Thought this might be an interesting topic.
All of us here have a love for trad archery and hunting and I thought it might be interesting to read who your inspirations are or were that led you on your traditional journey,be it past or present.Mine was an older gentleman that i met on a local archery practice range,many yrs ago.
He was shooting a longbow with cedar arrows.I was so intruiged by his skill that i just couldnt help but ask,mind if i try your bow? Not knowing me from Adam,he unselfishly handed me his gear and said help yourself.Not knowing how a longbow could kick I launched both the arrow and longbow downrange upon release.There i stood with my mouth agape,when he said ,go pick it up and try again son.This time hang on to it.Try again i did, over and over all afternoon as he tutored and smoked his pipe from a bench.
To this day i never learned his name or seen him again,but his words of inspiration from that bench while smoking his pipe, echoe everytime I pick up a bow and head for the range or woods.
Lifes funny that way. :campfire:
Way, way back when I was in elementary school (about 1955) our school custodian shot a deer with bow and arrow. I was really impressed that a person who wasn't an Indian could do something like that! He was my hero from that day on! I'm sure that event had a great deal to do with my love of traditional archery.
Years later after I had graduated from college and started my own journey into traditional archery I went back and told him what it meant to me.
Bernie Bjorklund
NC Iowa/SW Wisconsin
Way to go Bernie,I wish I would have had that opportuniy. :thumbsup:
My Uncle Jimmy who gave me my first bow when I was 12 and told me all his stories of bowhunting and let me help him with practice on his home range. (I was the arrow fetcher) I'm not sure he knows that he helped form me into a life long hunter and archer. I'm thinking I will tell him so when I see him this weekend, how much this has meant to me.
Good thread!
I think that would mean a lot to him as well Duncan. :clapper:
Durned if I know!
I have always been attracted to the more untraveled parts. Creeks, fields, woods. And I have always been drawn to sharp things, knives, swords, spears. I have also been partial to the idea of shooting, fling it from here to there, as best you can, whether an atlatl, slingshot, bow or firearm.
I got the idea from a Boy Scout, when I was six or so, as he had a slingshot that he had whittled out. All it needed was a rubber band. He gave it to me, as I walked the creek looking for my brother.
When I got home, my mother whipped my butt with it, as she thought I was farkulating around out there. Well, SHE sent me out looking! Adults can be so childish.
So, at eight, when I was pencil-drawing the differences between English and Frankish broadswords (of which I now have no clue except that I thought the Frankish looked cooler) my spank-happy mother made sure that I got a bow for my birthday (instead of the plastic suit of armor that I wanted). And then it was a tossup between Robin Hood (I had the book) and the Indians, of whom I was rapidly learning. Mom let it slip that there were some Indians in the family tree, for which she was sorry and sorely repented once I started rebelling and wearing headbands and feathers.
Ah, I am made up of horses, weaponry, and an ageless bonding with the land. Now, if I could only be sixteen again, and independently wealthy...!!! :bigsmyl:
Killdeer
Simple for me, I got bored of shooting my compound....just wasn't as fun as it used to be.
Who knows, I may end up going back to it- I really like killing stuff with an arrow, but for now, I can't wait to get out and shoot my recurve.
My brother-in-law turned me on to archery. He was a converted wheel shooter. He took me over to meet a friend of his. A guy named Joe Mattingly. The day I met Joe he was knee deep in Osage shavings in his garage, whittling out another self-bow. My BIL told him I was wanting to get into archery and if he had anything for a beginner. Joe brought out a 45# Martin Hunter. We spent the rest of the afternoon launching Judos at every can, plastic bottle and piece of paper within range.
Later on my BIL opened up an archery and black powder shop and I spent many a evening in there shooting the bull and the bow with all the customers. Never have I found such an honest and like minded group of people in my life.
I love the tradition, the sport and the folks that associate themselves with the sport.
x2 on bored of shooting my compound many many years ago.
Seeing pictures of Fred Bear and Jim Dougherty in magazines with the animals they had shot inspired me.
I did it mostly to meet women.
Boy was I surprised.
:laughing:
I saw that picture of Fred Bear standing over that huge elk when i was 9 and i wanted to be him. I hate myself that it took me 31yrs to finally make the switch.
