What have you made for hunting?

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Been thinking about all the stuff I have made and was just wondering what the rest of you Elknuts have come up with. I'll kick it off!

I make my own arrows. Well at least I put them together. Make my own knives. I made a good bowpress, broadhead target, tree stand even though I don't hunt from trees. LOL! Also made several alcochol stoves. OOPS! Almost forgot all the diaphragm calls I've made. I'm sure the list goes on and on. But I just enjoy making my own stuff and I get great satisfaction in using things I have made for the hunt.

How about the rest of you guys. Show us some of the things you have made.

[Broken arrow]

Make my own wood arrows made a couple bows few treestands. Have also made a lot of decoys for snow geese.

[elkmtngear]

I used to make moccasins from a kit back when I wasn't such a "tenderfoot"! I hunted early Season deer in Moccasins for many years.

Sometimes necessity is the Mother of Invention, I made this bowhanger the other day with some paracord and the guthook on my knife:



When I was a kid, I did a lot of bird taxidermy, and I remember making a quail call from bamboo.

Nowadays, if I think I need it, I usually just buy it

I hope when I retire I have more time to create!

[Clip-Shot]

My first thought of things I have made was...

1. priceless personal memories with people that have become irreplaceable...
2. and like most people, I've modified some things to suit my needs.

As for some other things, ...a number of years ago, I made a custom jerky shooter from some calking gun components, added stainless steel parts, and polycarbonate tubing ...among other things. (Never occurred to me that others may have a similar need, and then a few years later noticed them in Cabelas. Still use the one I made and lend it to my brothers each year.) Several hunting knives. When I shot fingers, made a short adjustable spring loaded plunger rest, and a couple Heavy duty lightweight tree stands out of 1" square Aluminum tubing, a lightweight swivel Bow holder, a lightweight swivel arm for an old bulky video camera (never could film & hunt at the same time though). Recently made a custom quiver receiver for my bow (wanted something closer to the riser to reduce torque), and also a Lightweight Compact Tripod Alternative I call a Clip-Shot which has become handy for a few other folks too...

[Buglemaster]

This could be a great thread! I've made several hunting gadgets over the years. Arrow saw, a couple different bow presses, knives, bow vise, bow holder for hunting turkey's out of a ground blind (kick stand for a bow) targets, game carts, tree stands, knife sharpener. Probably more that doesn't come to mind right now. I really enjoy tinkering when I have the time. I'll try to post a couple pics in the next few days. It's to cold to do anything outside!

[elkmtngear]

Guess I forgot about the foremost thing I've ever made for hunting...the SLIP System.

Started with an idea from my hunting partner: "What if you could make a blind that was a walking stick"?



Checked around, and didn't see anything that had ever been made like it, so I started collecting materials...a cheap aluminum Coleman walking stick, and a cheap promo golf umbrella.



We had an idea for these adaptors that would allow you to split the umbrella shaft, and employ the trekking pole end for a stake. So we drew it up, and took it to my buddy's Grandpa, a machinist by trade who was now retired. He looked at the drawings, took a couple of measurements, and started turning a steel rod on his lathe. About an hour later, we stuck the adaptors in the split umbrella shaft...bingo! Perfect fit!



All the images above were taken from our original sample we made...and were included when we submitted our Patent. We received the Patent in September of 2011 (it took about 18 Months)

Once we had the unit designed, we had to figure out how to print the outside of it. We came up with the idea of stretchable covers that would allow us to change the face of the blind according to the terrain/ season.

Our first Slipcover was an Aspen Camo pattern I designed in Photoshop, we had a piece of lycra printed, and took it to a local seamstress to create a perimeter seam, then we installed eyelets and a large central grommet:



Then we thought, why not make decoy covers as well. We had to get images from Outdoor Photographers to avoid Copyright Infringement, which cost us about 200 bucks a pop, then I created the Slipcover designs in Photoshop.

Here are our first decoy covers:



We found that lycra was not good material, so after checking several samples, we went with a 88 percent Polyester, 12 percent Lycra Blend. This got rid of much of the shine, made it much more durable and sticker resistant, and fortified the stretch memory. It also made the Slips amazingly stain resistant.

I'm happy to say we have over 20 camo and decoy Slip Designs now Commercially available for the SLIP System, and we have sold them all over the U.S., Canada, and other places in the World as well!

[LckyTylr]

Bought a new rifle scope with a large front objective that required higher scope mounts. This prohibited a solid cheek weld and I didn't like the aftermarket options (either too expensive or cheap looking) . . . so I made my own. A little side history about the piece of wood. It's a piece of Cherry from the farm that I grew up on in Upstate NY that I had my Dad send to me. It means a lot to me as that's the farm where I got my start in hunting.

[LckyTylr]

Nearly complete. I also painted the stock (many, many . . . Many hours invested in that).

[LckyTylr]

A few finishing touches and some rubbed oil. It's a very solid rest, pleased with its performance . . . and most importantly, I get a solid cheek weld and it puts my eye at the perfect elevation.

[rudyc]

I've made most all of the bows I own and the arrows to match them.

[LckyTylr]

Rudyc, how did you learn to make your bows? Is a lot of equipment required?

I'm interested in making my own bow but I'd really prefer to make a recurve. Any experience with those?

[rudyc]

Hey Lucky,

I started building back in the 80's before a lot of information was available, nowadays, there is a wealth of info in books, magazines, videos and the internet to get a bunch of info. There is a series of 4 books called the "Bowyers Bible" that contain just about all you'll need and more if you'd like to build an all wood or wood composite bow.

Here are a couple of links to get you started:

http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=forum;f=1

http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.p ... orum;f=125

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php

The self-bows(all wood) bows don't need much in the way of tools. I've built a bunch of them with a hatchet, drawknife, chain saw file and pocket knife. If you want to build laminated(wood and glass) bows, you up the need for equipment. Stuff like a bandsaw and some kind of sander. You will also need to build a form to build the bow on and a hot box to cure the epoxy after glue up. A laminated bow is quite a bit more complex to build than just the basic self-bow. The self-bows are pretty much all I build these days as I like the simplicity of it all and they shoot just as well for me as the high priced spread(laminated bows)

Shoot me a PM if you'd like.