Wowsa. H. Hill shot a 172# Longbow

[Trenton G.]

I was always curious but have never heard anything about it, but did Howard suffer any shoulder issues or other issues related to shooting such heavy draw weight bows?

[Bill Kissner]

I saw him put on a shooting demonstration sometime around 1963 at I believe Edwardsville Illinois. He said the bow he was shooting was 84 pounds and that was the poundage he hunted with. After the demonstration he discussed shooting heavy bows and pulled 2 of his 84 pounders at the same time to prove his strength. If they were really that heavy he was a strong man because he was past 60 at the time.

I believe the bow that he called his 'money bow' was 56 pounds in its final state.  His original Gramma was 65 pounds, it got stiffer when glass was added.  Many people assume that Hill always shot extra heavy bows, but he had bows that were lighter.  I use to draw two 64 pound bows to my full draw for a workout.  They are both gone, but that was a little hard on the hand, that puts a pretty hard spread on the thumb joint.  I went back to my chest pull thingy with rubber tarp straps, about 100 pounds at what would be my draw. I have seen videos of others shooting super heavy, but they all looked like they were about to have a pucker blowout and their upper body was obviously over strained.  With Hill it was difficult to see if he was shooting an 85 pound bow or a 55 pound bow, because he shot them both the same.