Vol 5, issue 3

The Drawknife
Summer 2013
Volume 5 Issue 3
Oklahoma Selfbow Society Newsletter
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President’s GroundBlind—Tommy Leach(StillwaterSelfbows)
Inside this issue:
NE Representative
Non-Res Rep
3
4
Member Stories
6
SE Rep
8
At-Large Rep
9
Campfire Cooking
10
2014 Bow Trade
11
HUNTING SEASONS BEGIN.
As I sit down to write this message
I am riding in the back seat of Doug’s
truck returning from a Bear hunt in
Canada. It’s hard to believe hunting
season is almost here. Only five more
weeks and we’ll be sitting in our
stands watching trails and food plots.
As you go to the field get out and
inspect your stands and steps. Also,
use your harnesses! The consequences
are too great to take the risk.
This year there will not be a
Wildlife Expo sponsored by ODWC
but there will be a semi-private expo.
We are building Rattan bows for this
event and will be scheduling a work
(Continued on page 2)
Page 2
The Drawknife
introducing young people to the outdoors, but we
day in the next few weeks. Watch Tragrag for details. must do it responsibly. Otherwise, our children and
grand children may not be afforded the same
The Expo is on September 27th and 28th. Wayne
Miller has been our contact with the sponsors, thanks opportunities as we have been. I encourage you to let
the ODWC know your feelings on this matter. I am
to Wayne for his efforts.
not asking you to agree with me just let your voice be
Again this year we have officer positions which
heard.
will be filled at the annual banquet. Those positions
As you go to the field, hunt safe, hunt ethically
are President, Secretary / Treasurer, SE Rep, NW
and take a kid hunting.
Rep and event coordinator. Also nominations to the
-Tommy
OSS Hall of Fame and Master Bowyer Award are
open. Please forward your nominations to myself or
any other board member.
Jason Grace and I have discussed the bow trade
for OSS and there is an entry form found in the
newsletter with the rules. There is a $20 entry and
will be used as a fundraiser for OSS. If you have
other questions contact Jason or myself.
There is one other item I want to make sure
everyone is aware of. The Bowhunting Council of
Oklahoma, BCO, is presenting to reduce or eliminate
the minimum draw weight requirements for bow
hunting. I have heard from ODWC this change would
only apply to compound bows, traditional bows
would still have the 40 pound draw weight limit. I
personally disagree with the BCO’s philosophy. As
one with a math / physics background draw weight is
only a piece of the equation. Restrictions should be
based on the energy calculations, velocity and mass.
Their basis is the additional stored energy of the new
bows on the market today. Also many of the
surrounding States have done this same action. The
hunt I am returning from had a 45 pound restriction
as well as an age restriction (16 years) before being
allowed to hunt. In my discussions with the ODWC I
compared hunting deer with a .22 rim fire rifle vs. a
Flint Knapped arrowhead used by
center fire .22. The representative also stated it was
Tommy. First Bear ever taken using
due to the energy. I believe it is our part to instill
stone arrowhead and self bow, at Raleigh
ethics when going afield with all archers. This
Lake Resort in Ontario CN.
appears to be driven to sell more bows and put
younger hunters in the field. I am all about
(Continued from page 1)
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Page 3
Northeast Representative’s Target Range—Gary Dement(Full Draw)
WOW, the three months since
my last article have been action
packed! Starting with tornadoes
and more tornadoes, rain and more
rain, WITO, OSS Rendezvous,
softball season (helped coach
granddaughter's team), special hunt
results (oh yeah), vacation to
Branson, my wife totaled her car,
and that's just a list of the major
happenings. Add in the everyday
activities we all have and I haven't
had a chance to catch my breath
yet.
Praise God none of our OSS
family was injured or worse in the
tornadoes, although we didn't
manage to be unscathed. John
Holman (Okie) was affected by the
May 19th storm that came through
the Luther area. I went out and
helped pick up the debri around his
place. Thankfully his house
escaped major damage and they
were not displaced in the
aftermath. Austin, Lucas and I
went down to the Newcastle and
Moore area on a couple of other
days to work with K. C. Kreger
(Oklahoma Leatherman) and his
church in cleanup for two different
families that were chosen at
random. Our National Wild Turkey
Federation chapter partnered with
another chapter in the Moore/
Norman area to assist a homeowner
in Moore with cleanup on June
22nd. The homeowner was a lady
that worked with O.D. Curry at the
Post Office. If you haven't had a
chance to help out, I want to
encourage you in that area. The
appreciation I witnessed in the
faces of the homeowners was just
overwhelming. There is still much
work to be done to rebuild what
was lost, so consider donating
some of your time to this worthy
cause.
