i started shooting trad in February 2008. dad's old recurve had been sitting in the cupboard for over 25 years. he never got into it a big way but he did take a pig with it one time. dad has told me the story dozens of times and the place where it happened is right near home where pigs aren't overly common and they are extremely hard to get onto with any bow, let alone a recurve in that type of country. it's a bit of a legendary story to me and it's a feat i'm not likely to achieve myself, so the old man will always have that one on me.
one day rifle shooting and crossbow hunting lost it's allure and challenge for me and the recurve seemed to be a logical choice for the next weapon. dad's recurve got dusted of and i started practicing. now i can't imagine not hunting trad. it's become my passion in life.
turns out the bow was a martin mamba or a copy of one since it looks just like one but never had daman howatt or martin marked on it.
i got my 1st bow kill with it, a sow pig. i was stoked. from crossbow to tradbow in one step and i've never looked back. i also shot a nice trophy boar with it before something bad happened.
while practicing one afternoon the bottom limb broke off. i had my 1st two piece bow. the old girl got retired and i was just glad to have shot something with dad's old bow.
RIP-
5 years later i kicked around the idea of trying to have it repaired. i posted on the bowyer's bench here on tradgang to see if anyone thought they could rebuild it for a reasonable price.
this is where jamesv comes in. he said he could do it for a price i thought was crazy. trust me for what he charged me he did it for the love of it. thanks jamesv