Trad Gang

Main Boards => PowWow => Topic started by: Pine on January 18, 2020, 07:58:09 PM

Title: Old timers roll call
Post by: Pine on January 18, 2020, 07:58:09 PM
Ok, who has been shooting "Traditional Archery" sense on or before 1965?
Not a big deal, just thinking it could be neat to see how many of you have snow on the roof but still have a fire in the furnace.
I got started in the summer of 1962. I wanted to shoot a bow and arrow so bad I couldn't stand it. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Charlie Lamb on January 18, 2020, 08:19:11 PM
I don't remember a time when I didn't have some kind of bow in my hand. First real bow was a lemonwood longbow. Killed my first deer in 1962.
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: M60gunner on January 18, 2020, 10:24:16 PM
My first bow was a lemon wood bow from Indian Archery, $12.95 for bow arrows, tab, armgauard. That was Spring of 1957. I was in 7th grade. We hunted rabbits that fall. Each time I raked leaves I got a quarter, two quarters and I had an arrow from local sporting goods store.
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: elkken on January 18, 2020, 11:13:51 PM
I have a picture of me shooting a stick bow when I was about 5 or 6, I'm 71 now ....  :archer2:
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Hot Hap on January 18, 2020, 11:29:33 PM
I started in 1958 when I was 14.

Hap
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Huntschool on January 18, 2020, 11:53:24 PM
As I recall 64/65 was the beginning with a one piece discarded fiberglass longbow....

Things have changed a good bit since then.  First bought good bow was a Super Kodiak (1968, One of the Black Beauties ) with "Bear Glass" arrows ...  I was "flying high" with that outfit. Killed my first deer in 69 with that bow.  Traded that bow...  Bad decision.  I do still have a Super Mag 48 hanging on the wall behind me as I write this.
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Tom on January 19, 2020, 08:14:34 AM
First bow was in '59-a little red solid fiberglass recurve. Terrorized local rabbits and  bullfrogs with that bow, killed my first deer with a solid glass bow-45#-in '65. Other than a short stint with wheels in the early 80's I have always had a stick bow at the ready.
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: non-typical on January 19, 2020, 08:33:15 AM
1956 when I was 9. My older sister had an archery class in H.S. and I used her bow, a 20lb Ben Pearson lemon wood. I still have that bow hanging on my rack. My older brother and I would take turns chasing rabbits around the hills in La Mesa, Calif. right behind Helix High School. We didn't kill many rabbits but we worried the heck out of them.
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Eric Krewson on January 19, 2020, 09:39:58 AM
Probably started 1956 at nine, I made my own bow out of green cedar limb, it shot an arrow about 40 yards and lasted about 10 shots before taking a permanent bend at which point I made another one.

I got the archery merit badge at Boy Scout camp shooting a longbow. My folks bought me a Paul Bunyan fiberglass bow that I still have. We shot a lot back then, and met up on a vacant lot often to sling arrows.

I did the teenager stuff in highschool and didn't shoot a bow again until after I got out of the Army in 1970 and got a job. It was probably around 1973 that I returned to archery with a Kodiak Hunter recurve.

When compounds came out I went to the dark side in 1978, I had two compounds break on me while I was drawing on deer and abandoned them in 1989 for another Kodiak hunter recurve, followed by a Howatt Hunter recurve and finally with a Bighorn Grand Slam around 1991.

I started making selfbows in 1995, these have been my go to bows ever since. I see my archery journey coming to an end in the near future with a neck that won't let me shoot more than a dozen shots at a time without a good bit of pain. It was a mighty good run, over 60 years.

Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Phillip Fields on January 19, 2020, 09:46:29 AM
First bow was a Shakespeare solid fiberglass I got in 1959, I was 13.
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: elk nailer on January 19, 2020, 10:21:20 AM
first real bow was a 42# lemonwood longbow, 1961
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: reddogge on January 19, 2020, 10:31:39 AM
First bow was a 30# Pearson lemonwood longbow in 1955 at age 11. I've never been without at least one bow since. My great regret was never having my parents take my picture of me with that bow. Here is a bow a friend gave me that is very similar to the one I owned.

Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: RayMO on January 19, 2020, 10:51:03 AM
Started around age 14 so that would be 1961.
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Tim Finley on January 19, 2020, 10:56:12 AM
We have home movies of me shooting a bow in about 1957 I was 5 at the time and it was a wooden longbow I found in the closet it must have come from a school archery program my sisters or brother had . My dad later bought me a Shakespeare comet in 45# I still have it and shoot it !
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: ron w on January 19, 2020, 11:43:19 AM
Started hunting in 67 or 68 but was shooting frogs and cow pies long before that with a solid glass bow.
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Wudstix on January 19, 2020, 12:01:53 PM
I started shooting a fiberglas SEARS bow in @1963/4.  Moved on to Ben Pearson 45# in 1970.  Then DH Hunter 65# in 1981.  Regrettably don't have any of those bows now.  Still shooting 65#+ bows and hope to for some time.

:coffee:       :archer2:       :campfire:       :thumbsup: [size=78%] [/size]
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: bro-n-arrow on January 19, 2020, 12:49:00 PM
Started by chasing rabbits thru the orange groves at the age of 14 with my bear cub.That was 66 years ago makes me 80 today.  Still the best theropy I know!
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Orion on January 19, 2020, 12:49:09 PM
I've been at it a while. My first real bow was a lemonwood longbow at about age 7.  I believe the first store bought wood arrows I bought sold for 25 cents a piece, or was it three for 25 cents. Started bowhunting when I was 14 with a short recurve ( I think a Bear) that had a badly twisted limb that would sometimes come unstrung at the shot.  Didn't kill my first deer until several years after that.  I'll be 74 in a couple of months so I've been at it about 67 years.  Still just as passionate about it as ever.  Hunting with a bow has always been more a way of life for me rather than a hobby. Value it even more now that I can see the end to my season isn't that far off.     
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: olddogrib on January 19, 2020, 12:54:23 PM
I feel much better...I think some of you guys were head waiters at the Last Supper!
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: yaderehey on January 19, 2020, 01:01:15 PM
I still have a little fire left in my furnace, but all the snow melted off my roof a long time ago....
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: BAK on January 19, 2020, 01:12:15 PM
Killed my first "critter" with a little yellow solid fiberglass bow when I was about 9 or 10, around 1958 or 9.  I was mightily proud of that rabbit.   :archer2:
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: durp on January 19, 2020, 02:48:24 PM
1962 at age 8...never looked back !!!
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: MnFn on January 19, 2020, 03:45:24 PM
I had a green fiberglass 25# bow when I was pretty young, don't remember exact year.  My first real hunting bow was a 40# Shakespeare Wonder bow that my parent gave me for my birthday in 1965 actually. Still have it.  I didn't hunt much with it, but managed to take a nice little 4X4 with it.
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: 2fletch on January 19, 2020, 06:41:03 PM
I started with hickory sapling bows in about 1953, then went to a 30# hickory bow, then a 35# lemonwood bow, then an all bamboo semi rrecurve 40# Panther bow sold by Malibu Archery in California. That bow was a dream to shoot. It had great cast, accurate, and lightweight.

