I used and still have a 56", solid fiberglass, Colt Captain, 35# @ 28''. My next bow that I also still have and use is a 50#  1967 1/2 Bear SK that I paid $25 for.

Not sure why I ever bought anything else, other than I fell victim to the disease.

A Black Widow metal risered take-down with 48# limbs(IIRC the model was HF1225). It was a great feeling/shooting bow. - John

Love the profile of the recurve Sergio, nice Bear too!

Wing ...

1957 Paul Bunyan solid green fiberglass.  That bow saved my mom's lilac bushes - source of my bows and arrows before that.  First real store bought, 1960/61 Ben Pearson "Pony" 42#@ 28".  Still have it.

Arne

Hoyt pro hunter, then a Herters perfection sitka.

First real, big game hunting bow was in 1964 an American Archery Cheetah Supreme 48lb recurve. Then I got a Black Widow recurve new $250.00.

First hunting bow was a Shakespeare Yukon in '67.  In '69 I took my first deer with a bow - a 58in 50# Shakespeare Necedah.  I still have that bow.

First year hunting very early 50's with an early Bear longbow.   1955/6 with a Gelco 800 recurve, 49 pounds; through the late 50's and 60's Wilson Brothers' Black Widows, Bob Lee Thunderbird and Jack Howard Gamemaster.

After several years of hunting small game, I started deer hunting in 1963 with a Ben Pearson Conqueror. Finally killed my first deer in Colorado in 1969 with a brand new Bear Takedown. I used Easton 24srtx arrow shafts. Still have both bows and a few of the shafts!

Used a fiberglass Paul Bunyon while in high school.  Bought a '68 Wing Gull when I came back from Over seas.  Then used a '70 Super Kodiak 64" 45#.  Would buy a Super K just like that one now.  Like Bill 24srtx was the shaft along with the OD swifts/ then game getters.
Shick

My bow in 75 was a Ben Pearson. I can't recall the model but it was a 45# recurve. I also had a recurve called a Super Bee which was also 45# a little later on. I took my first bow killed deer in 76. I do remember I took it with the Pearson, a wooden shaft with Bear heads and it was a 6 point.

Bought a Shakespeare X18 in 1973. Paid $24 brand-spankin' new at the local farm/hardware store. Got some cedar arrows with Hilbre broadheads and snapped them into a hoodless Kwikee quiver. Yikes!
How did we not get impaled using a hoodless quiver and stringing the bow without a stringer? I recall gluing razorblades onto my broadheads after seeing how Jack Howard did it in a magazine article. Double yikes!

Jerry Hill longbows. I didn't know anybody else made them. That was before the internet and I was a country bumkin. Heck I still am. Now I shoot Hills and Northern Mist.

QuoteOriginally posted by Sean B:
What bows were you hunting with before '75?

I didn't start hunting until after I was married (1980) but the bows I'm hunting with now were in play at that time.  ;-)

1966 Browning Explorer
1968 Red Wing Hunter
1971 Brownning Cobra II

57-58 kids wooden recurve shot pigeons and squirrels. Early 60's shot rats with a fiberglass bow. 1973 Bear Magnum 48" and a Ben Person, deer hunting.

Black Widows by Wilson brothers. Both 57#@31" with a 66" and a 68". I shot them because of accuracy and there limbs would not twist? Ken

Browning Nomad recurve.

Allan

Had solid fiberglass bows from 1966 to 1975, then bought my first real bow, a new Martin x150 or x200 I don't remember exactly.You may call me an old timer but I don't feel old, I don't shoot old, and I don't hunt old.        

I hunted with a Pearson Renegade and a Bear Kodiak hunter. Made the circle of newer bows and now I'm back shooting 60's bows and mainly Pearsons and Wings.