QuoteOriginally posted by Turkeys Fear Me:
I did it mostly to meet women.
Boy was I surprised.
:laughing:
Nice...very clever.
Tree killer posted a pic of him and a blacktail he killed in the snow on another site i frequent
It sparked my traditional roots. I had shot a recurve in my eary days of bow hunting and then I switch to a compound and was fine with that till I saw that pick. Ron lives close to me and Ive always enjoyed reading his posts and respected his knowledge of the Deer and elk and the fact that He puts the arch back in archery. with his blacktail recurve. That first buck I saw he shot with a brackenberry drifter in the snow I'll never forget that pic because it really did change my life and he is still putting a hurt on them http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=110865 Ron is what a bow hunter should be in my mind. :notworthy: :notworthy:
Mine was my dad. Hd put a fiberglass bear bow in my hand when I was 6 or 7 years old. Actually one in the whole family's hand. I instantly felt a connection to traditional archery. Didn't even know there was an alternative. Though he never hunted with the bow it inspired me. He was never too busy or tired to go watch the flight of an arrow with me. Even up till the end he loved traditional archery. Some of my favorite childhood memories. Thank you Pa I miss you! :archer2:
I saw Fred Bear on " The American Sportsman " show and I have been hooked ever since......
I shot recurve as a kid then got my first compound as a 13 year old. I kinda got caught up in all the new gear. I remeber shooting in Ralphs archery shop (Archers Choice) in Berwyn Il. You know Ralph and Vicki before they where famous. Well I mentioned to Ralph I was thinking of shooting recurve and he pretty much said it was a bad thing. So I went a few more years shooting a compound. I was living in Wisconsin at the time this was the mid 90's. I was bowhunting alot and now was useing a release. It seemed like there was always something going wrong mostly equipment failure. Well this is where it started. I was at the grocery store and I was pulled to a cover on a magazine. It was a guy in a canoe with a recurve. I picked up my first copy of Traditional Bowhunter. It opened up the door to a new world. Then I happened to rent a video that featured Gene and Barry Wensel. They amazed me with there shooting and made me laugh at the same time. I thought thats how I want to hunt. I started shooting my Dads old grizzly then bought a take down later that summer. Killed a doe late season that year and never looked back. Simplifing my equipment helped me in leaps and bounds. Where with the compound I shot well but strugeled in hunting situations. I hate to say it but for me its way easier to kill big game with my recurve. I have never once felt like I was handicaped with my recurve!
My Uncle Chuck was the main driving force for me, he lived in Mio Michigan near Grayling and got to know Fred and all the guys down at the factory. He shot with some of them and even built or finshed building bows that the plant would reject because they did not meet there quality standards and then my uncle would create his own version of it.
Anyway as a young boy I would sit and listen to his stories and a fire would well up in side me to the point I couldn't think of anything else except getting old enough to hunt with a bow.
My uncle in the mid 50's
(http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b334/AnointedArcher/unclechuck1955.jpg)
Fred Bear on American Outdoorsman started the desire to hunt with a bow. A neighbor let my brother and I borrow some longbows when I was about ten. I loved shooting it. The first target I made was a running turkey on a long thin box I stuffed with newspaper. There weren't even any turkeys back in Massachusetts yet. A bullseye just didn't seem like the right thing to shoot at. Took until I was in college to shoot a bow again.
OLE 8 BALL JOE EGNER Hell of an archer !
My Dad lit the flame, as a young boy, teaching me to shoot, and letting me tag along to the indoor ranges. We sat and watched Fred Bear on TV... then at 18, my Dad died. I took up bowhunting at that time, and that flame took off as I read as much as I could "soak up" about traditional bowhunting from then on. From buying up every available copy of Bowhunter Magazine (lots of great trad articles in those early issues), to books by Jay Massey, and Gene Wensel and the great articles by G. Fred. There really was'nt anybody local I could learn from, but I did buddy up with a guy in college named Bart Schleyer who shot a recurve too!
