Old Timers Only

[Flathead Willie]

I'm 57 and started shooting a bow when I was about 10 or 11. That was when my Grandfather, who was from the back woods of Canada, taught me how to make a bow out of Ash saplings to hunt rabbits. I got serious about it in 1975 when a friend wanted to hunt deer. I decided not to kill a deer with a gun unless I could get one with a bow first. I bought a 60's model Bear recurve at a yard sale for $12 and started practicing. It became a passion when I realized that it was the hardest thing I've ever tried to do. I've taken 129 deer with that same bow. My first deer was a little spike but to me it was the trophy of a lifetime. It got me started "hunting" deer year round with a camera, binoculars, and bow. I still read anything and everything I can find on Whitetails. I've taken at least two a year every year since, and some years I've taken as many as 8, 10, 12, in a season, (every one of which was eaten). I tried the compound thing but it just didn't sit well with me. ( The first year I hunted with a compound, I missed more deer than I did the entire 12 years before that with a recurve!)It has become an obsession with me. I'm not interested in being able to shoot deer from 60 yards...I live to get closer and closer without them knowing I'm there. Most of the shots I take can be measured in feet rather then yards. I hunt in all weather, the worse the better, because I know that deer are not expecting me to be out there when the weather is bad and because it eliminates a lot of places I have to look for deer. ( My ex-partner wouldn't hunt when it was raining because he didn't want to get his $500 bow wet, or when it was windy because he couldn't hear the deer coming!) It took him 20 years to get his first deer with a bow! I haven't missed an opening day for 31 years now and will continue bow hunting as long as I am able. I own several bows now but always grab my Bear Grizzly when deer season rolls around. I'd love to have a nice hand made custom bow some day, but until then, the grizzly is my "Big Medicine" bow. Bow hunting is a religious experience for me. It keeps me centered, relieves stress, and reminds me that  I am just a small player in the grand drama of the universe. Now I have the honor of teaching my cousin's 11 year old son what I have learned about the sport and I think he is becoming as obsessed as I am. I love it!

[johnnail]

I'm 60...pre-compound. I remember when everybody shot recurves, wood or aluminum, nobody had a computor, few people had a TV(in my part of the country), not every rural home had electricity, we were on a "party line" telephone, we listened to the radio of an evening to things like "The Shadow" or Aurther Godfrey's "Talent Scouts", we didn't lock our doors or worry about anything being stolen, and you knew all your neighbors, your Government trusted you.....WHEW!! TIMES HAVE SURE CHANGED!

[OH at work]

56 years young and got my first bow in 1961.  Used to love to hang out with some local guys who shot indoors at a barn during the winter (had an old wood stove to warm up the place and light was really bad but it was fun!!).  Seen all kinds of bows come and go but the thing that really strikes me each fall is the # of deer we have now.  Back in my teens I hunted almost every afternoon in the fall and winter and farmed in the summers and don't remember even seeing a deer.  Now look at what we have    

Joe

[TradAlaska]

Greetings All You Old Arrow Flingers -- I shot my first deer with a bow at age 14, which was 51 years ago.  Doing the math, that makes me 65.  I shoot a 68# Black Widow recurve, but may drop back to 62# after my next trip to Africa this coming June.  Hunting has always been a passion and bowhunting an obsession.  As I get older, I spend more and more time looking for what I call geriatric hunts.  When the days of running around big mountains and across muskegs and tundra aren't as much fun or doable as they were a few years back, hunting from a good blind or easy stalks become much more attractive.  I don't  care how old you are, if you keep hunting long enough, you will know what I mean.

I'm heading to Texas in two days to hunt hogs and javelina at 4 different ranches over the course of 18 days.  It is South Africa again in June and I have hunts booked for Australia and Argentina and well as some here in the States.  I plan is to spend as much of my kid's inheritance as possible before being confined to a rocking chair.

Cheers from Alaska

[Al33]

I will be 59 come August and I have been shooting a bow as long as I can remember and I can still recall buying the little wooden bows that came in a package with three rubber stopper tipped  arrows.   :D    Growing up on the outskirts of Dallas, Texas us kids had plenty of Osage trees to cut limbs from and make bows. I suspect I was about 10 or12 years old when I started making them and they were very crude but would flat out fling an arra. My folks bought me a 50# Ben Pearson solid fiberglass bow when I was about 14 and I still have this bow. We didn't have big game around those parts, but many squirrels, rabbits, ‘possums, ‘coons and more were taken with this bow and my varied arsenal of arrows.  I saved just about every nickel I could earn on arrows and there was no such thing as having them matched in weights, lengths, or even materials. Fiberglass arrows were the cat’s meow back then and I managed to get my hands on a couple of them. I learned quickly not to take shots that had a high probability of a lost arrow because they were just too precious. Heck, I can even recall losing one of my favorites where I should have been able to find it easily. Despite great efforts to locate it time and time again I never found it.   :(  

