[TowerTalk] bows 'n trees

[Jim Jarvis]

I am the culprit who suggested that simple recurve bows
were appropriate, and that compound bows tended to be 
more power than necessary, and tended to break line.

That said, I now use a 'gametracker' string on my arrows,
as the first pull.  this will work fine with a compound 
hunting bow, since it's designed to do so.  However...
AA6dx observed that one should simply go to Toys r US, or
WalMart, and buy a toy bow.  The fiberglass recurve toys give
you 25-35 lbs, and are just fine for lofting arrows over trees,
up to 150' or so.

40 lb + hunting bows are way more power than necessary for this job.
Depowering or controlling them is a challenge.

As for the slingshot crowd....it is my opinion that you continue
to estimate 70' trees as 150' high, and therefore have no idea
what you cannot do with a slingshot.  

Tried a slingshot w/ monofilament in VT, on my 140' trees.  It
topped out around 70.  Maybe 80 with a tailwind.  The bow would
allow me to easily loft one or more trees at max altitude. 

On the other hand....it may well be that a slingshot equipped with
a 'gametracker' instead of a spinning reel  would get the job done.
Much less friction.  This is an empirical activity, and I've not
tried the slingshot since discovering Gametracker.

On the other, other hand....shooting arrows in a suburban neighborhood is
a bad idea, period.  Slingshot has a lower risk profile, if you can 
control it.   Pick your weapon; pick your poison.

N2EA