Finally, my son commits to trad

[tradslinger]

Finally, after all of these years, my son got the Trad bug. He is 39 and has seen me shoot trad in various forms for years. He had stopped by for a few hours a couple of weeks ago and I had his two young sons out shooting some bows that I had made for them. Nothing special, just some bows that if broken, well, oh well. His boys are 7 and 9 and love to shoot. My son, David, actually has a cheap bow fishing setup that he uses a couple times a year but mainly it has been compounds. So as the boys shot, I showed him one of my Osage selfbows that I had made with recurve tips. It is only about 42# at his draw and it is 64" long. He shot it from about 8 yards a few times and then slowly began to back up. He made it about 26 yards and was doing pretty darn good with it. I figured that he would quit quickly but he just kept on shooting and this bare fingered. He was surprised at the speed of the bow as he expected it to be a lot slower. Anyways, the next time he came back, I had it inscribed with his name, the bow weight and when I had made it. I also had made him a back quiver, with an arm guard, shooting gloves, arrows and some two blade broadheads. He was above excited as he hurried out back to shoot. Two weeks later, his wife told me that David had been shooting it every day. Yesterday, he told me that he had taken a rabbit out of the garden with it and meant to get a couple of raccoons that had been tearing the garden up. His eyes were excited as he told me about his shot. He also told me that he had two or three spots to deer hunt where he meant to take a deer with the bow. And, he had ordered a dozen arrows for it. He told me that it was just too much fun to put down and now he wanted to try his hand at stalking with the bow. All of this has only fired the boys up even more. David told me that he could now see why I loved it so much. I will make him a few flu flu's so that he can squirrel hunt behind his house. He was amazed at how light it was and well it shot for him. Me, I'm just happy that he finally sees and understands the simplicity of it all. 

[Friend]

How wonderful...

Will be hard to surpass the enjoyment of sharing the trad dream with family.

[tippit]

Probably 10 years ago my son came home and said he wanted to shoot a tradition bow and learn how to forge a knife. I nearly fell over as I never pushed him to do either. Now he guides elk hunters in Colorado and has as a blacksmithing business.

[tradslinger]

Probably 10 years ago my son came home and said he wanted to shoot a tradition bow and learn how to forge a knife. I nearly fell over as I never pushed him to do either. Now he guides elk hunters in Colorado and has as a blacksmithing business.

It is like a dream come true to have your son or even a daughter to follow you like that. pretty darn awesome and congrats, so many can only wish for the same

[808trad]

At the end of today's hunt I asked my 13 year old son, "So what do you think about shooting trad?"  I had been bugging him for years and he has only wanted to shoot compound.  Today, I was floored when he said, "Tell you what, if I get good enough with trad, I'll commit to hunting Hawaii exclusively with a longbow, but I'll take my compound to Oregon when I hunt with Grandpa."  I was grinning from ear to ear.  But, his next question was, "How much does a longbow cost?"  I proceeded to give him the breakdown on everything he needed and told him he'd have to save up his birthday money.  That was the end of the conversation.

Little does he know, that in 7 days, on his 14th birthday, he's getting his first proper longbow.  I can't wait to see the smile on his face!  Hopefully it is the start of a transformation.  God works in mysterious ways!

 

[Terry Green]

Great stuff !

[RIVERWOLF]

Yep Mr. Terry , Great stuff  indeed ....

Many of us have this going on I suppose . I have shared and tried to get my young and many others into archery. Never meet 1 Big or small person that it doesn't speed an instant youthful smile to thier face.....First time hitting the mark is always shear joy for all. Teacher as much as student I suppose. With the MANY distractions , responsibilities of today
bowhunting/archery often venture far from the forefront of picked choices for the usage of time in many a folks lives.Sadly......For like trapping  it brings one closer....has one digging deeper ...understanding more of our Natural world and wild places. That is something EVERYONE should have filling all the voids in our lives for Balance.....

 I always keep a few spare bows -arrows-gloves-quivers for those opportunities  ...planting a seed in hope of it's germenation .  Congratulations my friend ! 

[tradslinger]

Awesome stuff indeed 808! I do my best to act very excited with the grandkids (boys and girls) as they shoot their stickbows. I have a couple of small stuffed teddy bears that I set up for them to "sneak hunt" on. For them, they are pretending that they are rabbits and they get very serious in their hunts too. The awesome thing is how I have been able to pass on several bows to the oldest grandsons, 17 and 23 plus one to their dad. It is so nice to get a phone call or texts with questions about their bow or arrows, broadheads etc. to hear the excitement in their voice. I have given away all of my higher poundage bows to fuel the desires for them to shoot and hunt. 

[LookMomNoSights]

Very cool!
Geez,  the way you tell that story and how it all comes together,  one might get the impression that shooting a stick bow is like addicting or something ........... 

[MnFn]

Similar story I guess. I gave my son an old American Cheetah to shoot.  He got fairly good with it.  One of my nephews asked him when are you going to buy a compound? His reply was “What? And get taken out of the will??”