Dusty Roberts

[Ted Fry]

Here are a few shots of some of the other items we picked up here at Raptor Archery from the 1929 N.A.A. world champion Dr. E.K. Roberts (Dusty).
 
This is Dusty with a couple of great shots on quail.
 
This is a picture of his bows, if you have a copy of Toxicated by Fred Anderson you can read about the bow marked "Death Slayer"on page 64, also note the one just to the left, the bow Will Compton gave Dusty that is described on page #59 if you dont have a copy you should get one, great book.
These are Dusty's score cards from the 1929 tournament in Santa Barbara CA.
 

[Wade Phillips]

Ted,

Nice bows! Even through the grip is greatly altered, would have guessed that the second bow from left was from Compton. What do the nocks look like?
 
The score cards are historically important, considering Dusty won the 1929 NAA National Tournament.

[Larry m]

Have to be quite an archer to be shooting quail with a selfbow. A neat time in California's archery history.....

Need to pick that book up as it looks like a good read.
Nice interesting post's there Mr. Fry!

[Wade Phillips]

Larry,

Apparently lots of quail were shot by bowmen in California in the 1920 era.

e.g., Photograph captioned "Young & Compton with a quail apiece", page 144, "Hunting with the Bow & Arrow", 1923, Saxton Pope.

[Larry m]

Hi Wade
I have trouble enough hitting them with a 20ga. Couldn't imagine trying to take a few home with a self bow.
I have that book but the reprint from 1991. I find it on page 133, "A quail apiece". Still, very impressive.
Unlike yourself with a very good memory mine appears to be fading with age so when I revisit things it still excites me!!
Boy, has California changed........

[Ted Fry]

Yes Wade the handle was altered but I knew as soon as I saw it that it was a Compton, tips are exactly like the two Comptons we already had, once you see a Compton bottom horn tip you will recognize them anywhere.Quail were very common in California before urban sprawl thus the common practice of shooting them with bows.
I grew up in the north of Santa Barbara until I was twelve so I was known to chase a few rabbits and quail with my bow as well.
Interesting to find out the 1929 NAA tournament was in Santa Barbara at a range in an area called Hope Ranch, I used to skip school and go fishing in one of the ponds at Hope Ranch in 5th and 6th grade. Yes Larry California has changed!

[Wade Phillips]

Larry,

At seven years short of 3/4 of a century, my memory is probably not what is failing, but rather my retrieval system, which has been getting slower by the year. Likely way too much unimportant information rattling around for the system to categorize properly.

Well before our previously mentioned bowmen, Maurice Thompson was also quite an accomplished quail hunter with a bow. A Thompson quail tale that comes to mind is in his "Confessions of an Ancient Poacher", "The American Bowman", 1936. Haven't read it in a few years. It is a must read for any quail hunter, bow or shotgun.


Almost everything has changed in our country, especially the quail habitat with the continual growing size of fields and endless elimination of fence rows.

[Wade Phillips]

Ted,

What are the other bows in this batch?

Lots of history at the Hope Ranch area. It was at one time home to one of Fred Bear's many celebrity friends and hunting companions, Fess Parker (1924-2010).

[Ted Fry]

Not sure what they are Wade , look very much like Comptons but the strike plate is not the same as you can see and the tips are not the same either, horn yes but not the same as Compton tips

[Ted Fry]

Heres a close up of the tips Wade

[Wade Phillips]

Good photographs Ted. Thanks for sharing. Sorry but can not help you with the others. As you say, similar but not the same as Compton's. Several are obviously not in their original condition.

Horn nocks that were damaged, were often altered to extend their useful life. Readily available files and sandpaper made altering nocks easy for the bowman-handyman of the era who often repaired his own tackle. Poorly done alterations are usually easy to detect. However, if done extremely well, alterations can be nearly impossible to discover. To add to identification challenges, some original horn nocks were replaced when damaged or lost.

The neophyte, as well as the experienced collector-historian, frequently derives much pleasure from the process of viewing and handling undocumented vintage tackle, while considering the endless possibilities, and searching for the facts behind its history.

[Liquid Amber]

After running the math I find that I'm older than Wade.  

I suspect some of the California quail taken with bow in those days were shot while grounded but that doesn't make the feat any less.

Hiram Grogan, another North Georgia boy, along with his brother and other archers hunted a variety of small game with the bow to include bobwhite quail.  He devotes a chapter [Quail on the Wing] to the art of missing and occasionally hitting these brown bombs with the bow in his book "Modern Bow Hunting[1958]."  

Grogan published numerous articles on hunting small game, deer and wild hogs in "Archery" and "TAM" magazines. He resided many years in Smyrna, Georgia and I had the pleasure of spending an evening visiting with him over the phone some years ago.  Had I contacted him a few years earlier I may have acquired much of his archery stuff before he gave it all away after quitting hunting and devoting his time to photography.     He was gracious enough to inscribe and sign a copy of his book.  I had hopes of doing an article on Grogan but he asked that I not do so for several reasons.  I honored his request.

[Tom Phillips]

Ted,  VERY cool stuff and info.Thanks to YOU & WADE.

[ksbowman]

Ted, I have said before you are a class act. Thanks for bringing forward some great info! Keep up the great work. It is so enjoyable to see history brought forward for all of us to enjoy!