ALL traditional bows are special but just wondering who has taken an old hand-me down, or a yard sale, or a bow that was made several years ago by a company{Bear, Browning, ect} and made that bow their hunting bow today;

Please post some pictures if possible; thank you....  

i used a D/H Ventura for 10 years before I ordered my first custom. Made lots of Memories with the bow

Well, that covers probably 75% of people who hunt with recurves & longbows I guess.....

This could be a loooooong thread          

ya i didnt start shooting a thousand dollar bow to start with..my first was a martin mountaineer then about a hundred production bows later i shoot a widow and still have several production bows

Im using a Pearson Hunter that was my grandfathers. he got his first trad deer with it and i hope to do the same this or next year.

I've got a 1976 Bear k-mag that I bought from Kip (member on the site) that is my hand me down primary hunting bow. He was the bow's first owner. I'm hoping to take my first harvest with it later this year.

I am shooting and will be hunting this september with a Samick Sage T/D recurve that retails for about $120.  If I can't hit em with that, I know I wouldn't hit em with a custom bow either.    

What is your definition of custom?

All of my current bows were "new to me" bows, but the first three were Widows. Does that count?  I won't have a real "new" one until later in the month.  As with most things, bows are operator dependent no matter the age or condition.

QuoteI am shooting and will be hunting this september with a Samick Sage T/D recurve that retails for about $120. If I can't hit em with that, I know I wouldn't hit em with a custom bow either. [archer2]

Amen brother. If you can't shoot it right, it ain't gonna matter what yer hunt'n with!

With that said, my first bow that I hunted with for a couple of years was an old Martin ML9 stick. Then I got educated and realized that it was to short for my draw and had to get a different bow.  

I try to shoot a 1965 Fred Bear grizzly I bought for 50.00

Yes a old AMF Wing. The one in my avater.

Red Wing Hunter

I hunt with a Beat Montana sometimes. Its a great bow.

Yup...heck, because of where I live, I didn't know that they made "custom" bows until I was about 35 years old (I'm 57).

Mr. Longbow,

I bought a Bear Kodiak Magnum (50# @ 28") NIB about 1972.  It was the only bow I hunted with until just a couple of years ago when it was damaged in a moving van.  It still hangs in the closet.

Got a couple old Browning recurve bows(65# 56" Wasp and 45# 50" Cobra I) and a beautiful 47# 62" Herters recurve bow I take to the woods every now and then myself. Now and then it's fun just shooting them and hearing that old B50 twang. I Also have an old 40# Black Widow recurve(Wilson Bros) target bow that I pull out wipe the dust off and shoot now and then. Rest of them are all custom jobs. I just enjoy shooting them all....

1960 Kodiak is my go to hog hunting bow.64" and 60#@28"





Danny

Finally out grew my 1969 Little Bear that I received one Christmas when I was eleven.

You might say bow has been with me for a long time.

heck yes ive got a 50 yr old low buck special that i shoot every day on the range and every trad bow kill ive made has been w/ that bow i would say im in the majority there because most custom bows are way out of my price range any way before that i bought a second hand 20 yr old compound and hunted with it for 2 yrs until i saw the light and went to trad only