HH BUG GOT ME - Part Two!

I shoot strings from Chad at champion strings with original issue mercury nocks.  He makes my servings so the nock a little bit of resistance.  That way it does not slide up the string when I am waiting or still hunting and not shooting.   With many of the snap on nocks and new strings, they snap on, but the round hole allows the nock to slide around and up the string if nocking the arrow on top.  For those strings, I used two nocking points, but I tuned with the bottom nocking point and then added a small upper one later.  If this is your first Hill bow, I always suggest, watch the John Schulz you tubes 1 through 4 and take them very serious.  Some would like to blend shooting styles with Hill bows.  I have found with people that I have gotten into the Hill thing, that if they stick to the John Schulz videos and do not alter what he says, they have success.  When folks start missing elements and adding other things, they get into trouble.  It does irritate me a bit when someone new to this can out shoot me in just a few weeks, but on the other hand it does keep me on my toes.

[Bowhunter4life]

Well, I'm finally going to post on one of the Hill Bug threads...  I can't say I've read either all the way through, but they both did ignite the embers of my interest in the Hill bows into a fire!

Now I've always liked the nostalgia of the Hill bow, but didn't care for the way they shot...  When I was doing a lot of buying/selling/trading of bows I had several different Hill bows and they would reaffirm my position on the shooting characteristics of the style and they would move on...  But last year, after reading these threads a bit, I got the urge to try another...  Put a wanted thread into the classifieds and got several responses including the one I bought...

It is actually a Howard Hill "Custom", has a Macassar riser, slight dished grip, checkering, six laminations of bamboo, Diamondbacks, and two sterling silver inlays... It's an older bow, 68", and 85# at my draw...

 
   
   

When I got it, I was rather amazed by the shooting characteristics, and easily got it tuned and hitting where I was looking in no time...

Not nearly as quick as my R/D longbows or recurves, but the quietness makes up for a lot in a hunting situation!  I put meat in the freezer earlier in the year with my trusty SA III, and was doing a bit of cleaning in the basement and happened to look over and see the Hill in the bow rack...  Took it down and strung it up and took a few shots with it...  Decided to carry it to the woods for the rest of the season...  Been carrying it for about the last month of hunting now, and have taken a doe, two squirrels, and a ground hog that made a burrough near one of my stands...

Shot the doe at about 12 yards, arrow passed through and she jumped when it went through...  Looked around for a couple seconds, then went to browsing again!  Watched the blood pour out both sides of the chest for about 25 seconds and she fell over about 20 yards from my stand.  Only bow quieter that I could think of would have to be a selfbow...

This has been the first time I've really hunted with a Hill, and I don't think I'll let this bow go just because I may not find another like it...  I'm not ready to give up my other bows, but I just wanted to share my recent experience with the Howard Hill bow...

[Possumjon]

 
Not my most impressive group ar 20 yards but I'm slowly getting better with this toelke super d. It's 38 pounds at 28 inches and I draw about 26 with a hill bow. All in all I'm hooked!

[Overspined]

Deathwind, amazing trade congrats!!

PAVAN, not a fad for me, been making Hill style consistently  but working on heating my shop! Brrrr

A couple weekends ago two trad bow "virgins" came over to test and both ordered Hill style vs R/D.  They were drilling at 15 yds in minutes with a little instruction!      

One guy was missing his pointer finger on the string hand, so this will make for interesting tillering. Talk about 2 under! Lol we laughed about it. A lot of people appreciate the straight bows, well, how about heavily backset!

I much prefer back set bows to straight or string follow bows.  I like bows that feel tight at the beginning of the draw.

[Trad Longbow Joe]

I like my glass bows to have some backset and my wood bows to be straight or string follow.  The string follow bows are certainly more forgiving and they really don't give up any speed, or at least it is that way to me.

[RC]

I`m bout to put a Hill style bow in the oven now. Its been several years since I built a bow, the last was a string follow that turned out to be a killer. this one if I can remember which side to put the glue on ..lol..will be 66" long with 1" back set and 50 @ 27. Action boo lams and black glass with a walnut riser. Bout to glue her up now and take her out of the oven in the morning. hopefully will shoot a few arrows tomorrow. RC

[Tradcat]

RC... Please give us an update on how the bow turns out...

[WESTBROOK]

Yea RC, give us a look when she comes out and you get her cleaned up.

[ron w]

   

[RC]

 

   

   

Tuned her up today. Cooked on Sat night. Worked on it 6 hrs on Sunday and sprayed her Sunday night. Added a touch of camo paint for character today.Ready to go hunting!!!
45-47 at 27 and 66" long. throws a 525 grain arrow good. RC

[Tradcat]

Looks good

[ron w]

My kind'a bow.......well done!

[WESTBROOK]

Looks like another killer!

Nice work    

[StanM]

I'm anticipating that thing will be bloody in short order, RC.    

[Moots]

Fellows, don't want to get off topic here, but I am up for a bow from James this spring.  I planned to get his Argos with a dished grip.  I've shot the Argos before, and like it, but I am also intrigued by James' new Heritage.  People seem to just love them.  I know one is r/d and the other is ASL, so I guess the question is if I can only get one bow from James, which you would choose.

Thanks,
Rob

[centaur]

Last I heard, James was just building the Heritage, but that would be a question for him to answer. And, yes, the Heritage is a great bow, a lot of fun to shoot, and definitely old school.

[jwhitetail]

That's a tough one, Moots.  Apples and Oranges.  It really depends on what you want.  I have been shooting the Heritage lately and really love the old school feel and the laced, bulb handle.  It is a pleasure to shoot.  The Argos is as well, but I am really into the ASL bows anymore.

[Green]

Rob....good luck with your choice.  I've owned an Argos.....super smooth, fast, and if I had to go back to a D/R bow that would be the one.  Going back from ASL's and Selfbows seems unlikely at this point though, and I can honestly say that the Heritage is one of the finest ASL's I've ever shot.  Everything about it "just works" to put that arrow right where you want it.  

I am the oddball in the Heritage group though as I received the first production bow, and James had originally laced a grip on it.  I glued a leather shim under the grip as a small locator shelf.  Shortly thereafter I sent the bow to James for a weight reduction and a grip wrap.  We decided to wrap over my "shelf", and I'm super happy with the way that turned out.  

 

[Sam McMichael]

Steve Turay told me my yew Shelton will come up soon, and I am really looking forward to it. I did have to make one spec design change, though. On the advice of the surgeon, the draw weight will be reduced to 45# down from 53#.