60 years a Bow Hunter

               

I pray that I can still hunt when I am 80, or 90, or at least up till the day "they throw dirt in my face"!

Good luck, Ron!

Bisch

[Warden609]

Happy hunting  

[twitchstick]

Way to go!    

[awbowman]

Good luck Ron

[Ron LaClair]

Thanks for the well wishes.        I wrote this poem a while ago, the older I get the more it applies

  "Memories of yesterday"
 
Yesterday, when I was young  there were so many bows  just waiting to be strung  

so many feathered shafts  to send upon the wind  I never thought the time for that would ever end  

A thousand hunts I planned,  I dreamed they'd be so grand  but some just slipped away  like weak and shifting sand  

I never seemed to have the time to make them all real,  now late in life it seems  I've lost some of my zeal.  

Yesterday when I was young, the hills I climbed were steep but I crested them on the run  

now it seems the valleys  are where I prefer to be,  my legs are old, no longer  do they want to carry me.  

Youth and strength it seemed  could conquer anything,  no challenge left untried,  no bow I couldn't string  

I gave no thought to what  the future held for me,  I only knew that arrows  on the wind would set me free.

 Now Yesterday has past me by,  but I still like to watch  my arrows as they fly,  

the bows I shoot are not  as heavy as before,  and I don't shoot them  quite as often anymore  

Those hunts of years gone by,  though they're in the past,  I have such sweet memories,  and those memories will last  

So I can relive again  those Golden times back when, those Golden times back when,... I was young

[Sam McMichael]

Dang, I just turned 66, so you have been bowhunting since I was a little bitty piss ant! Congratulation, sir!

[2nocks]

[longbowman]

I'm just a couple years behind you in the number of years bowhunting my friend.  Time goes by so fast!  As I sat in my stand last evening I was reflecting on each year.  At least you shot at your first deer!  I stalked to within 20 yds. of mine and then it fed to within 5 of me and all I did was pull the bow back and let it up...I just couldn't let go!  Happy birthday by the way.

[Ray Lyon]

Ron, you've had a great many experiences with more to come.  You're opening story has been repeated many times. 39 years ago this fall, I had my first 'encounter' while bow hunting as a 15 year old. I was 'still hunting' on an island that was probably a mile long and half mile wide in West Bay off of the peninsula I grew up on in Northwest Lower MI.  They were having a special hunt to reduce the overgrown deer population.  My first opportunity of my bow hunting career came when a doe came along and at ten yards broadside my arrow hit the ground next to her front hooves! I shoot a little better than that now, however the thrill is still there for me.  I hope the thrill still continues for 25 more years until I'm your age as well and I hope your grandson Jordan get's that thrill next week at Shrewhaven.        

[Tree Killer]

You started in 1955 Ron, the year I was born. Many more to come my friend!

[Tree Killer]

You started in 1955 Ron, the year I was born. Many more to come my friend!

[ron w]

I had a young lady hold the door and call me Sir at the coffee shop this morning     .......Keep at it Ron and I hope you have great time at Shrew Haven this year.

[Tradcat]

Congrats Sir !

[Greg Szalewski]

Happy 60th ol boy. Keep em coming.

[elkken]

Congratulations Ron ... It's great to see the passion still burning after all those years.

I'm about ten years behind you on the date of my first shot at a deer and I still recall it like it was yesterday.

Good luck on your hunt this year !

[LookMomNoSights]

You are truly an archery and bow hunting icon, Mr. LaClair...... and I thank you for all that you have done and continue to do.  Thank You Sir!
   

[DennyK]

Congratulations Ron, I hope you have many more seasons to look foreward to! Have a great hunt with the crew at Shrewhaven. Looking foreward to reading it. Watch out for that Ghost of Armstrong Creek.  

Denny  

[Owlgrowler]

 Go get 'em, Sir

[John3]

Hope you bowhunt another twenty years...!  I'm at 28 years this season and can only pray I make 50.

[STICKBENDER98]

Congratulations on an awesome accomplishment.  This is my 33rd season bow hunting, I hope I'm still going as strong as you are when I reach your age. And there's nothing wrong with a pretty girl holding the door for you in my book.  Good luck to you and all your fellow Shrew Haven camp mates.