How I got started...how about you?

[Roger Norris]

When I was 5 or 6, the "Easter Bunny" brought me a York green glass static recurve (I still have it). The absolute first arrow out of that bow center punched a bird out in our clover field. My Mom and Grandparents were horrified, my Dad and Grandpa laughed...

From there I spent every summer up at my Granparents place in Williamsburg Michigan (near the hallowed ground of Grayling), shooting gophers and stumps from June to late August. We would make a trip to the Bear Museum a couple times a summer, and I would re-enact the Bear movies between visits. My Grandmother paid me a nickle bounty per gopher. My best day was 13, as I recall.

When I was 12 I began hunting deer with a Bear Tigercat, quickly upgrading to a hand me down Super Kodiak. After that first year, I bowhunted EVERYTHING, unsupervised, and I realize now I had no concept of bow tuning. I shot whatever arrows flew right, killed a bunch of stuff, all the  while oblivious to brace height, arrow spine, etc. I was 20 years old before I ever "tuned" a bow.

I tried a compound for a couple seasons, then quickly went back to my old recurves. I was not technical enough to appreciate a compound.

For a long time I though I was the only guy alive hunting with a recurve, but then I discovered the internet, met good buddies like Ron LaClair and Ray Lyon, and here we are. Funny how something as high tech as the internet played a part in meeting friends committed to low tech hunting methods? Funny too, how the last 9 or 10 years, after all of that bow shooting, I have learned the most? ( Thanks Ron)...well, thats my start. I have been shooting a traditional bow for an honest 38 years, and I'm still figuring it out.

[Roger Norris]

the bows that saw me through my youth...


 

[bear1336]

Started at about age 6 when we went over to my  Dad's best friends house and he was shooting his bow.  I was hooked from that day on.

Dave

[BillyMarkwell]

I don't remember just how old, about 10 I'd guess, me a the boys that I played with, would take a willow limb a piece of cotton string, glue some feathers onto river cane and shoot at everything that moved. Got in trouble for shooting at momma's chickens. Currently trying to master the longbow.

[kennym]

There ya go,nice bows glad ya still got em!!

[kennym]

BTW,I started with a green glass bow(gave it to a nephew) like pictured and now own a tigercat!!

[LBR]

I was in my early 20's--had no idea these bows still existed anywhere except in the old Robin Hood movies.  A friend had come over and brought two old recurves he'd found at a flea market.  His uncle had told him about recurves and when he found these super cheap he bought them, although he didn't have a clue what he was getting into (and I knew even less).  We both shot wheels, and figured it couldn't be that hard.  Got out in the yard playing with them--had no idea what we were doing, but we were having a ball with it.  Bought an old Tigercat soon after, still didn't have a clue.  Shortly after that, I saw Byron Ferguson put on a demonstration, met him, bought his book, and had to have a longbow.  Finally had some decent instruction and began learning I was doing everything wrong.  I still wasn't too smart, as I was drawing 82# on my first longbow, less than a year after I started shooting.  Found out there was some people in my area that also shot trad, learned about some tournaments in the area, and even won a few.  Eventually got the internet, which helped quite a bit.  Learned to make wood arrows and strings along the way.

My son, who is 12 now, started when he was two.  Wish I'd had the jump-start he did!  He still shoots, and I hope he sticks with it from now on.

Chad

[Grant Young]

My half brother had an uncle who went into the wholesale business when I was six and he gave me a Pearson hickory longbow for Christmas that year-1960.I shot at everything with anything I could find for arrows. Next was a short stout hickory selfbow my Dad bought from some older kid that was permanently strung with wire cable-shot rivercane out of that with no shelf-ouch!Got a green glass Pearson Jet with real POC arrows in 4th grade. When the other kids lost interest I traded up to a Shakespeare recurve and a Bear Alaskan-a real laminated bow.Killed a good bit of small game...almost no deer here in the sixties. The only shooting model I had was Fred Bear through TV shorts so I started cutting the shelf way down and still do-for better or worse I still shoot off my hand, but I don't shoot river cane.I shot a compound for five weeks in 1980, gave it away and haven't seriously tried it since. A guy here on Tradgang saw my name and contacted me to see if I was the fellow he remembered from 25  years back and we got together to shoot and he recalled that I was the only one around who was shooting this stuff in 1980. I said "yeah, but I was having the most fun."

