Ok, now that the dust has settled, for those of you who made it to the Kalamazoo Expo this year, what was your favorite part? Which bows did you try that stood out above the crowd?
Unfortunately, I could only make it for Sunday afternoon, and didn't have near enough time to see everything. But there were a few bowyers that that I'll give the nod. In no particular order:
1. Gregg Coffee at Javaman Bows. I was VERY impressed with his bows! They were everything that you could ask for in a bow. Very smooth, stable, quiet, and FAST. If you liked his shrew creations, you will love his new Javaman line. A shrew that is better in every way! This man is truly a master at his craft.
2. Chad Holm's Holm Made Osprey. The 45# model, made my 51# shrew tuned arrows look like limp noodles! Very nice shooting bow that is smooth and very repeatable. I shot my best groups of the day with this beauty. Craftsmanship is superb!
3. Rick Ellis at Striker Bows. He has some great bows, and excellent wood combos. He spent loads of time with me discussing grips, and even mentored my shooting form a bit, and by the time he was done with me, I was shooting his bows better than my own. His 56" model drew smooth and clean to my 27.5"-28" wanting more! And his new Fastback is quite the looker. What a great guy to do business with.
4. Carri-bow. I shot two different slynx models, with entirely different woods and about 6# different in draw weight. Fit and finish were masterful, and they drew smooth as butter. One of the best grips at the show.
There were many other great bows and people at the show, but these certainly left an impression. If you have never been to a traditional archery show, put it on your bucket list!
I shot a lot of bows at the show, and walked away thinking about three of them:
50 @ 28" 66" Black Widow PLX-Camo
58 @ 28" 64" Cari-Bow Silver Fox
49 @ 28" 58" JavaMan Elkheart
I preferred the BW over the others, but then again, it's a very familiar model bow to me... just look at my signature.
The Cari-Bow was just incredible. I had to fight to say NO, but I sure was tempted. What a bow. The JavaMan Elkheart was a super-fine specimen, as well, even for a long draw like mine.
All were smooth-drawing, comfortable, great-shooting bows, all longbows, but all markedly different. There was a seemingly unlimited supply of bows to shoot there, and that was worth the trip!
There's so many really good bows and bowyers at the show that it can be hard to pick just one.......but, my top three picks would be: Recurves-Stalker Stickbows/South Cox bowyer. His bows are works of art. R/D Longbows-Two Tracks/Chuck Deshler bowyer. This guy is magic with Walnut! Longbows-Northern Mist/Steve Turay bowyer. Steve loves to make (and shoot) Longbows and it shows in his impeccable craftmanship. I picked up a new Shelton because I couldn't wait any longer for my order. He told me if I shot it that I couldn't part with it......He was 200% correct. I only unstrung it to bring it home! The show was awesome. The bowyers and vendors were exceptional. I had to keep pinching myself because everything was so surrealistic! I can't wait till next year already !!! Horserod
Seeing a lot of people from Trad Gang, Compton shoots and locals is always a big part of it. Living in the area I usually spend a lot of time there shooting and comparing bows, but this year only was able to be there Friday night and half of Saturday. I didn't shoot as much this year or shoot the same bows multiple times to really compare a lot. I have shot the bows by all the regulars many times so I know what I like for those, and that list is long with so many great bows. The nice thing this year was getting a look at and shooting some new stuff.
Greg Coffee 's Java Man bows were very nice. I didn't think they would really be much different, but was pleasantly surprised with the differences. I shot the Elkhart, Falcon, Duoflex, and the Inferno. Liked them all, but I liked the Falcon the best. He only had a 58". A 60" in my weight would have gone home with me. It was a lot like a SS, but the grip seemed a little different, and I liked it even better than what I recall having for a grip on the shrews I have had. The limb design is different and to me had even less thump in the shot and was quiet without anything on the string.
The 59 Kodiak just makes me smile. Loved shooting it.
Striker bows are real nice, and I love the way the grip's pressure point hits my hand. I shot the carbon and foam Coyote, standard Coyote static, and the Wolverine. I liked them all. They Coyote has a narrower riser and limbs. I like the look and fell for my hand size, but the Wolverine was real smooth and nice to shoot.
Striker bows are nice and shoot very well. I liked the stinger a lot. I can see why you never see them for sale.
I fell in love with the Full Draw bows. Ended up putting down a deposit on a new recurve. Kalamazoo is always a good time.
Since I had rotator cuff surgery in December, I couldn't shoot and could only look, bow-wise.
The "new" Bear Kodiak was the star of the show, as far appearance goes. They look and feel better in person than I could have imagined. Both my buddy and I walked away from the Bear booth knowing that we will both be ordering one in the near future. My buddy did shoot one.
As far as conversations, I had a great 20 minute conversation about wood arrows with Paul Jalon of Elite arrows, who was paired up with Ron Laclair in the Shrew booth. I learned more about wood arrows in that 20 minutes than I've learned in the past few years of reading magazines or web posts. As far as taking something away from the show, that was worth the admission price alone.
I'll be ordering some arrows from Elite in the near future.
Being in the same boat as Mojostick, I wasn't shooting many bows either but I would have liked to. I went down real early Friday to set up the MTB booth and then spent the afternoon catching up with the guys from Black Widow and several others. Also got to spend some time with and get some more advice from Larry Hanify from A&H re my ACS that I am dying to start shooting. :)
It's kind of nice to have that time in a little more relaxed atmosphere but I probably would have rather gone down on Saturday. You see SO MANY MORE old friends and acquaintances and I missed out on that this year. That's ok... I'll try to make the Compton shoot this year. That's always a good place to catch up as well.
Thanks to Great Northern and the staff from the K-county Expo for another well run and really fun winter time event! :thumbsup:
Didn't shoot any but did draw a couple in the booth. St. Joe river impressed me. Smooth like butter on the draw.
My favorite part though was the historical setups. Felt really cool to be close to an arrow that some historical figure used.
Chuck,
Were you at the booth Friday evening? I didn't see you there.
If anyone could help me out with something I would appreciate it. Who had the booth at the very front of the show when you walked in the door? They were selling nocks,points,targets etc. P.m. would be fine. Any help would be appreciated.