Howard Hill on TCM

[Don Stokes]

Just saw a Warner Bros. Howard Hill short on TCM, between movies. I missed the beginning, but not much. I tuned in with him and his dogs drinking from a stream, on a boar hunt. The scene cut to a local farmer with a rifle, looking for a "chicken hawk" that had been raiding his coop. The hawk caught a pigeon in the air, which looked like it was faked, and Howard "saved" the pigeon by shooting the hawk out of a tree before the farmer could shoot his gun, not faked.

They then had a contest, shooting at a rock that looked to be 30-40 yards away. The farmer shot first and broke it, and Howard shot one of the pieces. Howard's rig was described as a 100# bamboo laminated bow, with white cedar arrows.

Before the farmer left, he picked a mushroom and stuck it on the end of his rifle. Howard shot the mushroom off the end of the gun while the farmer held it.

Then there was footage of a wild boar raiding the farmer's barn, killing and eating a hen that had chicks. The farmer came and found Howard at his camp, where he had been sleeping in a tent that looked like a miniature teepee. Howard was practicing, stacking arrow after arrow in a dirt bank quite a distance away. They went after the boar, and the dogs cornered it. The farmer actually approached the boar closely enough, within a few feet, to get it to charge, and it appeared to hit him and knock him down. Howard arrived to save him and they showed the hog charging Howard. He shot it square in the center of its head at close range, dropping it on the spot. The movie ended with Howard checking out the hog, while the farmer lay on the ground injured. This must have been the shot that was replicated at the old Howard Hill World Championship that Jerry Hill used to host in Wilsonville, AL.

This is the first of these I've seen since I was a child, and it was amazing that they did the things they showed on film. The scenes were obviously staged, but the hawk and boar killing scenes were real. I couldn't believe that the "farmer" was actually put in harm's way like that. It appeared to be real, and there was no indication that the boar was restrained in any way.

The whole thing was narrated in a very light-hearted way, including the killing of the hawk, the boar killing the chicken, and the killing of the boar- even the injury of the farmer! The dogs were used for comic relief, with a couple of scenes of them moving backward, and several scenes of them reacting to the situations comically.

My, how things have changed.

[Uncle Buck]

there are several clips from this short in the Legends and pioneers section of this forum.
no sound but still worth watching. Even if the scenes were staged he still had to make the shot and since it was filmed with asingle camera there is no doubt that he did.

[Shakes.602]

Howard Hill was Quite the Hero and Spokesman for Archery, No Doubt About That!! My Hero is Byron Ferguson!!    

[Don Stokes]

Several of those clips that Tom Mussatto posted did come from this short, but I'm glad I got to see the original, which was much clearer than the clips.

[lpcjon2]

Howard was the reason I got into trad.

[Butch Speer]

I saw a short on TCM after they had shown Robin Hood.Howard did quite a few trick shots but, the best was when he was shooting things off a guys head. The guy was on his knees facing away from Howard, couldn't tell how far. He first shot an apple off his head & then I believe it was a lemon or something that size. The last was a prune. They got it to stand up right & Howard shot it off. He was using his broadheads! Amazing stuff.

[GingivitisKahn]

Butch - that one amazed me too.  Not that doing the same thing with field points would be any better but dang - broadheads?!

That dude could shoot.

[Dave Bulla]

I heard a story one time (think it was here) where somebody had met Howard at a range or golf course or something like that and somehow got talking about him shooting for them but he didn't have a bow.  Somebody said I've got one in my car and went and got it.  Howard picks up a bow he'd never shot before and pulled it a couple times.  Meanwhile, one of the guys is giving Howard a hard time saying he can't be that good or some such nonsense.  Howard tells him to go out and sit a paper cup on something about 50 yards out and when the guy is reaching out to set the cup down, Howard shot it out of his fingers!  First shot out of someone elses bow!!!

[Don Stokes]

I read somewhere that during the filming of Robin Hood, Howard and Errol Flynn were always messing with each other. At lunch on the set one day, Howard shot a chicken leg out of Flynn's hand without warning.

Don't try this at home!

[Bill Kissner]

I saw Howard at a shoot near Edwardsville,IL in the early sixties put on a shooting demonstration. Admittedly he was a little older(in his sixties)but he never came close to shooting as well as in the movies. I have no idea if the movie shots were rigged or not but he was not capable of making those at that time. His best shots as I remember were shooting at an old tire with a cardboard circle inside that was rolled down a hill. He was able to hit it with regularity.

[Hud]

Howard came to the opening of an indoor lanes in Seattle, after he returned from Africa. He shot small wood disks tossed in the area, and a few coins. There was no doubt, he could shoot back then. I do not remember him missing anything. He was using Easton aluminum arrows at the time.

If you get a chance to read John Schulz's book, "Straight Shooting", there are some incredible stories told.