22 years ago....about this time in 1988 I bought my first custom recurve, a Brackenbury Legend 62"55@28. I'd shot several traditional bows as a kid, but that Legend was my first custom bow.
Like many of you I shot compounds for awhile, maybe 4 years in total but that Brackenbury was when things really got rolling for me and what a wonderful ride it's been!
I can't believe how many bowyers are on the street today in comparison to 1988. There are so many choices today, so many options and so many folks who have learned the trade. Everyday I see folks getting new bows from bowyers I've never heard of and they all look darn good!
Traditional archery has definitely grown and will continue to grow for years to come. My hat's off to all the folks who have helped promote our favorite pasttime! :thumbsup:
Yep. About the only other small builders I remember about that time were Bighorn and Rocky Mountain, though there were a few others. (Actually, I'm thinking more '88 than '98.) The few of us who shot traditional shot wood arrows. All of our compound friends were into aluminum. Fiberglass had fallen from favor, and carbon hadn't made it onto the scene.
Tim I did the same thing on a 64 inch legend and got it from J. Probst. Hell I can remember when there were only 150 people at the Denton Hill gathering. tom
Yep, I got my first custom bow in 1990. It was a Zipper, which I still own. It is amazing the number of great bowyers out there today.
Now if I could only figure out how to buy a bow from each of them!! LOL
Yes sir buddy! My first bow was a Paul Shafer Silvertip in 1986...I can still remember talking to him on the phone...
Time sure does fly when you're having fun :clapper:
Hey Allen....for fear of your wife finding this post we won't ask you to provide the number of bows that you have bought since 1990? :knothead: but it sure was fun!
1957 first bow a double shelf all glass it was green and I whittled my own arrows with a carved point. Not sure where I got the bow, but since then with a short stint with compounds I have been helping bowyers out with their mortages for quiet awhile. I'm looseing my memory of Denton hill beginning years. Oh well
I'm with you Tim. My first custom bow was a Brackenbury Drifter. 75# 64" I got it as a back-up to my compound (which I shot instinctive), but I used it and took a caribou the first hunt out with it.
Mike
Thats when I bought my frist recurve a hoyt gamemaster,I didn't even know there was such a thing as custom for a couple of years. Coming back last year I too was surprised at how many made the custom stuff.
I'm also with you. My first was a Brackenbury Drifter 65#@29". I sold it a couple years ago, and man do I regret it. It's great to be a part of something so great as traditional archery!
Great post Tim!
Even more so for me, Tim. I shot a Pearson 60" 40# recurve back in the early 60's. Then school, marriage, and a career took me away from archery. Now that I'm retired, got back into the bow & arrow scene again. Things sure are different from my yourth. Lot more technical even with traditional eqt. But I do enjoy this site so much, it's become an addiction. Thanks to all here.
Good post Tim! My first custom was a Bighorn in 86 or so. Bought a Schafer a few years later after seeing one at Gene's Classic Whitetails road shows...I believe it was one of Matt Riley's and was a brute to pull!!! I ordered one the following day!!
Tim, Didn't you have a Pronghorn up at New Castle in the early '90s and a Leon Stewart a few years later? Time sure does fly!!!
Sounds like I am as old as some of you guys. But haven't had the privilege of shooting recurves as long though. I was introduced to them by an old friend that was friends with Jim. Infact, Jim gave him a bow "because he shot it better than Jim did"....My friend had me shoot that Brackenbury one night in elk camp. After that hunt I went home and sold my compound and have never looked back. It's been too much fun!
Small world Mike...
I also shot a compound for a few years instinctively before I made the move. I'd like to say the move was an easy one but not so. The first deer I ever shot at with my Brackenbury went down inside of 20 yards but I still had my doubts about about stickbows. I jumped back and forth between my compound and recurve for a good 6 months before I sold the compound.
Those of you still hesitating to make the move to 100% traditional. I understand, give it time...it took me years to become comfortable and confident! :thumbsup:
Bob...I was always in the shadows eyeing up that Schafer of yours. In my eyes the silvertips always had great lines. As far as what bow I shot back at New Castle Archery range???....What bow didn't I have!!! :biglaugh: :biglaugh: At one time it was a new bow a month!
Tim, want to talk about change? Try how things have changed in 50 years! That's about how long I've been in archery--actually longer, just rounded off the number ;) I started with bows I made from green tree limbs and twine. Got my first "real"bow at age 12 which was an Indian brand lemonwood. I was trad when trad wasn't cool--when that's all there was. I do recall seeing the first ads of a young up and coming guy named G. Fred Asbell for a çustom bow called the Bighorn Grand Slam--$150. Man I would have ordered one if I had had the money! Things have changed. Back then we were not so technically inclined as now. Didn't worry about EFOC, how many sides of the blade were beveled, how fast she was--just shot and had a great time. By the way, I still am of that mind set :)
Tim, I'm sure my wife has a running tally on my bows. Give me a while longer and I may actually catch up with you. :goldtooth:
I did the compound thing for quite a while before and after I got that first Zipper. Finally decided it was as much about the kill as it is the hunt. I sure do like it when I punch a tag though...probably ten times as much with trad gear!!
