Another question for you "Old Timers"

[Sean B]

Where did you buy your bows and supplies back in the day? Hardware store, Sears, Montgomery Ward.....??  Did you make any of it? If you want to know what I concider an old timer, let's just say that I've been at this over 35 years and I DONT concider myself an old timer!!!  

[Roadkill]

Luckily, i lived near Hoyt for a short time, so stuff was easy to get, but at age 8, no money! Bows were sold in those places and mail order.  Supplies from mail order or sports stores.  I did not have $ for jigs, so we got arrows from stores.  One arrow at a time.  I am not old enough for a real answer as I am only 67, but that is how I did it

If you have been at it for 35yrs, then I am surely not an "old timer"! In to see what responses you get.

Bisch

[tippit]

Most of my stuff came out of a bi-monthly newsletter called "longbow".  I couldn't wait to get it but it was only 6-8 pages.  Plus there was this young guy who had a traditional shop.  I think his name was Ron La something     tippit

[SuperK]

Back in the 70's, I used to get most of my bows from the SPORT SHOP in Grifton, N.C.  A fellow named George Suggs ran it. (a nicer guy you will never find!)  I also got a lot of Bear Razorheads from Walmart, too.  Years later the POWDER KEG in Rocky Mount, N.C. was my "go to" store.

[ChuckC]

Guaranteed, back then, there wasn't as much "stuff" to get as today.  A lot of it was contrived.  Believe it or not, there were archery shops back in the 60's and 70's and until the 70s, not a one of them saw fit to sell compound bows !  Most were mom and pop stores, someone who hunted a lot that opened a shop, often in his garage.

It was seemingly during the 70's that the sky opened and the race to supply anything begun.  I recall building or refurbishing bows, building tree stands when they were finally legal.  Broadheads were available.  I don't recall much in the way of mail order back then.  Certainly no web sites.
ChuckC

[Sean B]

Aww, Bisch, I'm just sayin I'M not old!!!  I guess at leat in my head anyways!!!!      

My friends dad had an archery shop that he opened in '72. I have a new "old" stock '73 Grizzly that was pulled from the attic of the store. He has an new in the pack St Charles quiver waiting for me.

[moebow]

Kitrich(sp?) Bow shop, Finney Sports (mail order), local hardware shop and built all my own arrows using straight sewing pins to pin feathers on shafts.  Herters a little later.

What a great number of resources we have today compared to the late 50s and early 60s.

Arne

[M60gunner]

First bow set came from a local sporting goods. Then came "Bow and Arrow" magazine 1963? Found an archery store in Forest Park, IL. Mostly target and field archery but some hunting. Bought my Pearson Pinto from monkey wards catalog. Arrows came as singles from sporting goods store. We also had Kittridge Bow Hut, bought my first DYI arrows as a kit. $15 for the whole smear, painted shafts, feathers, nocks points, glue and a fletcher gizmo. Ah, those were the days.

[Jmatt1957]

Only one place for me HERTERS. I would wear ther cataloge out.

[Bowwild]

Mr. Whiggs department store (like a Kmart). Bowhunter warehouse. I think there was a mail-order called "Anderson" or something like it.
Frankly, I didn't buy much.

I bought a 56" Grizzly in 1971 directly from the shop at Trueflight near Monticello, IN. Also some fellows had shops in their garage or house. I bought a few things from them.

[Jon Stewart]

Been shooting for close to 60 years (I am 66). Dad started an archery shop in the basement doing mostly service work, fletching arrows and making bow strings.  Life was simple back then.  You had instinctive archers and freestyle archers.  The site shooters used a pretty simple and easy set up.

As dads business grew he rented a building that had enough room for 8 lanes of shooting.  My dad was a really good instinctive shot winning the Midwest national in 57 in Chicago.  We nominated dad for the local hall of fame and came up with records that showed that he won or placed in 300 archery tournaments.  Growing up we went to tournaments almost every weekend in the summer months.  Dad became friends with Fred Bear, shot for Bear Archery for 3 years and was on bears advisory staff for 3 years.  Dad renamed the archery shop Bear Archery of Muskegon, Michigan.

