Gang,
For the last two years, I have had the privilege of attending Barry Wensel's Whitetail Bootcamp as my "Bowhunter's Spring Break". Aside from the rich experiences of listening to a Wensel-told hunting story or absorbing decades of deer hunting knowledge, one of the highlights for me was getting to spend time checking out Barry stuff! He's got plenty of it too!
One of the coolest pieces he has is one of Paul Schafer's personal hunting bows. I'll spare you the details of the bow, but it has a pretty interesting story behind it. After some tragedy and goodwill, the bow finally made it's way into Barry's hands and serves today as one of his most prized possessions. You can read about the bow in Barry's book, Once Upon a Tine (chapter 19).
I got to thinking after my first trip to Barry's place, that it would be pretty cool to order my first Schafer Silvertip and have it modeled after Paul's bow. After a lot of emails and a visit this past summer with Dave and Beth Windauer, who are fantastic people, we nailed down the design and the wait began!
Well, I got a phone call earlier this week from Beth, and my bow is in the mail! She is 60" 55# at 28" and features the old Trebark camo netting on the limbs. The riser is built with rosewood dymondwood, and the laminations have been modified a bit to match Paul's old bow as closely as possible. Dave did an absolutely perfect job of capturing the classic and simple nature of Paul's bow, while maintaining the integrity of his own design and artistic representation.
Below are a few pics of the original, and my new one. Don't think I'll ever pass thing one along, and I cant wait to shoot it!
Jim
(http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd392/wolf1007/2015-03-29%2013.51.56_zpsquc9ifay.jpg)
(http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd392/wolf1007/20160402_151020_zpsa8mce5rl.jpg)
(http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd392/wolf1007/20150328_124734_zpscim1bqq2.jpg)
(http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd392/wolf1007/IMG_2859_zpsd9apmc2u.jpg)
(http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd392/wolf1007/IMG_2860_zps2zana2yr.jpg)
A piece of history.
Pretty cool idea.
Very neat idea and thanks for sharing.
Cool story and sweet looking bows.
That ROCKS!!!!!!!!! Beautiful bow!
Got to be some serious mojo in that beauty. Nice.
What a cool Silvertip. Congrats!!
The old school camo limbs are just plain cool.
That's a great idea. I am sure there are a lot of miles on that old bow. Barry had it up at Bear Quest a couple times. We all got to shoot it a few times. Neat piece of history.
Super nice...
Ive read, re-read, and re-re-read this post several times today unsure of just what to post. I admired Paul Schafer alot in my younger years and was saddened at his passing..... I wondered to myself sometime ago what happened to his personal bow. Now I know..... Did not realize Mr Wensel had it.... thats very fitting. Very neat to see pics of it and your new bow is gorgeous!!!! Congrats to you Sir
Ive read, re-read, and re-re-read this post several times today unsure of just what to post. I admired Paul Schafer alot in my younger years and was saddened at his passing..... I wondered to myself sometime ago what happened to his personal bow. Now I know..... Did not realize Mr Wensel had it.... thats very fitting. Very neat to see pics of it and your new bow is gorgeous!!!! Congrats to you Sir
That is so cool!!! :thumbsup: :clapper:
Steve Jr
Thanks for the feedback guys. I'm really looking forward to getting the bow set up. It should be here Monday or Tuesday. I honestly hope its not Monday, I have the day off but have a ton of school work to do! I know which will win!!
That's pretty cool!
Congrats on your new stick!
Bisch
Jim: School work? What grade are you in now? Ha. I'm so pleased you had the fortitude to have this done. What a great honor to Paul. Next time I see you down the road please bring the bow along. I'd love to see, feel and maybe shoot/sign it some day. May it bring you great luck. Paul would have been proud. Thanks. BW
That thing looks like a hunting machine.
Barry,
By my count I'm in 17th or 18th grade, Masters Degrees suck! I really enjoyed spending time at your place handling this piece of history. To some it's just an old bow, to me, it represents the hard work and success of two of my idols! We'll cross paths again, and I'll bring it along!
Very cool and special bow!
Love it...congratulations!
:clapper:
I remember handling that bow last spring Jim. Thinking, wow Paul Schafer made this bow. Your new bow is gorgeous! Congrats! Can't wait to see a pic of your first kill with it. Best regards, Jim
:bigsmyl: :bigsmyl: :bigsmyl:
Ahheem...I see you didn't have them duplicate Paul's draw weight lol :biglaugh:
...not knocking just laughing with ya
Now that's just plain cool !!! :clapper:
By you doing that speaks volumes to the impact Paul had on you. Very cool that you did that!
Just found this thread, pretty neat idea you had their. When i think of Paul, the bow I remember is from 83' I believe,Paul took a bunch critters that year including a Bighorn, a Dall,and a big Montana Antelope, in the pictures from that year his take down looked like it was laminated with several different colored woods like yellow and red, but it was mostly painted camo, always thought that bow looked cool and wondered what happened to it. Maybe Barry remembers that bow?
Awesome concept bow, very special! Don't you dare ever sell it! LOL.
I have gone through a dozen different recurve makes and have finally settled on Silvertips as the best of the best. The combination of workmanship, grip, mass, smoothness of draw, speed, and above all quietness takes the cake for me as far as 3PC recurves goes. The one I recently acquired, the 4th one I've owned, is here to stay with me this time. Surprisingly based on my track record, it's a very simple look- just a walnut Dymondwood straight stripe riser and matching stained Actionwood limbs, and antler tips. I dunno what it is but its just a no frills hunting bow taken to the pinnacle.
Good luck with yours!
Awesome on all accounts
Beautiful!! make Paul proud with it!
Awesome on all accounts