Old Timers Only

[longbowman]

Reading some of the topics got me thinking (which is seldom and dangerous) about my journey through the bowhunting world around me and thought it would be great to read some of the other "life journeys" from some of you older guys.  So if you haven't hunted with a bow since "before compounds" this isn't for you.

I started shooting things with a bow in 1964.  I watched the bowhunting world change around me and then come back again.  I'm starting to believe there really is never anything new but history just repeating itself.  I'm in my mid 50's now and shoot year round still.  I've traveled to the west and have taken bull elk, mulies, black bear and many whitetails with both longbows and recurves. My son, who is 29, is a longbow shooter and has become a fine hunter.  I currently shoot an 80's vintage Bear T.D. @ 70# and a customer longbow at 80#.  I went from ground hunting, before the avent of treestands, to treestand hunting and now hunt 75% from the ground again.  I hunt to kill the animal I'm hunting.  I don't need to kill to have a good hunt.  I like the term "bowhunting" and dislike the term "traditional bowhunting".  I've been around long enough to know that the term bowhunter doesn't have anything to do with equipment and shouldn't have but rather the heart of the person hunting.  Finally, I'm actually old enough to already know some of the things that Gene Wensel talks about in his book "Come November" as being common sense.

[JEFF B]

[JEFF B]

i know where you are comming from. iam 54 and i have been bowhunting since i was 15 a real long time ago. and i am still bowhunting but not as much as i should. like when it rains i look out the window and say no not to day. and this lasts for about a week or so on and off. and as soon as i get one fine day i am gone. i dont mind if i dont get any thing but i love it when i do as i only hunt for meat. i will be comming over at the end of sept the start of your deer hunting season in virgina. as i am staying with my bro bob walker for about 2-3 weeks this should be a real hoot. as i hate flying. and will be my first big trip. i love getting out and walking in the bush. and i have been knowen to fall asleep  while hunting as well to funny to talk about.  

[ChuckC]

Wolfman, that is a HUGE trip.  Hope you can sleep in planes, I sure can't. My flight back to the US from that area too forever.  Hope you have fum with Bro Bob.    

I am 52 (tomorrow) and have been shooting arrows for a long time too.  I like the fact that, today, the younger crowd has access to a lot more resources than we did.  Down side, as I have said before, they often tend to read and see videos and then...oh, shut up Chuck    .....anyway....I just like being out there and shooting arrows.  It appears to be what I do to relax.  

Killing a critter is what I often set out to do but it really doesn't matter so much if I don't.  If I get out there, it is often more than enough for me.   I sure do like eating those critters though, and usually you need to kill one before you can eat it.
Later
ChuckC

[Roadkill]

I'll be 59 in April.  Dad, a Navy pilot was stationed at St Louis Naval air station.  I lived on Natural Bridge and Lindberg, across the street was Hoyt archery.  Worked at jobs when I was 8 and 9 for the neighbors and Earl sold be a little flat bow with a blemish for 75 cents and little cedars for 15 cents.  I still have a bear quiver that cost me half buck from him.  Patrolled a plumb orchard for a neighbor and manged to take a maurading blue jay as my first in 1958.  Move dto KY and hunted there with a little Browning recurve and went to college at UWisc-shot an Indian recurve then.  Came home from RVN and asked my dad to send out my Indian, but it had delaminated so I journeyd wwith wheel and cams for a few years.  Shot a lot of everyhting with those, but something was missing-it was actually seeing the arrow fly.  Got a Brack recurve tha went in my jeep or hummer where I went-it didn't go to gulf war I, however. And when I retired from the USMC got a Meigs longbow.  Got several of them now and enjoy the hunt-hello not near as much time cleaning things with the longbow. Go back east every other year or so to hunt whitetails with friends or my cousins.  It's the hunt, being outside, feeling things-not seeing or hearing, but feeling things that makes the hunt now.  I am a lucky person.

[Orion]

Longbowman:  My experiences pretty much parallel yours, though mine probably started 5-7 years earlier, and the bows I shoot are lighter.  I'm a little past 60 now.  I even shot a compound for a short while in the 60s.  Talk about traditional archery or traditional bowhunting, when I started it was just called archery or bowhunting.  Traditional wasn't applied to archery or hunting until well after the compound came along as a way to distinguish the two, I suppose.

[Danny Rowan]

I am 56 and began with a fiberglass static recurve when I was 14 or 15 years old. Went to a longbow and shot them for many years 70-80 pounds. I have been on many hunts and killed deer and pig as well as small game from Texas to Guam. A few years ago I dropped down in weight and switched to a recurve and now shoot 60-72 pound recurves and a couple of three piece t/d longbows. Shoot mainly 60 pounds but have a 72 pound recurve that I use almost daily to help keep my strength up. Spent 21 years in the Navy which put a damper on my hunting and shooting for a while. But have been back at it solid since 1993. Never did see the urge to go to a compound. And yes a bowhunter is a bowhunter.

