What's fact, what's fiction

[Stealth Man]

So much written about Howard Hill.  It is hard to tell fact from fiction.  It seems the longer someone is gone the greater their legend grows.  Though I'm sure a fantastic shot, I've also read about alot of Hollywood influence and marketing.  Where does the truth lie?  Any good sources?

[jsweka]

I don't know where truth actually lies, but Howard did do amazing things.  I've always thought there are three things that could make you a famous for your skills with a bow: 1)hunting success, 2)tournament success, and 3)trick shooting.  Quite a few archers are famous for one or maybe two of those, but Howard was famous for all three.

Now I do think there probably has been some embellishment of his feats just because of the time period when he did his thing.  Sensationalism during that era of Hollywood drew folks in.  And there were probably some staged shots on animals because the camera equipment sure wasn't what it is today.

Nevertheless, even if you took away half the animals he supposedly killed with a bow and half the tournaments he won, he would still have more accomplishements than 99.9999% of archers out there.

[Terry Green]

EXACTLY WHAT  jsweka SAID!!!!!!!

He won 176 tournaments in a row???...I'm pretty sure that's a fact...and wont ever be duplicated.

Howard, not matter how long, will always be 'The Man'...and I don't use that term lightly.

He's like Michael Jordan, Bruce Lee, and 11 time world champion surfer Kelly Slater....those types of folks don't come along very often!!!

I have read some disturbing accusations about the filming of Tembo on here, however, take a look at the rest of the game shot in Africa on one trip.  On the other hand, I could just about see it. Howard telling his buddies, "We need to get some good footages of me shooting a lion, you boys go over there and tie this rope to that lion."  Think of what he could have done, if he did not have to baby sit a film crew.

[Bowhunter4life]

Howard who????
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Just kidding...     I agree with the above... Howard was the Man!

[dragonheart]

Originally posted by Stealth Man:
So much written about Howard Hill.  It is hard to tell fact from fiction.  It seems the longer someone is gone the greater their legend grows.  Though I'm sure a fantastic shot, I've also read about alot of Hollywood influence and marketing.  Where does the truth lie?  Any good sources?

For shooting watch some of the videos on youtube.  His form is so fluid and appears effortless when shooting a longbow.  The great archers bring the act of shooting from "mechanical endeavor" to "artform".  He gave us quite a legacy.  Each of us, including Howard Hill, have the good, the bad, and the ugly in our lives.  To me, trying to measure a man from the past by the "yardstick of current ethics" is  futile.  It was a differnet era.  I choose to remember the legacy he left to every bowhunter today.

[NBK]

A bit of fiction comes with the territory for the status of "Legend"!

[chanumpa]

A good friend of mines Father recently passed.He told me a story that he witnessed when he was young in California where Howard matched a Natl.Pistol shooting guy shot for shot lighting matches at roughly 30 feet.Suddenly the pistol champ said to Howard,"O.K. Howard now lets go for speed".He said Howard smiled and handed the guy his longbow and the large crowd howled with laughter.He was the king.

[Horserod]

Stealth Man, I go along with Jsweka's post. There were just too many witnesses to back up his achievements with the mighty Longbow. He will always be (to me)the greatest bowhunting archer there ever was!    :cool:   Horserod

[RC]

None matters...he`s from Alabama and played football.....RC

[ddauler]

I agree Howard was the best ever and yes they had to bring some critters to the camera for filming. But nobody wins 176 tournaments in a row except the great HH.

[Orion]

For the cowboys and indians movies, he shot arrows into wooden chest plates that actors wore under their clothing as they rode by on horses.  No trick photography then.  Granted very close shots but who would have the guts, shooter or actor, to do it today?

[Mudd]

For a kid who had very little, if any hand eye coordination, he made me believe in myself when it came to shooting a bow.

That's enough in and of itself to make him one of my heroes.

God bless,Mudd

[Bjorn]

Today we can make videos using an iPhone in his day you needed a film crew, can you imagine them sneaking through the jungle with you? Accommodations had to be made, and in those days there was no PETA.

[tradlongbow]

I just read an article that was written by Craig Ekin's father Ted Ekin, Ted hunted Utah with Howard and his wife Libby. Ted said Howard would warm up by shooting 60 yards at a bush, and come back with a rabbit.

On that same hunt Ted said Howard shot a big 4 point buck at 110 yards.

Howard is the Man!

[WESTBROOK]

Adding to what Orion said...the guy only got payed a couple hundred bucks for letting Howard shoot the apple off his head...who would have wanted to be on either end of that arrow???

Howard is the man!

[Stealth Man]

Thanks for the replies.  There are just so many superhuman feats that are talked about that one starts to wonder.  I read one first hand account that claimed he hit a telephone pole on its top by shooting almost straight up.  First try.  No doubt he maybe the best ever, but I'm sure there is some "legend" in the truth.

[Gump21Bravo]

Every story of any great historical figure has some degree of "tall tale" to them. It is our nature to exasperate these stories throughout the years of telling them around the fire.

Man I swear that deer was like a horse....

In the case of Howard Hill the facts out way the tall tales. Great archer. Great hunter. Great.

Craig

[Cato]

John Schultz wrote a short book about Howard, or at least it related several accounts.  I don't see John stretching the truth.  The stuff in that book alone would put Mr Hill in a class of his own.

Schultz (not sure I am spelling that correctly) said that many people asked him what the most amazing thing he ever saw HH do with a bow.  He responded by saying, there were too many to pick one.  However one thing that sticks in my mind (John) is seeing Howard step out of his shop, where he had three bales of hay stacked at 100 yards.  He said Howard would draw 6 arrows out of his back quiver and put all six in the end of the center bale, in like 20 seconds (trusting my memory).  According to Mr Schultz, he did that as a routine matter of practice.  Crazy good.

Bob Wesley shot with Howard in AL after Mr Hill retired.  He could probably tell us a lot.