Old Bowhunters Thread....

[joe skipp]

To this day, I will never forget my Father and Uncle burning and shaping feathers in the basement. The smell of burnt feathers is awesome...   :eek:

Along with the sweet smell of a broken PO Cedar arrow. This photo of my uncle taken in the late 50's.

 

[John Krause]

Joe
The best is yet to come.... It's a journey, you can never say I got it all figured out.  Trad guys are the best.

If it was easy everybody would be doing it.  

[ron w]

It was my uncle that I watched come in from hunting with his Super Necedah and camo coat [just like Fred's] that got me turned on in about 1963-64. He had on a Jones style hat in woodland camo and a Buck knife on his belt.....I have that knife now, he passed in January of this year at 84 years of age!

[Sean B]

I remember as a kid going to friends of my dads and seeing their recurves in their basements, and wood arrows tucked her and there. and seeing bear bows on display in the local hardware store.  I also remember picking up issues on Bowhunter and Bow and Arrow magazines from the early 70's and reading them.  That's when I fell in love with the idea of hunting with a bow and arrow.  my eye was drawn to the recurve.  There were still a lot of recurve shooters in the magazines.

[swamp donkey]

In my neck of the woods you didn't see anything but compounds from about 74-86. I went to OBA shoots every weekend and usually saw 2 other recurves besides mine per year, n that was Roger Rothaars n his sons at the OBA state shoot.


     Deer were so rare when I got my first with my new bow in Jan 67 it made the local newspaper. To me what made it the "good ole days" was the comradery. There weren't so many bowhunters so the ones you saw always wanted to talk and get together to shoot or hunt.


     My favorite hangout was Vic Bergers World of Archery. That was the only shop around till I opened mine in 84. I still remember the side of the building had painted on it "Bowhunting Spoken Here". Vic was always willing to help with any shooting problems you had, plus had a great sense of humor about it.


    We really didn't have a decent herd of deer till about 1980, but even then it was nothing like today.

[Gil Verwey]

This thread made me go back to old archery magazines I have. I was looking at 1961 Archery magazines. Something I never noticed before was the article author not only had his\\her name printed, but it also included his or her address.

That is something I miss. It was different in our society back then. You didn't have to worry about someone stealing your identity or coming to your house to rob you. Ah now that was the good old days. Kids could play outside and neighbors would keep an eye on you like you were their child. If you lost something someone would go out of their way to find you and return it. Everyone was much more respectful to each other.  

Yes in a way those were the good old days, but today is the good old days in archery terms.

[JamesV]

I was lucky to live in Pine Bluff in the mid 60's not far from the Ben Pearson factory and outlet store. They had everything but I still remember ordering my first set of aluminium arrows from Herters. Bent, broke or lost most of them within a few weeks, so back out to the Outlet to get some cedar arrows (seconds were cheap back then) they are ALL seconds now.

[hitman]

When I was growing up we had very few deer and no turkeys or bear. My dad was an absolute diehard bowhunter. He killed an 8 pt. buck in 1962 and there was only one other doe killed with a bow in our county that year. We lived about 70 miles from South Charleston where we would go to get all our hunting supplies from a shop called Babe Tucci's. He was a wonderful gentleman who helped you out any way he could.
  Dad would save his money and we would go there and buy feathers,nocks and arrows and broadheads. One day I spied a solid black Wing Thunderbird that I fell in love with, it was 54# at 28". Summoning all my strength I pulled it back and held it. Of course my great Dad bought it for me. At 14 years old I was soon king of the woods in my mind. I killed my first deer with that bow and several more before getting another bow. Oh the memories, you just can't replace them.

[sweet old bill]

a name from the Past Herters, my Dad and I would wait for there new catalog and just put in the bathroom and look at the photo's of all the great items. Got my first adult bow from them and a doz cedar shaft, then two years later got the first set of fiberglass arrows, were with 5 inch fletch, tan shafts, the  feathers were 2 yellow and one black. MY Dad said they were to good looking to shoot and lose one. But within a month he ordered some for himself. They would bounce off trees and were still good to go. I do miss that all these sites no longer have members put in were they are from , like New York state and the county you live ( Delware ) and nearest big city for me is Oneonta  ....sure would make it easier to then go back and try to meet other archers in your area.

