Way to go! I'll meet you guys with Faith at Denton.  She's gettin' a little lonely cause I'm right handed    Doc

Thanks for all the kind words about Hope and Faith. I'm glad to hear you all are enjoying them. Thanks for letting me be a part of this great cause.

Congratulations Lloyd on your bear!

If you guys can bring the girls over to my booth at Denton Hill I will be glad to replace the rests.

Thanks again and see you all at Denton Hill.

My son and I went to Denton, we met the other Trad Gang members at the shoot. My 11 year old son had an opportunity to shoot Hope, he made a nice hit with her on a javelin facing straight away, that made his weekend.

Denton is always a great time!  This year having Faith & Hope there plus the fact that the Trad Gang Saturday Shoot seems to grow each year was really neat.

One of the Best things about F&H was getting to know Gary @ Striker.  It was almost like meeting a brother.  He is so easy to talk with and so gracious & unassuming about his work.  Anyone who hasn't shot these bows needs to give it a try.  

Lloyd who took first blood @ bear camp with Hope has a new Striker coming!  Thanks Gary    Doc

I guess I didn't get much sleep from the trip home last night  :confused:

Thanks RICK!!!   Still like a brother          Doc

Jeff, You are 100% right about Rick and his son Dusty. As my Grandma used to say, "They are the bee's knees". Class acts for sure.

I know you are waiting for some text and pics from the Hill, catching up at work today, PM me your email and I'll send more tonight.

I have to chime in on Rick being "just one of the guys". I met hime at ATAR for the first time and when I saw him at ETAR it was like we were old buddies. He invited me to come in, have a seat, handed me a Gatoraide, and we commenced to chattin. His son is just like him, well, maybe a little younger.    
Hope was a pleasure to shoot too. Comfortable and hit where I looked!!

Right on, hung with fellow trad gangers, Rick and son awesome folk. I wish i could go back in time and do it over again.

I stopped by the booth several times to shoot "hope" she's quite the shooter for sure.Good thing I didn't bring any $$ LOL I think I may have been talked into one.

Very well done!! Thanks I'm lookin forward to shootin her again at the bunnyhunt

Wow, what can I say about Hope. Denton Hill was AWESOME. Hope got to play with everyone. She spent some time with her sister, and I believe she had a major "hands on" experience.

Rick and Dusty Ellis, Builders of Hope and Faith:



Me and Droptine59 "hammin' it up" before everyone signed the shirt:
   

Me and Scott "Southpaw Shooter" taking Hope and Faith on the Trad Gang shoot:
   

I had a great time, and am grateful to everyone who signed the shirt. Rick and Dusty Ellis had the honor of signing the shirt first, and then (in no particular order) the signatures were as follows: Droptine59, Drewsbow, StoneKnife and son Joe, Yellowbow, Bushwacker, Tom Phillips "the Bearman", Flightmedic, Matthew Nall, Sensai, WapitiChaser, Raineman, BBassi, Widow53, BJK, Non-typical, Platt 14, Southpaw Shooter, Nanook and Moe, 4runr, Huntit, justabitoutside, tippit (thanks for everything BTW), Jimneye, Swampbuck, Peckerwood, Bill M, Yellarknome, JL, Wingnut, Lee Viv, Tiode, Paul (from Sweden), Rob from Trad Tech, (and Paleface made it up saturday but missed me, so he gets to sign it tommorrow).

I have kept a VERY detailed journal for Hope. Just to give you all a taste, here is Saturdays':

"Hope spent the morning in the Striker booth after I warmed her up. Rick and Dusty seem to be very grateful for their part in her adventure. I picked up Hope and we went on the "Trad Gang" shoot. Man was that fun! Got everyone to sign the shirt and almost every Trad Ganger shot Hope or Faith. The great part was that Hope was joined by her sister faith. Scott "Southpaw shooter" took Faith, and we shot the round (most of it) together. We were "pimping" them to everyone we could.

A lot of foam fell victim to Hope and Faith today. StoneKnife's (Jim) boy Joe shot Hope and really liked her (and never missed!). I hope he tells stories about her one day.