Danny

[randy grider]

i'm only 44, but stated shooting a homemade stick when i was about 6 or 7, years later i got a bear fiberglass recurve, then an indian fiberglass longbow(about 40#). by then i was about 12. that would have been about 1974. if there were compounds around, i did not know about them.when about 16 some of my buddies got compounds, which did not intrest me at all. work got in the way by the time i graduated high school, and did not really hunt again untill about 1992. went to the pawn shop, bought an old bear compound, and a bear recurve. tinkered with the compound for a couple of days and decided i hated it because i did not know how to tune it. archery shop owners were no help because it was outdated, and of course i needed the newest model that they naturally had in stock. picked up the bear kodiak magnum, which before looked doubtfull,shot it a few times and fell in love. never wanted a compound, or even shot one since then. maybe i'm not "old" enough, but i feel like i am !

[John D]

I'm 49, started shooting one of those fiberglass straight bows when I was 5, thanks to my dad, who loved archery, got a Blackhawk Mosquito 20-25# at age 10. Then at 14 years of age, I thought I was big time, Got a brand new Kodiak Hunter $60.00 in 1971 I still have that bow and still shoot it. That bow is 40#. still have aluminum arrows from Feline Archery before the shafts were camo,with Hilbre BH that was really big time. Shot a compound for about a year. went back to recurve. about ten years ago I stopped using a gun, I hunt every thing with my bow no matter what season. I'm now up to 16 recurves, don't know if I'm an oldtimer sure fills like it. Like GB says I'm much to young to fill this damm old. God Bless

[Gray Buffalo]

It all started back in 1952 when my brother and I got BB guns for Christmas. Tin cans became old hat after 6 months or so and one day we shot the windows out of grandpa’s smoke shed which caused our guns to take on a new look about haft way down the barrel.     The next year we talked dad into bow and arrows and the rest is history. Been there ever since except when traveling with Uncle Sam’s Navy

[Roy from Pa]

Almost 59 here. Maken Osage bows and hand made woodies. Wife is 48:)

[John57]

I was given my first longbow in 1968,for my 11th birthday.I started in on the local rabbit population then an there,havn't stopped yet either.I've hunted 4 of the seven deer spiecies in NZ,as well as wild cattle,pig,goats,chamios,wallaby,an a few other things.Spent 5 years in Australia and hunted every chance I got over there as well.
I saw the very begining of compounds in NZ,but held out for about 15 years.
I took the plunge in the mid 80's when I bought my 1st compound,but it didn't last long and I ended up back were I'd begun,with yet another longbow,,,,along with quite a few recurves.
Today I only know 3 other stickbow shooters an I don't get to meet up with them very often.
There is a hard core of stickbow hunters in NZ, but most of us have very little to do with the club/target scene so you'd go a longtime before bumping into any of us.
Personaly,I Hunt and target shoot with a local club about 50/50.
I turn 50 in August this year and have a three day hunt for Red deer planned,just like I do every birthday.
Hunting,targets,just shooting as much as I can,it's a very good life.
Cheers.

[turkey63]

I'm 65 started in the early fifties with a York hickory longbow, my dad being a machinist made his own equipment including arrow fletchers, broadheads, feather burner,etc, Got my first recurve a Bear Polar in 1957 and now shoot a Stahl takedown and a Mike Treadway longbow. I've killed alot of critters through the years and this year I'll probably make my last elk hunt in Colorado. The most enjoyment besides the hunts has been the fun introducing my son and later my grandsons to bowhunting. Being there when they killed their first deer is a feeling that goes beyond anything that I could have ever imagined. The pleasure of spending so many years in the great outdoors will be in my soul past this lifetime and carry into the next.

[Brian Krebs]

