Reminiscing: How About You Old Timers?

[Bill Kissner]

I want to hear some old time stories!

In the early 1960's in my area Hoyt and Ben Pearson bows were dominant. Hoyt especially because it was only about 90 miles to the factory. I went there many times with a friend that was a dealer and sold archery equipment out of his garage. Earl Hoyt was a very kind man that answered many of my amateur questions.

Very few people owned Bear bows. They just never caught on in my area. My first hunting bow was a Ben Pearson Conqueror. Never did kill a deer with it mainly because there were not very many to hunt, but still have it so maybe I will take it out again sometime. If you saw any deer, it was something to talk about and if someone happened to kill one, it made front page in our little county twice weekly paper. There were twin bowhunting brothers that lived close by and they were known far and wide for their hunting prowess. They usually killed their deer every year.

I remember the first deer I ever saw in 1964 while bowhunting. I was standing in ankle deep water and the doe and fawn were about 60 yards away looking at me. I was so shaky I could see little vibration waves in the water around my feet. I shot at that doe and shot over her by at least 10 feet. I had hunted for days and days without seeing anything and was not gonna pass up that shot! Tree stand hunting had not been invented yet as people never started using them until the late 60's.

 
Bought a little 48 inch Bear Magnum or Super Magnum one year. Brought it home and it exploded the first time I pulled it back. At the time that about soured me on Bear bows. I finally bought a Bear Takedown in 1969. Took it to Colorado that same year and killed my FIRST deer with it, a muley. Still have that bow also. Bowhunting got in my blood and has stayed!

[Bill Carlsen]

Turned 66 yesterday. When I was a kid I lived near Coney Island. On the boardwalk there was an archery booth where you could shoot arrows at balloons. On my eighth birthday my dad took me there and bought me a 20# Lemonwood bow. The fellow that owned the booth had a bow company in Coney Island called Bruno Bows. I used to watch him make bows and shoot. I never owned one of his bows but  I have always had a bow in my hand since that old lemonwood. Since then I have taken a truckload of whitetails, 5 black bear, one moose, one turkey (this year finally) and another truckload of small game. The only time I didn't hunt much was when I was in college in Mass. but I did get to to the Cape one year and was surprised to see so many deer. Actually saw a buck fight.

[Uncle Buck]

I am only 55- butgrowing up in Michigan in the 60's and 70s it was almost unpatriotic not to by a Bear bow. one of my hunting buddies has a 48" bear magnum that has had 4 owners all in the same family- its 45#@28 so it makes a good starter bow for young hunters. when I was a kid Fred Bear was a living legend in Michigan.

[joe skipp]

My first dozen Bear arrows...fully dipped in Yellow with Bear Razorheads...$12.95 per dz. Then bought some Browning fully camouflage arrows...lost every one missing deer.

Took my first deer in '71. My setup was a Browning Nomad I, Forgewood Arrows tipped with Razorheads. Catquiver I, Tiger STripe Camouflage. I had lost my old WWII Brown Leaf jacket and according to C.R. Learn...Tiger Stripe was the hot item.

Made our own practice arrows out of PO Cedar from Acme, Trueflight Feathers and heads from the old Kittredge Bow Hut, Herters Backquiver and Pearson Deadheads from Robin Hood Archery out of NJ. I wasn't a big fan of Bear bows although everyone shot one. My cousin and I preferred Browning and Pearson.

When cedar didn't hold up to the pounding, we switched over to Gordon Glashafts and Browning Micro flites. We stayed with the Forgewood for hunting because they were tough. Mine were fully dipped in Sky Blue with all white fletching. My first 2 yrs of bowhunting was filled with many lost arrows and many more misses.

Finally connected on a nice 4 pt my third year and thats when I gave up the gun. I really miss my early years, no houses, plenty of woods to hunt and they were always filled with whitetails.

[PICKNGRIN]

I am 54.  Got started with an Indian Archery 25# fiberglass recurve.  I think I was about 10. No one at my house ever shot a bow before. My older cousin came by to see what I got for Christmas and quickly told me I had strung the bow backwards!!!  Boy, did that make a difference once we got it strung right!!  I can remember getting the cheap 25 cent arrows at the local hardware store and when I could afford it, I got the deluxe 49 cent ones that had a real field point and 5 inch feathers!!  The local bullfrog population was in trouble back then!!  Back then, if you were under the age of 14 in Wisconsin, you could get a bow tag for less than $2.00!!

