First I want to thank Terry Green for allowing me to post this on behalf of our late friend Ron LaClair.
Ron was a HUGE supporter of Tradgang and traditional archery. It's been difficult to wade through the history and for the family members trying to determine what is a family heirloom and what is an item to be liquidated. Over the last two days, Ron's son, Bill LaClair myself and Shrewhaven camp mate Kevin Marshall waded through a good portion of itemsb, but not all!!! I will try to show pictures of as much as I can. PLEASE NOTE, THIS IS NOT AN ONLINE AUCTION OR SALE. These items will be at the Compton's rendezvous at its new location in June. Bill will be an outdoor vendor and he will have space next to Roger Norris of Traditional Woodsman. If you see something of interest get to the rendezvous or phone a friend who's going.
There will be:
Left hand bows of course!!!
One very special right hand Shrew North American Safari carbon/foam core, Water Buffalo riser and tip overlay. Built by Gregg Coffey. 60" 41# @ 28"
Lots of arrows, some new and some of like new missing a few out of the dozen. The arrows were all hand spined by me and of course many are from Paul Jalon of Elite arrows (retired) who Ron had the highest regard for (as do I).
Hundreds and hundreds of raw arrow shafts, some of which we had time to spine and weigh, some were previously spined and a lot are going to be grab bag or buy bulk(there are probably 200-300 in this category). There are a good number of high spine shafts and arrows 55-80 pounds).
Lots of EFA shrew bow quivers and about 10 back quivers.
Lots of throwing hawks and hatchets
LOTS OF NICE KNIVES of course.
Some vintage nocks in blue green orange and black (hundreds of each)
Some archery books including a inscription signed copy of 1000 Campfires to Ron from Jay Massey
Young Feather burner
Woodchuck taper tool
I'm happy to answer questions but again this is only being announced here.
I will say there were smiles, stories told and of course sad moments over the past few days. Some of you (including Terry Green have been to Ron's shop and it was a magical place in the 80's 90's and 2000's.
Pictures to follow below.
Arrows and shafts
Quivers
2 Wilson Bros. Black widow's
Hoyt Pro Medallist (specs are above logo in fine print)
Left hand Northern Mist built for Ron by Steve Turay in Ron's later years. Low weight.
Left hand bear mag takedown (low 50's # and 56")
RIGHT HAND youth/ladies 1962 Bear Polar. This was Ron's wife Nancy's bow early on. Beautiful zebra wood
Vintage Super Kodiak's
1967 Black Beauty 70# brute
1969 with beautiful rosewood caps 50#
1971/72 55#
1959 reproduction Kodiak and reproduction K4 both low weight
1961/1962ish Grizzly 29# very nice shape
The Bears
Shrew Hill. ASL. 66" 38@28
Shrew Classic Hunter 58" 35#
McCullough Griffin 43@28" 60"
Shrew Model T 64" 40# @28"
More pics of shrews above
Ed Scott Owl Bow custom built for Ron. Left handed rest. 50#@27"
Dave Miller all bamboo longbow custom for Ron
Howard Hill Centenial Special Edition
79#
Thanks so much for the pictures. I know it was a lot of work. :thumbsup:
Oh man...I would love that centennial. Not many LH ones out there. :goldtooth:
Quote from: two4hooking on May 21, 2026, 09:48:55 AMOh man...I would love that centennial. Not many LH ones out there. :goldtooth:
I made a mistake in the Centennial. I thought it was 79 pounds. 79 represents that it was bow number 79 out of 100. Nate Steen informed me that Craig Ekin did not put a weight or length on the Bows when he made those limited edition Centennial's. Our friend Kevin Marshall who used to help Ron in the shop is gonna go back and weigh the bow on Ron scale can also check the length using the string. I'll post an update once they do that. They indicated that he believed the Centennial was one of the best bow series that Craig Ekin did.
What some great stuff! Wish I could be there!
That is going to be one heck of a sale. The back quivers seem to be calling to me, 'you need another back quiver'. :-)
You lefties are finally getting some love. Some great stuff.
RIP , Mr. LeClaire
Very cool collection,, those back quivers at those prices wont last 10 minutes when that table opens.... I thought Ron had a small stash of Texas Commanche recurves, not that im lefty but would of been cool to see.
I did not see any Texas Comanche recurves in the shop. Ron used to be a stocking dealer for Robertson, Mieg's, Dave Talon out of West Virginia and Saxon.
Ray, that would be Dave Paxton of Talon longbows out of WV. :archer:
Quote from: David Mitchell on May 26, 2026, 11:15:04 AMRay, that would be Dave Paxton of Talon longbows out of WV. :archer:
Yes sir, thank you for the correction. Nice shooting bow and interesting grip. I had one for a year or so and sold it. Picked up a couple of JD Berry longbows after that.
The Howard Hill Centennial is a 70 inch bow and weighs 52 pounds from Ron LaClair's hanging shop scale. These bows were not marked with weight or length when they were built by Craig Ekin. It is bow #79 out of 100.
And for the right handed shooter, there's a 43@28" version of this bow that will be at the estate sale at Compton's. Believe me, it's gorgeous and like new. Gregg Coffey build except this is a one piece version.
Bill LaClair has arrived and is ready to go for tomorrow morning at Compton's Traditional Bowhunter Rendezvous. Get a cup of coffee from Roger Norris of Traditional Woodsman right next to Bills setup and peruse the goods.
Wish I could have made the trip, one of Ron's throwing hawks has always been on my wish list. I shouldn't have procrastinated on getting one.
Jason
Our booth was directly across from the LaClair booth at Compton.....it was sad watching so much history walk away. I am happy for those who got what they were looking for...but almost everything in that booth had a story attached. It was like watching the end of an era.
Roger,
I felt a lot of those things when Ron's son, Kevin Marshall and I were sorting through the stuff in Ron's shop. We had a lot of laughs and 'remember when' moments.
A couple of silver linings however:
1) Bill LaClair was appreciative of all who stopped by and told stories about his dad to him. Making his living in California kept him away from seeing what we saw and he loved hearing those stories.
2) The Ed Scott Owl Bow found a perfect home. A father whose daughter had attended one of Ed's bow making classes bought the bow for his daughter. She was extremely excited.
3) David Mitchell here from Tradgang bought the Northern Mist bow. He's been having pain from shooting and he shot the bow pain free for a day upon arriving home. (I shared that story with Bill and told him one of his favorite things was having a customer walk away happy with their purchase and he would have been pleased by some of these stories).
Bill still has more items to sell and will try to get to some more shoots or winter show as his schedule allows. I'll try to post notifications when I can.