My first bow is been a present from the not yet,my wife;a SHT Corean bow in 1983.Then the compound crazy for almost 10 years.In the meanwhile I won a Chastain Wapiti and bought some Black Widows,then in 93 the complete switch.never looked back.
It's amazing how similar a lot of the stories are, I'm also in the Brackenbury first and then a Silvertip after a Wensel's classic whitetails show club. I'm pretty sure my Brackenbury was bought in 85 and cost around 175.00 it was 66' long and I think 60#. I think I paid around 500 for the silvertip, that included either 25 or 30.00 for the checkered grip.
David Mitchell.........50 years of traditional archery! :clapper: Congrats my friend.
I have to agree with you...there has been quite a bit of high tech "stuff" that has come on the scene over the years, traditionally speaking. Those ideas that are positive will stay and the others will fade. Simple equipment and mind sets will always prevail here at Trad Gang! :jumper:
Dave Mitchell.....Sounds familiar, I too started about 50 yr. ago. Started with home made cut down sticks,then a yellow all glass Pearson recurve, then the ultimate to a young teenager,a Herters laminated recurve.
I did shoot and hunt with compounds for about 10 yrs until I got bored with them. Then ordered a new Custom Bighorn about 1990 and never looked back.
Hey Tim, Been a while buddy, Ive been at the trad thing for 12 years. 1988? Archery never crossed my mind till about 1994. In '98 I was so busy with career etc I was not even hunting. Fishing was my passion then, now archery has taken over.
Me and my Black Widow are going to ND to chase mulies with Ron again. So far I have gotten close but no cigar......... Passed up more than I should because I have held out for a big one.... Probably would have 3 if I was not so picky.
Take care,
Bill
Might as well jump in this mix. I shot a Bear mag td until I ordered my first bighorn td in '84. Won a CVS muzzleloader kit at a deer banquet, sold it and used the money for a down payment to GFred. Over the years I sent quite a few payments to GFred. Still shoot Bear mags and an '84 bighorn td(not my original). It's been a very good ride and I'm still cruisin'.
Shick
Tim you will love this one. Goes back around 15 years ago I had to write a contract with my wife ( I write them for a living) that I would not sell the bow. I violated that initial contract about 10 months into it and have lost count since then. Somewhere along the line I spent a whole weekend with Dave Kinsinger and built my first selfbow. I still own that one.....whew.
I've only held on to two bows and both of them are here to stay. One is a bamboo backed self bow that just happen to show up on my door step unannounced one day. Took me a week to find who sent it. The return address was the name of some Disney character if I remember correctly! The bow was a gift from Ken Swann.
The other bow I'll always hold on to came from my friend Billy Shipp, another inmate from Trad Gang! The bow is a Super Shrew Delux Limited Edition with matching knife. It also showed up unannounced but on Christmas Eve last year. My son and I share time with this bow.
Yes.....I have met some incredible friends at Trad Gang. :D
My brother James of "J D Berry" is another old timer, he's been at it 30 years now. Dang seems just like yesterday. It was about 1988 he comes over with is latest recurve. Ohhhh he was proud of that bow. So he's going to show me how quick it is, he draws back and BANG that riser breaks right in half and comes back and hits him square in the nose. Oh man he drops to is knees and blood start pouring out like a faucet. Like any brother would do I start laughing and laughing. He's learned allot sense that day-------Dan Berry
Tim, I laughed out loud when I read how you USED to go through a lot of bows. That was a good one.
QuoteOriginally posted by Dale in Pa:
Dave Mitchell.....Sounds familiar, I too started about 50 yr. ago. Started with home made cut down sticks,then a yellow all glass Pearson recurve, then the ultimate to a young teenager,a Herters laminated recurve.
I did shoot and hunt with compounds for about 10 yrs until I got bored with them. Then ordered a new Custom Bighorn about 1990 and never looked back.
Man, does that sound familiar! I had a lemonwood recurve instead of the Pearson, then I built a 44# laminated glass recurve that I still have, but my eldest (30 year-old now) son still shoots my old Herters Model Perfection 56" 50# recurve that came next. He's also going through the compound phase right now. That's fine with me, even though I never did it. As long as he's in the woods, I'm fine with it. My youngest shoots a Kanati and took a monster buck this year.
I'm afraid I have to admit to about 50 years of trad, too. Like the song says, don't blink! :archer:
Easy there Greg.... :smileystooges:
Hey Dan....Back in the early 90's I had a JD Berry Longbow. It had really neat looking tips and an awesome array of woods in the riser. Your brother's riser splices where absolutely incredible and definitely way ahead of his time. :thumbsup: He was "the man"!
wow! this post is a blast from the past!
i bought my first bow a bear kodiak in 84 after shooting compounds a few years. then my first custom in 86 a colorado bighorn funny i shot that bow better than any i have had since. over the years i have had some great recurve bows, bighorn, shafer silvertip, rocky mountain i have sold them all like an idiot. i always was the tinkerer alum arrows, elevated rests, plunger buttons etc. these days i stick to my longbows and woodies for me simple is much more fun.