I finally managed to buy a super-duper Ben Pearson recurve when I was 16. It was a 50# wooden riser with the green and black fiberglass. A neighborhood kid stole it and broke it. His mother replaced it with another one just like it but by this time I was fixing to graduate from high school and join the Army. No archery for me in Viet Nam but when I got out in April of 1970 I picked up the bows again after moving to Georgia. I had never taken any big game with a bow and I found Georgia had whitetails for the offering. It took me a few years but I managed my first deer, a little 5 point buck with the old Ben Pearson recurve shootin an aluminum arrow tipped with a Bear Razorhead. Inspired with taking this trophy I bought a 55# Browning Explorer I recurve. Unfortunately, before I could hunt with it a burglar stole it AND my old Ben Pearson along with a few guns I had.  

[ber643]

Kids, kids, I'm surrounded by kids! AND I love it!!!      

[Chortdraw]

Burnie,seems when you get old you are always surrounded by something. Now I'm waiting for good luck. Just as long as I can still fling arrows I will be a happy camper!

Chort

[ber643]

Ya got that right, Chort!  

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

I will be 52 this fall and this will be my 33 rd deer season. I grew up in a non hunting family and picked up a recurve off a table at a rummage sale when I was 18. I went to the local sport shop and got some arrows and saw an archery magazine. I had no idea you could hunt with archery gear. Not having any one to teach me to shoot properly or how to hunt meant a very steep learning curve. It took me five years to kill my first whitetail. Oh you should have seen some of my misses! Switched to a compound in 82 went back to recurves in 85 . Started shooting longbows in the mid 90's. I've yet to kill an elk but I've  succeeded on whitetail deer, caribou , turkeys and hopefully this fall a moose. I love  going home and just shooting off the deck at a ragged old 3d deer. Friends have made me self bows and I hope to bless them with memories soon.
i remember every deer or turkey or caribou i've killed with simple gear and forgotten all those with wheels. I have never hunted with a gun and I dream about Africa , Canada and  the mountains out West...... wait did i just hear a bugle? Grab the bows lets go..............

[Ia Hawkeye]

Been shooting bows since my grampa built my first bow in 1949. I didn't shoot much during my teen years and my early twenties. (had other things on my mind!) Got back into shooting and bowhunting in 1964.
I'm 68 now and am still passionate about archery !!

Tried compounds in the early 70's but soon went back to recurves which I still shoot today. I shot a longbow for 2 years, but always liked curves better.

Glad to hear there are other old geezers here!

[Frank V]

I started with a Bear Kodiak Hunter 48lb (wish I still had it) Things seemed simpler then. What's a compound? Frank

[longbowman]

Hey, I "resemble" that remark about being so old you were on a party line!!!  Heck, I'm STILL on a party line and I still have a rotary phone in one room!  Honestly, this turned out beter than I had hoped.  It's great knowing you're not the only one using your bow for a cane!

[Old York]

I've been receiving ARRP letters for some time now so that makes me...old enough? Grew up with a solid fibre-glass Bear Cub, then a Kodiak Magnum. Lord, what a graceful looking bow!

My father had me smell a broken POC once; he said, "Take a good sniff now, these shan't be around forever." I never knew something could smell so good.

Micro-Flites, GameGetters, XX78 2216's, and then two Browning compounds. I actually was pretty good with a compound and a stationary target. But I never killed a deer with those machines; I'd switch back to instinctive every single shot and miss.

We were never that successful; getting a deer was a lifetime achievement. 1st one at 16, and others were to follow sporadically. But I had the best of times with the 'Ol Man and I learned patience and vigilance and what frostbite was. It was cold back in the 60's!

My brother and I are teaching my nephew archery and this has re-kindled a burning passion. I am finding out every day new things about old ways. I love shooting my Shakespeare X-26 ~ my father won it in a raffle from the annual Necedah Bowhunter Tournaments.

With a bit of luck, hard work, and a Hunter's Moon, maybe I'll get a chance at counting coup this fall. But for now, just getting back out there with that simple string-driven thing is plenty good enough. This bowhunting business is a blessed magic. Good luck to everyone out there!

   

Tim

[Archer 1]

I started with a lemonwood longbow at about age 10, didn't get a hunting weight bow until I was 19, a solid fiberglass Ben Pearson 45# recurve. A couple of years later got a Darton 47# recurve, then a 65# Bingham recurve, still got it. Have never owned a pully bow. I've been shooting longbows for the past 20+ years. I'm 65 next Thursday, and still shooting my 60 to 65# longbows, and recurves. I hope I still got a few more years of watching the arrows fly, Lord willing.
John.