We have certainly been blessed
with rain lately. I'm amazed at all
the green grass we have in August,
but it has caused me to have to
mow up to twice a week. Some
folks love to mow and work in the
yard, but I'm not one of them, my
priorities are in other areas. The
Women In The Outdoor (WITO)
event on June 1 at Arcadia Lake
was slightly affected by a torrential
downpour the night before. John
Newman was going to help with a
Selfbow, Cane Arrow and Atlatl
class, but was unable to get out of
his place since he was surrounded
by high water and closed roads.
Many thanks to Alex Pugh
(campcook) who tackled the class,
largely by his self, since as the
coordinator of the event I had
limited time to help him. He did a
great job and the ladies had a great
time. Thanks also to Jason Grace
(String Music) who did an
outstanding job teaching a class on
Wildgame Cooking and assisting
his parents with a Dutch Oven
class. We all know Jason can cook,
but he is very entertaining as an
instructor, as well. Just let me say
know one left our WITO underfed.
I sure enjoyed and thought we
had a great OSS Rendezvous this
past June. If you missed it, by now
you probably know we had another
fish fry. I don't need to tell you, but
I will anyway, IT WAS
DELICIOUS! Jason Grace is now
our resident Fish Fry Chef. Thank
you, Jason and all those who
assisted in cooking that amazing
fish and hush puppies. Ralph
helped me (almost all Ralph) glue
up a BBO. Thanks Ralph, you
amaze me with how effortless you
are able to get the material
prepped, fitted and glued in a short
amount of time. I'm not sure how
many glue-ups you did and still
managed to get some socializing
done. It is going to be a beauty and
hopefully an excellent shooter. I
plan to take it down to near 40
pounds since I'm having lots of
right shoulder issues. I'm sure it is
not the "ole man" issues,
nonetheless, I'm going to drop back
in draw weight. Unfortunately,
with all the other activity I'm
finding it difficult to find time to
work any bows. I still hope to get it
shooting before season opens on
October 1.
(Continued on page 8)
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The Drawknife
We’re on the Web
www.okselfbow.com
Oklahoma Selfbow Society
1603 Barwick Drive
Norman, Ok 73072
Phone: 405-364-8530
Editor/Publisher: Terry Newman
E-mail: [email protected]
or [email protected]
Preserving the Primitive
Heritage
Greetings from Kansas.
We're glad to share the
abundant water we've
been getting with our
friends to the south. I
know that many of you
have caught up a bit with
the moisture and that's a
good thing.
We've actually had
flooding so bad as to cut
off all exits in and out of
town. Who would have
thought we'd have so
much rain in late July and
August. Since the last
full week in July till now,
August 12th, we've had
16 and a half inches of
rain, which is more that
we had for the whole year
in 2012. There has been
a lot of lawn mowing this
summer and the garden
loves being watered by
Mother Nature.
I've finished a couple
of bows that I'll be using
this season. Both are 52
inchers and both are
Osage Selfbows. One is
covered by a bullsnake
skin. The other is un-
The OSS is formed to “Preserve the Primitive Heritage” by promoting and
teaching the art of constructing primitive weapons, primarily bows, arrows, and stone knapped tools. Although
the above are the primary focus other primitive skills may be taught.
Non-Resident Representative’s Tillerin’ Tree—Ralph Renfro(KsBow)
stained and yellow with
ReeWa ReeWa tip overlays.
I'm thankful that we've
moved past the prime
time for tornadoes. Hopefully everyone who was
touched by the storms
down there have recovered and things are slowly
getting back to normal.
I would like to once
again give our condolences to Doc Mobley's family for the loss of Doc's
Grandson. Our prayers
still go up for the Mobley
family. Bad things often
happed to Good people.
It's been hard keeping
up with the
mowing on
the farm.
