Hill History

[statikpunk]

So ever since I read Hunting the hard way, I have known that Howard hunted in my neck of the woods (the back side of the ruby mountains)
well this weekend i got to see and touch a genuine piece of archery history.
there is a gentlman in my area that builds primitive bows and was doing a demonstration.  well he had in his possesion a self bow that was made by howard hill and given to a local, it was very interesting it was designed to include a lot of sap wood, and was very wide in the limbs and had taken a large amount of set.  I know Howard was a fan of string follow but this was a little out of control, we were thinking that it was possibly an experimental bow.  Unfortunatly the man that had originaly gotten it from Howard had passed away, and not a lot of information came with it.  But whether its actually howards bow or not it was neat to hold it and imagine the adventures it must have had.
here is a picture, I should have taken more, it was short sighted of me to just get one, hopefully I will talk with the teacher again and can get some more pictures for you Hill fans out there.

its the one on the right in the picture.

IMAG0477  by  statikpunk , on Flickr

It's hard to tell from my bad picture, but to me the knocks and the handle really screamed of Howards work.  I was told that even the string was original, and interstingly enough was tied in an adjustable bowyers knot at the top, which also led us to believe it was an experimental bow.

[SportHunter]

Cool story. It could easily have been left strung too long and damaged the tiller. Was the bow signed or is this just word of mouth?

Neat!

Bisch

[statikpunk]

just word of mouth, I looked the bow over really good for any markings Howard might have put on it but I found none.  
and yes we did kick around the idea that the bow might have been left strung for many years, because the gentlman that had it was not an archery guy.  He might not have known to keep it unstrung.

[Bud B.]

Would like to see more detailed pics if you have the opportunity.

Thanks for sharing. Pretty cool stuff.