[Dick in Seattle]

I envy you guys who started young.  I started young on the rifle route... bb gun to 22 to muzzle loaders.   Finally, October 2005, I had to admit that I simply couldn't see well enough to focus on open iron muzzle loader sights, so tried archery.   Tried a compound... no... recurves... OK .... then found a Hill longbow... YES!.   Been shooting them since.  Won't be able to do it for too many more years, but I'm having a ball while I can.

Dick in Seattle

[Weekend Warrior]

I bought my first recurve in the late 90s.. I switched back and forth for a while..Had a longbow made in 97 and took a nice buck with it..
Kinda got hooked then..I have hunted with a compound since only to put it down after a few days..
 I'm hooked for good now....

  I saw Grants name here on Trad Gang and just had to see if it was him that shot at out local shoots in the earily 80s..Sure enough it was him...We shot several arrows yesterday.. Glad to find another shooting buddy..Only a handfull that shoots trad here local..

 He was having the most fun...
 

 I wish I had started earlier also...

[Roger Norris]

Thanks to whoever fixed that picture!

[Eric Krewson]

We made bows from cedar limbs when we were little kids and shot at scout camp(Camp Pellissippi, north of Knoxville) when I was around 10. My parents bought me a Paul Bunyan fiberglass bow and hardware store wood arrows that I shot with a few other kids in town. We had a range  set up on a vacant lot in Norris Tn and met frequently to shoot. We shot with a kid named Allen Patterson who had a store bought laminated recurve, aluminum arrows and shot tournaments if I recall correctly. I wonder what happened to Allen and if he still shoots. Even now I can picture the beautiful bow he had.

When I got out of the army in 69 I was able to outfit myself with a Kodiak Hunter and aluminum arrows and hunted with this rig for a number of years, even killed my first deer with it. Here is that bow and my first archery deer kill.

 

Went to the dark side for a bunch of years and returned in 89 never to return.

[Stone Knife]

When i was about 10 i was home sick from school, when my dad came home he had with him an old longbow that a guy he worked with gave to him for me. He also had an old quiver full of ratty looking arrows, some of the nocks were melted from setting next to a wood stove. This bow must have made quite an impression on me because to this day i remember it well. I shot a ton of birds with the thing and a lot of cardboard. A friend of mine had an old bear recurve and a green fiberglass recurve that i used to shoot also. There was also a archery shop and shooting range the next town over from ours. i was always into hunting most of my friends liked sports, their parents didn't like hunting. I used to walk to the archery shop and the guy there would let me shoot his bows for free. This is were i bought my first bow that i paid for it was a compound, i shot that for 20+ years then bought another one. Till just last year my mom asked me if i still wanted that old bow that hung in the basement, i told her i did so when her and my dad came down they brought it with them. 37 years after i first held it i put a string on it made of jute took it out side and shot some of my alum. arrows out of it. I was afraid it was going to break it's in kind of rough shape, but it held up. Well that was all it took i fell in love with it all over again, now I'm hooked on trad and not going back. I'm giving my compound to a friends son, and I'm going to make up for lost time with my longbows. I still feel the same now as i did when i was a kid every time i release an arrow, i never get sick of it.

     

[Tim Fishell]

I started when I was probably 5 or 6.  I use to love going out in the back yard and watching my dad shoot his old Stemmler takedown recurve.  He used the step through method to string it back then and I use to ask him every time he shot if I could try and string it.  He would let me but I wouldnt even come close.  One day I asked him if I could try and he told me I couldnt even string my bow.  MY BOW I thought, what is he talking about.  He went to the garage and pulled out a brand new fiberglass red indian longbow 10#@18".  I have been shooting traditional all my life.  I have shot some small game but still looking for my first bow killed deer.  I discovered Tradgang last September and man what a life saver.  Met some great friends and shooting partners and continue to learn more every day.