I am 55 for a couple more days; and I started bowhunting when my brother got the roy rogers pistols and holsters; and I got a bow set with an indian headdress with all the feathers of a great chief; on a trip to the upper penninsula of Michigan in about 1956.
 I connected on a sparrow and had to give it a burial in the back yard; and the bow was taken away.
 I made another out of a branch from a bush in the yard; and arrows from the same bush.
 When I got a little older; I started borrowing the longbow my father got in school- in the early 1930s; a 40 pound Indian Archery longbow ( still have it in the wood case).
 I bought a Ben Pearson recurve in the early 60's'; and got my limit of squirrels with it- on a regular basis.
 I had a pretty good idea in my head what a good shot looked like; but a couple things happened that really influenced the rest of my life into bowhunting.
 One was when I was out with my uncle; bird hunting with shotguns. I stopped; and a bush asked me to keep moving. It was a bowhunter hidden on a deer trail. I had it happen again a few minutes later; and there was something about being in the woods when it was pretty empty- as gun season for deer... was a big deal in Michigan.
 Then I saw Fred Bear shoot a thimbleberry leaf - while on a bear hunt; and then shoot a bear.
  I just saw artistry in the shots; I saw a man in nature; connected in the flash and flight of the arrow: to this great part of nature we know as a grizzly bear. I have yet to get it out of my mind.
 I am no artist; I was always picked last for any team sport; and yet; with a bow and arrow I could do something right; and pure; and free.
 I did come back from my Air Force time- to find my  pearson bow was gone. I hunted one season with my dads old longbow; and there was something in it that I just could not let go of.
 The bow was old; and bent-probably about 30 pounds by then.  So I bought the only bow I could find; a Bear whitetail hunter; a compound bow- with wheels and pulleys.  After doing some 3d shooting and taking a couple deer and bears; I found the money for a Bear take-down recurve.
 I hunted with that until it was stolen; and then shot a kodiak recurve until about 5 years ago- when I tried longbows again.
 Now I am shooting a bamboo limbed longbow 'longbow hunter'; that was glued up after it broke on a dry fire ( fast flight string versus big nock).
 I cannot see shooting anything but traditional bows.
 When I moved to this area of Idaho; I rolled down the mountain- while riding back in elk hunting on a horse; and ended up with a broken shoulder blade.
 I could not pull my bow back even an inch. I shot a deer that year by taping my bow to my foot and using my leg and my drawing arm; I shot a small muledeer buck while sitting on the porch to my cabin.
 -- Where there is a will: there is a way--
 (provided there is also duct tape)
I just love shooting my bow so much that I cannot see not ever being a bowhunter.
 I have bowhunted for big game with a bow only; since 1981; when I shot my last deer with a gun. I remember how stupod I felt to have a gun with me instead of a bow- with a buck in front of me at 19 yards.
 Since then I have been out every season; spring bear for 20 plus years in addition to fall hunts; and still get excited when I see a doe.
 I practiced today with a herd of elk watching me; and although I have done my share of missing with a bow in my life; I will always walk in the woods with my bow: while chasing elk; and deer; and bears; and antelope; and ...dreams.

 

[Brian Krebs]

NO sense in spelling 'stupid' correctly.
 I know we double nickle guys can't be the "old timers"!!! CAN WE????

[George D. Stout]

Brian...don't sell yourself short...you're pretty old.      

I'm 61 and started official bowhunting in 1965..my first year chasing whitetails.  I've been shooting bows of one sort or another since the mid 50's.   I had a four year affair with wheeled devices from 1976 to 1980 but never got rid of my recurve bows.  Since then I've been back to my stickbows.  My passion is to watch arrows fly...usually at stumps.

[Nakohe]

Like my twin bro Danny, I started at 14 or so with fiberglass recurve. Then in 1976 when I got out of USAF I bought a T/D recurve and hunted and took deer and squirel in Michigan and Texas till 1980 and then work took over and had a lapse till 94 when I bought my first longbow. Loved it and hunted with them till this year when I went back to a curve. Still not sure if I will stay curve or go back to longbow. I love both. I am 56 now.

[Aeronut]

I started shooting bows around age ten when I got a small fiberglass recurve for christmas and shot my first rabbit with it about three weeks later (much to the suprise of my dad).  I got a c-c-c compound, what I refer to as mechanical arrow launchers, sometime in the late seventies and finally hung it up completely about five years ago.

I shoot both recurve and longbow and my favorite is my BBO that I made two years ago.  Now I'm addicted to the basement shop and bow forms, slats, bamboo, urac, dowels, bamboo and river cane arrows, feather grinders, belt sanders, bandsaws,..........I'll turn 51 next month.

Hi, my name is Dennis and I'm a bow-a-holic.
   

[SteveMcD]

I will be 51 in a couple of months, God willing). I started archery and bowhunting in 1969. My first bow was a Pearson Model 304 Take Down Longbow 45#@28. It was just called "Archery" then.  Times have changed and some things come back around again. We gone from Cedar and Fiberglass "MicroFlites" and Aluminum to Carbons. I always loved Cedar! Nothing like the smell of a broken arrow!   :D  What I think about most is not about the animals taken, but my hunting friends and family along the way. I thank God I still have my health and can climb mountains, our age groups keeps getting smaller.    I believe one of the major benefits today, is bowhunter education. Back then all you had to do was buy the archery stamp. Good Lord.. experience is a hard teacher. And I think the best way to keep young people in archery and bowhunting is the foundation of being taught right, from the start.

[woodchucker]

I have been shooting a bow for as long as I can remember.....

Back around 1966-67 I had a Bear "Red Bear" solid fiberglass bow and 4 cedar arrows tipped with Bear Razorheads in a backquiver.(this was a pretty good "hunting set-up" for a 6-7 year old kid)

My friend and I decided to meet at daybreak one morning to go "hunting".He brought his new BB-gun and I brought my bow and arrows. We still-hunted along a familiar trail for a ways and we saw a squirrel.We quietly slipped "into range" and my friend took aim,and fired.....the squirrel jumped as he was hit,and ran to the nearest tree and started climbing.....stopping for a second about 3 feet off the ground.....I drew my bow,my index finger touched the corner of my mouth,and the Razorhead was on it's way.....THUMP!!!!! I hit the squirrel perfectly between the shoulders and pinned it to the tree!!!!!

I never had much use for BB-guns after that.....