Tough
fighting the
swarms of
mosquitos
that have
sprang up
from all the
water. Another negative
effect of all
the rain is that the bucks
aren't having to visit the
water tank as they normally do. Guess I'll have
to find a good one while
I'm hunting. I'm seeing
some nice ones, but not
on the trail cam.
Not sure if We'll be
able to get down in September for the big show.
Hopefully we'll find a
way. I'm missing my
OSS family.
I've rebuilt a couple of
dozen old arrows this
summer, so I'll start the
season with new arrows
that all match in spine
and weight. Maybe it'll
help me luck out and kill
something with the new
bows.
Good luck to everyone
going out of state for Elk,
Antelope, and Bear.
Make sure you write up a
story and send to Terry
with pictures. The Drawknife is your magazine,
take and active role in
keeping it a quality newsletter.
Wait for the perfect
shot, hunt hard and hunt
ethically.
Here’s Greyden on his
first day of pre-school (in
orange).
-Ralph
The Drawknife
Page 5
Page 6
The Drawknife
OSS Member Stories—Tommy Leach
Stoned Bear
August 17th, 2011 I harvest my first Black Bear
while hunting in with Raleigh Lake Resort in Ontario
Canada. I set a goal for myself at that time to take my
next bear with another selfbow and a stone point. So
my journey began. I’ve knapped for better than fifteen
years. I still struggle to make thin points like many of
my friends can do. I tried to make several but only
came out with a few that I felt confident would
properly make a humane kill. Fortunately, both Doug
Rutter and Clint Kissee each gifted me two Keokuk
points each. Both friends told me to shoot one of my
points before theirs. I also had a point from Dustin
Devine he made for me five years back. Dustin’s
point was mounted on a river cane shaft with about
fifty grains added to the front of the shaft. The other
six arrows were Port Orford cedars with water buffalo
nocks. Five of the six were matched with lead to be
175 grains on the tip with the stone point. The sixth
one is on I had knapped from Pedernales I picked up
near Fredericksburg Texas which weighed 205 grains.
I also made six forward weighted with Bear razorheads and six matched practice arrows. The bow I
would carry is made from Osage billets I traded another friend two years ago. These were cut and seasoned under water for ten years before I got them.
They turned a deep olive green. I decide on a two
piece takedown with flipped tips. The bow came out
well pulling 55 pounds at my 27 inch draw. I didn’t
get everything completed until about a month before
leaving for Canada. I spent several hours learning this
setup practicing almost daily.
August 15th, our group met at Doug Rutter’s and
headed north for Canada. OSS members Doug, Rodney Wilson and Dustin Jones plus four other OG+E
friends were going on this hunt with me. All but
Dustin were chasing bears. After twenty-four hours
on the road we arrived in Ignace Ontario. We
picked up our tags and licenses and had breakfast
before headed to the outfitter. After getting unpacked and completing the lodge paperwork we
were set. Even after the 1300 mile journey went to
climb in a stand. Rodney tagged his first ever bear
with his own selfbow as did another friend that
first evening. I had four red squirrels entertain me
for the evening but no bears. Day two: we fished
for lake trout in the morning then back to the stand.
I returned to the same stand as the guide had trail
camera pictures of three different bears including a
beautiful colored bear with a long mane down his
back. The squirrels were back to visit and steal a
bit of ice cream cone used for bait. At 7:25 the action started. To my right I had a bear start to come
in but held up checking out things were safe at the
site. A few minutes later he came in and started
eating but would only quarter towards me. I had
two video cameras on him hoping to capture a
primitive harvest. The bear was still a bit nervous
and left for a few minutes only to return to the
sweets at the bait. He still continued to offer only a
quartering to me shot. Again, he bolted down the
trail he came in on. I watched him down below my
stand but it was too far and too thick to even consider a shot. He returned for a third time still quartering to me. I was beginning to get worried he
would not offer me the right shot before cleaning
up the bait. He was finally calming down, and then
he turned broadside and paused for just a moment
at twelve yards. As he did I came to anchor and
loosed my heavy Percales tipped arrow. As it
struck, he wheeled to his left and bolted down the
trail breaking my arrow. It was 7:48 according to
(Continued on page 7)
The Drawknife
Page 7
OSS Member Stories (con’t)
(Continued from page 6)
my watch. I was really
Tommy’s 2011 Bear made into a beautiful rug.
kind of sick because it appeared the arrow had hit
him a bit too far back. I
check the video to verify
my thoughts and I confirmed it was about six
inches left of my spot. I
decided to get down and
check my shaft to see how
much penetration I had.
