Tom,
After shooting bows since 1957, when I was 5 years old, and never seeing anything other than what we now call "traditional bows" until the 1970s, I bought my first custom bow ever in 1984 from a guy who had recently started producing bows on a part time commercial basis out of a little shop behind his house in Oregon. That guy was named Jim Brackenbury, and the bow I ordered was his least expensive model (because I was poor at the time) called the "Drifter". It was a great bow that I loved shooting. Jim and I stayed in constant contact over the years, and in 1987 I ordered a second Drifter that was meant to be almost identical to the first one so I would have a backup bow or could have one at the place I hunted every weekend during the 3 month deer hunting season and a similar one at home during the week to practice with. In July 1991 I called Jim to get him to make me a third bow that would have been a different model for other purposes, the Sidekick, which would have been my ideal treestand bow at the time. Jim's ex-wife, Linda, answered the phone, and I said hello to her since I had spoken to her on many occasions, and then asked to speak with Jim. She then told me about Jim's boating accident a few days before when he had drowned. That was a huge loss of a wonderful guy, a great friend and an outstanding bowyer. Although I own many Bracks today, I still have never owned a Sidekick. Some Sidekicks have come up for sale through the years, but I have been reluctant to buy them because a Sidekick would always remind me of the day I heard about Jim's death.
The Drifter, like all of the Bracks that Jim and his employees (including Wes Wallace -- another great bowyer) built, is just as great a bow today as it was in the 1980s. I gave a Drifter to my best friend, Doug Burns, who is the featured hunter at the top of this page (Doug also owned a Drifter that Jim had built for him back in 1985), and he used that Drifter on our recent hunt to Oz that I have written about here on TradGang. In fact, Doug is holding the Drifter I gave him in the picture at the top of the page. That bow did everything any similar bow made today could do. You have a great bow with a rich heritage in that Drifter. I have half a dozen Drifters on my bow rack right now and love them all. Don't let yours get away.
Allan
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