Now I am 76 yrs. old and recovering from kidney cancer. However, my current bow is waiting for me. Hopefully in about 2 weeks (God willing) I'll be ready to start shooting with the guys again. Isn"t life good?.
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Ray Lyon on January 20, 2020, 07:34:48 AM
In 1965 I was shooting a sapling bow with a string and then move up to a fiberglass bow that had slotted ends.  A couple years later it was a Ben Pearson lemonwood bow.  The rest is a myriad of one piece fiberglass (Bear Golden Bear and Browning) and then I graduated to two Bear 76'r take-downs.  A Dayton take down with Magnesium handle and wood limbs preceded my first Howard Hill longbow in 1977. Never a wheel bow, but nothing against them as a lot of people converted from them over the years.  So, the truth is I am a young old timer. Born in 1961, but qualify according to your date. 😉

Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: dnovo on January 20, 2020, 08:48:14 AM
I think I qualify. I was born in 1956, started out shooting a hickory sapling my brother made. A couple years later my uncle gave me a little red fiberglass bow that I still have. I've never looked back. At 14 my mom bought me a Shakespeare Necedah recurve that really up my hunting for squirrels and groundhogs. At that time there weren't any deer around. It was big news just to find a track. I crossed over to a PSE compound when I was about 20. 3 years later I sold it and got a Howard Hill longbow. That was 1980. I've been hunting and shooting with a longbow since then
Quote from: Ray Lyon on January 20, 2020, 07:34:48 AM
In 1965 I was shooting a sapling bow with a string and then move up to a fiberglass bow that had slotted ends.  A couple years later it was a Ben Pearson lemonwood bow.  The rest is a myriad of one piece fiberglass (Bear Golden Bear and Browning) and then I graduated to two Bear 76'r take-downs.  A Dayton take down with Magnesium handle and wood limbs preceded my first Howard Hill longbow in 1977. Never a wheel bow, but nothing against them as a lot of people converted from them over the years.  So, the truth is I am a young old timer. Born in 1961, but qualify according to your date. 😉


Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: D. Key on January 20, 2020, 09:52:16 AM
My first bow was a Willow Limb made by my Dad for me in or about 1955.  I can still remember his words..."Now don't shoot this arrow (only 1 made from another willow limb) at anyone or I will whip your behind".  My first real bow was in 1966, a Shakespear Necedah 58" and 50# recurve with 4 fiberglass arrows, tab and armguard for about $50.00 at Woolworth.
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Pine on January 20, 2020, 01:48:41 PM
These posts are great.
I'm remembering how I would loose an arrow nock and ride my bike a mile and a half into town to the Sports Shop and get a new nock glued on for .03
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Pine on January 20, 2020, 01:58:17 PM
[attachment=1]
This is my first bow and arrow kill.
A 13 stripe ground squirrel.
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Ray Lyon on January 20, 2020, 02:22:25 PM
[attachment=1,msg2904274]
1985 bear taken with 57# Howard Hill Tembo
[attachment=2,msg2904274]
1988 Crested Butte Colorado 86# Howard Hill Big Five
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Captain*Kirk on January 20, 2020, 02:34:52 PM
Can't remember exactly when...might have been around '67 or '68 when I got my first glass bow, so I might be a little outside the box. But thereabouts.
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: bosteldr on January 20, 2020, 03:44:21 PM
I'm getting sucked into this thread.  About 1962 or so my brother and I got a green fiberglass bow with 3 arrows and shot in the back yard.  Once visiting grandma's farm house our mom pulled out her lemonwood bow made by one of their neighbors when she was a teen (about late 30s).  More power so we started shooting that bow. (still have both bows). 1973 bought my first grownup bow while in Air Force Navigation school at Mather AFB.  Got the bug and saw a few bows on sale at Sears.  They had a Kodiac Mag 50#on sale for 70-75.00.  Regular  price was about 125.00. As a young Lt just married that was a major purchase.  Started on my archery journey. I still have and shoot that bow also.
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Deno on January 20, 2020, 05:09:10 PM
Boy Scouts 1957 Ben Pearson bow.    First hunt 1961 Howard Hill Longbow  Still at 'em  :archer2:

