Very nice post owlbait!

Mike, that is very nice of you.  You don't owe me any apology, but it speaks well of your heart to share thoughts with Kirk.

The "fans" of Big Foot I met, all agree that we found a very positive, collaborative and 1:1 experience with Kirk.  It was so refreshing...  

I had my fair share of heart breaks on custom bow orders, and this time, I WON big!

I was searching for that type person/bowyer who would work with me to make something that fit me special and still know how to build a performance bow. I got both!  

Choosing a bowyer, doctor, barber...they often are "luck"...and I am grateful for the experience I had with Kirk.  

So if I effuse a bit, I apologize but this has been such a renewing experience.  Kirk likely qualifies for Saint Status after putting up with all my questioning, countering and pestering on issues...but he was a gentleman the whole time... and made me laugh.

Nuff of this stuff...lets talk BOWS!!!  

So....there I am...at full draw... thinking that I hit pay dirt on this as it surely feels fine at 47#.

I let the string slip and ...oh, my!  

I barely felt the bow go off! It was dead and quiet.

It was only 7 yards...but that shaft was dead center and buried DEEP...

A smile broke across my face...glanced at my watch and grabbed that arrow and shot again...another big smile...then I pulled the arrow and ran for the door... full minute left on the stove timer..whirl and fire ONE MORE from 12 yards... BAM...dead center...

What have I just done?  At this age, I got my first bow that I splurged slowly over time and added a few things to my "last" bow that were pleasing to the eye...

But that just wasn't going to cut it...I wanted THIS bow to fit me and shoot well.

Only 3 arrows...but my, oh, my!

I hear the timer go off and grab that 3rd arrow out of the target...but because I was shooting ACROSS the diagonal of the BLOCK, I had to lay the bow on the grass and use 2 hands to pull that sucker OUT!

From 47# draw? Yeah, REALLY  

   

That's great Doc!  That's great Kirk!  Thanks for taking us along your journey.

I gotta figure out how to carefully thin these nocks so I can do some better shooting/testing...tight nocks will ruin your shooting... thin ones, if they fail,      :rolleyes:    can ruin your bow...

fingernail emery boards - cheap also.

Oh Doc...  very excited for ya.  I know how long you have been on "The Bow" quest.  This is a great thread.

Beautiful work Kirk!

Congrats on the new bow Doc. This has been a very interesting thread and I've really enjoyed seeing how your bow came together. I hope the new Bigfoot serves you well for many years to come.

Looks good Doc. Congrats!!

I still have some "results" to share...but that might not happen for a week...

spending way too much time on here! LOL Which isn't all a bad thing.

Thanks for the kind comments...and yeah, Brian, it's been a "quest" for certain!

So far, I am so very pleased. I know I have some gymnastics I've learned to do on other bows, that I now have to let go and relearn to "just shoot".

THAT...that is a trip I'll gladly make to stop the fiddling with every shot trying to find a grip position that is consistent.

More to come...

I've had several of Kirk's bows overthe last few years.  All but one of them are fine, and leaving aside the normal wear and tear of getting dragged through brush, over rocks and up trees are a good as they ever were.  

One of them broke, but breaking that one was my job; I was helping him test a prototype that was amazingly fast, but he was worried, correctly as it turned out, about stability.  That bow was pure R&D and when it failed the RI&D advanced.

I was also with Billy as it happens when his bow was customized by Polaris.  The only time I've seen a man look sadder or more shell shocked was when his dog died.  If you ever need a testament, based purely on fact, friendship or not for Kirk being completely beside the point, that bow's it.  It was run over by an ATV and needed to be refinished - not rebuilt - refinished.  

There are a number of people out there who make damn fine bows. Kirk is one of them.  Some of them have more experience than he does, admittedly.  But on the other hand there are people who have more experience than Kirk who can't match his quality and performance.  The truth remains that it's not how much experience you have, it's what you learned from it that matters.

Last evening... tight knocks and all, I got to shoot the bow for real... after I demolished my corn on the cob!  

This is my first shots at 15 yards


Pulled them all and went back to 20 yards:


Pulled them and went back to 25 yards:


I think that is 10 shots each... there are some "called" flyers (but I was the only one there to hear me call it so can't prove it!    :rolleyes: )

But each successively farther shooting sequence seemed to get tighter-- maybe not.

But with tight nocks, I refuse to fiddle with anything remotely related to "tuning".

Today, Lee, my buddy in Lakaster, came up and we shot. I tried to open the nocks slightly, but with GT nocks already credited with some catastrophic failures, I was ginger about it.

We both shot the bow well and Lee only draws 26" ... those pics to follow.  I shook the camera, but they didn't fall out yet!

BTW, I've not shot any better than that at 25 yards...and worse, with my 'go to'bow with the big fat grip... so after only 20 shots thru the bow (oh, wait...I did shoot the 3 while the corn cooked at 7 yards)that last group of 10 at 25 really amazed me...

I've always had to "struggle" with a new grip and bow to get it to shoot...If I DID manage to find a magic hold on it and shot well early...I could never reproduce that hold cause there was no way to know what I was doing when the grip had nothing to help me figure out how I gripped it that it worked well, vs. when it didn't!

I intentionally put this bow down and would pick it back up again over and over to see if it will repeatedly settle in my hand the same...TaDAH! It does! YEAH!      

What's also odd is that this is a 60" bow and my standard bow is 62"... and I've shot this new one a good bit now and my shoulder blades are NOT sore (daily thing with other bows when I shoot) and my elbow doesn't hurt... that's another plus...and this is heavier draw weight... Interesting!

This just keeps getting better and better!  

made the 20 minute drive to Lititz and got to see and shoot Doc's new bow....enjoyed it alot!

Took some pics:

Dave shooting the Bigfoot:



I got the chance to shoot it!



had a good time....topped it off with coffee and molasses cookies!


Lee

Well here is a great opportunity to give an honest evaluation of R/D advancement. Lee spent some time with my #002 Sasquatch about 4 years ago if i remember right.

What do you think of the take down model Lee? I know the thumb ledge was a bit low for you on that riser, but the limbs have come a long way in the last few years in overall performance... i'm curious what your take on the newer model is.

Kirk

Kirk,

I am extremely impressed with this bow!  Much further along than the one I tested a few years ago, and I liked that one!

Took some video of Dave shooting:

some more video:

Lee,

Shame on you...publishing that language video on a public forum!    :rolleyes:        

Ok...well, Lee was up... good of you to come up and visit, Lee....

Of course, you're out of the Will since you shot better groups than I did, with MY new bow! That's it... OUT of the Will!      

Someone earlier wanted to see the bow in hand.

This is my large, fat grip "go to" bow that I've been shooting without Kirk's grip adjustments at full draw.

You can see what Kirk referred to in his earlier posted clip about my hand rolling up over the shelf:


The next shot, by comparison is Kirk's riser on the Sas... and you can see how with the same wrist rotation, my knuckle is AWAY from the riser shelf:


After a wee bit of judicious "orange stick" fingernail emery board work on 3 nocks, this is the result after shooting a bit more today... And it was back at about 22-23 yards!

  I can see you having fun for quite a while Doc. Bout time you got some enjoyment. Looks like your alignment really improves with the new bow. Great job Kirk!

Shaping that thumb pad at the right angle with a wee bit of flat spot on it really makes a difference for a consistant location, doesn't it Dave?

Now look at the location of your thumb in the lower photo compare to the top one. It's a bit lower than a standard grip, and some won't care for it, but I'd say we got you fixed up there.