Growing up in Florida, we used to watch all the 1950's cowboy shows on TV. We played a lot of cowboys and Indians and wanted to carry bows and arrows when we played. We made bows out of bamboo (cut off a pole 4 or 5 feet long put a string on it-it's a bow) and arrows out of shoots that we split for chicken feathers. Eventually I noticed a picture of my grandfather with a bow killed deer in his den and got to listen to his stroeis about bow hunting. When I was about 10 he gave me his lemonwood longbow and taught me how to shoot it. 2 or 3 years later I was stringing it up and it became a 3 piece bow. For Christmas that year, he gave me the custom recurve he had killed the deer with (he'd had it made in the Grayling area when he lived there in the late 40's). I killed a rabbit and an armadillo with it, but would mostly just fling arrows, usually for hours at a time. In the Air Force while going to school in Denver in 1971, I bought my first bow, a Browning Safari 2. I didn't get to hunt with it until was stationed here in Dover in 1975-killed a ground hog with the Browning. I'm still in Dover and still shooting trad type bows.
Fred Bear. Used to wear out Bear archery catalogues when I was a kid, dreaming of one day being able to hunt with one. Also I had a 35# Indian archery bow that I shout all the time, but wasn't very good. Some guy (don't remember who he was)was at my grandfathers one day and saw my bow he proceeded to take a few shots and I was amazed at his accuracy. That was the first time I had ever saw anyone shoot a bow good. Never will forget those few shots and my desire to be able to do the same.
My neighbor inspired me. 2 months ago, I went over to his house to talk about deer hunting, just like we alwasys do. He took me downstairs to his man cave and showed me a 28 pt Buck he shot in 1964 and some of his Turkey trophys. Then he let me draw on each and every one of his "Custom Recurve Thunder Sticks" and Longbows. I could'nt draw them but I was hooked!!! I really admired the simplicity of his set up and decided this was the last year for my compound. Since then, I bought a beginners recurve and am working on getting a Bear Grizzly. Have'nt looked backed.
My dad got me started when I was about 8 yrs old. That was about 1954 :scared: He shot a lemonwood at 60# and was an avid field archer and hunter. I only know of two times in his life when he hunted big game with a gun. He got me a lemonwood that drew about 20# at my length and that was my roving stick for many years. At about age 13 I broke that bow while carrying it in one hand while peddling my bike. Got it into the spokes of the front wheel. They don't build bikes like that any more! :) Dad got me a solid fiberglass static recurve kids bow later that year that drew about 45# at 28". Hunted and shot with that bow till I was 17! Then my uncle gave me a solid aluminum static recurve bow that drew about 55#. Shot that for a few years but then started hearing the horror stories about them breaking. Lost track of that bow. It was the slowest bow I ever shot.
When I got out of the service I got a ben pearson 45# recurve at the department store nearby and shot that for many years but it eventually made it's way around the family into my son in laws hands.
The bows I shoot now are mostly of my own making except for one Damon Howatt static recurve that draws about 50# and shoots very fast.
Sorry for all the rambling, this thread and the season just sorta got me reminiscing I guess. :o
No need to apoligise for rambling Monterey,
Ive enjoyed reading about the ones who influenced all of you in this this sport.
Thinking of others in this season is what its all about. :campfire:
When I was 17 my uncles then brother in law got a martin super diablo. He began shooting it with us around and it just fascinated me. I remember when i was a boy reading bowhunter magazine if i saw someone with a recurve I honestly felt bad for them cause i thought the couldnt afford a real bow lol. Anyhow the bug bit me and my first stick bow was a zipper recurve my parents got me in 1995 for my graduation preasent.
Mike,
Isn't it odd that when we become "antiques" (over 50 years old) we tend to think we "ramble" about how things were when we were growing up?
My father firmly believed that a bow was a toy. I made the mistake of taking a bow hunting once!!!!!
For me it was my Uncle Thomas Kowalczyk. He was an incredible recurve shot and an excellent bowhunter. Besides that he was one good guy. Miss Him.
Kiko Tovar from Waterloo Iowa inspired me & many others. He was a longtime friend of my family.
He could tell stories for hours, and they usually had a hunting lessen if you payed attention!
I wanted to be like my dad and be a bow hunter. After a few years of shooting a compound and failing monumentally I decided to try traditional archery with my dad's old ben pearson hunter. Two years later (this year) I killed my first two deer with traditional equipment and am never looking back.
