A short while ago, I was in Jeffrey Archery.  I always make it a point to spend time with Owen Jeffrey; not for him as much as me.  He's had a heart attack a couple years back with accompanying heart surgery.  I think he's in his mid eighties now.  However, he has that twinkle in his eyes when discussing hunting.....and that's what we always discuss.

This particular time we were talking about last fall's fall from his treestand which left him with an injured bow arm shoulder.  This required him dropping all the way down to a 35 pound recurve to hunt.  An eternal optimist, that's exactly what he hunted with.  

He killed 23 hogs last fall with that bow.  I saw his picture of the 400 plus pounder he took with the bow.  He's just the best shot I've ever seen and I dread the day I go out to his shop and he won't be there.  What a treasure he is to archery.

spend as much time as you can with him. lots of knowlege there

Ooh. I have bowyer envy.
Tell him Killdeer took her first bow-deer with a Mity-Mag Classic and obsidian point, and says "Thank You!"

 

I would like to hear more about Owen Jeffrey. What's his 35# bow?

Wow! Mid-eighties and slaying hogs! What a champ!

I was fortunate to have grown up in the same archery  community as Owen and learned a lot about shooting from him.

He's not only a top archer/hunter, but as nice as anyone you'll ever meet.

At the tender age of 18 I took my first bow building endeavor into the Hoyt shop to show Owen. He looked it over and politely said, "interesting".
The bow was a "club" (still is... it's on my bow rack)but Owen treated a young man's feeling with care. That's the man I knew and a role model in my life.

Thanks, Pete. I was wondering just yesterday how Owen and Tom are doing.

The very season after his heart attack he was hunting and had the misfortune of running into his cardiologist on the club property.  The good doctor reprimanded him for putting his heart under stress so soon after the attack.  Owen (per Tom) replied, "I'm not stressing it. I'm only climbing that tree over there".

Shifting, I didn't ask but the picture I saw had him and his bow in it and it appeared to be a "Jeffrey" recurve.

Don,
Tom is as always....humorous and thorough.  Just recently he purchased his first Harley.  As a fellow enthusiast, we had fun discussing motorcycles.

Killy,

Bowyer envy and rightly so.  My first bow was a compound (30+ years ago) made by Owen and his crew...a 44 magnum with a beautiful Bubinga riser and maple limbs at 65lbs.  

Fifteen years ago, I entered the traditional lifestyle and....my first bow was a Jeffrey recurve he made for me.

Now see, the thing about trad, is the people; to me.

Some guys can quote you fps,gpi,#s of pull from bows made 100 years ago, that's cool. BUT, for me it's the people I meet, that matter.

I would rather spend an afternoon with a guy that had never shot a living thing, and enjoyed every minute of it; than a guy who knew and had done everything.

On rare occasions, you get to spend time with the person who ties it all together and is willing to share! Sounds like you've got one of those.

Legends are rare. They usually see themselves as 'normal folks' and are anything but...

Thanks for sharing.

ShiftingShadow, Owen Jeffery shoots an Owen Jeffery
bow 8^).  Owen is one of those unremembered icons that have given immensely to this sport.