I've known Jeff since he was about 8 and he's now in his mid-twenty's. When he was very young I took him a box of reading materials having to do with traditional and primitive archery.
We lost contact with each other from high school thru college then last year out of the blue he called wanted some help with his compound bow. I helped get him up and shooting again but while he was here I brought out some of my stick bows and let him shoot a few of them.
Flash forward to this early Sept. and once again Jeff called but this time he wanted to visit about those simple bows. It seemed that his compound was giving him problems that was going to require a trip to the archery shop and big bucks. In his words, "I'm sick of this and I would like to try using something simple like what you shoot."
I loaned him a nice but old JC Penny long recurve made by Wing archery. As it turns out Jeff had a lot of natural ability and was hitting what he was looking at from about 12-15 yds pretty consistently before he left that day.
I asked him to keep in touch.
A few weeks ago he called and came over. He wanted me to sell him a bow. I told him he needed to shoot several different bows and styles of bows until he knew what it was he felt most comfortable shooting.
I loaned him a variety of bows to shoot at home. The last one was a Bear Take-down Hunter that after about a week looked like a good marriage. I mean I was totally impressed with how he shot the bow.
A few days ago he came over and was relating his experiences from the past week. One was a narrow miss of a doe at about 7 yds., another was a close encounter with a buck but no shot opportunity. He's now hooked on traditional bows and hunting the hard way(from the ground).
I wish I could accurately describe the emotional excitement I could read in his voice and the telling of his experiences.
After all that I couldn't turn him down when he asked me if I would sell him the bow. I did! I made sure it was well within his means to afford.
I am very proud of Jeff and I am the one who is blessed by knowing him. I think he just may show up on here in the not too distant future.
If he does I know what kind of welcome he'll receive.... so thanks in advance!
God bless, Mudd
PS: His best buddy is still shooting wheels but Jeff is starting to spoil him too!!
Mudd,
Looking forward to meeting Jeff.
good deal mudd!
Outstanding. Sounds like you got a new hunting/shooting pard!
Mudd you be the man. Isn't it fun to get a new be started. I've got a few started and a year later they are out shooting me and I love it. We need to get all the old men together for a weekend late this year for a BS session.
I'm telling you these young men I'm working with are catching fire and already giving me a run for my money when it comes to hitting what they call out as their target before their shots.
It's a hoot!!
I'm open for about anything. I bet Ole Butch would be too. Starting the 10th I have to lay my bow down for 6 weeks. Dr.'s orders but it's all good. I'm looking forward to 2010 already. I don't just mean deer season either, but when I can look forward to some long woods walks with my stick and string shooting at nothing and everything. You know the drill...lol
Man i wish i would have been introduced to trad archery a LONG time ago. Good for you i know that puts a big smile on your face.
Nice job. It was super generous of you to sell the bow, but you will be paid back a thousand fold in sharing your your friends excitement and sharing hunts together.
Mudd, your a Trad. archery pimp now.You should get a purple fedora...LOL keep up the good work
:thumbsup: Thanks for sharing Mudd.Awesome!