I had made a promise to my 13 year old nephew last year that the next time I came to Nebraska, I would bring him a selfbow. After returning to Boise, things got very busy at home and work. I am ashamed to say that I completely forgot about my promise until mid summer of this year. I had planned a trip to Nebraska for the end of October. It was time to get busy keeping a promise I made to a young man.
I had purchased a couple of hickory staves from Linc earlier in the year. One was earmarked for my nephew Casey. My goal was to make a flatbow that would pull #35 @ 28". Up til now, I had broken more bows than I have completed. The pressure was on. Here is what I ended up with.
Here is a braced profile.
My first attempt at a leather handle.
The back of the bow. I liked the natural camo look.
Casey at full draw. He has great form. The kid is a natural.
I did not get to spend a lot of time with Casey while I was in Nebraska. He leaves the house for school around 6:30 and does not return until after 5:00. He also spends every other weekend at his fathers house. What little time I did have with Casey was special. He is a great kid!!!
Speaking of kids, it crossed my mind that I should make a bow for another special kid in my life; Dad. While battling diabetes and the effects of a stroke a few years back, I thought it would be a good idea if Casey had a shooting partner. Dad and Casey live in the same small town in Nebraska. This way Casey could spend some quality time with his Grandpa while getting him out of the house and exercising.
I have to go back about 6 years. While on a hunting trip to Nebraska with bowyer extrodinaire, Jess Martin, we harvested a couple of osage trees. Staves and billets were cut and stored in my fathers pub for about 4 years. I finally drove to Nebraska in 2006 and brought them back to Boise. I decided Dad should have a bow that was originally born in Nebraska. My goal was to make a bow similar to Caseys. While at final tillering, I decided to make the bow #45 @ 28". This way he may decide to hunt with me the next time I hunted Nebraska.
Dads stave had a few hairline fractures running along the back of the bow. I applied super glue prior to finishing with 8 coats of Tru-oil.
A braced profile.
Dad at full draw.
You may not be able to tell from the photo, but my fathers right elbow is almost at 90 degrees. No matter what I said, he would not let his right elbow get parlalell with his bow arm. He was nailing a 16 ounce water bottle at 20 yards on a fairly regular basis. He figures if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
It took me more than a full week before Dad would go shooting his bow. I think he was concerned that he would have to do too much walking (his left calf gives him a lot of trouble). We pulled right into the hayfield and parked the ven 25yards from our target haybale. It did not take long for Dad to fall in love with his bow. As a matter of fact, it did not take me too long to fall in love with his bow. It is a smooth drawing, sweet shooting bow. After that, I could only hunt mornings and evenings. The middle of the day was reserved for our shooting competition. Dad had made up a scoring system based on the yardage of the shot taken and if the water bottle was center punched or not.
The bow I was shooting is a hickory #52 @ 28" flatbow. I shot an arrow with my bow, then with Dads bow. Both arrows were about 18" from each other. The osage had much better cast than my heavier hickory bow.
Time with my dad was by far the best part of my 2008 Nebraska hunt. I could have killed deerzilla, and it would not have been the highlite of my trip. Dad is even talking about possibly hunting with me next year. That has been a childhood dream of mine. What a great time that will be.
Thanks for reading my long winded post.
Shawn
Topic: 2 new selfbow shooters in Nebraska (Read 1071 times)
