Old timers roll call

[BAK]

Killed my first "critter" with a little yellow solid fiberglass bow when I was about 9 or 10, around 1958 or 9.  I was mightily proud of that rabbit.   

[durp]

1962 at age 8...never looked back !!!

[MnFn]

I had a green fiberglass 25# bow when I was pretty young, don’t remember exact year.  My first real hunting bow was a 40# Shakespeare Wonder bow that my parent gave me for my birthday in 1965 actually. Still have it.  I didn’t hunt much with it, but managed to take a nice little 4X4 with it.

[2fletch]

I started with hickory sapling bows in about 1953, then went to a 30# hickory bow, then a 35# lemonwood bow, then an all bamboo semi rrecurve 40# Panther bow sold by Malibu Archery in California. That bow was a dream to shoot. It had great cast, accurate, and lightweight.

Now I am 76 yrs. old and recovering from kidney cancer. However, my current bow is waiting for me. Hopefully in about 2 weeks (God willing) I'll be ready to start shooting with the guys again. Isn"t life good?.

[Ray Lyon]

In 1965 I was shooting a sapling bow with a string and then move up to a fiberglass bow that had slotted ends.  A couple years later it was a Ben Pearson lemonwood bow.  The rest is a myriad of one piece fiberglass (Bear Golden Bear and Browning) and then I graduated to two Bear 76’r take-downs.  A Dayton take down with Magnesium handle and wood limbs preceded my first Howard Hill longbow in 1977. Never a wheel bow, but nothing against them as a lot of people converted from them over the years.  So, the truth is I am a young old timer. Born in 1961, but qualify according to your date. 😉

[dnovo]

I think I qualify. I was born in 1956, started out shooting a hickory sapling my brother made. A couple years later my uncle gave me a little red fiberglass bow that I still have. I’ve never looked back. At 14 my mom bought me a Shakespeare Necedah recurve that really up my hunting for squirrels and groundhogs. At that time there weren’t any deer around. It was big news just to find a track. I crossed over to a PSE compound when I was about 20. 3 years later I sold it and got a Howard Hill longbow. That was 1980. I’ve been hunting and shooting with a longbow since then

In 1965 I was shooting a sapling bow with a string and then move up to a fiberglass bow that had slotted ends.  A couple years later it was a Ben Pearson lemonwood bow.  The rest is a myriad of one piece fiberglass (Bear Golden Bear and Browning) and then I graduated to two Bear 76’r take-downs.  A Dayton take down with Magnesium handle and wood limbs preceded my first Howard Hill longbow in 1977. Never a wheel bow, but nothing against them as a lot of people converted from them over the years.  So, the truth is I am a young old timer. Born in 1961, but qualify according to your date. 😉

[D. Key]

My first bow was a Willow Limb made by my Dad for me in or about 1955.  I can still remember his words..."Now don't shoot this arrow (only 1 made from another willow limb) at anyone or I will whip your behind".  My first real bow was in 1966, a Shakespear Necedah 58" and 50# recurve with 4 fiberglass arrows, tab and armguard for about $50.00 at Woolworth.

[Pine]

These posts are great.
I'm remembering how I would loose an arrow nock and ride my bike a mile and a half into town to the Sports Shop and get a new nock glued on for .03

[Pine]

This is my first bow and arrow kill.
A 13 stripe ground squirrel.

[Ray Lyon]

1985 bear taken with 57# Howard Hill Tembo

1988 Crested Butte Colorado 86# Howard Hill Big Five

[Captain*Kirk]

Can't remember exactly when...might have been around '67 or '68 when I got my first glass bow, so I might be a little outside the box. But thereabouts.