Pictures were taken and hands were shaken and I did my final pimping to Nanook and his better half Moe. He shot Hope at the last target (the moving one while it was still) and we talked Moe in to shooting it. Her second arrow hit the metal bracket just above the target and absolutely "grenaded" her arrow. In Hope's case you will find the remnants of that arrow which represents the "Trad Gang" shoot at ETAR-Denton Hill.

Hope spent the rest of the day getting a heck of a workout at the Striker booth."

Guys....I'm sorry to bring this to you....but my aol crashed this afternoon on my home computer and I don't have any of the address info or saved emails. Apparently some of the emails I sent from home regarding hope and faith have not made it to the recipiants also. Sorry guys....not sure what happened but my whole filing cabinet is completely gone both sent and received....5 years worth of emails just disappeared.

I desperately need anyone on the list to contact me immediately via email with the following:

Subject: Hope or Faith
Tradgang Member name
Shipping address

I will do everything I can to get this resolved quickly.

Well, my time with Hope has come to an end. I took her on her last groundhog chase and shot my final arrows with her, and packed her away to move on to new adventures. Sorry folks, no blood drawn. It sure was not for lack of trying. She did however dessimate massive amounts of foam.

My family and I took half the day off and met Rob (Paleface) and two of his sons in Fredericksburg for a late lunch at Allmans BBQ, where I "passed the torch". It was awesome to meet yet another friend. (We scooted over to Carl's Ice Cream since we were in town) Hope will be on her way to Africa Thursday, and I will let Rob take over the story from here.

I will say this. It is amazing how emotionally attached you can become to something in such a short period of time. I'll miss Hope. She has become a part of me that I will never forget. Thanks to Trad Gang for allowing me to be a part of something so significant and important to future archery history. I was honored.

Me & Hope after my last groundhog hunt with her:
 

My last "group" with Hope:
 

 

The "passing of the torch" from me to Rob (Paleface) for a new adventure:
 

Good luck everyone. I'll be thinkin' of ya' while you make history.

(Sorry about the picture quality folks, I can't figure it out)

Jim  my sons and I really enjoyed the Q and fellowship this afternoon.  of course the ice cream was a nice touch to finish a yummy meal. great meeting you, your wife and son, looking forward getting together with you again some day.

Hope & I didn't make it home in time to fling few shafts this evening, but first thing in the morning we have a date. come Thursday she will be on her way to the Dark Continent with 3 fellow Trad Gangers.

stay tuned for the story and many photos and maybe even some video footage.

Joe......is there not a list in the case of each bow  with the addresses of who they go to next?

Terry i have "Hope" with me now and there is not a list in the case.  i just contacted the person (John/Alaska) and made the arrangements to get the bow to him when we get back from Africa.

UPDATE!!!  I picked up Hope yesterday from Raineman and I leave in the morning for Namibia Africa. soooo Hope and I won't have a lot of time to get to know each other prior to the hunt.  now i'm not one to pick up a bow today and hunt with it tomorrow. the last bow i bought i shot for almost 4 months before i hunted with it. not that i need that much time to learn how to shoot a specific bow, i just like to feel 100% confident with it before attempting to kill something. danged old ethics thing i reckon.

any way due to the nature of this short lived love affair with Hope i won't have the luxury of getting to know her inside and out. so we just had to jump right into our relationship without going through the courting stage.  hey at least it's not just a one night stand      !

well she still hasn't given me the thumbs up or down, i think she is waiting to see if she makes it to Africa. so when we arrive tomorrow i will take a knee and offer my hand.

Miss Hope will be back home here in the U.S. on the 20th and i will be posting the next chapter of her Adventures. till then hold down the fort, i gotta catch a plane.          

Good luck with her Rob. Those arrows look sweet. You and my buddy Ed need to bring her and a ton of pics home safe, along with yourselves of course!! See you in a couple weeks!!

good to see HOPE is still doing good on her voyage. im the bear guy with the first blood. she is a good one!!!

best of luck with your trip Rob, ill be waiting out for the stories when you return!
Andy