[Sharpster]

Joe, I'd like to chime in but as you know, I'm not old enough.

   

Ron

[frassettor]

TTT, I love threads like theses! A real pleasure to read    

[joe skipp]

Good one Ronnie....I'm getting back to form, you better find time to bowhunt with us this fall....Tri-State Terrors looking for new people...

   :eek:    

[joe skipp]

Around 1971...I remember talking to Jack Howard about why should I shoot cock feather in....Arrow maker Rube Powell answered my letter and said I should shoot 4" 4 Fletch...

We tried making the Howard broadhead by epoxying on razor blades....tried the Dougherty 003....A few guys built leather backquivers, arm guards and it was easier to find barred feathers than solids.

Whether you bowhunted Ulster or Dutchess Counties...plenty of farm land, orchards that held big bucks, plenty of does and very little pressure. Bowhunters had it made back then, you could hunt for one week and maybe see 2 other guys in the woods.

[Izzy]

Skipper, no Im not an old timer but I like the stories they tell like these in this thread. They remind me of the 2 garage shops up here that I remember. Lennys and Jacks. There was Lemmes too but it was a bigger shop and I could hardly get a ride all the way to Albany from Troy, it was far away back then. They must have closed in 82 or 84, right before I was old enough to bowhunt but I can see them in my minds eye like I was in them just today. Hell, I can remember run of the mill conversations with strangers in those shops. I sure miss when the world was a bigger place. Thanks for the stories fellas.

[michigan bill]

Opening morning of the bow season, October 1, 1962 found this 15 year old boy in the "Deer Woods" not far from Fred Bear's plant in Grayling, Michigan.
Carrying my new Herter's recurve with those great yellow wood arrows, less than 15 minutes after good shooting light I sent a Herter's Ram MX broadhead right over the back - if two feet can be called right over the back - of a great looking doe at about 20 yards. I was hooked for life!
I haven't hunted in Michigan for many years now so
my hunting buddy from that day sent me last fall -50 years later - a current picture from the spot where I got that shot.

[ron w]

Loved watching American Sportsman with Fred Bear and I think it was Curt Gowdy, sitting around a camp fire and just talking about hunting. Very little camo, lot's of flannel and some cool hats....lol! I went to the Bear Museum in Grayling in 1977. My wife and I took a motorcycle trip out there, what a great time. Seeing all the stuff Fred had shot and his collection of Archery history was amazing. Really liked the movie of Fred shooting the Elephant.....unreal! You could see all the films that were made, really cool!

[joe skipp]

I remember my first camouflage was Brown Woodland, like WWII. We had an Army/Navy store that sold surplus. Bought my first set of Tiger Stripe camouflage there.

He also sold Ben Pearson hunting arrows...bright yellow with blue crests, yellow/blue feathers. I can't tell you how many Bear Razorheads and Pearson Deadheads we went through. Lost or broken off in trees...   :eek:

[Gil Verwey]

My favorite back then was Camp Clan Tiger Stripes.

[stillhunter]

My first season was 1970, 12 years old.Hunted with a Bear Panda 35#. License was $1.25 and Wisconsin bowhunters app. was a buck. Overspined arrows with razorheads in a back quiver or a uncovered Kwikee. Put on something green and hit the woods on the ground. Good clean fun and adventure. We were told by peers if you don't practice you don't hunt. A deer was a trophy period. We were not a management tool. No posted land. But today on a frosty morning with the deer on the move it's still the same in my heart.

[paoliguy]

I remember getting my first recuve directly from Howard Hill. Of course, to me Howard Hill was the gentleman who owned Hill's Hardware Store in Paoli Indiana. I didn't even know there was a famous archer by the same name!
For my 12th birthday in 1974 I got a Darton Ranger from Mr. Hill. My dad bought a Black Bear later that year and we began stump shooting and later hunting. I still have both of those bows, they mean a lot to me.