A story from "back when"

[Ron LaClair]

This is a story from when I was 9 or 10. I had already been shooting a bow since I was 5 years old. We still lived on a farm at the time and I had gotten a real longbow, lemonwood or hickory, from  Montgomery Wards or Sears Roebuck catalog. The arrows I had were wood with target points,the year would have been 1945-46.


 One day my folks had to go to town and I went along. The car was parked on the street and I was left in the car while mom and dad were in the store. There was a hardware store nearby and I decided to check it out. What I found in the store was something I had been wanting for a long time...a real hunting arrow with a real steel broadhead on it.
I excitedly shelled out the 50 cents which was the cost of the arrow. That was a lot of money for a youngster back then but I had saved it from my allowance for just such a treasure as this.


I was back in the car when my mom and dad returned. When I showed them the beautiful arrow I had bought, instead of them being happy that I was so happy, my dad marched me back to the hardware to return the arrow.


I don't remember the exact words my dad told the man that had sold it to me but I just remember he was very angry at him for selling such a dangerous thing to a kid.

I didn't understand then, I was just very disappointed that I had to return it. Of coarse my dad was right, I probably would have shot one of our chickens, pigs or Lord forbid a milk cow.


I still remember how the arrow looked, it had a two blade fluted broadhead, beautiful cresting and barred turkey feathers. It was probably a Ben Pearson hunting arrow.
It would be many years before I would actually get another hunting arrow but when I did I was older and more responsible.......  

[23feetupandhappy]

That’s good stuff Ron!!!!!

   

[ron w]

     Good times.......

[MnFn]

About 1960 my Dad took up bow hunting.  He had a 56# bow that was made by a company that  Tim Miegs worked for and he may have built it, I am told.

Anyway Dad had a bunch of cedar arrows, barred feathers and three blade broad heads.  He broke one and I got ahold of the broad head end.  I taped it to one of my broken arrows.  He had a good laugh when he saw it,  and that was the end of my first broadhead tipped arrow.  My first footed shaft you might say.

[Possum Head]

I feel your pain Mr Ron, I remember wanting an arrow like my older brothers buddy had. I think it had Pearson head on it. All my dad let me use were target points so that’s what we busted bunnies with

[R.V.T.B.]

I remember being 10 or 12... the late 1960's, and my dad telling me that I could go to bow camp with him for a couple of days that fall. I had lots of arrows with field points but no broadheads. I ended up walking about six miles each way to a store that sold archery equipment and spending my allowance to buy two broadhead arrows.  They had Hilbre broadheads on them. I figured two arrows would be plenty....  I only had one deer tag! Headed to hunting camp in my dad's brand new 1965 station wagon!

[Sam McMichael]

The first hunting quality arrows I bought were white shafted arrows from Ben Pearson. I killed a squirrel with one of them, which was my first ever bow kill. I miss the old style general hardware stores

[BAK]

Those were the days.  My first "kill" with a bow was with one of those little yellow fiberglass things with the red rubber grip.

I was pretty young, but a farm kid, so I took my little target arrow to the shop and drilled a hole in the end.  I hammered a nail into a sort of broad head on the anvil and stuck the other end into the arrow.

I shot a rabbit with that thing, it was sticking out both sides of the bunny and it ran and got hung up in the brush so I was able to catch it and finish it off.

I was sure proud of that rabbit.

[bro-n-arrow]

About 1953 when I was 14 years old I had a bear cub. We would roam thru the orange groves looking for jack rabbits.We had wooden arrows with field points.If we were lucky enough to hit one, it was bye-bye arrow. Someone told me to use a 38 casing instead of the sharp field point.I had better luck after that!

[Sirius Black]

[LC]

About 1973 I was in junior high school which would be middle school now adays.

There was sporting goods store right across the street. At lunch me and a couple buddies would skip lunch walk across the street and buy one or two Fred Bear "hunting" arrows and carry them back to school, maybe show the principal then store them in our lockers till the end of the day.

After school we would grab our hunting arrows and walk home with them or  some even rode the bus home. Man I miss those old days. Try that now!

I remember a few years later in high school most all the boys had rifles in the gun racks hanging over the back window of our trucks. There was talk of us having to have them in cases then and not visible.

[hawkeye n pa]

Bought my first "real" 30# Browning Mohawk bow at a drug store with a small sportsman  section.  Remember when drug was a good term, and sportsman meant they sold hunting and fishing equipment.  Not hundred dollar tennis shoes and soccer balls.

Bought arrows from the jewlery store for fifty cents each.  Bear cub arrows I beleive, yellow with barred fletching.  Shinnied some trees to retrieved the neighbors arrows he shot at a flying squirrell.  That supplied my broadheads.  Shot many a chipmunk and groundhog with that set up.

[olddogrib]

I feel your pain, my brother...parents just didn't know quite what to make of us special, precocious children, lol!  My remedy for a while was honing my hunter's "concealment" skills, but that often produced painful consequences,which eventually helped me learn the greatest hunting skill of all...patience.

[Ron LaClair]

This is exactly what the arrow looked like. You can imagine how excited a 9 year old boy with a bow would be to get an arrow like this.

   

[Mike Gerardi]

Very cool. I can relate.

         

Cool story!

Bisch

[JackReid]

Ron I had some of those with the red crest. Still have three of the broadheads.

[reddogge]

I have one just like it, same broadhead and everything. My full length picture is a bit blurry though.

   

[Ron LaClair]

That might be the arrow I had to return over 70 years ago.      

[wooddamon1]

I'm a pup compared to some of you "vintage" gentlemen, but I remember seeing old bows and arrows hanging in the neighborhood hardware store as a kid. I believe they may have inspired my first attempts at bowyering with the poplar saplings growing around my Grampa's cabin. Getting the itch to try for a real one. Good stuff guys, brings back memories from the not so distant past.