It was nothing for Fred to call the store or house asking for dad.  Dad also sold Root and Sovereign Bows. I went into the Marines in 67 and my brother got married  leaving my dad alone to work in the store.  Dad was a full time iron worker so he closed the doors in 68.  Couldn't compete with K-mart that opened up down the road and sold, Bows and arrows.

I still have some of the old stock left over from the store and I have given a lot of it away as folks ask for things that are hard to find or need something although I am about done with that as most is gone.  what I have left goes to my grandkids.  I have one new, never shot Super Kodiak  left that one of the grandkids is going to get when they get a bit bigger.

So that is where I got my archery items in the past.  Now I make my own selfbows, knapped arrowheads and even arrow shafts.

[highlow]

Even though I'm 71 and could probably be considered an "Old Timer", I haven't been at this trad stuff that long. Didn't actually start in archery period until the 70's. Took my first ever deer (gun or bow) with a Browning Ex 1, in, I think, '76 but then got caught up in the "newest and best". Getting started was easy as we had two good shops near me here in NJ. One was Robin Hood Archery and the other Len Cardinale's "Butts and Bows", in Montclair, NJ. I think both are gone now. Also used Bowhunters Warehouse.

[ron w]

Started in 1967, I just turned 63. Got my stuff from a local sport shop and a discount store called "Big N". I would drool over the Herter's catalog for hours. Got some small items at Western Auto. Not sure if I'm an old timer because I learn new stuff all the time.......

[longbowman]

A distant relative of mine came to my school and did a presentation during the first year PA had the Hunter/safety course.  His outfit was half camo and half red talking about Bear's "Be a two season hunter" campaign.  That was 1966.  He owned the oldest Bear Archery dealership in the country at that time.  I immediately saved my money and went there and bought a Bear Bearcat, 8 arrow quiver and a dozen green cedars with Bear Razorheads on them.  That cost me a whopping $62.00!  It was great having a "real" bowhunting shop to go to.

[ed cowden]

I was lucky enough to live on a farm that had a creek running threw the pasture. In the spring and summer the carp would roll around for hours. Each year there was a man that would come in and ask to shoot them so I got trained buy a very well known tournament shooter in western Pa. He gave me old magazines and some of the same bows could be bought back then. Hoyt and Bob Lee I can remember. And as the gentlemen said above Herter's was like a bible to the sportsman.  I remember Model Perfect everything. My father bought my first Ben Person from a local hardware when I was 5 or 6 around 1960.
  My first custom was a recurve made in the Pittsburg area and I got it used from the carp shooter for 35 dollars with a dozen cedar arrows. I was about 16 then and it was 50@28. I remember how hard it was to pull it back and I could not hold it there until about a month later when I built up my strength. I can remember more ranges in the area than archery stores and would trade or buy used from the people I got to know.

[LongbowArchitect]

Herters, then Kittredge Bow Hut.

[joe skipp]

When I stared in 1969, we had Wolfs here in Dutchess Co. and Spada's in Kingston. Bought my Bear arrows from both places. My Browning bow came from Arlington Sporting Goods.

Then I started buying from Anderson Archery, MI and finally settled on Kittredge Bow Hut early 70's. Doug got all my business as I shot Forgewoods and his one piece Signature Recurve.

For cheap PO Cedars for stumping and small game along with Pearson Deadheads....Robin Hood Archery, Montclair NJ.

[Zbone]

Uncle gave me a 25# kids Jet bow as a Christmas gift in the late 60's but don't know where he got it,,, but my first big boy bow I bought with my own money earned by my paper route and mowing lawns and bought the 45# Ben Pearson Cougar from the Western Auto they had displayed in the front window in downtown Uhrichsville Ohio, sometime around 1972 - 1974...

Also bought cedar shafts tipped with Bear Raorheads at the same time from the Western Auto...

If I remember correctly, Western Auto was more of a hardware/general type store, rather than auto parts store...

[Sean B]

This is great. I love the nostalgia. Keep'em coming.