Biography

[X2]

I would like to hear from each of you, as to your archery background.  Kinda like a face with a name.  Not a brag sheet, just to let everyone know what your background is.  This way we will know who to ask what questions.  I will start.

Started shooting longbows and recurves when I was 5 years old.  Hunted small game in the country when I was a kid.  Started competing in 3d's and indoor 300 rounds when I was 15.  Shoot the compound off and on to this day, but mainly shoot recurves and longbows.  Competed in and won over 100 3d shoots, to include 6 different state championships with recurve and longbow.  (Was in the military for 10 years so lived in a lot of different states)  Highest score on a 300 round in competition is a 276.  (Barebow off the shelf)  Been bowhunting since I was 12.  Taken a few elk, deer, bear, and lots of small game.  Love to hunt, but enjoy shooting the bow more.   Shoot at least a couple of times a week all year long.  Have owned over 40 traditional bows, and love the look of different woods/bow designes.  I am now 36 and still going strong.  Hopefully I have many more years of shooting ahead of me.  So whats your story.

[Arwin]

I started off bowhunting at age 14 with a second hand PSE wheelie dealy. I didn't have anyone to teach me how to hunt so I quit for 6 years. I got back into it when I was 20. Shot my first deer when I was 21 with a Point Blank compound. Later that same year I bought Bowhunting October Whitetails and got a recurve a week later. That following season I went out with my recurve and shot my first buck along with two doe. I realized I was more proficient with a simpler set-up and have stayed that way ever since. Going on 30 in February.
 I do other stuff like skateboard, take the kids hunting and fishing, camping. I landscape for a job.
 Hunting pretty much got me out of the party scene that came with the whole skateboard thing. I rode in amature contests in the Vans Warped Tour and a few others until my mid 20's. Boy those days were wild!!! Now I cruise around on my board for fun and let the Good Lord keep my butt in check!! LOL! If it weren't for my wife,kids, traditional archery, hunting, and God who knows were I'd be!    

[Plumbob]

I started shooting when I was eleven. My dad let me wander the woods alone when I was 9 with a .410 but it was hard to convince my folks that I could be trusted with a bow? Never did figure that out.
 I learned by trial and error, I have some pretty funny stories as I was in my archery learning curve. Not knowing anything about matching bows and arrows finaly frustrated me into trying a recurve when I was 21. I had a friend send a Bear Takedown to me when I was working in the backcountry for me to kill time. The first shot I drilled a dried up Elk vertebrae laying on the hillside. I ruined the arrow but from then on I was hooked. Been shooting a recurve for 17 years and never looked back.

[wifishkiller]

I started shooting when I was 6.  Started shooting stick when I was 10ish.  Shot trad only till I was 15 started working for a compound company, so i got into wheels.  Then been a staff shooter for a few different companys.  So its tough for me to just shoot trad.  Shot a mess of critters with sticks and wheels.I just love archery all the way around.  Im out of the wheels for now though.

[Budog56]

Hunted with a BB gun from the time I was old enough to walk Shot everything from diapers to rabbits to popcans to tons of birds(the cat would follow me everywhere cuz mom wouldnt cook'em so i fed them to him> Got a sunbear compound when young shot instincively killed a trout and a bird or two but lost arrows and just went back to the bb gun.. around 4 years ago watched Lethal Flight and was hooked before even having a bow. Was debating a compound and when doing research online I come upon this site, bought a super kodiak and never looked back. Hunted deer and squirrels for two season. Total Kills 1-squirrel(good fajitas),1-coon,lots of stumps (intentionally and from missing squirrels), and Lots and lots of GREAT memories..

[X2]

Good stuff guys, keep em coming.

[Steve H.]

I'm at about .01% of my World Slam goal of taking every big game animal species on the face of the earth.  Of if I could only live to be a thousand!

[BodarkOkie]

A Thousand what...., Steve?

I got my first bow (with rubber-tipped arrows) at the age of four years. I advanced to a 42# all fiberglass Shakespeare Strato-Jet (killed my first deer with that.)   In 1963, while at Univ of OK, I won a 46# Browning Cobra.  I still have all the bows. I'm 63 years old now.
 I started making arrows and working with leather (as a hobby) about 1957.  I shot bows until I joined the Army in 1966.  Discharged from Army in 1970 and started gun-hunting with my brother until 1979.  Got tired of hunting with thunder sticks and bought a compound bow.  
I shot the compound for about 5 months...until I realized I was trying to re-invent the rifle and I had come down with "peg-boarditis."  I threw the release in the trash, wrapped up the bow and aluminum arrows and gave them away as a Christmas present to my brother.   I immediately called Jack Howard and ordered 2 Gamemaster Jet recurves.    
Over the years since, I have steadily added to my collection.  This a serious disease!!!!!  
As soon as I finish my new work area, I'm going to start building some more arrows and work on some leather.

It's a great life if you don't weaken.

Gene

[Steve H.]

..a thousand YEARS of age Uncle Gene!  That's how long I would need to be alive to do the "Noah's Arc Slam".  Well, that and a couple of gas wells to finance things.....


"and gave them away as a Christmas present to my brother"

That sure was mean,low-down, scoundrel-rotten thing to do to your bro Uncle Gene!  ; ^ )

[BodarkOkie]

I know it was a little low-down.  But, he didn't bowhunt anyway, so it was almost like using it for a boat anchor or crappie bed.

Sure would be nice if you made it to Jeff City for the 20th UBM Banquet.

[Steve H.]

Geeze, UG I almost coulda pulled it off too as I have a work trip immediately before then to ABQ.  In the mean time I went and told Ma and Pa I would swing by NE for a visit.  Too late now since I opened my BIG mouth!

[Curtiss Cardinal]

I began shooting a recurve in 1964 at the age of 3. I hunted for the first time at the age of 12 with a Red Wing Hunter. I killed my first doe that year in late October with a 1 yard shot head on in the neck. Not the best shot, not the best angle but the doe went down instantly. I have missed a few seasons since then due to military service, college, work demands and such. I have never liked missing a season. I am never as happy as I am in the woods with a bow in my hand. I would rather sleep on a cot,in a tent in the woods than in a five star hotel.I am a chef and I would rather eat a meal cooked over a campfire's coals than in the fanciest restaurant. That is not to say that the meals in camp aren't gourmet. My time in the woods restores my soul. I never feel closer to God than I do in the woods.