(Tombo Martin is one of the stars of Buck Commander on Outdoor Channel, a former major league baseball pitcher, graduate of Bay High and resident of our area. If you have a question for Tombo send it to AskTombo@gmail.com)
Welcome to my first Q&A, please note that I am not journalist, nor have I played one of TV. But I am a rabid hunter who has enjoyed both success and failure chasing wall-hangers all over the country and I’ve learned from each. I hope I can shed some light on your questions through my experiences in the woods.
This week’s first question comes from Paula Bramlett.
Q: “Tombo, I got a new Barnett Wildcat C5 Crossbow for my birthday last June and have been target practicing for a while now. My question is: Will it get easier to cock the more I shoot? This one seems to be a lot harder to pull and set than my older one. Logic tells me that I wore the older one out. Please advise."
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Paula, if your new crossbow is a different model than your old one, it’s possible that the draw weight is different.
For example, our model, the Barnett Buck Commander BCX crossbow, has a draw weight of 185 pounds compared to your Barnett Wildcat C5’s draw weight of 150 pounds. However, strings will stretch over time with constant use, causing you to lose draw weight.
If it starts getting easier to cock it could be the result of one of two things: You are either gaining strength or your strings are stretching and losing integrity. (Notice all of my fancy words — I usually save them for crossword puzzles).
I’m not sure how much draw weight you can lose with stretching, but you will lose it. Something to think about besides losing draw weight is the effect it has on your accuracy. You should always sight your bow in with the same length bolt and grain field tip that matches your broadhead. This should give you more consistent results while trying to group shots.
String stretch is just one of many reasons shooters lose consistency in their groups. If you are pulling 150 lbs of draw weight on your crossbow and locked in at 20 yards, and string stretch causes you to lose 10 lbs of draw weight, you’re not going to have the same accuracy. Now, how much of an accuracy change, I have no idea. But even if it’s just an inch it could mean the difference between a lethal shot or just wounding an animal.
If you ever feel like you are losing draw weight, you probably are. I’m probably just like you and would rather just get a new crossbow than replace its string (everybody needs a backup, right?). But the truth of the matter is you will save a lot of money just getting new strings. So, unless you’ve developed the upper body strength of The Rock, you should probably take your crossbow to a bow tech for testing.
Q: “Tombo, how high off the ground is your typical treestand set up? Thank you, Nate Harrison.”
Nate, I don’t think there is any such thing as a typical stand height. There are a lot of determining factors as to how high one sits. It could be age, type of tree stand, tree size, or the dreaded fear of heights.
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I personally prefer to get up as high as possible. I believe there is a thing called a “scent line,” and if I can get above that scent line, I feel my manly aroma carries over and above whatever I am hunting. That way, it betters my chance of not getting busted, either by smell or movement, even though I do use scent-free products.
I’m not 100-percent sure if that line actually exists, but I’ll take all of the help I can get. I’ve heard people talk about 30 feet being the magic number, but that’s quite a ways to be up in a tree. Luckily, my ADD prevents me from wasting time over worrying about a fear heights, so I usually sit at around 20 to 25 feet (tree willing).
Whatever you do, please make sure you wear a safety system, because no animal is worth not coming home to your family.