Free to Good Home - Image of Pioneer Bowmen in Snow

[Wade Phillips]

Tox - YES.... We have a winner........

Our mystery Bow is indeed Bob Cooper.

You must tell us how you discovered his name...

[CrookedStick]

Congrats Tox!

Yes do tell...now I don't have to keep checking this crazy thread morning, noon and night.

I was about to jump in the car and drive up to Traverse City to the Record Eagle offices and look in their clip archives for the caption to that photo!

Bernie

[Tox Collector]

It wasn't easy -- it will take me days to put back together my books and references!  I was sure that Cliff would beat me to the punch.  And there were so many other good responses -- I'm surprised that someone else didn't nail it first.  

Based on your clues, i.e., two same letters in the last name and at least one such same letter in the first name and then you gave us the vowel of "O" -- I knew that I was looking for at least two "O's" in the last name and at least one "O" in the first name.  

Then with the date, I knew I should be looking at archery periodicals dating from the late 1930's to the mid 1940's.  Also, you more or less confirmed that this person was a Michigan archer/bowhunter.  In addition, based on the picture, I started to look for a person somewhat shorter than Fred and Nels.  Additionally, while the mystery person was a bowhunter, I knew he must be a target archer based on the fact in the next photo you gave us -- he was doing an archery exhibition with Nels and Fred [I also figured that he had to be a decent shooter as both Nels and Fred were competitive archers].

I gave up on Archery magazine and Ye Sylvan Archer and then turned to the American Bowman-Review looking for a shooter/hunter from Michigan who met the above criteria.  On pp. 10 of the November, 1939 issue of the ABR I found a photo at the bottom of the page that was captioned "Michigan Field Archers: Robert Cooper, Nelson Grumley, Mrs. Mary Calvert, Richard Hold and Fred Bear".  

Fred Bear had taken first place in the 'Instinctive Division', Class A, while Horn took second place, Grumley took third and Cooper took fifth place.  Mrs. Calvert had taken first place in the Ladies Class A division.  This was the 12th Annual Field Tourney of the Michigan Archery Association.

While I didn't make a note of the reference, I believe that I also saw someplace that Cooper had harvested a deer in one of the Michigan archery hunts.

Wade - great contest - I had a lot of fun revisiting my old archery periodicals.  This period of archery development was an interesting time from a tackle development standpoint. Bowhunting was really taking off as it was allowed in more and more states.  Equipment was still very much 'traditional'.  The period also strikes me that it was also very much a "fun" time -- a lot comradery among archers and bowhunters!

Again, thanks for the contest -- I really enjoyed it.  When do you begin the next one?    

[jcar315]

Congrats to say the least!!!!

[TimZeigler]

 

Well Played!

[johnnyrazorhead]

Wow.That was exhausting.

[Tox Collector]

Wade, Was there a special relationship between Cooper and Grumley/Bear, i.e., had he worked with them or was he a fellow member of the Detoit Archers, etc.?

[4runr]

Congrats TC!

You earned that one.

[bowhunterfrompast]

Tox..Congrats  

[Wade Phillips]

Tox - Your account of how you found Cooper is excellent.

Points to the importance of having the original vintage reference material from the era the events took place.

It is also great reading. Nothing like ABRs being published today or within the past 40 years.

I don't really know much about Cooper other than he was one of the group of 1930s-1940s Michigan bowman. John Grumley talked about Cooper but I don't really know where Cooper lived. One of many old time bowmen who has nearly faded into obscurity.

[johnnyrazorhead]

Finally remembered to pull out a couple of old Detroit Archer's club newsletters(The Arrow) from 1940.I should have done this awhile ago and perhaps I would have guessed the mystery bowman.
 Anyhow,in the Dec.1940 issue on the first page it writes of current club president Fred Bear re-signing so as to have more time for his archery business.He would be devoting more time out of town during the upcoming winter to be at archery trade shows and such.The board reluctantly agreed to let Fed step down and to have the vice-president,Bob Cooper step up to fill Fred's shoes as club president.
 So to answer even my own question,yes,Bob Cooper was a resident of Michigan AND a member of the Detroit Archers.In another issue of "The Arrow" is a funny story of a deer hunt in Camp Sherwood around St. Helen Michigan.It mentions Fred Bear,Nels Grumley,Tracy Stalker,A.J. Michelson,Leo Lange,Bill Loomis,and many others including Bob Cooper.It had a cartoon drawn by Nick Zrolka and the story of a mock trial where Bob Cooper was the defendant,presumably guilty for shooting a doe,with Leo Lange and A.J. Michelson as attorneys(both actually were attorneys)It sounds like these old time Michigan archers really had alot of fun together.
 Just thought I would share some more information on Bob Cooper.
 Wade- Maybe the information about Bob would be worthy of a copy of the photo?Please.I could send you a copy of the story in return.Plus,I did get part of the question right as I did guess the year as being 1938.      

[Wade Phillips]

John - Great find there in the little known issue of "The Arrow". I did have a few copies of "The Arrow" at one time, I will have to check to see if I still have them or traded them away.

I do remember reading about the mock trial and A.J. Michelson being an attorney. Don't remember most of the other details you mentioned.

Now that we have a date for the trial, we will likely discover another article about it...

Yes, you did guess the year of the photograph correctly, but we will not mention that your guess was only after there were already several missed guesses and after several prompts from me to "Look at the Bows". With all three of the Snowstorm Bowmen using Radiused Recurve bows, it had to be before 1941 when Nels began making the Bush Bow.

John - I would be happy to trade a copy of the Snowstorm Bowmen photograph for a copy of another photograph that I do not have from the same era. It certainly  doesn't have to be as rare, unpublished or as unknown as the Snowstorm Bowmen Photograph apparently has proved to be.

Don't you just love the self inflicted torture of wanting to trade someone out of something. More proof that collectors are crazy.

[Tox Collector]

Just got back from PA.  John - great info on Cooper -- thanks for digging it out and sharing.  Thanks to others who sent "congrats"; however, as it turned out -- it was really a team effort.  Without Fred and Nels and the year being identified and other names being eliminated, it would not have been possible.  Of course, Wade's "clues" were 'key' as well.  Hopefully, Wade will come up with another challenging contest in the near future.