Deno

Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Jay Bow on January 21, 2020, 12:15:25 AM
I'm 68 and can't remember a time that I didn't have a string on a stick. Archery has been the one constant throughout my life.
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Will Telluteyrd on January 21, 2020, 08:42:02 AM
I'm also 68 and can't remember the age I shot my first bow but I would shoot anything that would shoot a projectile. My buddy who is the same shared a laugh not long ago. When we were about 8 years old he bought a solid fiberglass bow and a couple of arrows. He shot a rabbit in the head that jumped up and did a flip and landed deader  than Julius Ceaser. That was 60 years ago and it seemed like yesterday. I'd spend hours chasing rabbits and Pheasants with my old hound using a BB gun or Bow. That hound would Yip, Yip,on a pheasant and bark on a rabbit.
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Bighornangler on January 21, 2020, 03:33:44 PM
At age 17 I made a bow from Lemonwood in High School wood shop. I new nothing about making bows and it came out at about 25 lbs. I started my hunting career at the same age with that bow. Around that time I remember having a fiberglass bow, a York long bow, followed by several bows from Bear, Hoyt, Wing, and Browning. I didn't get my first deer until 1972 and that was with a Browning Safari recurve, fiberglass arrow, and a Bear razorhead. I did have a compound bow for awhile in the 70's. Then in the early 80's, I got my first custom recurve from Bighorn followed by several other custom longbows and recurves from other makers. Presently, I am shooting a Shrew "Lil Favorite" recurve. About ten years ago, I started making selfbows and bamboo backed reflex/deflex longbows. I did manage to get a buck with my first selfbow made from a hickory stave. I must sat that was very rewarding.
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Bighornangler on January 21, 2020, 05:58:54 PM
I forgot to mention the year that I made that Lemonwood bow in H.S. was in 1952. I will be 85 this coming May. Life is great.
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: finkm1 on January 22, 2020, 11:23:29 AM
I guess at 55 I'm not old enough for this thread. Cool!!!!! :biglaugh:
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: huntryx on January 22, 2020, 12:19:29 PM
Got my first bow @ age 3, the summer of 1949!. Shot that bow for years in the summers in the country, shot in a league in college, but didn't start hunting until I moved upstate in the mid-70s. Shot a compound briefly when I started to hunt, but quickly went back to the stick and that's been all I shoot arrows out of since then.  Blackpowder, too, but that's another story.....

Fire burns now hotter than ever......I shoot almost daily.......
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: lt-m-grow on January 22, 2020, 12:52:36 PM
Quote from: Eric Krewson on January 19, 2020, 09:39:58 AM
Probably started 1956 at nine, I made my own bow out of green cedar limb, it shot an arrow about 40 yards and lasted about 10 shots before taking a permanent bend at which point I made another one.

I got the archery merit badge at Boy Scout camp shooting a longbow. My folks bought me a Paul Bunyan fiberglass bow that I still have. We shot a lot back then, and met up on a vacant lot often to sling arrows.

I did the teenager stuff in highschool and didn't shoot a bow again until after I got out of the Army in 1970 and got a job. It was probably around 1973 that I returned to archery with a Kodiak Hunter recurve.

When compounds came out I went to the dark side in 1978, I had two compounds break on me while I was drawing on deer and abandoned them in 1989 for another Kodiak hunter recurve, followed by a Howatt Hunter recurve and finally with a Bighorn Grand Slam around 1991.

I started making selfbows in 1995, these have been my go to bows ever since. I see my archery journey coming to an end in the near future with a neck that won't let me shoot more than a dozen shots at a time without a good bit of pain. It was a mighty good run, over 60 years.


What a fun thread and Eric this is a great journey (and story)  and that bow in the pic is to die for.  Thanks for sharing.
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Huntschool on January 22, 2020, 02:16:35 PM
It seems interesting to me that many of us who have posted started with or got a green or red fiberglass bow.  I certainly cant be sure but there was a fiberglass production factory in Northvale, NJ that a lot of kids got bows out of the discard pile out back.  I have to wonder who all that outfit made bows for.