[trashwood]

At last I can confess     I hope the statue of limitations is up.  I am 66 now 18 then

As i recall the first archery deer season was in 1957.  I was 14.  I went deer hunting.  saw some deer but didn't have a clue how to get in range.

it was 1961 before I got a deer.  I was shooting a Wing Presentation.  An older friend and I went to Canadian Texas on Thanks Giving to deer hunt.  We were on the Canadian Rivers in salt cedars.  We split up to meet back at lunch.  After walking a bit I started up a creek. I ended up leaning on a big cotton wood tree looking things over.  I heard foot falls in the leaves across the creek.  I peeked out from behind the cotton wood to see three does, forty yards away.  I had been shooting field all summer long and thought 40 yds was a close shot    .  40 yds was just under my point on. The doe spotted me but I let fly.  I will remember the arch of that arrow for ever.  Up above her back  then falling right in the center of the chest behind her front leg.  she went 50 yds and folded.  Man i was excited.  

I left her where she lay and went to meet my friend.  I recounted the shot but he didn't seem as happy as I was.  We walked up on the doe, I was beaming but not Larry (my older friend).  He then told me he had no idea that I didn't know you could only shoot bucks and the were limited to fork horns.  Well that damped the mood pretty well.

He said lets go ahead and tag it.  we will start to town.  if we get stopped we will tell the game warden exactly what happened.  he asked for my hunting license.  I asked him what a hunting license was???  He just shook his head.  We made it to town without been stopped.

Larry took me under his wing (my farther died when I was 8) and made a hunter out of me.  I can't tell ya how much I appreicated his cool understanding and how much I appreciate him taking me under his.

I have felt bad about the doe to this day.  it was the last time I went hunting not prepared with all the knowledge I need to hunt where ever I was.

Ya live and ya learn.    

edit - bow was borrwed from Larry it could have been a Howatt Catalina.  he shot the Howatts before he shot the Wings.  

rusty

[Rick Butler]

I'm with Uncle Buck. Growing up in Michigan if you were into archery you owned a Bear Bow.  Got to meet Fred when I was 17. A buddy of mine and I were driving back from the U.P. and stopped in Grayling to visit the factory/museum/retail shop. That place was unbelievable.

[Craig Warren]

Happy Birthday Bill.  How did you do moose hunting you OLD FART?

I get out of bed every morning feeling about 90 but by the time I have breakfast I guess I feel my age (65 in September).  Shot my first deer at the age of 15 back in 1959 with a Jaguar recurve made in Danbry, Ct by Tri State Archery.  Shot my last animal two months ago at the age of 65.  It is a Pope and Young Maine moose.  Life is good

Craig

[barley40]

Back in the early 60's I wanted a little more time in the deer woods and that meant being a two season hunter. My first bow was the least expensive I could find at Kmart, a Pearson Puma 50# pound and slow with kwiky quivers.  I still have it but it's broken now. Next was a Pearson Wildcat I believe, sold it and bought a Bear Kodiak and finally got my spike buck about '71 while sitting on a log near a scrape. I had a lot of great adventures with that bow. I still have it. I never did get into the tree stands and compounds. Now at 69 I mostly mosey around in the woods around the house here with hickory longbows. I've made lot's of 'em and there's a special facination with hunting with bows made from the trees where the game walks. I even glued up a glass laminated bow recently but the wood works just as well and has personality. Maybe someday if I can be real still and the wind is just right.......................

[Brian Krebs]

I am at the end of being 58; and I got into bows as a child; my brother got the expensive Roy Rogers pistols and holsters; and I got the bow with butcher string and rubber suction tipped arrows and an Indian headdress.
 I became feared in my neighborhood for turning ornamental plants into arrow shafts and bows.
 I actually got good with a slingshot before I could buy a Ben Pearson recurve in the late 60's.

 I hunted small game with a bow; squirrels and woodchucks; and such... and hunted deer with a gun; as my only hunting mentor - my uncle- did.
 I remember after opening morning of gun season; and seeing the huge bucks hanging up in the middle of town - where everyone came to look at them.
 The 'best hunters' bragged of getting a buck the first day of the season; in the first hour.

 I remember thinking 'an expert spends one hour in the woods each year hunting?'.

