What bow has been the toughest you have owned. The one you have hunted, kept in the weather, bumped and scratched that kept straight limbs and still shot like it was supposed to?
Martin/howatt Bushmaster, tough built bow, not my smoothest shooter but if I had to pick just one for survival, the Martin is the one.
Howard Hill Big5
Pronghorn. dry fired dropped, stored incorrectly left strung keeps on shooting
Hoyt GameMaster/Dorado
My Black Widow SA II . Dropped it from a tree stand, turned it inside out while stringing it, hunted with it for 15 years.
I had a Fedora like that-used it as a walking stick crossing streams. You could not hurt that bow.
A HH big five,when it came time to get out of the stand Id just toss the bow into a bush.
Black Widow PMA and Howard Hill Redman
I have no idea. I take really good care of my bows,to the point that I have hurt taking the fall with the bow on top.; LOl. I was taught as a child that if I did not take care of my guns and bows that it could cost me my life. True or not it took.
God bless and Merry Christmas, Steve
QuoteOriginally posted by Sixby:
I have no idea. I take really good care of my bows,to the point that I have hurt taking the fall with the bow on top.; LOl. I was taught as a child that if I did not take care of my guns and bows that it could cost me my life. True or not it took.
God bless and Merry Christmas, Steve
I know what you mean. I'm the same way, except its hard to get away from some of the inevitable when hiking through the sticks and the unreliable weather. Through the years it can add up. Its just interesting for future purchases to know who's bows have fought the good fight. :)
My wing 30+ years and still kills.Been used as a club a few times.
My Black Widow PSA.. Pretty sure it's indestructible
My St. Joe's. They are built to hunt!!
I had one fall off a van door mirror at 40 mph while going down a dirt road. I watched it skip over the gravel in horror out the rear view mirror.
Turned around to get the remains and it only had a couple surface scratches, nothing else.
I also dropped the same bow from my treestand 20ft up. It landed on the limb tip and nothing happened. I'm clumsy and need a well built bow, LOL!
I'm with knawbone. Martin/Howatt Bushmaster ML-18. At one time I had three of them (45,55,65lbs). The 65lber was dryfired twice, I've dropped, pushed snakes, closed one in a truck door, fell off a truck, and various other mis-haps, and they just looked at me like "that's all you got? I never concerned myself with babying those bows.
Chastain Wapiti. Its a plain Jane, 60# @ 28. I dropped it 30 feet to the ground, landed on the lower limb. The bow unstrung and bounced about 15 feet away.
The damn thing had nothing wrong with it after that. I still have it today. Shoots perfect.
Black Widow MAV ... it's like a timex.... :D
Pronghorn or Great Northern...simple, sturdy, no fluff working man's bow.
Green Mountain longbow!
Bob Lee TD,used to be 61# Bob sr.made her 52# 15yrs ago.She was non FF but have used FF on her for 15 years.Tryed to replace her with every top end bow made,but she will out shoot them all.Killed a truck load of game and shes not for sale.
Bob Lee Classic - All micarta riser.
This bow is bomb-proof. Thinking about all the stuff I've put this bow through almost makes me feel like I hate her... But i'm pretty sure it willl still be slinging arrows until the day I die. No matter how many times she's been dropped, pulled through rabbit habitat, used as a shooting lane clearer for dead limbs, etc.
An old Bear Montana, you did not need a haul rope to a tree stand you could just throw it down.
Tall Tines longbow. It became my walking stick in the Hawaiian mountains/cliffs, and more then a few times kept me from falling go my death, and still puts them where I'm looking.
1990 Blackwidow MA2,, it should of been destroyed, warped, unshootable but till this day its still making people proud..
2nd,, and not because it was a good shooter but I once had Martin MA12 longbow,,, I decided I hated the bow because I couldn't shoot it good so I beat the heck out of it for a year I unstrung it and was throwing it like a spear into trees and the ground, I poked a couple fires with it. I drove over it a few times with my truck on purpose to see what would happen, one day I just kept drawing it back and dry firing it, AND letting the riser go upon release so the bow would pop out of my hands and smack off the ground, I strung and shot it backwards .. the bow just would not die and I ended up giving it to some local guy to shoot for fun,,,, Martin Bows are tough! if the bow did break i was going to send it back to martin and see if they would refuse fixing it for how abused it looked but it just ended up with chipped limb tips and a gouged bubinga riser which didn't effect anything...
but for normal use I'd say Blackwidow's are among the top 2 toughest bows out there if not the #1 toughest and this goes for the previous year widows and any model bow!
I still havent seen any other bow maker do to their limbs what blackwidow does to theirs in their first video,, I have no problem using the push pull "carefully in a pinch" or step through method stringing widow recurves ,,, but I don't shoot them anymore so I'll have to use a stringer and be carfull with the bows I have now.
