunting show was going to be filming an episode in our small town of Two Harbors, MN where they would be doing the in-city bow hunt for deer. Her boss, the owner of the pizza shop, was to be somewhat of a guide for them while they were here. When I asked her what show it was, she said, "I don't know, he (her boss) said it was Something TV with Something Something." So I said, "Was it Mathews TV with Dave Watson?" and she quickly replied, "No it definitely wasn't that." Now fast forward a few months to last night. Me, the friend of mine who works at the pizza place, and another buddy of mine were trying to decide where we were going to eat dinner. We finally decided to go to one of the bar-and-grill restaurants in town, but when we got there we saw it was obviously packed and found out that there was a 30-45 minute wait. So instead, we decided to go to Do North, the pizza place that she works at, and our last pick for places to eat last night since we had pizza the night before. We ordered our food and sat down at one of the booths, and not 5 minutes later, lo and behold here walks in Dave Watson and his crew. I couldn't believe it, I think I might've screamed like a little girl at a Justin Bieber concert. The whole rest of the night I was trying to sum up the courage to ask him for a picture and, after an hour and a half, eventually did. He was a total class act. He gladly took a picture with me, shook my hand, asked me my name, and just seemed real happy to meet a fan of his. It's just crazy to think that we almost went to a different restaurant and were never really considering eating at Do North, some people might call it destiny lol When I get the picture from my friend I'll try to remember to post it on here.

I watched this on Tac TV a while ago when it first aired, and within 30 minutes I was sold. Ended any further searching for a quality AR.

I'm definitely shooting different spots from now on! And yep, I salvaged the tail arrow and have the one that was on the receiving end hanging up in my room in a set of antlers. With those Maximas being so expensive I had to save anything that I could. I decided that pictures would be sufficient since I couldn't afford to have a perfectly fine arrow sitting above the mantle. Like you guys said, it's fun once but I hope it never happens again!

It's pretty cool, until you realize how much money you just threw away in arrows! lol

I'm sorry guys. I've been so busy working that I haven't had time to reply. I ended up bringing the bow to a Bowtech/Diamond dealer in the area this last weekend and the pro worked everything out for me. He loosened a couple bolts on the QAD rest and slid the bar over (the one that the actual "U" shaped rest piece is attached to) to allow for more movement. That fixed just about every problem I was having. I was kind of shocked that the first pro shop I brought it to didn't know to do this, but I knew that the kid working there was somewhat new to the shop so I can't blame him for not knowing everything. Long story short, everything is just peachy, as far as I know. Thanks for all your input! Just thought I'd add that while I was shooting my bow for him this weekend, he told me to make sure I "hit the 'X' this time" (since I was nervous to be shooting in front of a pro and kept jerking my shots lol). The next shot I drilled the "X", sent the arrow through the target, and drilled the backwall. It sounded like someone shot a gun in the building. Needless to say there were some fist bumps going on!

Perfect! Thanks for the help! Just to be clear, when you say check your ATA length, I should just measure the length on my bow (with both limb bolts tightened down) and compare it to the manufacturer's specs for my bow?

dbHunterNY it sounds like we definitely have the same problems. Will the Easton bow tuning guide that's posted have the instructions for doing those tuning procedures? If it wasn't so close to hunting season I might have them done. But with the closest pro shop being a Mathews dealer, there's only so much they can do because they aren't too knowledgeable with the Bowtech specs. The Bowtech dealer in the area is about an hour or so away and I don't get up there very often, if at all. So for a guy like me, would it be easier to buy a new rest? The cord is actually only tied on, the pro did not originally install it with the cable clamp, but i still have the clamp downstairs. The white lines do match up like you said however. Also, another question i have that isn't really related to this thread is since i have the "DP5" module installed for draw length, does that mean i should have the draw stop post set at the 5 marking? I know they say to do that with the newer Diamond bows, but i was wondering if that's also the case with the older models. Right now that's where it's set at.

I brought my bow to the pro shop yesterday for a tune up and, after paper tuning, found out that it was shooting point up and right (or the nock and fletchings were going through down and left of the point, which ever makes it easier to picture). The problem is, I don't have any more left-right adjustment on my rest. The pro adjusted for it as much as he could and got it to a point where the arrow flight would still be good and the jarring of the arrow would not be noticeable. Today at home I shot a few more times through paper, just to be sure, and I was getting the same results- the nock and fletching were down and left of the point. The rest is a QAD Ultra Rest HD Pro Series on a 2008 Diamond Black Ice and I've read reviews from people saying this rest did not accomodate their bows with enough adjustibility. I bought it a couple years ago and it fit my bow just fine when it was first installed, but for whatever reason it doesn't any more and needs adjusting. I can't say enough about the rest, I absolutely love it and it's worked flawlessly for me. It's going to be tough having to replace it. My question is, has anybody else with a Bowtech or Diamond bow had this problem before, as I have heard it has to do with the Bowtech/Diamond design? And also, what rests do you guys know of or have used in the past that would give me the extra room for adjustment that I need? I would like to stay in the QAD realm since I was really pleased with the Ultra Rest, but I'm open to buying any rest that you guys recommend that would help fix this problem. Thanks again for your help!

Perfect. Thanks again! I'll do that first thing tomorrow.

I looked at the limbs on my bow today after making a small increase in the draw weight and noticed there was a mild difference between the distance from the limb to the riser on the top and bottom limbs. The top is just barely touching the riser (or is very close to touching), whereas the bottom limb has visible separation. Hopefully you can see it better in the pictures below. What I'm wondering is, is this an accurate way to tell that there is a difference in torque between the top and bottom limb bolts? I've always been careful to make sure I'm turning the two bolts equal distances, but I suppose this could be an accumulation of lots of small differences over time. Also, would tightening both bolts all the way up (without over-tightening, of course) till both are snug ensure that I have equal tension on both limbs? I just don't want to continue shooting it if there isn't equal tension for fear of losing performance or breaking something. Top limb Bottom limbAlso, I've been getting a lot of string noise recently and my upper string silencer (part of the factory Diamond silencing kit) has worn off all of the branches. I'll be having those replaced soon but could this string noise also be a product of the problem above?Thanks for any help!

After watching every "How to Tune Drums" video online, I still can't seem to crack it. I bought new tom heads a few weeks ago and was putting them on today but was having trouble tuning them right. I just can't seem to find the right pitch that I want, and then have even more trouble trying to tune it lug-to-lug. If anyone can give me some pointers or tell me how you do it, it'll be much appreciated!

That is awesome! Love the music choice.