 Then on a grouse hunt; I walked by a bush that asked me to keep moving. It was a bowhunter!
 I did keep moving and another bush asked me to keep moving.... man - they were deer hunting and I was waiting for gun season to open!

  I remember the moment I became a bowhunter. It was after many woodchucks and bag limits of squirrels.
 I was watching 'The American Sportsman' with Fred Bear. He shot with purpose a thimble-berry leaf; and then he shot a grizzly bear.
  I remember that arrow arching of his bow; and connecting with that bear... and killing it.
  But I saw something that effected me to this day in that shot. It was the arch of that arrow like the brushstroke of a great artist; connecting man to everything around him.
 And I had seen my arrow go where I wanted it to before... and I realized I could do the same thing.
 I am no artist. But my arrow can be a great brushstroke of a great artist.
  I can dream and I can see the dream come true. I can fail; and practice and practice and try again; and try again; and then there is that wonderful few moments when my arrow leaves the bow and hits the target.
 It connects me with nature; I am not an observer; I am a participant.
 I feel my muscles strain to pull back the arrow;the string on my fingers; and that magical flight of the arrow.

 It never gets cheaper. It never fails to totally envelope me in the moment. There is no guarantee of tomorrow; but if tomorrow happens; I am going to be there with my bow.

 But then again I have only been doing this for 55 years; so it might wear off  

[Uncle Buck]

I wonder how many bowhunters were "born" the day ABC aired that episode of The American Sportssman? Brian is absolutely right there is something mystical about an arrow arching to the target that you just dont get with a 320fps compound device. Alot of time, energy and mpney os spent trying to archery "better". somtimes we need to take a deep breath and remember its all about the arch of the arrow magically hitting the spot you willed it to.

[centaur]

I got my first bow when I was 9 or 10, that would have been 1956 or 1957. We lived on Ft. Bliss in El Paso, and miles of desert was literally across the street from our house (trailer). Lizards, birds and other assorted things saw the receiving end of my arrows. After I got off of active duty in 1970, I bought a Bear bow and started to try to kill a deer, but never was successful until about 1975. I hunted with rifle, pistol and muzzleloader until around 1980, when I decided that bowhunting was my thing, and hunted with a compound for a couple of years with some success, but then bought a recurve and never looked back. It has been a fun ride.

[Buckhorn47]

Got a green 15 - pound fibreglass bow when I was ten or so, shot it all the time - used to make arrows for it carved from cedar fence rails - no added-on points, just carved a knob for extra weight up front. I recall my first hit with this setup on a grouse. The surprised bird kind of squawked, jumped up and as it exploded away, I think it batted my arrow back at me quicker than it hit him. Well, I'm still shooting, 55 years later and still have that fibreglass bow.

[George D. Stout]

I'll be 64 next month.  I wasn't introduced to archery at home, only gun hunting.  I met a couple guys at work in 1965 who got me into bowhunting.  First deer was in 1967, a doe shot with a 40# Ben Pearson Hunter.  My first buck was not until 1972, I took that one with a 49# Wing Thunderbird, 52" long.

As Bill said, we shot Wing, Pearson, and other bows that weren't quite as expensive as the Bear bows, although my very first hunting recurve was a cheap Bear semi-recurve.  And, when whe got into target archery, most folks shot Hoyt, Wing or Shakespeare target bows.  One guy had a Herter's Utopian 75", massive riser target bow.  He was about 5'5" tall and it was comical to watch him shoot that bow; he wasn't too bad with it indoors, matter of fact.  That bow must have weighed eight pounds without any stabilizers on it.

The only tree stands we had were home built from scrap lumber.  The commercial tree stand didn't show up until the early 70's....It was the "Profane Tree Stand" from Baker....named profane for a good reason; it usually came down the tree much faster than it went up, and normally without help 8^).

We shot field rounds at least once a month during the spring and summer at various clubs and most of us had both a target bow and a hunting model.  I used a Shakespeare Titan, that cost me all of $59.00 back in 1967.  It was a beautiful bow and shot well.  Of course I eventually had to have a Hoyt Pro Medalist...the bow that all the champions were shooting then, and had to layout $135.00 for that one in 1971.
That was a weeks wages back then and quite an investment for me.

In 1974 I bought a Herter's Perfection Magnum takedown recurve for $69.95.  I remember you could buy an extra set of limbs for $29.95 as well.  I shot that bow for quite a number of years.  In 1980 I bought my first Bear Custom Kodiak.