Hand down toughest bow ever built! Original Paul Schafer Silvertip. I have one that has been run over by a truck, forgotten on top of the truck and and blown off while driving down the highway, bounced skipped and skidded into the ditch, had a string break at full draw and this bow still shoots as good as the day I got it! Has quite a few beauty marks and I wouldn't hesitate to take it out today and hunt with it!
1973 Bear Kodiak Hunter. It has been my back-up bow for many years. Built like an entrenching tool. No great shakes in speed or performance but reliable. The kind you take home to Mother.
I notice that when you see a bowfisher in this area using a recurve it seems about half of them use Kodiak Hunters.
Biggie's old Quillian Longhunter
dropped my Dave Windauer Schafer recurve out of a tree and killed a deer w/ it 1hr later. Pauls aren't too shabby either.. :thumbsup:
In 1988 was hunting in Nebraska was in a hurry to get my tree stand hung for the evening hunt put is my screw in tree steps, climb back down put my Graybark B.W,at the base of the tree hookup a haul line to it and to my belt grapped the portable stand and climb up the tree was trying to hook the chain slipped out of my hand and dropped straight down cut the bow string and bow went flying for about 10yds I got down inspected the bow which had couple scratches replaced the string with one in my fannypack and was good to go shot nice buck with it the next morning and used that bow for 3 more years, Ken Beck and Bill Bonner made one tuff bow!
My first bow.
It was a no-name red fiberglass bow with black rubber handle that I was given as a small child. I broke many strings and restrung it with tarred trot line that my dad used for fishing. That bow got used, abused, and hung up wet many times but provided YEARS of enjoyment.
When I outgrew that I was old enough to learn proper care of hunting tools and have since babied my bows and guns so I can't say as they have been put to an adequate test for being the most indestructible bow made.
QuoteOriginally posted by joebuck:
Biggie's old Quillian Longhunter
I've heard stories of them being run over by trucks with hardly a scratch. I dry fired my 70# one once on accident, still a good shooter. I would also say Hill bows are built to last.
I am like Steve I take really good care of my bows. That said I am willing to bet my Tomahawks could take anything you want to throw at them.
Now this is gonna raise some eyebrows, as Mr. Morrison's bows are usually treated a little nicer, but my three piece Shawnee is tough.
It has skidded and tumbled downhill, been used as a walking stick, and has seen every kind of nasty cold weather for days on end.
Now, when i had the limbs made i specifically requested the most durable, plain jane ones possible and they aren't show stoppers.But man, what a bow for the kind of hunting i do.
Wes Wallace mentor, it has lived thur my handlleing, that's saying something.
QuoteOriginally posted by Sean B:
My Black Widow SA II . Dropped it from a tree stand, turned it inside out while stringing it, hunted with it for 15 years.
mine is a MA, dropped it 20 feet onto the bottom limb, bounced back about 10, turned it inside out while shooting, (limb hit a root in the shot).
still preforms as always.
My Black Widow TFV Ironwood has battle scars all around the grip... Saved me from wrist damage during a fall into the wet rocks at a 3D shoot... I didn't let go of the bow and it kept me in one piece!
... mike ...
Pronghorns for me. Real tough. IMO.
I am extra cautios with all my bows. But sometimes hunting. The unforeseen happens. Dropping, banging against stuff etc. the occasional walking stick. Lol
There's lots of bows I own that I almost fear taking in the mountains cause they are so "pretty" I don't want them getting hurt. Pronghorn. Tough as nails.
I can build a super tough bow. Heavy glass, lot of phenolic. big phenolic tips. bomb proof tips. ect. No one would buy it. They would say that is a clunky bow and its slow as molasses. (Grin)
that said I'm sure that every good bowyer trys his best to build his bows to last.
God bless you all, Steve
Bamboo Long hunter and 21 century new moon.
Big 5
My Widow PSA-V ironwood. I always tell my friends that if i run out of arrows i can always beat the hog to death with my bow. :saywhat:
Takes a licking and keeps on ticking and believe me its taken a licking over the years.
I dropped my Black Widow PSA 11 from a tree stand and watched it bounce down the side of the hill. It had a couple of dents and scratches from this incident and then last March I was shooting it in a tourney and had a nock explode in my face. The bow went flying again. Looked the bow over and went back to shooting and I am still shooting this bow although I plan on sending it back to the Widow boys and have them do a refinish. I think that is the least I can do for such a bow.
Regards,
Grouse
Hoyt Buffalo. Whacked the limbs twice on tree limbs 3-D shooting. Whacked the lower limb on ladder stand while shooting. Thrown into the back of a packed pick up this year and it got scratched up a little. It's the only bow I've ever owned I don't baby or worry about. The rest of mine are pampered primadonnas.
