In the 26 years or so that I have been shooting traditional bows I have owned every permutation of longbow, from so called Hill style longbows, to mild reflex deflex, extreme reflex deflex, and reflex deflex so radical that you would swear it was a recurve until it was strung. My preference always went to straight limb or mild reflex deflex longbows. I developed a healthy dislike, which bordered on a type of smoldering hatred for radical hybrids. I found them twitchy, too sensitive to any and all release inconsistencies, difficult to shoot accurately, and designed to be as fast as possible at any cost. Fast does not get you what you want if you can't hit where you are looking.
For years I avoided buying anymore hybrid longbows. I had given up on the entire concept as being inherently flawed, but at the same time I realized that there were a lot of hunting archers who loved them. And so goes the world.
Then one fine day my curiosity got the better of me and I wanted to know what Gregg Coffey had been up to since he stopped making selfbows and started making glass bows, which eventually turned into Gregg building the Shrew line of bows. When Gregg’s relationship with Shrew came to an end we had a phone conversation and Gregg mentioned that he had a left handed Elkhart in stock which he would send me to try, the Elkhart being one of those damn hybrids, and only 54” at that. Jeez. My first thought was, what if I don’t like it? I don’t like telling people that I don’t like their stuff, especially bows. I said ok. That turned out to be a very intelligent decision on my part.
The Elkhart defies everything I had concluded about hybrids. It in uncannily easy to shoot accurately. It doesn't have the telltale excess preload of all the hybrids I had shot before. The draw is completely smooth from beginning to end. It feels as stable as a true longbow, and maybe a bit more so because the forward handle feels like it locks in your bow arm. And it is a work of art, strung or unstrung. It has no hand shock. Really. It is the epitome of high design and high function.
I had to eat my words about hybrids, at least Gregg’s concepts and designs. He has truly dialed in the the short, high function bow, which of course meant that I could not own just one. After being at Kalamazoo this past January I ordered Elkhart #2. Killer birch veneers and all that Java Man goodness in the handle and limb layup. Feast your eyes, lads.
Topic: Getting schooled by the Java Man/Gregg Coffey Elkhart (Read 2243 times)
