HH bug got me ... Part One!

[Hawken1911]

This thread definitely brought me back into the fold, and shortly after getting sucked in I acquired a HH 'Robin Hood' longbow.  I love it, and I'm shooting better than ever.  It is the perfect fit for me.  Unfortunately, I didn't discover that until I ventured away from D-shaped bows for awhile and tried a bunch of others, including short, hybrid longbows.  So thank you Hill Gang for putting me on the right path!

I'm also signed up for the Hill Gang Hog Hunt scheduled for next year, and I had the honor of creating the t-shirt design for the hunt.  I look forward to meeting many of you there.

Paul

[Ron LaClair]

Todd, here's my mouse story, Some years back in my Brother inlaws hunting cabin a mouse was running along the top of the wall. I grabbed my Hill bow, swung and shot pinning him with a head shot to the wall. As you can see I just missed a framed picture which I didn't even notice when I shot. Most of the guys in his camp are compound shooters and my Brother inlaw still brags about that shot to this day.      :D  

   

[tg2nd]

quote:Originally posted by Killdeer:
What, you missed the cat?    

[tg2nd]

Originally posted by Dodger:
Which reminds me....any progress on the instructional video? It would help me immeasureably.[/QB]

x2!!

[Steve Clandinin]

Ahhhh Kathryn!LOL. I should have known not to print that.

Originally posted by Charlie Lamb:
OK boys!!
Let's please keep this thread on track. It's come too far to break down like this and I like to think we Hill devotees are better than that.

As a member and moderator I'd hate to see this thread end nor would I want to be the one who ends it.

Carry on brothers and sisters.
     

Thanks Charlie.  
There is a ton of passion floating around these days and it is all good...but easily misunderstood in this medium.

[tradlongbow]

HillGang-

I don't know about you guys but for the last week, all I can think about is getting back into the woods and hunting.

In late August, our Archery season opens here in Florida, and beleive me it's hotter than hell but I'll be out there.

I also made contact with a old school friend that I haven't seen in over 20 years that invited me to deer hunt with him in Louisiana in October, and since I'll be there anyway to visit my mom, I'm going to hunt with him for a couple of days.

Jesus(Rushlush) and I will be doing some hunting together this season and; I was also pulled for a special hog quota permit here in central Florida so that should be awesome.

In February 2013 we will all be getting togther for the very first HillGang Hog Hunt, which I think will be an unforgettable experince.

What are you plans for Hillstyle hunting this season?

Darren

[Trad Longbow Joe]

Okay guys I need some help or opinions on a bow I just purchased.  The story was that Howard was shooting a demonstration at a Boy Scout gathering in Texas or Oklahoma.  When he left he gave this new bow to the troop.  The bow was purchased by two people prior to me buying it and has never been shot.  No name on the bow but it appears to be a Hill bow from what I know.  Below are some pictures of the bow and here are some of the specs: 69" NTN, 13" long riser, straight grip, 2 1/4" deep x 1 5/16" thick handle, shelf is cut 2" above center, 1 3/16" deflex, limbs are 1 1/4" w at riser and 5/8" thick, 9/16" wide at tip x 5/16" thick, wooven glass on back with a convexed back, white glass on belly, which appears to have been added after the bow was tillers based on the tapered rear (belly) lam 6" to 8" away from the nocks, trapped design toward belly, 3 lams of bamboo with no wedge at tips, no leather on shelf and finally tiller is 1/8" less at handle fade on lower limb than the top limb.
 
 
 
This is the Hill (Bottom) Schulz top for limb comparison.
 
 
 
Lower Limb bend compared to the Schulz.
 
Upper limb bend.
 

My questions are: Who do you think the Bowyer was? Could this bow story be real?  Since it has been shot, do I not shot it?

There are some true experts out there on this Hill stuff and I would appreciate your thoughts.

[Trad Longbow Joe]

Two more pics for your consideration:

 
 

[Hawken1911]

Nice shot Ron!

[Kelly]

Originally posted by Trad Longbow Joe:
Two more pics for your consideration:

 
 

The lower limb appears to be the same length as the upper limb, is that correct? If so, I'd have my doubts to it being built by Howard. Maybe a Ben Pearson as Howard did some advertising for Pearson in his latter years.

What is the weight? Also the limbs are wider than that Howard made and his tips were oh so tiny like on the Schulz bow and even smaller.

[Brazos]

I know there has been some suggesting discord after the past 4-5 pages.  I disagree.  Thanks Nate.  I think the past 4-5 pages got us refocused on Hill style bows, which I have felt this thread has been lacking at times.  I learned some things, or at least have new ideas to consider, just in the past few days.  This has been, and is, a great thread.  Sometimes it turns into a "chat room type thing" and gets totally off topic.  We are now on topic.  Thanks for some very insightful posts the past few days.