Had recurves since the early 60's finally popped for my first "Custom" from Fred Asbell in 84...70#@30" 3pc Bighorn Custom TD...Lots of $$ for a young guy with a young family. I'm only 5'7" but at that time that 30"..."was" my draw lenght ]...boy what 25+ years and surgery on both shoulders does :confused: :wavey:
Like some others have said, I've been trad since it was just called bowhunting! To echo Dave Mitchell, when I started you practiced, got good and killed your deer. The things we waste brain time on now is amazing. EFOC, R-D bows, carbon limbs, graphite arrows...wow! I still pick up my plain old bow with plain old arrows that shoot straight off the bow and with broadheads file sharpened and shoot through everything I kill. Contentment is a beautiful thing!
I bought my first recurve, a Martin Hunter, in '87. A few years later I bought my first custom, a Brackenbury Drifter. Sure wish I still had it but 65# is awfully hard on the neck and shoulders when you "mature".
Now I'm shooting a 45# Brackenbury Quest. Niiiiiice! :)
Tim -
I think I followed in your footsteps only a year later. I got my first custom from Jim too. A 64" Legend that I still have. A couple of years later I met a guy named Steve Gore and ended up with one of his Cascade Super Black Hawks in 62" length. Still have them both. Now I'm looking for some limbs in the 45 to 50 pound ranges to get those bows working again.
There just were not many custom bow builders around back then compared to today. Too much quality to choose from now-a-days. It was easier back then with fewer choices.
Nick
Tim, my first was a black widow after shooting Earl McSorley's and Guy McNairs down the club. My second was a Silvertip after shooting Bob Palmers on the range. About the same time, we were all working at the bow shop and shooting weekend 3D at New Castle 100. Thats when we met. You and Sam always came together. Do not remember the year. That Sam could shoot and he always had that big furry side quiver.
I shot compounds for years,working in the Archery Industry for most of those years. I started to dabble in the Traditional Addiction in the late Eighties with some Bear and Martin bows. Then in the early 90's I picked up a Brackenbury Shadow 64" 72# at 28" and you can say the rest is history. I still own that Brackenbury to this day, and have traded and purchased more than I can count, Ed
Hey Tim...(nightstalker)....Hard to believe it's been 20+ years. New Castle 100 was a blast back than. 3d shoots were just coming on the scene and they'd draw a few hundred shooters every weekend. We had our little group of about 15 stickbow shooters flinging arrows and having a good old time.
Sam still shoots everyday. He's 68 years old now and went back to a compound this fall. He still shoots instinctively but is now shooting a compound. Shooting his traditional bows every day really started to bother his shoulders. He started shooting around 12 years old and has shot a bow 5 days a week ever since. He's won several state titles and set several recorded records with the English Longbow. A few years ago he competed against England. At that time he was shooting a 75lb English Yew Longbow. He's still a bear of a man and health as an ox.
Tim
Sam sounds like he really loves the bow and its good he didnt stop shooting even though he had to go back to a compound.
Nightstalker, Good to see you are still at it! Funny thing, I bought a Roberston Falcon after shooting yours over at Jeff Hopkins farm! Good times! Sure wish I had the time to go to shoots like that! We always had a ball!!
Tim, funny...I too got my very 1st custom from Jim back in 88.....a 64" 61# @ 28" Legend....the only recurve I ever hunted with. Took a 150" class Whitetail w/it 89 or 90. It's been all longbows since then till now, as I recently ordered a Chinook Classic from Dan Toelke. Bracks were the bomb back then, it was the only bow I've ever sold....wish I had it back!
Compounds just quit being "fun".. I bought my first traditional bow in 1992. A SKY Hawk takedown recurve.. Earl made great bows.
22 years is nothing compared to 55 years - when my dad got me started back in 1955 with a lemonwood longbow from l.e. stemmler out on long island, ny and acme poc shafts. then on to bear, howatt, hoyt, wing and other really cool 60's recurves with easton 24srtx and xx75 arrows. getting info on archery back in pre-web dayze was terrible - only a few mags at best to stoke the fires ... archery catalogs were like BIBLES!
what a difference today, eh? :wavey:
Dad started me on Pearson, wing and bear hand me downs in 1975.
Started taking small game consistently in 1979 with those bows.
Purchased my first new bow- a one piece recurve made by Tom Connell out of Mass. and started taking big game in the late 1980's early 1990's with that bow.
Been shooting and hunting with Blackwidows of all shapes and sizes since 1992-Alot has changened but alot still stay's the same!
Hey Billy....I really enjoyed spending some time with your Dad up at Shawn's. Give him my best!
Tim