Fred Bear. Used to wear out Bear archery catalogues when I was a kid, dreaming of one day being able to hunt with one. Also I had a 35# Indian archery bow that I shout all the time, but wasn't very good. Some guy (don't remember who he was)was at my grandfathers one day and saw my bow he proceeded to take a few shots and I was amazed at his accuracy. That was the first time I had ever saw anyone shoot a bow good. Never will forget those few shots and my desire to be able to do the same.
Fred Bear. Used to wear out Bear archery catalogues when I was a kid, dreaming of one day being able to hunt with one. Also I had a 35# Indian archery bow that I shout all the time, but wasn't very good. Some guy (don't remember who he was)was at my grandfathers one day and saw my bow he proceeded to take a few shots and I was amazed at his accuracy. That was the first time I had ever saw anyone shoot a bow good. Never will forget those few shots and my desire to be able to do the same.
This picture. I saw it on that other archery site. Then I found TradGang and it was all over! So if this is your photo, I apologize for stealing and reposting it, and thank you for the inspiration!
(http://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee471/jonou812/Picture758.jpg)
Denny, did your uncle ever live in CO? I may have met him some years ago.
Fred Bear films... if that doesn't turn you on, then your not meant to be a Trad guy..
I don't think I've even gotten started at it yet! I've been farkulating around with it for the last three years, but nothing is dead yet because of it.
When I was a kid, maybe 10 or 11ish, I got a really nice light coloured wood recurve for Christmas. Must have asked for it for some reason, but don't remember why. I loved shooting that thing and it was the nicest bow around. A side note here: my Dad got a Super 8 movie camera a long time ago and was using it more than I knew. He died 2 years ago and Mom had to be moved to some assisted living. Packing her up, there's all these film canisters. My sister takes them to be put on a DVD. I'm watching and Dad had that camera rolling at every Christmas. There's me getting that bow! I'm 61, but I was close to tears. Seems so long ago. And that bows long gone.
In 1999, I found Traditional Bowhunter mag and bought a RH Caribow recurve and started shooting and hunted some, but my left eye dominance kept me from getting good enough to be good enough. Looked at that bow in it's rack for 10 years. Picked it up one day and fake drew it for the left side and thought, this is what I've been missing. Got a lefty recurve, found Tradgang, but I'm not working hard enough at it.
After no deer during bow season, empty freezer, pick up the rifle and fill the freezer, but feel I really let myself down. Then a thread about using the bow during gun season. Why not? Then SteveO's thread on bear hunting this season. One sentence is now MY mantra.
"I spend the first 8 months of the year getting ready for the last 4." I'm already getting ready for the last 4 months of 2012.
I told my wife the other day that it's bow hunting only, even if we never eat another piece of venison. She says "Go for it!"
Tradgang got me started in Traditional Archery.
Sounds familiar Killdeer. Except I didn't get whipped much. (I was the good child). I learned to love the outdoors cause my dad took us fishing. But it was Jim Hamm's book "Bows and Arrows of the Native Americans" that got me into trad bows and bow hunting.
Mine was my dad (Bernie B here). We've spent a lot of time shooting in the back yard and wandering the woods together over the years.
-Jay
My Grandfather....I spent a large amount of time growing up in his shop tinkering with him. He used to crest and fletch arrows for money when he was a teen and taught me these things as well as leather work, and every other possible skill I could soak up. We spent hours shooting bows and .22's behind his shop. I still visit him every time I can and we still hang out behind the shop and talk about that stuff over a glass of the "good stuff". Still one of my favorite things to do. He recently gave me the leather tools I learned on 25 years ago and I have been using them to carve some of the stuff I have posted here (quivers, armguard, etc)
My dad got me to shooting when i was 5 or 6 with a old bow that some give him for me . Then about 76 -77 my dad give a bear bow 45 lb and I have not look back . I done the same with my 3 boys and only one shoot and hunts with me.
I saw Barry Wensel shoot a recurve in Bowhunting October Whitetails......I bought a Wing Redwing Hunter soon after and shot a black bear in NY the 1st time out with it....I was hooked !
My father bought me a Fred Bear, red fiberglass longbow when I was.....maybe, 6 or 7. Mainly because I kept sneaking into his bedroom to grab his pristine Browning Nomad. I roved over hill and dale with that little bear plucking that string, and trying to act like a hunter. Those are some of my fondest memories. It gave me traditional roots that I eagerly returned to some years later. Thanks dad!