Thursday, May 19, 2011

Went Shopping Today at Cabela's

Drove south today to shop at Cabela's, but first I picked up my fishing/hunting buddy along the way. (He's 1-1/2 hours south of me, Cabela's was another 2+ hours beyond that.)

It rained off and on throughout our entire ride down and a good portion of our ride back to Joe's place. You can easily see the effects of all the recent rains as every river and creek we passed over was swollen.

We both wanted to look at pistols (which we drooled over but didn't purchase) and I wanted to see about getting a PSE Bow Madness XS compound bow. I've been shooting the same Jennings Lightning since I started hunting back in the early '80s and felt it was time to upgrade. The young man at the archery counter was extremely helpful in assuring I got the correct draw weight on the bow I selected and had arrows of the proper spine (stiffness) and draw length.

I got to shoot the bow before deciding that I, indeed, wanted to make the purchase--sort of like taking a car for a test drive. We had to reduce the draw weight down from 70 pounds to around 60 pounds before I was comfortable enough to cause the bow to "break." (That's when the bow's draw weight dramatically falls--in this case by 75%--so you can hold it at full draw while you aim/wait for the critter you want to shoot to stop.) I loosed 4 practice arrows down the short 12 yard range and was within two inches of the dot I was aiming at. Not bad. All four were to the left so I may have to make a slight adjustment to the sights, but that will be easy enough.

Of course, I also had to get some new arrows, field points, broad heads and a bow case for the new bow. Joe did purchase some smokeless gunpowder and large primers for reloading ammo.

Despite the weather, we had a pretty good day shopping and visiting. And we'll get to see one another again next weekend as we travel to Milwaukee for a wedding.

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As I write this, it's raining again here at the Aerie. *sigh* 50% chance tonight, tomorrow and tomorrow night. But (there's always a "but") Saturday and Sunday are looking up! Only 30% chance of scattered T-storms.

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Terry heads west tomorrow for a weekend EGA activity in Erie, PA. She'll be picking up two other ladies along the way, so the Jeep will be making the trip.

2 comments:

threecollie said...

I am green with envy (or maybe it is mold brought on by the rain). I don't know that I ever want to make the drive again, but Cabela's sure was fun!

JDP said...

Congrats on the new bow Joated. I bowhunted for around six years with a Bear Whitetail Hunter starting in 1980. Some great memories. Hope you can get a deer with your new bow in the fall.

JDP