Got invited to a hunt in middle GA last year.....and there was a guy in camp I hadn't hunted with in nearly 20 years. It was great to hunt with him once again, and we picked up right were we left off. He was hunting with me when I made my 1st bow kill some 20 years ago.
Being a die hard bowhunter he was hunting with his compound , and the rest of the hunters had their rifles, it was gun season........and I had a few of my longbows.
I got away from camp a little that evening and was shooting a coke can in the dark shining from the camp lights while the rest of the crew was gathered around the fire and the grill waiting on supper to be served.
The next day at lunch, one of the gun shooters broke the ice, and asked me about my bows and just how was I able to shoot a can in the dark. I started chatting with him, and before long several other's gathered around......then I was asked to shoot. That went over really well, and my old hunting bud was really inquisitive. Told me he wanted to learn to shoot like that.
We chatted several times during the next year, and I asked if he was ready to get a bow yet....I could still sense the excitement in his tone, but he hadn't made much of an effort to get a bow yet.
Well, this year we were in camp again, and after lunch one day I told him to get in his truck and I'd be there in a minute. I got in with two longbows, and he said, where are we going to go?....away from all these folks so you can shoot this bow. He said, ...."heck, I can't shoot one of them", and I said...."wanna bet"?
I gave him some very basic instruction, and we started to shoot. After a dozen shots not aiming at anything, I told him we were now going to 'stump shoot'. This guy was a natural, and caught on very fast and his perfect arrow flight from the get go was proof of great things to come.
You wouldn't have thought a 45 year old man could be this excited over shooting a longbow.....well, some of you could. He just couldn't believe how much fun he was having, he wanted to just keep shooing, and said he told me to order him a bow like the one he was shooting on Monday. I sent him home with a bow and some arrows, and I ordered him a bow 1st of the week.
I then found a bow on our classifieds just like his but 2#s lighter for him to use while waiting on the one I'd ordered. I took possession of the used bow and told him I'd give it to him Friday evening in camp....we were going hunting again.
I gave him the bow soon as I arrived, and he looked it over and was raring to shoot it that evening after we hunted. So, we woofed down some pizzas and he got his bow.....here's a pic of Mr. Mike Tinch and his very 1st shot out of his 1st longbow which was just over 20 yards in the dark.......The judo arm clicked the can.
He's hooked guys.....hook, line, and sinker. He's gonna be a longbow hunter next season, and I'm gonna take him hog hunting in a few months. He's a Trad Ganger now.....registered just this week. Tell him howdy if you take a mind to.
Topic: It comes full circle once again..... (Read 4261 times)