[Bowsey Wails]

Started with saplings and string as a kid (cap guns made noise, but did no damage). I was eleven in '69 when the Boy Scout merit badge hooked me good. My first bow was one of those blue fiberglass things like we had at scout camp. My first real bow was a 40# Shakespeare Necedah in 1974 (still have it). 55# Martin Hunter came next, then a 50# Chek-mate Falcon arrived last month. I too slid to the dark side for a few years between the Necedah and the Hunter; never going back there!

Tim

[GEREP]

My first bow at the age of 8 was one of those white fiberglass jobs that came with two arrows that had suction cups on the tips.  Didn't take me long to realize that if you took the cups off, the arrows would stick in stuff like drywall.  That bow mysteriously disappeared.      My next bow was a Bear Gray Fox, a solid glass 25 pounder.  After that came a solid glass Brown Bear, 45#.  Shot everything from chipmunks to a goose with that one.  Good thing my folks didn't know about the goose or that one would have disappeared also.  My first real hunting bow was a Bear Super Mag 48. (pic below)  Took my first two deer with that bow...sold it to buy beer in college, later went to compounds.  Shot compounds for about 20 years or so, lost interest in them and have been shooting recurves again for the last 8 years or so.  Have as much fun shooting them now as I did when I was slaying geese.

  :rolleyes:  

 

KPC

[Bonebuster]

Born and raised in the suburbs of Detroit. Not much room for a bow.

Fortunately, there was "up north". My parents cabin.

Went through the typical toy bows. Then to rummage sale wood recurve of unknown origin.
Pure joy.

Everyone said a compound was "better". I "needed"
a release, sights, and a peep.

It was good for a time, but there was ALWAYS something missing.

One crisp October day around halloween, I shot a
fat spike buck from forty plus yards. No joy, no sense of accomplishment, just a kill. I was devastated by it.

In December of that year, I did the late season with an old Bear Grizzly. I missed a doe at point blank.

I found what had been missing. I`ve been comfortable in my own skin since then.

I learn something every time I shoot, or hunt, or build an arrow.

[Jason Lester]

I actually started on an mid 70's Bear Polar 2 compound. I got into the whole tech side of archery and the biggest and best stuff. Fortunatly I never had enough money to get any of the nicer bows. Years later I was at a salvation army store and there was a bear grizzly with quiver and arrows there for sale. 30 bucks and it was mine. I loved it so simple and it felt so much better to be holding a wooden bow. A couple years later I got a chance to make a selfbow. That is when I realy got into traditional bows. So simple so much more natural feeling.

I still have my polar 2. It has long been retired. I occasionaly get it out and look at it. I took my first deer with that bow. Even though it has wheels (4 actualy) I'll never part with it if I can help it. It brings back many memories.

[R.W.]

My elder brother and I recieved those green and blue glass bows as Christmas presents when we were 5 and 6. Shot the dickens out of them in the yard, and scared all the birds in the area to boot.

After recieving a .22 for my 7th birthday, I went crazy over shooting-still enjoy shooting my rifles to this day-just hardly ever hunt with them anymore.

My younger brother took up archery, and went completely bananas over it.

As he strictly wanted to bowhunt, I took it up so we could spend time together hunting. Started with a Bear "Whitetail" wheelie bow, then a PSE Fireflite, to a Hoyt Magnatech.

Then my Dad give me a Pearson "Rogue" recurve, which I shoot regularly, and will hunt with this year. Also built a board bow from red oak, and have a long bow coming (from Jim Godden of Mississippi Lake Long Bows) and a kit longbow from Seven Lakes Long Bows (Mike Ballenger) which I will give to my brother, after I have finished it, for starting me on this addictive thing.  

I have only taken 1 WT deer with the bow, but I took from 3 yards, on the ground without a blind.
 
Of all the animals I have taken hunting, this WT was one that I think of most, and appreciate most of all.

R.W.