Wesley Thebeau, Woodstock New Brunswick Canada.

I've hunted with guns all my life & have never shot a bow of any kind untill last week.

2 of my good friends just purchased compound bows & asked me if I wanted to check them out one night at the bow club. I was at the club watching them shoot, not shooting myself, & got a little board. There was a plastic 30lb bow at the club for kids or youth's to use & I decided to give it a try for something to do.I shot that plastic bow for about an hour & really enjoyed it & thought it was something I wanted to do for sure.
 
I will be starting with a Roots Feild Master 45lb recurve that my Father bought for $20 at a yard sale years ago until I learn how to shoot properly, then I will move to the longbow.

I bought a Howard Hill "Wesley Special" & that will be my one & only bow, I plan to dedicate myself to learn how to shoot this bow properly & accurately enough to hopefully hunt with it some day. I am well aware after only 5 hours of shooting in my life with a bow that this is going to be a long road to my overall goal of hunting out to 20 yards.

I can't wait to feel the pride & sense of accomplishment when I do take my first game animal with my longbow. I've always taken pride in my most difficult & challenging hunts & this will be my most difficult by far.

I am a true beginner & have no experience with a bow of any kind & I have more questions than you could emagine. This site will be my main source for information & I look forward to gaining knowledge from you guy's & sharing my experience as a beginner & as I progress.

I will keep regular updates as I go
Thank you in advance
Wesley Thebeau

Wecome to Trad Gang. This is a great site to learn about Traditional Archery. Take care and Good Luck. Randy

Welcome to the group and you can find any answer to most of your ?'s here.There is a Newbie thread that you can check out, and use the search field as well to find older post on topics you are interested on.Welcome again Tim  

Welcome, your "Wesley" special is certainly a fitting name. Enjoy!

Great stuff here Wes...welcome!! How about some pix/spex of that Hill?

Welcome!

Welcome to Tradgang! I'd like to invite you to jump over to this thread and meet some of us.
http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=085821;p=1

God bless, Mudd

Welcome aboard!

Claudia

Welcome, the bad thing about getting proficient enough to hunt with trad gear is that it takes a lot of practice, thankfully they are a blast to shoot.- Steve

Welcome Wesley!  It seems you have already experienced the joy of traditional gear.  It only gets better with time.

As for a "one and only bow", I think many of us here at Tradgang thought the same thing when we bought our first bow!  

Welcome!  Its adictive.  One Bow?  Never have too many bows!

QuoteOriginally posted by straitera:
Great stuff here Wes...welcome!! How about some pix/spex of that Hill?

please post images no wider than 640 - thank you

I will have some pic's of my HH as soon as it is in my posession, I am making payments on it now.
Here are some pic's of my Dad's yard sale special instead     :D  
This is what I will learn on, it's only 45lbs & easy to pull       http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa48/WESLEYTHEBEAU/DSC02118.jpg[/IMG]  
 http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa48/WESLEYTHEBEAU/DSC02119.jpg[/IMG]  
 http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa48/WESLEYTHEBEAU/DSC02120.jpg[/IMG]  

This is what I have for finger protection  
 http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa48/WESLEYTHEBEAU/DSC02121.jpg[/IMG]    
 
My arm guard
 http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa48/WESLEYTHEBEAU/DSC02122.jpg[/IMG]    

Well, that's what I have for now, I plan on upgrading as I figure out what I like & what you guy's reccomend.

Welcome, and that's a unique looking bow you have there. Good poundage to start out with also. If you start out too heavy, you might end up with bad habits/poor form/and loose interest in shooting. I think you are on the right road and just about any question you can come up with will have an answer here. Great bunch of folks that run and reside on this website.    

Feb 28/2010
Well I was at the bow club today, my second time, & I noticed a major improvement over the first trip thanks to some of the things I have read on Trad Gang.com

welcome.... ask any questions....this is a great sit with great people ..... dont get discoaraged....this is the best form of recreation

Welcome to the addiction!!      

welcome.  

Lots of info here.  Read it all and choose what you want to use for yourself.

Longbows are fun, and yes, it takes some work.  Don't penalize yourself though.  If you want to hunt, but can only shoot 5 yards accurately, then go, but only take 5 yard shots till you can stretch to 10 yards etc.

If you can, try making a few "stump" arrows using a judo, hex head or any similar blunt, then go walk in the woods.  Pick out targets and watch them arrows fly.  No animals are accidentally injured this way and you can shoot as many times as you wish, as far as you wish, and as difficult as you wish.  Its never dull that way.

Here's some free advice.  Don't get too wrapped up in the tuning game until you are shooting well enough.  Sure, your arrows have to fly well, but you can make lots of arrows fly well without totally fine tuning and getting carried away in that whole premise.  Have fun first.

ChuckC

Welcome, nice looking bow.  Enjoy!

QuoteOriginally posted by hawkeye n pa:
Welcome, nice looking bow.  Enjoy!

Does anyone know anything about that bow??? I have Googled it & didn't come up with much.

WELCOME To The TRADGANG Family!!