HH bug got me ... Part One!

[cahaba]

Two Tracks can't wait to see that Swinehart.

Originally posted by cahaba:
Two Tracks can't wait to see that Swinehart.

Me too Chuck!  Even more excited to get my hands on your new Hill design.  With any luck it'll happen in four days, eh?    

[cahaba]

Oh yea cant wait to see Chucks new Hill design. I need to make some money so I can feed the addiction.

[cahaba]

Originally posted by tradlongbow:
HillGang-

I was searching for info on Jerry Hill today so I could invite him to our hunt. During my search I came across this ad. For only $38,000 you can live on 1 Howard Hill Dr. in Wilsonville, Al. Heck, it might come with shooting lessons:)


PROPERTY DETAILS - MLS #513586
Price: $ 38,000
1 HOWARD HILL DR
WILSONVILLE , AL   35186

Type: Lots and Land
Subdivision: HOMESTEAD
Acreage: 1
Home Style: n/a
0 Bedrooms
0 Full Baths - 0 Half Baths
Year Built: n/a

Schools:
Elementary: WILSONVILLE
Middle: COLUMBIANA
High: SHELBY COUNTY

Homestead subdivision runs next to Lay Lake up in the river. It has three big islands right in the middle of the river and a huge mountain on the land on the other side of the river.
 I have hunted rabbits on the islands when I was a boy. Longbow in hand and my excited spirit of youth was sometimes overwhelming.
Ospreys nest along this river area and the scenery is beautiful. I'm sure Mr. Hill probably hunted this area as far back as when he was a boy and if you moved there your eyes would be seeing some of the same scenery Mr. Hills eyes did. Awesome!

[Goshawkin]

Originally posted by Ron LaClair:
[QB]

 I put a piece of the wood in the bottom of my back quiver for luck.

     That's very cool,I would have done the same thing. Howard was the man.  

[cahaba]

Right above Homestead once was the site of one of the largest Creek Indian camps that existed in Alabama. Before the river was backed up one could wade completely across the river in some big shoals. I practially lived there during my boyhood and would beg my uncle to let me wade the "shoals" The indians had a huge fish trap connstructed out of river rock there.
 One of the finest collections I have ever seen of indian arrowheads,spearheads,pottery and such came from this area. Some relics still exist there but it is private land. Anyway I thought my thread of the history of the area might be interesting to somebody.

[Killdeer]

Cahaba, you were right!
Thanks!
Killdeer

[Hawken1911]

Cool photos and story Ron.  I really hope you publish a biography someday.

Paul

[Killdeer]

Howdy Hawkeye!  

[cahaba]

Maybe this will work. Heres MapQuest of Howard Hill Drive. Zoom it up and you will see the islands out in the river. Maybe a tradganger will buy this place. There are actualy two streets with the Hill name. One is Hill Drive and another is Howard Hill Drive.
   http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=Wilsonville&state=AL

[Muss03]

Well, I recieved my first longbow today. A HH Half Breed, 51 at 28, that I bought used, but in like new condition. I have been shooting only recurves since I took the traditional path and I shoot those quite well, but for whatever reason was just dying to try one of these HH bows. This thread certainly played a part in it. I obsessed over it for several months and borrowed a friend's HH Owl for a few days before I made the leap. I'm gonna give it a try when I get off of work tonite. Any recommendations on arrows? I will post some pics later.

[tradlongbow]

wood 50/55
alumnium 2016

[tradlongbow]

Ron-

Bob Wesley gave me a piece of wood from that same target post. Bob wrote: Here is a sliver of wood from Howard Hill's target post. Pretty Cool.

Darren

[Overspined]

I too am a HUGE fan of Turay's NM Classic. I LOVE the whisper too. They are finished to perfection and are so great upon loosing the arrow.  Smooth and sweet. I have the swinehart grip too on my Classic, but I don't thave the glass running up the belly all the way across the grip because I got clear glass. It is such a great grip.

I actually have played a lot with grips and haven't found the locator to be as consistent or easy to "locate" as the straight or slight dish. That thin wedge just places it every time and it feels like the force is going in the right direction. I think there's probably folks who love the locator though, it just doesn't agree with me.

