Old Bowhunters Thread....

[Mitch H]

Around my home town in southwestern PA, we did not see many compounds until the mid 1970`s.

The only archery shop I can recall when I started bowhunting(1972) was Feline Archery. They had a pretty good selection of bows back then.

[elkken]

I shot my first deer in 1970 with a Wing bow and arrows that came from Northwest Archery. My deer tag cost $2 and I still have it. Back then I had no idea who Glenn St Charles was or what he meant to archery. Over the next 30 + years I spent countless hours in Glenn's store drinking free coffee, drooling over the critters and collection in the museum and getting to know the St Charles family.

[Bill Kissner]

My wife bought me my first bow in 1958. I don't remember the name but traded it for a Ben Pearson in 1963. The dealer was my insurance man and he sold Hoyt, Pearson, and later on Bear bows out of his garage. He taught me more about archery in a few sessions than I had learned by myself in several years.

Our deer season opened in my county in 1964. The deer were few and far between. I hunted mostly with a Pearson Conquerer but never killed a deer with it. Took my first deer, a muley, in 1969 with a Bear Takedown. Still have the Conquerer and the Bear. Killed my first whitetail in 1970 with the Bear.

Odd but there were very few Bear bows in my part of the country. Pearson and Hoyt dominated. Hoyt primarily because the factory was only 90 miles away in Missouri. I had purchased a Bear Magnum sometime in the mid sixties but it exploded the very first time I shot it. The takedown was only the second Bear I had owned. Another thing that might surprise some is no one in the sixties that I knew shot wood arrows. Easton had come out with the 24srtx aluminum shafts and they were the cats meow at that time. Personally I have only experimented with woodies and have never really hunted with them.

I used to go with my dealer, his name was Bob Hill, to the Hoyt factory when he went to pick up bows. Earl was a hero of mine and it was great to listen to his experiences. He was a person that willingly answered a novices questions with patience.

These were the good old days for target archery as there were literally hundreds of shooters in the area but hunting was a different thing. Illinois' deer herd was very thin in the sixties and when someone killed one with a bow, it made the front page of our little county paper. There were a couple of twin brothers named Ron and Don Riley that scored most every year though and they are bowhunting legends in our area. Don passed away a few years ago but Ron  is 82 and still shoots. I talked with him at length at Cloverdale this year.

[SELFBOW19953]

I grew up in north central Florida and never saw a bow shop or bowhunter in the late 50's/60's time frame.  My grandfather gave me his bows and gave me a little instruction-enough to get me started.  I lusted after Herter's products-we always had a Herter's catalog laying around for flytying and lure making stuff.  I read Outdoor Life, Field & Stream, and Sports Afield, as well as my grandfather's True magazines.  My father considered bows to be toys so serious hunting with a bow was not allowed.  I wandered our 25 acres shooting at rabbits, squirrel, quail, armadillo, snakes-got exactly 1 rabbit and 1 armadillo in about 10 years.  I also left several arrows standing in the woods with very pissed off water moccasins attached to them.  I bought my first real bow in 1971 at the BX on Lowry AFB in Denver-a Browning Safari ll (still have it).

[mj seratt]

I grew up on a small farm in West Tennessee.  The Western Auto was the only place that carried any archery gear.  I got a wood recurve for Christmas, and cried and pleaded for those .25 arrows to keep me shooting.
I practically taught myself to read with the Herter's catalog.

[cahaba]

I spent most of my spare time at Jerry Hill's shop in Harpersville. When we wasn't working in the shop we would be out at the bale seeing who could hit the most quarters tossed in the air. Great times.

[JMG]

I remember when my father taking a 4 point buck back in the mid 70's with an old Ben Pearson and people came from all over to take a look at it as hung from a tree in the backyard. It was unheard of people taking deer with bows back then. Then I remember my oldest brother bringing home a Bear 6 wheeled compound that my dad nicked named "the screen-door" because every time he pulled it back it an old screen-door opening. But it sounded like an old screen-door slamming shut when he released the arrow. My first bow was a Indian that my dad bought for me at a local yard sale. My dad started taking me hunting with him in 1980. He would give me one of his Easton aluminum arrows tipped with a Bear broadhead and tell me to sit on that dead fall until he came back. My first portable deer stand was a Baker that was death trap!! My chest would be rubbed raw from just trying to climb with it!!

[Stone Knife]

Originally posted by Eric Krewson:
Ahhh, Baker suicide treestands.....

Yep I had a slim Jim  

[turkey65]

I started deer hunting in New Jersey in the late fifties,first real deer bow was an old ParX aluminum bow my dad bought off a fellow along with an old King quiver loaded with cedar arrows tipped with zwickeys.It was a bear of a bow to draw,probably in the fifty plus # range but I did kill a few bucks from home made wood stands.The amusing thing with this bow was when it got cold in the low thirties when you pulled it back it made cracking noiseys more then one deer lived another day because of the noise it made,I still have it but don't shoot it because the metal fatigue could cause it to blow up.Ah baker tree stands took more then one slide down a tree with them especially a smooth bark tree fond memories glad I survived.

[Gil Verwey]

My first bow was given to me by my cousin. He was a great hunter. My father started him hunting since his father didn't hunt. He paid for his college tuition by trapping the Passaic River in NJ. He had friends with farms in NJ. Every year I can remember he had a nice buck. He used to hunt with a 40# lemonwood string follow flatbow. He gave that bow to me to start with. It had no shelf and you shot off your hand. I can't count the number of times I got quill splinters in my hand and boy did that hurt.

