What was your first recurve/longbow, the one that started it all?

[COMPOUNDLESS IN CONCRETE]

Also what age were you, and feel free to share a story about it.  

For me, it was a green fiberglass Ben Pearson that I picked up at a neighbors garage sale for $10 around 1990 when I was 10 years old.  I already had one aluminum arrow that my Dad and I found in the woods.  I roamed the woods with that one arrow shooting at leaves and stumps. About a week later, I was in Kmart with my Mom and sister and they had Aluminum arrows for sale individually.  I bought 3 or 4 that had feathers and was set.  I had no quiver so I'd carry the arrows in one hand, bow in the other and lay them down when I wanted to shoot at something.  

I knew nothing about arrow spine, FOC, arrow tuning, but man did I have a blast with that little bow and arrows.

[Nantahala Nut]

I was 6 and my dad hunted with an old Bear compound.  He bought me a cheap Kmart fiberglass bow. It was really a toy but not to me. He gave me an Easton aluminum with no point and I was set. He let me hunt with him in the woods behind the house and we actually had a buck walk by. He told me to take a shot so i let one fly that made it all of 8 yards.  I will never forget that bow or that experience.

[1flyfish]

Generic blue fiberglass bow with 3 wooden arrows,imitation leather hip quiver.I was 9 years old and haven't looked back,I am now 57 years old and still enjoy trad shooting and hunting like I am still 9 years old."Keep em flying straight" Lou

[Oznative]

It was 1965ish for me and I was 10 years old.  The first bow was a bear all fiberglass that was around 25lb draw maybe just guessing.  I graduated to a Bear Kodiak magnum and used that to hunt rabbits and bow fishing.  I graduated on to a Bear Kodiak hunter just before I went into the service.  I still have the Kodiak hunter and it is in good shape.  It is way too heavy for me now so It just sits on the rack looking pretty.  I went to training wheels and competed with some success but saw the light and went back traditional several years ago.  I’m having lots of fun just shooting targets but plan to get back to hunting too.

[Petrichor]

11 years old internature three piece 30 lbs recurve

[Sawpilot 75]

My uncle gave me a 35 lb Ben Pearson recurve in 1986. I never turned back after killing my first bunny with it.

[AZ_Longbow]

I was 7, my dad shot a Damon howat super diablo. I would stand and watch him and then go pull arrows from the hay bales.
After a few days of this he decided to make me a bow. It was an old bamboo fiberglass deep-sea rod he cut down. I used the eyelet as a rest and shot his cut down Easton 2117. In a month I was hitting sodacans. And spent all my free time out back shooting.

[Buckeye1977]

Started when I was 16 and me and my dad went to a guy by the name of John Jordans house to see what kind of bows he made. We ended up ordering recurves. We stayed at Johns house for hours shooting all the bows he had and getting tips from him. He is a fantastic guy and Bowyer and I'm very lucky to have started in this sport with such a great person to help me along the way!

[Pat Ct]

Hoyt pro hunter 35# given to me by a friend's father who got into compound and gave up one heck of a bow because it wasn't "fast enough". I was 10 and used it until I had enough cash to invest in a higher poundage Recurve 10 years later. I am now 30 and still have and exercise form with that first bow.  

Cheers, Pat.

[Orion]

I graduated from shrub shoot bows and arrows and store twine to a real lemonwood bow of about 15-20# when I was 7.  That was a little more than 60 years ago. Killed a few sputzers (sparrows) with it, and a lot of stumps, grass clumps and leaves. Been shooting a stick ever since.

[KentuckyTJ]

Shot off and on with different stick bows as a kid but my first serious trad bow was a 52" Kodiak Mag. My fingers still aren't quit the same as they were prior to that bow. Haha. I dusted it off back in 2007 or so I think and got a crack at a doe. The nostalgia quickly rubbed off and I put her back up again after that.

   

[TradBrewSC]

One of Owen Jeffery's personal bows, a 48# Jeffery classic 60.
 
Here is a picture of my first Trad kill at age 15 with that bow and some wooden arrows I made with wooden dowels from the hardware store and 125gr snuffers.  I was a proud kid!

 

[wingnut]

My first real bow was a lemonwood longbow.  Before that it was vine maple bows we made.  Grew up a little south of you in Lk. Stevens.

Do they still have the late elk hunt up that way?

Mike

[Echo62]

First real bow was a Bear Red Bear.

[longrifle]

I did have a few kid fiberglass bows growing up but, my first real bow was a Bighorn TD that I ordered when I was only 18 way back in 1987, and Ive never looked back. Prior to that I shot a compound for 4 years but when I had a real job and some money I bought the custom Bighorn. Killed 6 bucks with that bow the first 6 years I had it.

[COMPOUNDLESS IN CONCRETE]

Originally posted by wingnut:
My first real bow was a lemonwood longbow.  Before that it was vine maple bows we made.  Grew up a little south of you in Lk. Stevens.

Do they still have the late elk hunt up that way?

Mike

Mike, Elk hunting up here isn't what it used to be, not because of numbers, we're covered up in Elk herds, but because of WDFW restricting it so much.

[NEB]

I met Dan Quillian while a student at UGA.  He taught me to shoot with a 60# bamboo longhunter.  I could not afford it, so I scraped up a few bucks and with a Bass Pro gift card I bought a 50# Bear Grizzly.  I gave that bow to my brother five years ago as his first recurve.  I never did get me a longhunter before Dan retired, but I am forever thankful for him teaching me to shoot.

[SELFBOW19953]

My first "real" bow was a lemonwood longbow that my grandfather gave me in 1961 (I was 9).  While shooting it a few years later, it became it became a 3 piece.  He then gave me a recurve he had made in the Traverse City, Michigan area in the early 50's.  Still have the bow, but thanks to my idiot cousin dry-firing it while I was in the Air Force, it is not shootable.

[Mint]

Here is what I posted on a previous thread.

I grew up fishing and crabbing with my brothers but always wanted to go hunting but didn't know one person that hunted. When I was 22 I read an article in a 1984 Sports Afield magazine called "Comeback of the Long Bow" by Lionel Atwill. He really hit me hard but I didn't have the money to order a bow. Was still in college and on my own with barely enough to eat. In 1990 after the loans were paid off I saw an ad in Bowhuter Magazine for the Dan Bertalen Bokk "Traditional Bowyers of America" and read it in 2 days and ordered a Scorpion Longbow. Bowhunting and Archery has changed my life and I am so grateful i read that article so long ago in Sports Afield. I met some of my best friends through this sport.

[centaur]

A fiberglass  "Indian" brand kids bow that I got in the 50s, but my first real hunting bow was a Bear Grizzly that I got around 1970. Never killed anything but rabbits and a snake or two with it. Wish I still had it.