[Overspined]

I saw a longbow last weekend that was Hill style, and really thin and deep core.  It was modeled after an actual Bow of Howard Hill.  I was wondering FOR YOU BOW BUILDERS out there, it seemed a little unstable because you could grasp the grip, and the string as if you were getting ready to draw and shoot, and pull the string side to side and it felt like the limbs were twisting and the string may pop off the nocks.

Now I know this happens when the bow width declines, but is this the case? Is it, or does it, become unstable?  Or does the bow design negate that upon loosing the arrow? I haven't ever seen another bow that had that feel, unfortunately I wasn't able to shoot it.  

Any experience or thoughts about this?  My buddy has a bow he kept trimming and it became extremely thin and felt unstable so we never shot it, what's the limit?

[Aussie Stickbow Hunter]

Originally posted by Overspined:
I saw a longbow last weekend that was Hill style, and really thin and deep core.  It was modeled after an actual Bow of Howard Hill.  I was wondering FOR YOU BOW BUILDERS out there, it seemed a little unstable because you could grasp the grip, and the string as if you were getting ready to draw and shoot, and pull the string side to side and it felt like the limbs were twisting and the string may pop off the nocks.

Now I know this happens when the bow width declines, but is this the case? Is it, or does it, become unstable?  Or does the bow design negate that upon loosing the arrow? I haven't ever seen another bow that had that feel, unfortunately I wasn't able to shoot it.  

Any experience or thoughts about this?  My buddy has a bow he kept trimming and it became extremely thin and felt unstable so we never shot it, what's the limit?

Overspined,

Hill bows are narrow limbed and deep cored but the limbs still have a rectangle cross section; being wider then they are deep. When the limbs are narrowed too far the limbs out near the tips become square in cross section and in some extreme cases may even become deeper then they are wide and this causes the limbs to become very unstable. They can then twist and lean any which way and this totally ruins the bow IMO.

Jeff

[Ron LaClair]

Matt, you must be talking about "Blue Duck", the bow made by John Lee that is a copy of an original bow that Howard made for himself. John told me that Howard made his limbs narrow and deep core for better performance, he liked the limbs to bend into the riser. He also liked a deep and narrow grip.

You mentioned that when you pulled the string side to side as you "started to draw" it felt like the limbs were twisting. To do that you'd have to hold the grip tightly to keep it stationary  This limb twisting can be done with many types of bows including recurves. Any attempt to twist the limb is very hard to do as you reach full.

 Open the bow hand when you start the draw and let the grip seat itself deep into the center of the hand. Close the fingers lightly around the grip and pull straight back on the string.

If you were driving a car, flying a plane, or a boat and steering with a single joy stick, would you pull the stick from side to side?...I think the tendency would be to keep it centered and controlled. Think of a bow the same way and don't worry about how you could run it off the road...    :D

Here's John Lee's Blue Duck, A copy of an original bow made by Howard

   

[C.Cannon]

So I was reading the chapter in Hunting the Hard Way about shooting fish and sharks underwater with a longbow.

Well I thought that sounded like fun so I decided to get in a pool with one of my old light fiberglass bows, some fletchless fiberglass arrows and try it out. I could only get it to work by shooting strait down, the (half inch at the widest) limbs created way too much drag to shoot an arrow to the sides; but he found a way to modify the bow to stop this from happening.

So here is my question does anyone know the stats on Hill's underwater bow

[ChrisM]

If I remeber right I think in his movie where he shot a shark there were some rubber bands running from the riser section to the string.  Also he probably wasn't using a light draw bow and it did seem shorter.  Now keep in mind that there is a good chance that I am mixing memories.

[Ron LaClair]

I don't know if they told the weight of Howards bow but it was probably 80 to 100#. He attached two strips of rubber, probably from post war intertubes before synthetic rubber..note the position of the rubber strips on the bow.

Here's the film from one of Howards "shorts" The film is more than a little suspect..    :rolleyes:   Many of Howards exploits were reenacted on film for the public.