Special Howard Hill Longbow! Pics added

[Gil Verwey]

I had posted in the Howard Hill thread a picture of a special Hill longbow. I received the bow today and will take additional pictures in a little while.

I mentioned in the other post the bow was documented and notarized as to the history and that I would post an excerpt from the documentation about the bow.

I have had many Hill and Schulz longbows but this one is different than any others I owned. The limbs near the tip are very thin and the tips are very small. There also seems to be a little more back set to the bow. The bow is in great shape and I believe it was made in 1969. It has black glass on the back and white glass on the belly. The bow has written on the limbs Howard Hill and Tembo "Big  Boar". The name on the bow is Bob Wesley. The bow also came with the original bow sock.

This bow was built by Jim Darling, owned by Bob Wesley, inspected by Howard Hill, sent to John Schulz to be reworked to Howard's specs and shot by Howard Hill and Bob Wesley. For me it doesn't get any better than that.

Here is an excerpt from the notarized Statement of Authenticity from Robert B. Wesley.

"In 1969 it was my pleasure to visit Howard and Elizabeth Hill with my wife Frances and 3 year old son Bobby. We were invited to stay for several days or until I thoroughly understood the mechanics of "Indirect Aiming".

I arrived with four longbows which had been made by Shawnee Archery (the company that Howard organized) by bowyer Jim Darling. Howard examined these bows and told me that the tiller and limb tips did not meet with his approval. Several days later , upon completion of Howard's training we left for home and left two bows of Howard's choosing with him. He wrote detailed instructions to bowyer John Schulz on how to rework the bows. He then sent these bows to John who reworked them and returned them to Howard. Howard approved the bows. He wanted a specific limb tiller and small tips which released energy crisply or as he put it "sort of like a karate chop". His favorite of the two he named "Big Boar" as this was his favorite animal to hunt (having killed 101 boars). This was the bow that he shot as he trained me."

I intend to take and use this bow at our Howard Hill Hog hunt. I am a big fan of Bob Wesley and Howard Hill. Maybe several of us can take a hog with Howard's favorite bow "Big Boar". Now that would be some icing on the cake for this bow at a Howard Hill Hog hunt.

I have to thank Mike for selling me this bow (if I told you what Mike sold the bow to me for you would hate us both, ha!). It is like new and with this history it is very special to me. I hope we can all enjoy it at the hunt.

I will try to take some detailed pictures for my Howard Hill brothers and sisters that appreciate these bows. This bow is quite different than the other Hills I have owned.

Now I am going out to shoot it to see if it feels any different. It is 71# @ 28 so if I can string it and shoot it I will let you now how it shoots. By the hunt I will be shooting this one easily.

More to come a little later.

[Bud B.]

Excellent and interesting read!!

Wouldn't it be nice to have the bow measured and the dimensions recreated for a line of "Big Boar" bows to be made by HH Archery or another prominent Hill style bowyer?

Looking forward to seeing it at the hunt!! Being a lefty, I doubt I could even pull it back to a proper anchor.

Thanks Gil for sharing.

Bud

[Gil Verwey]

Bud that is a good idea. I may have to check that out with Craig. I am going to try to take some pictures of a few Hill bows I have as comparison also. One is a custom by Craig, one is a Tembo by John Schulz and this one reworked to Howard's specs by John Schulz.

[straitera]

Near bought that very bow! Glad to see it found a good home! Take good care of it Gil. Might even get it into the woods now & then?

[rushlush]

Looking forward to pics. Congrats !

[Gil Verwey]

I was outside shooting the bow for quite a while. I have to get it scaled because there is no way it can be 71#. I want to try get some arrows for it but I can't until I scale it. To me it feels about 56#. I wonder if when John re-tillered it he wound up reducing the weight too.

I will have pictures later today. it is one sweet shooter.

[rushlush]

Quit teasing! LOL

[TSP]

Quite cool.  If that bow could talk...

[owlbait]

No matter what the weight, that is a very special bow. Congratulations. At 71# there was a day I could've shot it. Not today, and tomorrow doesn't look so good either.  :D

[Goshawkin]

I saw it on the other classifieds after you bought it! I would have snagged it for sure if I saw it sooner. Great bow and a really cool history to it. Good luck with it.

[toddster]

Bob told me this story when I visited him at his shooting school, cann't wait to see it.  I think it would be awesome if you got to harvest a Boar with that bow and keep the legacy alive.

[Gil Verwey]

I got stuck on a problem with work tonight and just finished up. I will post the pics tomorrow. i think a lot of you can shoot this one since it really does feel like 56#. I don't have a scale but I think I will have to get one for this bow to determine the draw weight. I hope a few of us can score a hog with this one at the hunt.

Gil

[Raging Water]

Gil,

Congratulations. Nice piece of history there. Awesome!

Matt

[Shakes.602]

I wanna see!! I wanna see!! Good For You, Congrats!!

[Ric O'Shay]

More pics Gil, please.....

   

[Pete Darby]

I also would love to see it.  Bob also told me the story when I attended his shooting school.

[Ralphie]

Is this the bow I told you about?

[Gil Verwey]

No Ralphie, that one is older I believe. I am going to have to find out about that from Craig. There is a lot of sentimental value in the bow for the prior owner and that bow could be worth a lot of money.

If it is worth a lot of money I told the seller I would send it back to him and he can keep it for a rainy day an sentimental reasons.

I know someone that has a Hill bow documented to be made by Howard Hill and he is selling that one for $1500. The sellers father of this bow worked directly with Howard to get the bow built to his specs. It looks very old with no serial number or writing other than the Hill signature on the bow. That is what the other bow that is going for $1500 has.

[Gil Verwey]

Here are the pictures. I have two other Hills for comparison. The Hill with the snake skins is a Craig made custom Wesley, the Hill with the brown glass and antler tips is a Hill Tembo made by John Schulz and the bow with the black and white glass is Bob Wesley's Tembo. I guess they named bows back then because on the Wesley they have the name "Standing Bear', on the Schulz Tembo "Sagitarius" and on the Bob's bow "Big Boar".  

I think Bob's bow was cut down and had the top of the limbs and tips narrowed. I think this also reduced the weight quite a bit. I am going to confirm that with Bob. The brace heights are the same for all three bows.

This first picture compares the top tips.

 

Here are the bottom tips.

 

Here is the limb profile.

 

Here is what the tiller looks like strung.

 

The rest are of Big Boar.

 
 
 
 

[JV Rooster]

Very nice!