BW PSA V
Had my Toyota pickup run tip to tip over my Zipper .Of course it was laying in soft soil but still
The finish on my Toelke Whip seems "harder" than some. I baby this bow less than others simply because it seems like it can handle it.
Toughest i ever owned was an Abbott longbow. Having leaned it against the tailgate of my truck and forgetting it was there, i put my Super cab, full length bed, 4 wheel drive truck in reverse and backed over it with the front and rear wheels, passenger side. Realizing to late what i had done, i picked it up out of its resting spot, in the bow shaped depression that it left in the barn lot, wiped off the dirt, gave it a close exam and then shot it, she was good as new with just one small scratch.
Abbotts are TOUGH!!!
I had a Don Dow that could take anything I could dish out without even a scratch.
A pronghorn I bought from Tippit. Love that bow.
'90 or '91 MAIII......turned it wrong side out when I threw it to shore (read "rocks") when our boat almost capsized on a Caribou hunt in Quebec. Let a guy shoot it on the local indoor range and to say he used a loose grip would be an understatement. Bow flew about 3' in front of him on the concrete floor, again it strung itself backwards. Just kept on shooting!
Dan Quillian Bamboo Longhunter. I have dropped it out of trees, one time on the end and popped the string completely off. It has been dropped on pavement and has bumped many trees and rocks, but it is still in good shape and ready to go. Even accidentally dry fired it once due to a cracked nock.
Martin ML-14 longbow. Man, that thing is a tank (Shoots like a tank, also).
Definitely would have to be my favorite Widow MAIII. I've don't have a lot of experience with other bows because I've pretty much shot only Widows for close to 4 decades but no doubt about it - one in particular, a 93 MAIII has been used, abused and beat up so many times, yet, it still shoots like it was brand new. So many great memories with that bow.
Pronghorn
Quote "An old Bear Montana, you did not need a haul rope to a tree stand you could just throw it down."
Personally I can't imagine a better image that the old Fred Bear video showing him using a "glass bear bow' as a wading stick crossing the river then throwing it up on the bank! PERIOD. Yeap it was marketing for sure but man what a great video!
As a side note man you dudes are tough running over your bows with vehichles and such. I've personally never done that but I do use them and they show there battle scars.
Quarbon Nano
This TallTines is only a few years old, but it has been thru an awful lot. This Alaska hunt broke my partners bow, just from all the rain! Brian builds his bows to hunt anywhere no matter what and that bow goes with me on every trip I take either as #1 or a backup...I know no matter what, it will do the job.
(http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b351/osminski/2010%20POW%20Bears/P9020855.jpg)
Toughest i ever had was one of those solid fiberglass recurves as a kid.It went everywhere i did.Was used as a bow, a machette to get through the jungle, pole vault stick,smack my sister stick,,and one day my brother and i was in the yard seeing who could shoot an arrow straight uo and make it disapear.The arrow came back down and hit the roof of the house with a thud as it burryied in the shingles.My dad heard it and came out very much mad and sent us on the roof with a bucket of roofin tar and two boards to repair the hole.My bigger brother being his usual bully self kept waving his stick in my face saying he was gunna tarm my face.Well i have a nuff of that so i hauled off and smacked him across the face with my own board complet with a big tar ball on the end.It knocked him flat and i figured i better be gone fast before he came to so i ran my barefoot self across the roof and jumped off,,,right on the concrete patio ,,,I was laying on the ground moaning when mom came out to see what all the racket was,,,my feet were both swelled so bad i missed school for a week before i could get a pair of shoes on again.Never saw the bow again,,dont know if my brother threw it away,,if dad got it because we shot the roof or if mom hid it so i wouldnt finish of my brother on account of him causin my feet to get ingered,lol.Anyway,,it was a tough ol bow from tough ol times,lol.
QuoteOriginally posted by Sixby:
I can build a super tough bow. Heavy glass, lot of phenolic. big phenolic tips. bomb proof tips. ect. No one would buy it. They would say that is a clunky bow and its slow as molasses. (Grin)
that said I'm sure that every good bowyer trys his best to build his bows to last.
God bless you all, Steve
My first bow, and the only one that's been mistreated was a Christmas present somewhere around 1953 - 54.
A no-name solid fiberglass bow 45# with hard rubber grip - dual grip if I remember correctly. As Steve said, it was slow, downright primitive, but took everything a teenaged bow fisherman could dish out. It got banged around in the bottom of a boat, dropped on a few rocks and never had any arrows tuned to it. I shot what I had on hand. Some pretty light woody field arrows and anchor heavy fiberglass fish arrows.