Then right before I started bowhunting I bought a 52# Bear Kodiak Magnum from Paterson Rod and Gun. I wanted a '67.5 Super K in the worst way but couldn't afford it.

I have many archery magazines from the '40s, '50s and '60s. It seems that California was a big archery state. Back then if your local stores didn't carry archery magazines you were out of luck.

[Terry Lightle]

Little shop in the backyard of Pappy Kennedy,maybe 12 x 12.Always had the smell of cedar and burnt barred feathers.He taught me to shoot a bow,a 45# Bear Grizzly.I shot barred feathers because I could not afford solid colored ones.

[longbowman]

Let's see.  A guy came to my school when I was in 7th grade wearing an outfit that was half camo & half red advertising Bear's "Be a two season hunter" campaign.  He had an archery shop & I worked all summer to earn enough money to buy a Bear Bearcat, 8 arrow quiver & 1 dz. green cedar arrows tipped with Bear Razorheads.  That was 1966/67.  My daughter-in-law now shoots that bow.  The shop owner was Smokey Wagner and he had the oldest Bear Archery dealership in the US until he finally gave it up a few years back.  I can still smell the cedar arrows as I walked into that place.

[woodchucker]

Here's something to ponder...

I started hunting with wood arrows in the mid 70's But toward 1980, Woodies were getting hard to find...

You could buy Easton "Gamegetters" or Bear "Metric magnums" right off the shelf of just about any department store. Aluminium, Plastic vanes, interchangable points... They were the cat's nuts!!! Weatherproof, hunt in the rain/snow, unscrew your field points & screw on a broadhead!!!!! We all shot them out of our Bear recurves, off a Bear Weatherest!!! All of the mid 70's & later Bear bows came with one right from the factory.

[Archie]

I'm too young in terms of "archery years", but my dad was an old-time bowhunting guy.  (He passed away a few years ago.)  He ran a shop in southern California, and was a big proponenet of Jack Howard's Gamemaster.  He even took Jack's personal hunting bow for a field test for Bow & Arrow magazine in 1968.

   

But I remember my dad and his stories of taking groups of bowhunters out to Catalina Island in the late 60's/early 70's.  I'll bet there's a lot of West Coast old-timers that remember those days!  But since I have never been there, all I can talk about are the stories and dad's many many pictures.

[TGbow]

In 1975 we started bowhunting. I was 15 years old.
Dont remember seeing compounds till later 70's in this area. Wood and aluminum were what was available to us. Dad bought me and younger brother  Bear bows but the previous year he had bought me an Indian Archery recurve but wound up hunting with Bear Kmag at first.
In our clan we had Bear, Stemmler, Darton.

[Roadkill]

I tried to get my recurve out to CA when i came back from overseas-only to find it delaimanated.  Went to Roman Grrey's in San Diego and he sold me a Carroll compound-in 1972.  Shot compounds for a few years and took up the longbow when i retired-

[M60gunner]

My first real bow came from Ward's catalog. A 55lb. Pearson Pinto. I lived in Chicago area at that time. Deer were hard to come by, most guys went to Wi or southern IL. to hunt. That was 1963 and I was 18 yrs. old. There was a store I knew of and visited a few times in Forest Park. They had many target bows there but I was to young to know what was the better choice in bows for me. In 1972 I joined Tinley Park archers and saw my first compound, Pete Sheply of PSE was selling compounds out of his garage. My favorite catalogs were Bow Hut and Anderson. My first hunting arrows were 2020 from the Bow Hut. I had bought my Bear SK that year. Ya, some great memories but I think we have it good now days also.
Tom M

[durp]

tks for the memories guys...

i still have my younger brothers first bow...came from montgomery wards in the mid 60's

mine delambed in the mid 70's...but my brothers is still useable today...maybe cuz he barly used it...and i used mine up...still have a few woodies from gambels hardware store from the mid 60's also

the good old days are any day above ground.

[Stixbowdrew]

I love this thread! I'm only 25, but have been around shooting a stick and string since I could walk! Some of my most find memories are from going to the GLLI shoots at marshal, Brighton, and berian springs with dad and my uncle when I was younger. i would walk around the tents beggin dad for all the awesome arrows, bows, and other stuff i thought i needed! i can still remember when dad let me put the great nothern quiver on my ben pearson bronco! we atill have that bow and i cannot wait till the day comes when my daughter can shoot it,I will never forget the first time dad took me bowhunting he was shooting his great northern ghost and missed a doe! Shot my first deer at 12 with a selway Lil shooter legacy 2016s and bear razorheads.  Thanks for this thread, I love hearing stories about how we all got our start in the wonderful world of traditional archery, to me there is nothing better than listening to the more " experienced" guys with your wisdom and knowledge! One day I hope to be one of the " old timers" I look up to so much. Keep them coming! God bless

Drew

[John Krause]

Bought a 52 in Browning Cobra at the Smoke Shop in Kirksville, MO in  1976. Killed my first deer 3 yrs later. It was a interesting 3 yrs for a city boy.   .  Nice 8 pointer that is imbedded in my mind.  It was awesome, hooked me for life. I turned into a hardcore trad guy and never looked back except for 2 yrs of compound.'   . Last count was about 14 stick bows.