As I compared the broken
shaft with another arrow
there was about twelve
inches missing. Then
down below my stand I
day I had taken my first bear. My bear weighted in
heard three death moans. Excited but hesitant I decided
at 192 pounds and upon field dressing and autopsy
to see if I could find any blood and track him. I gathered
found I had hit one lung and the liver. The shaft
my bow, quiver and a flashlight. I started down the trail
was inside and had stopped against an offside rib.
but found no blood. I did find moss that he had dug up
The colored bear mentioned earlier was taken
as he ran down the trail. I decided it would be best to
this same evening by Larry Burns who was huntback out and wait on my guide to assist in the tracking. ing over five miles from my stand. By the weeks’
It was still fairly early so I made the mile and half hike end Doug had taken his second bear in as many
to the next stand where Danny was hunting. Dave our
hunts and we were six of seven with our seventh
guide picked us up about nine o’clock. I showed him the hunter passing on a bear two different times. We
video and he believed the hit was OK, especially since I also spent hours on the different area lakes catching walleye and northern pike. It was another great
had heard the death moans. He radioed Marc, our outfitweek spent with friends hunting and fishing.
ter, and told him of the shot. Since I had found no blood
I want to thank Doug, Clint and Dustin for the
he came to assist in the tracking. We went into the stand points they gifted me for this hunt. They are speand I showed them where the bear was and which direc- cial to me and have given me memories I will nevtion he ran. Marc and Dave in the lead, they tracked by er forget. I also wish to thank my guide, Dave Sobfresh scat and the prints in the moss. The trail made a Y czak, for his efforts on putting me on a great bear
and one who understands the traditional brotherand Marc took the uphill branch. Only another thirty
hood we all share. Without him my Stoned Bear
yards and he called “bear down”. He had crawled under
goal would not have been achieved.
a log before he expired travelling only 100 yards. I was
-Tommy
ecstatic to say the least. I had taken an adult boar black
bear with truly primitive equipment two years from the
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The Drawknife
(Continued from page 3)
I sure hope many of you were successful drawing a
special hunt. Alex, Austin, another friend and yours
truly were blessed to draw a hunt at MCAAP for
November 15-17th in the Deer Creek Area. This is our
first time to draw this area and we would appreciate
any and all information any of you might be able to
provide about Deer Creek. Unfortunately, at the
Southern Plains Traditional Championships this year
the Velvet Tours were a casualty of the Sequestration
Budget cuts hatched by our current administration.
Therefore, we were not able to look over our area from
the confines of a bus to make any preliminary plans. So
please HELP. I was also able to draw out on a Motor
Vehicle Hunt at the Salt Plains NWR. Thankfully,
Jason and Rodney Wilson (rwilson) are familiar with
this area and have offered to serve as personal guides.
Now to get my shoulder to where I can achieve
fulldraw, practice, practice, practice and sharpen up the
broadheads in preparation for that opportunity to loose
the string on one of God's most amazing creatures,
the White-tailed Deer. I know we are all chomping
at the bits as the season approaches. Good Luck!!
We are currently trying to make plans for a
Members Hunt this fall at Kaw WMA . This item
is under discussion on our OSS Forum on
TradRag.com. We have some dates proposed and
need your input to finalize our hunt. Our members
hunts are always alot of fun and we are still
looking for the first harvest on one of these hunts.
You could be the first to score, so get online, help
us with plans, come to the hunt and be prepared to
laugh your guts out around the campfire as
knowledge is freely dispersed. Also, Jason could
easily be persuaded to do another fish fry, I'm told.
Well, I better leave room for other contributors to
this issue so I'll sign off now. Again, good luck on
the upcoming hunting seasons.