It has also been interesting to see the maturation of us "Baby Boomers" from stick to better to a short time with wheels and then back to stick and string.

Bighornangler:  You are too old for this thread....LOL     Sir, you are part of the "Greatest Generation"  I salute you. As us "Boomers" might say,  Keep on Keepin on......

Just thinking out loud.
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Bighornangler on January 22, 2020, 02:52:20 PM
Huntschool you are probably right about being to old for this thread. But as long as I can keep doing it physically & mentally, I don't intend to quit. I am still using ladder stands (mostly) and a climber with no problems. Thanks for the kind words.
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: TOEJAMMER on January 22, 2020, 03:17:57 PM
Been at it since the 40's......and still haven't mastered it.
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Captain*Kirk on January 22, 2020, 03:27:30 PM
Nice comment about the 'glass bows. I still have mine and still shoot it on occasion, 35# Pearson recurve made out of green/white glass (think "Irish Spring" soap...LOL!) Though often regarded as 'kids' bows' or throwaways, they most certainly introduced a multitude of shooters to archery (ALL archery was 'trad' back then) moreso, perhaps, than higher end wood and glass bows. My little old greenie has taught 4 generations to shoot and is still going strong.
Here's me circa 1968 posing for the photographer (mom).

(https://live.staticflickr.com/8679/29510978410_c86759dd95_c.jpg)
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: lt-m-grow on January 22, 2020, 03:31:22 PM
Quote from: Captain*Kirk on January 22, 2020, 03:27:30 PM
Nice comment about the 'glass bows. I still have mine and still shoot it on occasion, 35# Pearson recurve made out of green/white glass (think "Irish Spring" soap...LOL!) Though often regarded as 'kids' bows' or throwaways, they most certainly introduced a multitude of shooters to archery (ALL archery was 'trad' back then) moreso, perhaps, than higher end wood and glass bows. My little old greenie has taught 4 generations to shoot and is still going strong.
Here's me circa 1968 posing for the photographer (mom).

(https://live.staticflickr.com/8679/29510978410_c86759dd95_c.jpg)



So Brian isn't allowed to shoot?   Funny...or at least great body language.
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: blacktailbob on January 22, 2020, 06:09:02 PM
I was about 8 or 9 when my mother made an indian costume for me ( we have a little Cherokee in us / her side ) for my birthday ( 1962 or 1963 ) and I know  I got bow with it but can't remember much about it. What I do remember is my dad taking me and my two older brothers to an archery shop some time in 1968 when I was 14. They all got bows. I didn't. I'm a lefty and the only bows available were out of the price range. I did shoot some there.
  Enter Herters. $36 Model Perfection 45#. Talk about anticipation waiting for the mailman.
Killed my first deer with it 8 year later while in the Army at Ft. Stewart Ga. My buddies all had rifles but I alone was the archer.
After I got out in 78 I went to confounded bows for a while like many but finally came back to sticks and strings around 1993.  Why did I wait so long.
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Huntschool on January 22, 2020, 06:38:57 PM
Quote from: Bighornangler on January 22, 2020, 02:52:20 PM
Huntschool you are probably right about being to old for this thread. But as long as I can keep doing it physically & mentally, I don't intend to quit. I am still using ladder stands (mostly) and a climber with no problems. Thanks for the kind words.

Bighornangler:  No problem.  Just tossing you a bone.  You can keep doing it and that is an inspiration to us young pup "boomers." 

