Do you remember?

[longbowman]

A 30# Stemmler fiberglass.  Had a great time getting started with that bow!

[straitera]

35# lemonwood longbow borrowed from my aunt when I was 12 years old. (I'm 58.) Wore it out. She said the other day she would give it back to me for safekeeping.

[Chester Thompson]

My uncle gave me a Bear Kodiak Hunter and a Martin X-200, I have had to sell both of them to help pay bills, and the Martin went out last week. So for now I am bowless and feeling sorry for myself. Guess I just need to grow up. Hahaha

[doctari]

Still have mine, an old lemonwood longbow. it was taller than me and pulled 40# @28" I was eight years old and the year was 1965. My Dear father set up straw bales and I remember shooting balloons. I dare not shoot it anymore, it has a place on my rack as a keepsake.

[JSimon]

My first trad bows that I personally owned were acquired in last few years. A Ben Pearson Hunter that my Dad gave me which I set up strictly for bowfishing and then later the same year a Quinn Stallion that I'm still shooting now.

But, when I was little my brother and I had a couple of yellow all fiberglass bows and a grey all fiberglass Bear recurve that my Dad bought at yard sales. I think the yellow ones were Shakespears. We destroyed and lost all of my Dad's old aluminum and fiberglass arrows shooting at straw bales in the back yard. Completely unmatched arrows that we couldn't hit anything with. I still remember how excited I was when we went over to Anderson Archery in Grand Ledge to pick up some strings for them.

[Michael Arnette]

My first bow was at 11yrs old.  A browning youth compound bought with hard earned grass cutting money, shot it without a sight for many years. Killed many a squirrel with it. I never had the chance to take it after anything larger.

[mcgroundstalker]

My first bow was a green fiberglass jobbie my dad got for me when I was ten years old. That was in 1966. We'd get up real early on a Sunday morning to hunt frogs and pheasants on the wooded shore line between the Throggs Neck and Whitestone Bridges... In Bronx County, NY! Can ya believe it? Sometimes I wish I were a boy again.

... mike ...

[bear1336]

1956 lemonwood long bow with 4 arrows a couple of years later a fiberglass recurve from Sears...

[Mike Gerardi]

Mine was a Bear whitetail hunter.  Grew up in lower westchester county New York right above the Bronx. Other kids stayed away from me when they saw the whole bow and arrow thing. Well and then there was the Incident!!!

[Michael Pfander]

My first store bow was a 25# Colt recurve. It was a revelation to me.  The first frog I shot with it I lost the arrow.  I was used to the arrows not shooting all the way thru.  I had to make sure they were in shallow water.  Those arrows cost me .35 a fortune at the time.  The next spring my brother and I killed over 1000 fish.  For the first time our father had all the fish he could eat.

Take care
MAP

[PICKNGRIN]

A 20# yellow fiberglas semirecurve by Indian Archery, about 1966 I believe (I was 10).  I got it out of the package and strung it up.  My older cousin came by the next day and told me I had strung it backwards!!!  No wonder the handle felt weird!!  Been shooting ever since.

[Aeronut]

A solid fiberglass, orange and white recurve.  Got it for Christmas when I was ten.  I've still got it.  Don't remember what make or #age it is, the sticker wore off it a looooong time ago.

I talked my Dad into taking me out to hunt rabbits with it a week later and got one with my second shot.  Don't know who was more surprised, me or Dad.  Been hooked ever since, over 43 years now.  

Dennis

[Shleprock]

Bear Kodiak Hunter 45#. Bought it from Town Hall Archery here when I was 16. Still have it and by the grace of God I always will.

[Gray Buffalo]

Ben Person lemonwood longbow 30#@26" I used it for rabbits untill I went in the Navy After the Navy I got me a new 1964 Ben Person Pinto 50#@28" and still shoot it ever so often.

[tarponnut]

A 30# fiberglass bow, I think it was a Ben Pearson, I bought for $8.00 at a garage sale in 1974. (I bought a Martin Fly rod with S and H green stamps that same year.)
I terrorized the local rabbit and squirrel populations for a few years with that bow.

[bawana bowman]

My first was a 15 or 20# hickory bow supposedly made by the Apache Indians, (at least that's what the tag said) my Dad brought it back to Pittsburgh from a business trip to Arizona. I was 5 at the time. Shot it almost daily for 2 years, even killed my first rabbit with it at age 6. The top limb eventually collapsed and it was thrown out. Dad then bought me a used Bear Kodiak when I was 7. Still have it, believe it is a 1955, and is 45#, actually took my first deer with it. That was quite a jump for a 7 year old, 20 to 45#. But I was determined to shoot it, and shot it till I was around 11 or 12. Then bought a 50# Kodiak.

[D. Devall]

some kind of old bear recurve i found in my grandpa's shop. it drew like 20 pounds, but i had alot of fun with it.

[Bonebuster]

The FIRST real bow was a Blackhawk Cravotta.

About twenty pounds.

I remember the fletching hitting my knuckle with every shot. Black tape across the knuckle kept me from wearing the hide off.

One day, it broke. It just broke. I have just about gotten over it.

[Daz]

Six months of savings 30 years ago got me a gently used  23 lb. Browning Prep recurve,five Browning cedar arrows, a glove, an armguard and five minutes of informal instruction from friends of the family.
For a seven year old, it was heaven.
Still wish i had that bow, but it was traded in about five years later for a browning Wasp.
I can still see the shot on the first rabbit i got with that Prep.

[BCWV]

My first "bow" was a Christmas present in 1968, one of the fiberglass bows with suction cup arrows. I remember my first shot with that bow. It came with a target which I leaned up against the couch in the living room, took careful aim and sent my first arrow from my new bow over the back of the couch through the window. It made a near perfect round hole and landed on the porch. Dad was right proud of me that morning.
My first real bow was an old 45# Pearson that I'd traded a friend for. I hunted with that bow for years before I finally harvested a whitetail with it, a basket racked 6 pt. I was the envy of all my buddies at school as I was the first of us to get a deer with a bow. I passed the Pearson down to my younger brother when I traded for a 50# Super Bee. Life was great!