-Gary
Southeast Representative’s Arrow—John Cooke(JohnBow)
Nice Summer. It is Aug and it is not as hot as it
should be, but that is a good thing. With no hunting
seasons and my new retirement I have time to get part
of a large "Honey-do" list, completed. I also have had
time to work on some arrows for the up coming hunting season. I acquired about 30 snake skins that I am
trying to clean up for bow backing. A few of the OSS
members attended the "Beast Feast" in OK City. We
set up a table and displayed some of our bows and arrows. A lot of people came by our table and ask a lot
of questions about our bows and arrows and the OSS.
They fed us and the food was great! We had peach
cobbler and ice cream for dessert! If you ha not at-
tended one of these Beast Feasts, you need to, because they are a lot of fun and it help promotes the
OSS. If you didn't make the McAAP shoot you
missed a great one. The weather was cool in the
mornings and there was a cool breeze off the lake
each day. Mike Hames and I shot a round and
had a lot of fun, I won a set of broad heads at the
score sheet prize drawing. I hope everyone is getting their feeders and food plots ready for the up
coming hunting season. I wish you good luck this
hunting season and may God bless you and
yours.
-John "JohnBow " Cooke
The Drawknife
Page 9
At-Large Representative’s Arrowhead—Mike Hames(McClura)
GettinG the word out…..
It is the middle of Summer and things are going
great. The weather has been mild in this part of the
world. Lots of rain for the gardens and yard.
The OSS group was invited to “The Beast Feast”
held by the Cross Timbers Church in Northwest Oklahoma City in July. The event coordinator wanted
some of our group to attend with their bows, arrows,
stone points, and other items of our making for display and to talk to the people attending about the OSS
and what we are about and our function in archery.
We had a good turn out and we were well represented. We had more bows, arrows and items than we had
room for on two tables. I took a few of our past newsletters and a few traditional archery books and placed
them on the tables with our gear. Everyone that came
from the OSS group had plenty to do while all of the
people attending this event came by to see our gear
and just visit. We had some that come by who attended our last Ojam and was really pumped about using
their gear for hunting season. The event coordinators
had a couple of photographers taking photos during
the event and we are trying to get some photos of our
display so they might make this letter but I don’t
know if it will happen.
While visiting with some of the folks coming by to
see our display we were asked if we could attend a
function in Claremore, OK called the Oklahoma Fall
Hunting & Fishing show. It will be held Sept. 6-8 and
they wanted us to have some people to represent the
OSS and bring some gear to display and visit with the
people who attend this event. If you think you can
make this event you can go to the web sitewww.okhuntandfishshow.com and get information
about the location and times. You can also call 918313-9552 or send an e-mail to [email protected] for info. This would be another
way to get out the word about OSS and our events.
I hope some of you were lucky enough to draw
some hunts. Now is the time to finish your bows
for the upcoming season and get them fine tuned.
I have a couple that should be finished by archery
season. I was lucky enough to draw a Kansas
Buck tag with an antlerless tag as a bonus for this
season. As I type this letter, Tommy Leach, our
President of OSS is in Canada making a run at
taking a bear with his Selfbow he just finished
and stone points. I wish him luck.
I will end this note wishing everyone a good
hunting season and practice safety, whatever you
do. Don’t take chances-if you are hunting in tree
stands, wear your safety harness and always
check you stands and gear before the season begins. If you are doing something that might not be
real safe and you get a feeling about it, listen to
that little voice and take every precaution to be
safe. Take care and be safe this fall.
-Mike
Editors Note
This is the 17th Issue of the Drawknife. As I
look back at the first few issues, I realize how
much we have changed. This is your newsletter,
and to keep in going, I need your support. No not
financial, but literary. (No not literally) By that I
mean, we need articles. With hunting seasons beginning, everyone should have a story to tell. Getting an animal during hunting season is not why
we build and shoot bows. It’s the “getting there”,
the preparation, the time spent with family and
friends. The new, or old hunting spots you visit.
Help me to make the 18th Issue the biggest and
best ever. The largest issue has been 16 pages.
We can’t grow our circulation, other than the
membership. But, can we grow into 20 pages?
-Terry
Page 10
The Drawknife
Campfire Cooking—K.P. Lehman
STUFFED FISH
1 lb. fish fillets
2 cups bread crumbs
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper
½ tsp. sage or Italian seasoning
Dash paprika
1 tbsp. onion, chopped
1 tbsp. green pepper, chopped
½ cup diced celery
1 cup water
bacon strips
Cook onion, green pepper and celery in boiling water until tender.