By the way, is Vander Maas a Dutch name ?  Just a Holland Dutch asking. Where are from in NJ.  I grew up in Bergen County.  Family has been there since 1638 or so.  When I was a kid it was still pretty rural around Norwood and Northvale.
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Ron LaClair on January 22, 2020, 06:42:40 PM
Started shooting a bow at 5, won my first archery award at 11 Shot my first game (frogs) at 7, Dad showed me how to skin out the legs and fry

[attachment=1]
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Ron LaClair on January 22, 2020, 06:49:37 PM
When I was 9 we lived on a farm, I had a pinto pony named Scout, An Indian costume and a lemonwood bow plus 80 acers to roam and hunt

[attachment=1]

Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Pine on January 22, 2020, 08:33:57 PM
Been waiting for you to chime in Ron.  :archer: :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Captain*Kirk on January 22, 2020, 10:33:11 PM
Quote from: lt-m-grow on January 22, 2020, 03:31:22 PM

So Brian isn't allowed to shoot?   Funny...or at least great body language.

He really wasn't interested in shooting. He's upset because mom dragged him away from making mud pies for the picture...
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: gifford, MO on January 23, 2020, 06:40:18 PM
I bought my first bow, lemonwood, a couple of arrows, tab and arm guard for 3 or 4 dollars. I was in 6th grade, likely 1958. The equipment was well used but it was brand new to me. Target arrows cost 25 cents, field tip arrows about 50 cents. Shot in the backyard, nice hill for backstop, didn't take long for neighborhood kids to shoot my bow and then get their own.

Later on I got a solid fiberglass bow, 35 lbs and later another 45 lbs. Got a better quiver, more arrows, made a bow and arrow rack for the wall. Later on got a fiberglass backed wood bow.

Neve shot a compound, didn't care for the looks.