[Charles K.]

Hello, I am 51 yrs. old and can remember the day(my 11th b-day)when Dad put a used Ben Pearson recurve in my hands. Something happened in my brain that I could never explain....but you all know the feeling.
I can remember Shatner killing that bear on "American Sportsman"...I remember going to my backyard and shooting 'arrow after arrow' into a hay bale..I remember getting a Bear catalogue in the mail and looking at the pics long after lights out....the only thing I wanted to do back then was to kill a deer with my recurve and sit with my family at supper and enjoy a fine venison meal.
Thanks Dad, everything came true.

[Gray Buffalo]

This sucks. I’m 65 and it looks like I’m one of the old men

[Roger Moerke]

I'm 57 don't think that can be right until a mirror gets in front of me, then then holy smoke what happened!
My first bow was a fiberglass longbow a neighbor kid gave me in rural Minnesota was a big deal for this farm kid.I had a pheasant get up in front of me and I took a few feathers off, my eyes got as big as saucers, I can still see that arrow just miss. Still happens today!
In those days hunting trapping, fishing was my life (umm) still is imagine that.
I really did not get into archery until the early 70's when I met this fella who talked me into archery, I traded a 30-30 for a bear Kodiak I think a bear something anyway, on my first ever outing I had a nice 8 pointer come right under the oak tree I was standing in no stand wern't invented yet maybe but I had never heard of one. Anyway I remember seeing every detail of that deer with my heart pounding,the gloss of his eye the wiskers on his chin his shiny nose. I drew back and let go the arrow sailed right over his back! He moved off a few feet and began to eat I could hear him munching but had no shot cause of branches.Like they say the rest is history, I live to hunt with the bow the experiences the good Lord  has given me keep me young inside.

[joe skipp]

Lets see...I'll be 55 in August, started bowhuntng when I was 16. List of bows...started with a 45# Bear Cub, went to a 51# Browning Nomad and killed my first deer. Used Sweetland Forgewoods with Bear Razorheads, St Charles quiver, Tiger STripe Camo.

Went through many Acme Cedars, Pearson Deadheads all stuffed in my Herters backquiver. Gradutated to a 55# Kittredge 1 pc recurve and Kittredge T/D. Took many deer with the one piece and my first Caribou with the T/D in '79. Next bow was an Archery 2000 SST, designed by Larry Bamford and Phil Grable. First Antelope fell to this bow and XX75's tipped with 2 blade Zwickeys.

Next came a Bill Steward Multi-Cam T/D Recurve. I treasured this bow, took an antelope and Mule deer, then retired it. Followed this with a Rocky Miller Predator T/D, Howard Gamemaster Jet, Jack Kempf Stealth, Ron Maulding Tamarack longbow. Used an original Catquiver from Rancho Safari, I modified it, still have it.

Shot forgewoods until they disappeared. Miss those Gordon Glashafts and Browning Microflites.
Shot and lost a number of Herters Ram MX Broadheads that were mounted on Tomato Red MJ Log cedar arrows...I could go on forever but will end it here....I think I came full circle...I still shoot a Kempf STealth and Groves Spitfire...Dougherty Naturals...Zwickeys...and replaced cedar with ash.

[bayoulongbowman]

Im almost 52 , my first bow was ben pearson 15# recurve it came with 3 arrows I think, they were very precious because They didnt have extra arrows at the store. Later shot Bear and Wing...bowhunted till I had kids, put the bow down for awhile when my son was 9 started back with the archery and bowhunting on my Uncles farm.Then later work as Manuf. rep in archery industry sold compounds and Traditional bows as well. When I was kid I write all the bows companies and order catologs . My dad and I would look at them Bear , Browning, American Archery,Howard Hill, Ben pearson ...After watching Howard Hill shoot trick shots at my elementary shool in the 5th grade I was hooked...I played sports all the way through high school , but really got into basketball ...there was Player at LSU that was pretty dang good maybe you have heard of him Pistol Pete Maravich...I would sell ice cream sandwhiches to make money to buy archery gear and watch the best basketball player at Show Time LSU Basketball games ...Pistol Pete...he was the best basketball player I ever watched play in college way ahead of his time...I sold alot most games anyway...purchase my first really nice Bear bow it was used but 1959 ER was it a bute...it shot lights out Just like Pistol Pete ...I name the bow Lights out!!!Archery and bowhunting is like my basketball now, I love them both...I cried when Pete Maravich died ...Basketball has changed, Bowhunting has too,but I will always remember how I bought that special bow,    with little help from a free flowing  long-haired basketball player with floppy socks #23 worked his magic on the hardwood:)   ...old timer not really...thanks , marco#78...