[Tom Leemans]

My first bow was a little wooden recurve, made by a family friend, when I was 5. I shot full tapered wooden blunts with phenolic tips. (at popnjay archery). As I got older, Pearsons, Hoyts, Bears, and Widows were the bows of choice. The new fangled arrow of choice was a microflite. They took a real beating and stayed straight. One day, they weren't so available anymore because these new aluminum arrows came out. I never liked aluminum arrows because they bend to easy. I miss my microflites. I shot wheels for awhile in my younger days, but like most wheelbows of the day, one of the limbs eventually twisted and turned to bow into junk. Never looked back after that. Shot a glass lam bow for awhile, then got into making bows. Now, I'm into making cane arrows too, and flintknapping is next! Heck, I'm only 47!

[Ron LaClair]

I'm 73 now and even though I've been shooting bows since I was 5 years old, I didn't start deer hunting with a bow until 1955. That year I bought a new Bear Kodiak, 52# and a doz arrows. I don't recall the brand of broadheads. My old bow was a Par-X aluminum bow, 55#. We didn't know back then that the metal bows were dangerous and prone to breaking.

I headed to the woods with my new bow and sat down on a log. It wasn't long before a lone deer (doe) came my way. The closer she got the more I shook, I had a full blown case of buck/doe fever. When she got within range I somehow got the bow back and let fly....I have no idea where that arrow went but I'm sure it came nowhere near the deer.  

   

[ksbowman]

I am 59 but didn't get started shooting a bow til I was 20 years old when my nephews got me shooting with them on an old Ben Pearson fiberglass bow in thier backyard.I then bought a Flexsteel cheapie bow to see if I was going to stay with it.The Flexsteel was a three piece td with a steel riser and fiberglass limbs and enough hand shock for 3 bows! I did get hooked and then bought a BP Rouge 46#@28 chasing rabbits all over the Kansas river bottoms.At that point I wanted a Bear kodiak hunter so, I sold the BP to a guy I worked with. I asked him what he was going to do with it, hunt deer? His answer was that he had a couple of guys breaking in to his wood shop and he was going to shoot one in the leg as a warning.He had called the police but,they had taken no action so he would!I told him I would like to give him his money back and get the bow back. He told me no way. Well a couple weeks later he did indeed shoot one in the leg and the local police took the bow away from him.

[rushlush]

Thanks for all the stories.

[MnFn]

My folks bought my first real hunting bow in 1965 for a birthday present. Does that qualify me as an old timer? I shot a  buck with it in 1972. It is a Shakespeare 40# recurve and we used bear razorheads. Funny, I can still remember taking the shot. I was kneeling on the ground waiting for a clear shot. The deer only went 50 yards or so. This photo shows the off-side from the shot. May have posted the pic once before, apologize if I did. Still have the bow.
 

I agree with Ron and hope the excitement and thrill never leaves. Am still hoping to take another nice one, but with my Shrew classic hunter this time.
Gary

[Yolla Bolly]

I am almost 60---First bow was plastic---the unfletched arrows were inserted nock end through a hole in the bow: Removing the rubber tips played hob with the FOC but the flickers pounding on my grandparents' house learned to respect them.
A series of other toy bows followed, until my mom took pity and got me a Howatt Cavalier for my 12th birthday---35 # (still have it).  Bob's Sporting Goods on Main St. in the nearest town supplied arrows of various parentage---saved pennies and got some used aluminum target arrows for the local Ishi Archers club winter indoor shoots--then some Bear Microflite 4 fiberglass arrows for hunting.  Still have some of those---yellow with blue fletching-old Bear Razorheads on inserts.  Hunted the local blacktails, but never got an opportunity to shoot at a deer with those, but did manage to hit a running jackrabbit.  The broadhead hit him too far back and he ran off with the arrow.
Came back the next day and found the arrow and some fur in a willow clump---no rabbit stew.

Life changed with a draft notice  in 69---never shot another arrow until the early 80s.  My friend Bob Hutchison responded to my casual statement of interest in starting again, by walking down to his shed and coming back with 4 bows---2 early Bears and two which he had made---and a full quiver of tapered cedars (with barred turkey fletching)---some with broadheads of his own design. Still live in the same county---still chasing blacktails (and jackrabbits---mighty tasty).