[bosteldr]

I'm getting sucked into this thread.  About 1962 or so my brother and I got a green fiberglass bow with 3 arrows and shot in the back yard.  Once visiting grandma's farm house our mom pulled out her lemonwood bow made by one of their neighbors when she was a teen (about late 30s).  More power so we started shooting that bow. (still have both bows). 1973 bought my first grownup bow while in Air Force Navigation school at Mather AFB.  Got the bug and saw a few bows on sale at Sears.  They had a Kodiac Mag 50#on sale for 70-75.00.  Regular  price was about 125.00. As a young Lt just married that was a major purchase.  Started on my archery journey. I still have and shoot that bow also.

[Deno]

Boy Scouts 1957 Ben Pearson bow.    First hunt 1961 Howard Hill Longbow  Still at 'em 

Deno

[Jay Bow]

I'm 68 and can't remember a time that I didn't have a string on a stick. Archery has been the one constant throughout my life.

[Will Telluteyrd]

I'm also 68 and can't remember the age I shot my first bow but I would shoot anything that would shoot a projectile. My buddy who is the same shared a laugh not long ago. When we were about 8 years old he bought a solid fiberglass bow and a couple of arrows. He shot a rabbit in the head that jumped up and did a flip and landed deader  than Julius Ceaser. That was 60 years ago and it seemed like yesterday. I'd spend hours chasing rabbits and Pheasants with my old hound using a BB gun or Bow. That hound would Yip, Yip,on a pheasant and bark on a rabbit.

[Bighornangler]

At age 17 I made a bow from Lemonwood in High School wood shop. I new nothing about making bows and it came out at about 25 lbs. I started my hunting career at the same age with that bow. Around that time I remember having a fiberglass bow, a York long bow, followed by several bows from Bear, Hoyt, Wing, and Browning. I didn't get my first deer until 1972 and that was with a Browning Safari recurve, fiberglass arrow, and a Bear razorhead. I did have a compound bow for awhile in the 70's. Then in the early 80's, I got my first custom recurve from Bighorn followed by several other custom longbows and recurves from other makers. Presently, I am shooting a Shrew "Lil Favorite" recurve. About ten years ago, I started making selfbows and bamboo backed reflex/deflex longbows. I did manage to get a buck with my first selfbow made from a hickory stave. I must sat that was very rewarding.

[Bighornangler]

I forgot to mention the year that I made that Lemonwood bow in H.S. was in 1952. I will be 85 this coming May. Life is great.

[finkm1]

I guess at 55 I'm not old enough for this thread. Cool!!!!!

[huntryx]

Got my first bow @ age 3, the summer of 1949!. Shot that bow for years in the summers in the country, shot in a league in college, but didn't start hunting until I moved upstate in the mid-70s. Shot a compound briefly when I started to hunt, but quickly went back to the stick and that's been all I shoot arrows out of since then.  Blackpowder, too, but that's another story.....

Fire burns now hotter than ever......I shoot almost daily.......

[lt-m-grow]

Probably started 1956 at nine, I made my own bow out of green cedar limb, it shot an arrow about 40 yards and lasted about 10 shots before taking a permanent bend at which point I made another one.

I got the archery merit badge at Boy Scout camp shooting a longbow. My folks bought me a Paul Bunyan fiberglass bow that I still have. We shot a lot back then, and met up on a vacant lot often to sling arrows.

I did the teenager stuff in highschool and didn't shoot a bow again until after I got out of the Army in 1970 and got a job. It was probably around 1973 that I returned to archery with a Kodiak Hunter recurve.

When compounds came out I went to the dark side in 1978, I had two compounds break on me while I was drawing on deer and abandoned them in 1989 for another Kodiak hunter recurve, followed by a Howatt Hunter recurve and finally with a Bighorn Grand Slam around 1991.

I started making selfbows in 1995, these have been my go to bows ever since. I see my archery journey coming to an end in the near future with a neck that won't let me shoot more than a dozen shots at a time without a good bit of pain. It was a mighty good run, over 60 years.

What a fun thread and Eric this is a great journey (and story)  and that bow in the pic is to die for.  Thanks for sharing.