Remember Who Brought You to the Dance

[Wudstix]

Dad used to always say, "Go home with the one who brought you."  Personally, for me it was wood bows and wood arrows.  Have adjusted a bit to footed and tapered arrows, or hickory for beating stumps and clumps.  Three blade glue on heads.
 

[Friend]

How often we live life as if we have forgotten who brought us to the dance.

[Pat B]

I didn't grow up in a hunting or outdoor family. My Dad was a police court judge in Savannah, GA and wouldn't allow us to have guns or weapons in the house. Our neighbors were outdoor folks and my Dad did allow us to go out with them and that's where I learned gun safety and how to shoot, how to operate an outboard motor, through a cast net and snipe hunt.   
 I guess it was Jay Massey's Primitive Archer and The Bowyers Craft that got me interested in archery then my friend in Bluffton SC got me into hunting with guns and bow and arrow and fishing when we moved there in 1978. I was 28 years old then. I guess we made bows and arrows when we were kids but never thought they would be real weapons.

[Roy from Pa]

I kind of brought myself into the archery scene when I was about 8 years old...

But mom and dad bought me my first bow cause I asked for one..

[Steve D]

Learned on my own, had the "stirring within" wired in.

[woodchucker]

First, was my Grandpa, who made me bows out of split saplings,
and arrows out of green bamboo tomato sticks with a flat head nail in the end for a blunt point.

BUT, the gentleman who brought me to the "Bowhunting Dance" was Mr. Fred Bear.
I got my first REAL bow when I was about 5, a fiberglass Red Bear recurve.
I whatched Fred on TV every weekend, dreaming of the day I could hunt like he did...
I would stalk rabbits and woodchucks  in my Grandpa's garden.
I would roam the woods, shooting at squirrels, dreaming of bigger game...

In 1976, I turned 16, and was old enough to Deer hunt. I purchased an Archery stamp with my license.
I had a Bear "Alaskan" recurve, and Bear cedar arrows tipped with Razorheads.
That first year, I killed a Doe Opening weekend. We were only allowed 1 Deer a year, so I didn't get to gun hunt with my Dad. The second year, I killed a Doe the second weekend, and again, done for the year...
After that, I swore I would only shoot a buck during bow season...

I hunted with that old Bear recurve up untill the mid 1980's.
I couldn't find a badly needed new string for it, so I bought a compound. A Bear "Whitetail Hunter"
I shot with fingers, and without sights... I few years later, I bought my second compound. A Bear "Whitetail II"
I hunted with that bow for a few more years. It developed a sqeeky cam, and no parts to fix it....
I gave up bow hunting. The "latest & greatest" new bow every year, just didn't appeal to me.

Back around 2000ish... I had a friend who was hell bent, on getting me back into bow hunting.
I told him, "Bob, If I ever bow hunt again, it will be with an old Bear recurve, and wood arrows"

I found a local guy and former TradGang member, Joe Skipp.
He sold traditional equipment out of his basement, and custom built wood arrows.
A used Bear Kodiak Magnum, and a dozen cedar arrows... I was 16 years old again!!!

I have 2 "custom" longbows, that I bought years ago, but I started picking up old Bear recurves at yard sales and flea markets. As I started shooting them more, The customs started collecting dust....
I bought my "bucket list bow" a Bear Kodiak T/D in 2015....
A couple years ago, with age creeping up on me, I had to drop 10# in weight.
I ordered a new set of 42# limbs from 3Rivers, and YIPPEE I could shoot my favorite bow again!!!

Fred Bear, was my childhood Hero... He still is!!

[Captain*Kirk]

Ben Pearson brought me to the dance, but I left with Fred Bear...

[mgf]

I started out gun hunting. I took up bowhunting for deer in the mid 80's with a compound. I never shot a wood arrow and every broadhead I own is a screw-in.

I ditched the wheels shortly after I started but I still like my aluminum arrows.

[Walt Francis]

Howard Hill sparked my interest when he gave a shooting demonstration at the local high school, I was 4-5.  He did another one when I was 8 or 9. The following year a man wife combination gave an archery demonstration at the same high school.  They shot small balls in the air, the wife shot a lit candle (might have been a cigarette) out of her husband's mouth.  They made all sorts of great trick shots that amazed this 5-6 year child. 

[Kelly]

My Dad and Grandpa were gun deer hunters as well as small game. But when it came to the bow that was all me. Started at 11 with a Ben Pearson, didn’t hunt until two years later. Now 60 years later still hunting with the bow, Bear TD, Black Hunter longbow, Sunset Hill. Been a lot of different ones along the way, far too many to name.

[Wudstix]

Started with a Ben Pearson recurve at 12 when I could hunt, our back acres.  Dad had used a fiberglas Sears bow for a couple years before that to give him a couple extra weeks.  I moved to a Damon Howatt Hunter and several others over the years.  Currently stable is listed under my post.
 

[George Tsoukalas]

I started with bows made from saplings and arrows made from shoot shafts back in the 50s. Wooden arrows and wooden bows are what I shoot today. Jawge

[trad_bowhunter1965]

I come from a hunting family no one bowhunted so I am self thought I can't remember not wanting to shoot a bow, I started with the Bear Fox my first hunting was a Browning nomad. I remember seeing a book on Howard Hill when I was 9 years old and it was all down hill from there I still think of shooting and hunting with a bow just as much now as back then.

[ksbowman]

 1971 my wife and I went to Ft. Leonard Wood to see my sister's family as that was where they were stationed. When we pulled up in the drive her two boys came running around the house yelling "Uncle Ben come around back we have a bow and arrows" They had a box set up and a fiberglass bow. That did it.

[murph60]

I like that CaptainKirk.

[Sam McMichael]

I started with a Ben Pearson recurve, but I evolved into an ASL fan. I still own several recurves, even though I essentially don't shoot them. However, I do shoot an ELB at Rendezvous. My current dance partner is a Northern Mist Shelton.

[ron w]

My uncle Herb influenced me when I was a kid, he bow hunted . In 1967 I bought my first recurve, a Browning Nomad. Started hunting in 1968 still at but at slower pace!!

[PrimitivePete]

My dad was a saltwater fisherman and my uncle was a strict beagle/shotgun rabbit hunter. Both thought I was nuts to go deer hunting with just a bow. Reverse influenced me more than anything. If I had to point to who gave me the trad bug, it had to be the Fred Bear Polar Bear hunt on TV was I was roughly 9-10 years old. The image of him drawing back on that bear is etched in me.

[Kirkll]

I came to the dance Stag, but left with a gal on each arm.

I’ve been to many dances with different types of music since then, but prefer the music I play myself.

Kirk