Like others, I've learned to take better care of my bows but I also use them less. That old beater got sold on the big auction site just a couple of years ago. Should have kept it for nostalgia reasons, but ran out of room.
My 72 Kodiak Hunter survived my High school and college years
My 94 BW MA III did some tough duty for 12 years and always performed. It was bullet proof.
Tall Tines phenolic riser. Have had 2 and was really hard on the 1st one....still looks and shoots great!
Fred bear take down.
Bulletproof!
It wasn't mine, but Billy Shipp ran over a Big Foot bow that Kirkll made for him with a Polaris on one of the rockiest roads I've ever been on. When all was said and done it needed only cosmetic repair.
Wing,Takes a lickin'. Broke a string and twisted a limb. Twisted it back and shot it a few times. Memory of limb came right back.
Strickland "Stick"
I have a Morrison Dakota that I dry fired twice in row ! (only two shots I have tried a tab) and dropped 20 plus feet out of a tree and it still shoots like new.
Black widow PSA bar none. I slipped walking through a creek once and unintentionally used the bow to break my fall. I feel right on the rocks on it in my hand. I couldn't find any marks on it whatsoever! I know it's hard to believe. If I didn't see it I wouldn't have believed it either.
And I have seen the video where they step on the tip of a recurve limb and bend it backwards like a pretzel and it was unhurt.
Tough bow!
Used , but new to me acadian woods treestick , Tim is a class act of a bowyer and my friend...mark
Self made Osage Selfbow!
It has been used for just about anything and everything, from a staff to cross a flodded creek, to being used to warp an ugly talking slob!
Keeps on shooting!
Have grown partial to simple Hill-style longbows now but over the years the toughest brand/style of bow that I've spent alot of time with has been the Widow MAIII recurve (owned four of them). That thing is a tank! Still, the thought of adding a cutting tip to the upper limb of one of my Hills has crossed my mind...I've no doubt it could be a reliable back-up spear. :eek:
Bear Montana bar none;
HH big 5.
Howatt Mamba, one of my first true traditional bows, got it on a whim,didn't know how to shoot it or take care of it. I was exposed to the elements, hung on a peg in the garage. It took everything I did to it with a smile, as if it was saying "Just Bring It" One tough bow !!!
I was hunting with my Black Widow PMA and had just returned to my Jeep, and was packing up to go home. I jumped into the Jeep and must have left it out of gear, and when I shut the door caught a ratchet strap in it, that was tangled in the bow stringer I had just put on the tips of the recurve. The Jeep rolled away and fell into a river, but the bow caught between a couple of trees and stopped it dead. Had to use the ratchet strap to winch the Jeep out of the river, but the tips held. I think the working recurve tips actually helped with the winching.
:biglaugh:
Seriously, the Widow PMA has been a very tough bow for me, though, and has taken a lot of abuse.
My 61# Big River R/D one piece longbow. It has clubbed skwerls, moved grass and shrubs aside, messed with snakes, got tossed up the mountain ahead of me so I could pull myself up, and on and on.
I think longbows in general are pretty tough critters, just because of how they are built.
ChuckC
So many but I bought a 20 yr.old pronghorn thinking it was newer, I called herb meland and he remembered it and dated it as such. Still in excellent shape, tough and quick!
My first bow all fiberglass,that bow went on every adventure with me took a beating but always sprang back for more,for a kid no nbetter bow.
My Robertson/Harrison longbow.
My new Fedora...fell off a log crossing a small stream. Bow bounced/slammed off the bottom, became unstrung. Strung "Lefty" up, checked limb tips and limbs, took a few shots and it's fine.
Next, my original Bill Stewart Multi Cam take down.
Tumbled down a large coulie in Wyoming, bow went flying among the rocks, absolutely no damage to the limbs or tips.
On the ride out of a long elk hunt we had two big horse blow-ups.
My Hawk recurve was in the same case with my Rampart long bow. My longbow was broken in to five pieces. The Hawk recurve was fine. When I took off the limbs for some reason I found out that the pins and limb bolts were completely bent! To this day that bow shoots like a dream, though it looks pretty rough! That is a tough bow!!!
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-KmcxwLBD6uI/TJFT6ljIzuI/AAAAAAAAL2Y/bB_i6OPL4qk/s400/DSCN0229.JPG)
A Kohannah Fury I had. Traded it off for some reason. :dunno:
my Bob Lee takedown longbow hands down. that bow has been thru the stuff over the years. I actually knocked it off the bowholder in my treestand this past year and it stuck in the snow like a tomatoe stake. later that morning I killed a big ol doe with it. it's one tough bow.
An old AMF Red Wing Hunter... a tough, fast shooting bow design, created by Bob Lee and copied by many. Very rugged bow.