Combine dry ingredients in large
bowl. Pour vegetables and part of
water from vegetables over mixture
and mix until well moistened. Roll
Stuffing up in a fish fillet and wrap
with bacon strips. Hold in place
with toothpicks and bake for one
hour at 350 degrees.
STAHL’S CARP CROQUETS
Make sure your carp come from
clean water and never use fish larger
than 5 pounds. Fillet fish the same
as any game fish, cut fillets into
chunks and pack them into quartsized canning jars. Add one teaspoon salt. Optional, add one jalapeno pepper to each quart jar. Screw
on lids and rings and pressure cook
for two hours at 10 PSI. This will
dissolve the free-floating bones and
bathe the fish in its own juices. Always check to see the lids seal.
Drain the oil and empty a quart of
canned carp into a large bowl, along
with two eggs a diced onion and one
packet of crumbled soda crackers.
Mix to a hamburger-like consistency, form into patties and fry in
very hot grease. Serve with cocktail sauce. Serves six.
Thanks to John Stahl, Oklahoma
Department of Wildlife Conservation, NW Region Supervisor.
SNAPPING TURTLE
Dispatch snapping turtle with
a .22 to the head. Split the bottom
portion of the shell from the top
portion with a hatchet on both
sides, then cut all the way around
the edge of the shell to remove the
guts. Skin the legs, tail and neck,
then trim the meat away from the
bone. There are two tenderloins
running along the top of the shell
as well. You will have to break the
rib bones to get them, but they’re
worth the effort. Brine the meat
overnight in salt water, roll the
pieces in your favorite fish batter,
and deep fry.
CHARBROILED FISH FILLETS
2 lbs. fish fillets
½ cup soy sauce
1 tsp. lemon juice
¼ cup melted butter
Combine all of the above except
fish in a bowl. Baste both sides of
fillets with this mixture and pepper
to taste. Refrain from using salt,
soy sauce is high in sodium. Cook
basted fish over hot coals on a well
-greased grill, turning once. To
prevent sticking, cook on foil
with small holes to allow drainage or use a hinged wire basket.
Cook each side for three to five
minutes or until fish is opaque
(depending on thickness of fillet), keeping moist by basting.
Soy sauce will give fillets a
crispy brown appearance, however, don’t overcook fillets as
they dehydrate and become
tough. Add flavor by using water soaked pecan, hickory or
mesquite chips to charcoal.
-kp
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The Drawknife
Page 11
2014 Bow Trade
RULES
The idea behind this first and hopefully annual bow trade is, First, to have fun building and
giving a bow to a person and also ultimately receiving a bow that was hand crafted by one of
your peers. This will also be a fundraiser for our club, as there is a $20.00 fee for entry. Each
participant will need to summit an “archer’s profile”. The archer’s profile will be the specifications wanted for the bow you will receive. The building bowyer should try to meet all desired specifications. Bow weight should be within +/- 5 lbs. of specified weight. All OSS Bow
Trade 2014 applications should be turned in before Sunday, October 15, 2013. We will draw
and assign names at random. You will receive bow build specifications by November 1, 2013.
Only the committee will know who you’re building a bow for. You will be told at the banquet. All bows must be completed, displayed and presented at our annual banquet on February 1, 2014 at Oak Tree Country Club. This allows 3 months to build the bow. It can be
any type of bow (self, all wood-composite, fiberglass composite), the only condition is that it
MUST be made by the member. Bowyers must confirm their build progress to Jason Grace or
Tommy Leach by January 3, 2014.
Let’s have a good time and showcase our talent at our banquet. This should be a very rewarding experience! Who knows, it might become an annual addition to the banquet.
Questions call:
Jason Grace (580)-716-2150, [email protected]
Tommy Leach (405)-206-4795, [email protected]
Mail Archer’s Profile and payment to:
OSS
1603 Barwick Drive
Norman, OK 73072 Or Paypal to [email protected]
Add profile information in payment note
Archer’s Profile
Name
Address
Draw Length
Draw Weight
Right or Left Hand
March 20th-23rd, 2014
www.okselfbow.com