About 1992, I started making wood bows, saw them at the black powder rendezvous I was shooting in and said, hmm. I can do that. And did it. Enjoy making and shooting wood bows and wood arrows.
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Kelly on January 23, 2020, 07:33:17 PM
Just finished my 58th bowhunting season. The attached picture of me is from the 1965 season.
[attachment=1]
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Huntschool on January 23, 2020, 07:34:56 PM
Darn, us old guys are doing good.....
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: George Tsoukalas on January 23, 2020, 07:47:56 PM
I grew up on a farm and started around 1956 with a sapling bow. I returned to all wooden bows about 1989. Jawge
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Horserod on January 23, 2020, 10:20:41 PM
 My Dad gave me a 30# Bear in 1957 when I was 10 years old.  I lived in a 100 year old log cabin back in the S.W. Ohio woods.  Me and my dog went shooting/hunting with that bow every day it was raining or snowing like crazy!  I still have that Bear but, my younger sister caused the upper limb to delaminate because she always strung it backwards(it was a semi-recurve bow).  I've owned and shot so many bows over these last decades, I can't tell you the number!  I became friends with Ron Laclair in 1981 and he turned me into a longbow fan.  I'm still shooting and enjoy the thrill of watching my feathered wood shafts do their magic.  I pray the Lord will continue to help me keep bending that bow for a few more years.......time keeps moving along..........I try to keep up!!!   Horserod
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: hunting badger on January 23, 2020, 11:58:37 PM
I got my first bow in 1956 for Christmas because thats what I ask for, it was a 30# Ben Pearson lemonwood  longbow. When I was about 14 or 15 I bought a Shakespeare Wonder bow at 40#, hunted with that bow for a long time. When I went to college my three brothers used it, it disappeared some where along the way. My Dad was a rifleman so didn't know anything about bows, so he never was able to instruct me in archery. It's always been a regret of mine that I didn't have an archery mentor. If I would have someone that could have showed me proper archery form when I was first starting I wouldn't have had to spend a lifetime trying to brake old bad habits!
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Bighornangler on January 24, 2020, 01:27:49 PM
Hunting badger. You took the words right out of my mouth. My biggest regret was that I never had a mentor to show me the right way to shoot a bow. It's been a long hard struggle. It wasn't until Fred Asbell came out with his book & video that I  learned anything worthwhile.
Before that it was mostly trial & error.
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Bow Bender on January 24, 2020, 09:28:07 PM
I grew up on a farm in the Ozarks of central Missouri. I don't remember when I first started trying to make a bow out of a hickory sapling but it would have been in the mid 50's. My parents eventually bought me a solid red fiberglass bow, the best I remember it had yellow molded string nocks on re-curved limb tips and a matching molded handle. It came with a tab and cedar arrows in a cheap flimsy back quiver.  I can still remember the smell of those arrows, it was great. I can also remember how upset I got when I had forgot that I had placed that quiver, arrows and all on the couch and I accidentaly sat on it. I can still hear the snap of those shafts. I terrorized the local rabbits and the chickens when Mom wasn't looking. I finally acquired a Bear Cub, then a Kodiak Magnum and finally a custom built Rocky Mountain Recurve.  I still have that later bow and some others that I acquired and built,  but I don't know what happened to that red fiberglass bow.  It disappeared after I went into the Air Force in 69.
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: trad_bowhunter1965 on January 25, 2020, 11:06:28 AM
This is one of the best posts I have read I just turned 55 and I start shooting bows arrows when I was 4 or 5 I have always shot a bow.
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Stinger on January 25, 2020, 09:00:07 PM
 Guess I don't qualify as an old timer.  :biglaugh: I was very fortunate as my dad had been shooting bows off and on since the 30's as a kid growing up in Kansas.  He was and still is my mentor at 95 yrs old.  I got my first bow, a 30# Ben Pearson Jet,  at 13 in 1966 and took a rabbit in the backyard with it later that year.  Moved up to a 40# Shakespeare Yukon the next year and a 50- Shakespeare Necedah the following year.  Took my first deer with that bow and Herters aluminum arrows in 1969.  In 1971 I began a 26 year archery draught while serving in the Navy. Upon Navy retirement, I went to the dark side and finally came full circle in 2007 when I rekindled my love for stick and string.  In 2008, I took a nice buck with a bow my dad had made for me in the 70's and I haven't looked back. Hunting is a little thin in San Diego but my wife and I enjoy flinging arrows at every opportunity.
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: 2fletch on January 27, 2020, 10:06:19 AM
 :archer2:Looks like a lot of us had either a lemonwood or fiberglass bow. Lemonwood bows had great cast but were prone to break in cold weather. Is anyone familiar with the "Panther" model laminated bamboo bow. It was all bamboo with edge grain and flat grain used for optimum performance. I believe that it was called a semi recurve. It was sold by Malibu Archery in the early 1950's. They also sold Bear and Ben Pearson bows. It was an all natural bow that was ahead of it's time. While I was in the service, a friend of my younger brother strung the bow backwards causing it to break. Dang, I wish that I had it back. :archer2: :banghead: :archer2:
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: levibear on January 27, 2020, 05:26:40 PM
I was about 8 years old when I received my first bow, prior to that I made my own bows and arrows from saplings and kitchen twine my mother braided into a "bow string". Having no father at home I was taught the archers craft by a close friends of the family, his name was, karl Palmatier. Some of you may remember his name or have been fortunate enough to meet him. I could not have had a better teacher, he presented me with several bows, one a Bear polar I took my first deer with. I am 61 now so 50 plus years ago, it all went by so fast.
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: lablover on January 27, 2020, 05:30:00 PM
Don't miss it by much started in 67. 
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: evworld on January 28, 2020, 08:55:57 AM
Born 1961.  I guess some might consider me an old timer.  But the fire is still burning in the furnace....
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Sam McMichael on January 28, 2020, 09:15:31 AM
I started in 1959 at age 10 at the base range at Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi. I used a green fiberglass recurve by Indian Archery. The first bow I purchased was a Ben Pearson Gamester bought on sale at K-Mart. I used it to kill my first deer ever. For a number of years, I was in and out of archery, but in the late 80's my interest was strongly revived. Now, it has been 25 years since I hunted with a rifle. Hill style bows are my favorites at this time. I am now 70, so I guess I qualify as a low end old-timer.
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: 2fletch on February 02, 2020, 10:32:44 PM
After a few hurdles, it looks like this 76 yr old kid will be back to shooting in a week or so. Three months is a long time not to be able to shoot.     Isn't life good..., isn't god great!

