Here's #4 TREVOR PROBANDT
I'm met Trevor a little over a month ago. We were discussing things about Stalker Recurves. I had mentioned to him my idea about "Beyond the Ridge". Being relatively new to traditional, he agreed to help support by documenting his new endeavor and submitting those stories to my blog for others to read.
Here's his "story"
"I grew up on a ranch outside of San Angelo, TX and growing up in the outdoors. Our home pasture was 1,400 acres and my younger brother and I spent every afternoon riding horses, driving the ranch truck or walking along with our pellet gun, usually with a dog or two in tow. I grew up working cattle, sheep and goats for our family as well as the more monotonous chores of fence building, hay hauling, water trough cleaning and riding/roping on horses. My father enjoys quail hunting, but was never a hunter. This didn’t stop me from having him take me many times growing up and I shot and killed my first buck around 10 years of age. I remember being excited and a little saddened to walk up to my kill, a feeling I always get when I kill another living creature, and one I hope I always have. Now that I think about it, it is that feeling that probably pushed me towards bow hunting. I received my first bow, a Reflex compound package out of Cabelas, on Christmas right after I turned 15. I remember having my uncle show me how to shoot it and tell me about his time hunting caribou in Alaska. I also remember not being able to hit much of anything at first, and bending a lot of aluminum arrows. But from that day forth, I never picked up a rifle beyond varmint hunting at night on the ranch with my brother. I instantly fell in love with the struggle of killing my first deer with my compound. After hauling hay all day, I spent all summer looking over the 200 acres or so of fields we have with my circa 1960 binoculars of unknown origin, and watching the bachelor groups of deer coming out in the evenings. I had to try and guess where these guys were going to come out and find a spot on the creek that they were crossing. I didn’t want to sit on the feeders like everyone else did, I desperately wanted to be “like Chuck” after reading “Super Slam” by Chuck Adams. I even tried to wear the little hat, but October in Texas is a little warm for that. The third hunt I was able to get within 4 yards of a little six point that walked right by me and into drink, and that was the point that I lost my heart to bow hunting. I finally killed a doe that year, and was hooked from then on. I read everything I could on bows and arrows, and how to best shoot them. I spent several years hunting elk in the Gila, chasing deer back home and hogs in east Texas when I lived there for four years. I tried to get all of my friends into archery and even gave a couple of my older bows to friends, just so I could have more hunting buddies to go with me. However, it was during a DIY wilderness hunt in 2010 with my buddy, that I realized I wanted to simplify things. I had actually gotten tired of all the releases, sights, drop away rests, closed cell or self inflating pads, bivy bag or single man tent, etc. I had fallen for the trap. I was a marketing team’s perfect customer!!! I spent more time talking, testing and dreaming about gear than I did hunting. So, this past summer I decided to sell my beloved Mathews and get into traditional archery. I found the traditional forum on the Texas Bowhunter website that I was a member of, and they sent me on my path. I then found out that my father in law had a Ben Pearson Cougar that he would lend to me, that hadn’t been shot since 1980 something. With that I went to find a group to shoot with, and luckily San Angelo has a great group of guys who shoot trad, and one of them invited me to shoot at daylight with them. What I didn’t know is that they would be so gracious with info and smart aleck remarks. But they made me feel right at home and I got to learn quite a lot. That is when I learned of Stalker Recurves from my years of following South Cox on Eastman’s and watching over and over the Nevada mule deer hunt he shared with Cameron Hanes. I was playing on his website when I came across the story of Bart Schleyer and I was truly blown away. This is what I was yearning for, a gentleman who did it the “right way” as we say in my family. It wasn’t about the gear or the sponsors, it was about a man who understood nature and was also an athlete and used his strength to help others and succeed in the woods. When I read of Bart and Paul Schafer’s friendship I naturally looked up Mr. Schafer’s bio and was yet again blown away by his skills as a hunter and athlete. It was like I was reading about who I wanted to become in the woods. I decided to simplify my life, not just in hunting, but in many other aspects as well. I even started training with weights using 1970s techniques, turned the TV off and the internet off as well when I’m with my family, and have begun to get more things done because of this. It might sound strange, but reading these stories and learning more about traditional archery has helped to make me a better husband and father. It has also allowed me to get back in touch with my play side of things, I now spent hours on end running around shooting prickly pear, dirt clods, etc and literally laughing out loud at myself. I haven’t had this much fun in years, and it also allows me to chase my boys around on the playground in front of all the other dad’s playing on their phones because I’ve gotten back in touch with the “fun side” of me. Three months ago I set the goal to save enough to buy myself a Schleyer model recurve from South, and though it is tough with two very young boys, I’ve learned from traditional archery that “the pleasure is in the process” and I hope to be carrying one with me this fall for mule deer in Arizona. Either way, I will make sure that I conduct myself in “the right way” as those who came before have done."
Topic: Stalker Custom Recurves, Let's support a "New Beginner" (recipient pg4) (Read 1100 times)