[tradlongbow]

Joe-

I would give Bob Burton a call, he wrote the book "Howard Hill Collectiables". Bob has traveled all over the US taking pictures and measurements of Hill bows. Bob is a fine gentleman and loves talking about Hill stuff. Your bow looks like it has a concave/convex limb design which would mean it was a early design.

[Rossco7002]

Darren,

I too am dying to get out for hunting season! Small game opens September time so I can chase some grouse and some rabbits while I scout for deer (which opens October 1st.

I'm shooting 2 hours a day right now on summer leave just to keep myself on an even keel! Lol


Joe,

That's a really cool bow. Looks like it could be a real find.

[Ron LaClair]

I'm no "Johnny come lately" when it comes to longbows. My love affair with Hill style longbows bows goes back over 60 years. I waited with great anticipation for the movie Tembo to come out. It had been written up prior to the movie opening in LOOK magazine, complete with black and white still pictures. One in particular that I remember was a picture of Howard shooting the python through the head as Ed Hill held the shake by the neck. I was only 14 years old in 1950 when Tembo came came to my town. When I saw it  the seed was planted deep within me and it made a lifetime impression.

I bought the book Hunting the Hard Way in 1964 and read it cover to cover without hardly putting it down. I didn't shoot a real Howard Hill bow until the early 60's. It was a 70# bow made by Jim Darling for HH Archery. When the compound bow came out in 1970 it wasn't long before archery changed BIG time. It seemed as though everyone had to have one of those strange looking things that they were calling a bow. I hung up my recurves and took up the Longbow full time. My wife and I attended archery shoots and promoted the Longbow with displays of bows and literature. I would but 100 copies of the "Longbow Shooters Digest" magazine from Harvey Overshinner in Arizona to sell at our table.

Gradually we got a large enough following to form the "Michigan Longbow Association" and a couple years after that we had our first "Great Lakes Longbow Invitational" This year marks the 27th year for the GLLI. In those early years of the longbow resurgence, the term Longbow meant a Hill style bow. Now of coarse there are a lot of variations of the longbow. Even so, the true Howard Hill style longbow will always hold a special place in the hearts of many of todays traditional archers....mine included.

[tradlongbow]

Ron-

The longbow it's self is amazing! Just like you and so many others I've it be biiten by it's bug. I really like that part in Witchery of Archery when Maurice Thompson compares his longbows that are hanging on the wall to art, and how people will stop, look, and be intrigued by the beauty of a longbow. I especially love to see a longbow when the limbs are bent at full draw, the arc of the limbs bent still amazes me.

Darren

[Ron LaClair]

  I especially love to see a longbow when the limbs are bent at full draw, the arc of the limbs bent still amazes me.  

Me too Darren, that's a big part of the allure of the longbow...        

     

[toddster]

Yes, I missed the cat, lol.  Ron, yes like that, always love you sharing your longbow history and stories of the hill method.

[Looper]

Ron, when you were learning to shoot, did you come up with your own style, or did you try to emulate anyone?

[Rik]

I read a few pages ago that a few of you think those of us who only hunt with bamboo-cored bows are purists.

To me, longbow purists are similar to fly-fishing elitists who let all their tasty trout go free and don't sautee them in olive oil for breakfast.

Clearly, they have never met me—or my western, ridge-running, meat-eating, non-politically correct compatriots.

I only, and I mean "ONLY," hunt with bamboo-cored Hill bows for one simple reason—————performance!

Yeah, I may live on the side of a mountain in Horseshoe Bend, and admittedly, I may live to hunt elk, and yeah, I may be a bit crazy, but I do hunt with the best bows ever built on this planet.

I do my research, I practice year-round like the season will open in four short weeks (well, actually it will), and I openly admit that anything less than a hydophobic, high-performance, bamboo-cored longbow would be totally unacceptable as a hunting weapon, but I also totally refute the label of Elitist.

Eater of healthy, organic, wild, mountain-raised meat? Yup.

Lover of the flight of a well-tuned arrow? Yup. More than you will ever know.

Killer and eater of tasty animals from the Arctic Circle to OZ? You know it!

Elitist? Never! And I do mean EVER!

I much prefer to think of myself and those like me, as the total ruiners of the next two or three generations of young archers—the girls and boys who will carry our legacy a hundred generations forward.

If you wonder what a "ruiner" is, it is a person who spends a fun afternoon or two with a few young girls and boys, sons and daughters of family and friends, showing them how much fun it is to shoot balloons, dirt clods, flowers, and maybe even Olympic targets with longbows for hours on end.

After a fun afternoon like that, it seems the wild country and the old secrets of the woods-runners from every continent and race on earth, start to call their names.

It's about then that I have to show their parents where to buy a good kid's longbow.

It's a tough life—but someone's gotta do it.