Terry, I posted a photo of the EFA Light Quiver on the Sponsers Classified section. It's real handy for hunting frogs, hogs, or whatever at night. Will you guys night hunt in Africa?
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: hickstick on February 10, 2020, 02:39:59 PM
I guess I'm still a 'young'n'. wasn't born until 68, but started shooting old bear recurves in the 70s.
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Blackstick on February 16, 2020, 05:14:47 AM
How do you guys remember back that far? I can't do it. I still have my first bow. It is a Colt Captain, solid fiberglass, dual shelf. I also have my Dad's Indian longbow made of lemonwood.
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Stinger on February 16, 2020, 06:51:32 PM
Going through some of my father's things in prep for a move, I found a few items with dates on them that puts him in the OLD old-timers group.  He was 9 years old when the first of these was awarded in 1933.  He is still with us and getting ready to help me make a bow. 

[attachment=1,msg2907973]

(Name crossed out to protect identity)

Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Stinger on February 16, 2020, 06:52:58 PM
I goofed one of the photos
[attachment=1]
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: SS Snuffer on February 18, 2020, 04:00:40 PM
Got my 1st bow in 1958. Shot an arrow in the air and it stuck in the roof of the house next door! Didn't get my bow back till 1961. Dad was mad!
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Pine on February 18, 2020, 05:57:18 PM
Quote from: SS Snuffer on February 18, 2020, 04:00:40 PM
Got my 1st bow in 1958. Shot an arrow in the air and it stuck in the roof of the house next door! Didn't get my bow back till 1961. Dad was mad!
There's something vaguely familiar about that....  :saywhat:
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Tomas Stieber on February 19, 2020, 10:52:13 AM
Dad brought me a #25 Shakespeare Jet bow and my brother #35 Rocket bow. That was in 1962.
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: woodchucker on March 28, 2020, 07:38:31 PM
I was born in 1960 and my Grandpa was a Penobscot Indian.
He used to make me split sapling bows, as fast as I could break them and he made my arrows out of old bamboo tomato sticks.
My first real bow, was a glass Red Bear recurve. got it for my 5th birthday. Killed my 1st & 2nd deer in 1976 & 77 with a 50# Bear Alaskan recurve and wood arrows tipped with green Bear Razorheads.
I've been at this awhile...  :archer:
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Fletcher on March 28, 2020, 10:10:40 PM
My first laminated bow was a Shakespeare Necedah 55" in probably 1964.  Carried a green Paul Bunyan solid glass longbow before that and wood bows before that.  I've shot a compound, but never owned one.  Still have that Necedah.
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Kelly on March 28, 2020, 10:43:19 PM
1961, Ben Pearson Colt bought with paper route money!
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Bladepeek on March 30, 2020, 11:14:10 AM
I'm 79 now and not shooting as often as I should. Back around '53 we moved from Detroit out to the then small town of Farmington on about 3 acres. Other than a couple of 20# lemonwood bows I got at a yard sale, my first "real" bow was a solid fiberglass recurve I got for Christmas. The neighbor and I were out in the pasture and naturally had to take a shot at the massive flock of starlings straight over head. We were both passing bricks when we lost sight of that arrow that was flying straight up and had no idea of whether to stand stock still, or pick opposite directions and run like mad. Did a ten-year tour in the Army and then stayed overseas for much of 20 more years as a customer service manager. Started shooting again about 20 years ago when we moved back to Michigan. I now have at least 4 times as many guns and bows as I need, but enjoy shooting them all.
Title: Re: Old timers roll call
Post by: Bill Leeming on March 30, 2020, 01:04:39 PM
Been at it since a kid with a sapling and string. Golden rods with finish nails for tips. First store bought bow about 1953.