Ed Pitchkites will be 77 years old on May 13th, Ed is one of my childhood heroes and I am proud to say he’s also my friend. For those of you who do not know who Ed is let me give you some background as he is one of the early pioneers of our sport.
Ed was born in 1931 in a small town in Indiana. This was the era of the depression and times were tough. Ed began making his own bows out of local hickory at a very early age and used them to hunt the local rabbits, squirrels, and pheasants as a way to help his family get by. There were no deer in this area during this time.
Sometime during the late 40’s or early 50’s Ed got some attention in the local newspaper from his early bowfishing adventures. This article got the local game wardens attention because at this time there was actually no law either supporting or not supporting shooting fish with a bow. Ed got the support of the Blanford sportsman club and together they convinced Indiana state senator Wesley Malone to sponsor an amendment to the Indiana gigging law. Soon Indiana had a law allowing bowfishing for non-game fish! Thanks Ed!
The first deer season in Indiana took place November 1, 2, and 3 of 1951. This hunt was only allowed in a portion of Brown County. Shortly after noon on November 1st 1951 Ed saw a nice buck bed down about 50 yards from where he was standing in a hollow. A short time later Ed made a fine stalk and arrowed the first deer with archery equipment on the first day of the first season! A fine heavy mature 8 pointer at that! Ed killed that deer with a 60# Par-X aluminum (recurve)bow (He still hunts with that same bow occasionaly) I can only imagine the excitement that must have been, not only taking your first deer but being the first to do it in the state, WOW!
In 1954 Ed, along with several others formed the Black Stag Archers club. This was one of the first archery clubs in the area and became pretty popular, several clubs were patterned off of it later on. This club was moved in 1957 to Hillsdale, IN and later to West Terre Haute Indiana.
Sometime in the early 60’s Ed also helped start the Tri-County Bowhunters club. Some of you may be familiar with this club as they begin holding the Bowhunters Bonanza in 1968 (This was later called the bowhunters nationals) near Clinton IN. This shoot grew very quickly and was huge for it’s time with over 2000 spectators and more than 900 shooters from all over the country during its peak (around 1976). A lot of popular folks shot there during this time (this is where I met Fred Bear) including Vic Berger (1972 Los Vegas Open winner), Fred Bear, and Ted Nugent and I am sure many, many more. The IBO was a spin-off of the old bonanza shoot and took off quickly when the bonanza folded and eventually moved to Aurora IL.
In 1997 Ed finally published his book “60 years with the feathered shaft”. Not only did he write it himself (Jay Massey had originally encouraged Ed to write it, Jay and Ed were close freinds) Ed also published it 100% on his own. He has had it printed twice that I know of (1997 and 2005). If you haven’t read it you owe it to yourself! It is a very well written book with a lot of tidbits on making his own archery equipment, and some good hunting stories, and alot of local history to boot!
I once heard Brian Sorrells call Ed Indiana’s version of Glenn St. Charles, I couldn’t agree more!
I’m sure some of you know Ed or have met him at GLLI or Cloverdale or maybe the old bowhunter nationals even. Or maybe he has sent you one of his dream catchers or a cassette recording out of the blue as he seems to enjoy doing.
Anyway I thought it would be great if we would all send Ed a birthday card or note! I know it would put a smile on his face to get a mailbox or two full of birthday wishes from us traditional archers. So if anyone would like Ed’s address to send him a birthday card please post here saying you want his address and I will PM it to you. (I don’t feel comfortable just posting it out in the open). I’m going to keep bringing this up to the top page from time to time for the next few weeks so I can try to convince as many people as possible to wish Ed a happy Birthday!
Topic: Bowhunting Pioneer (Please Read) (Read 1040 times)
