I got started thinking about this and wrote some of it down...
I am not sure exactly what year I started shooting a bow. It was a couple years before I moved to WY. I was at a rodeo in Hudson, WI and for some reason, out of boredom, I walked into a small archery shop. I had never been in one. For $30, I walked out with an old Bear recurve, a new string and three arrows with swedged field points.
I carried that bow with me for years. At rodeos, during the day, I shot at whatever presented itself-cans, the clown barrel etc. I replaced arrows frequently. After a while, my traveling partner, a bronc rider, Larry Spurgeon from Taylorsville, IL started shooting, too. A hundred years later, my friendship with Larry opened a huge door for me in hunting IL and guiding there. I leased his farm, 560 acres and the 1,000 acres joining it. I had one of the earliest guiding operations in IL just as the deer began to flourish.
Anyway, about 10-years after I got the recurve, maybe 12, I got the compound and that is how the "job" started. When I went to work for Bow and Arrow, one of my jobs was to test and evaluate bows. Each bow had to be shot at least 1,000 times. Therefore, they could not be sold by the company. They were given to me. Most I sold for or donated to charity. A few I kept. I always had at least four bows, setup exactly alike and ready to go to hunt with.
I was never a target or tournament shooter. ONLY A HUNTER. I cared nothing about hitting a dime at 30-yards. I wanted to be able to hit a softball every time at whatever distance I shot. I picked equipment based on two criteria-dependability and hunting value. If it was not dependable or helped in hunting, I had no use for it. The best thing to ever happen to bow hunting was the AL. arrow, in my opinion.
After a bit, as my reputation grew, I also got arrows free to test and various other equipment. When I went to work for Champion Bows, I quit testing other brands and shot Champions the last 10-years of my vertical archery life. They were, in my opinion, a fantastic bow. I could have shot any bow on the market for free. I chose Champion and still hunt with the former owners today.
If something had no value as a hunting tool, I did not use it. So, many of the things hunters today regard as mandatory, I have never used. I kept it simple. When you are at 12,000 feet with a big bull blowing snot on you, you don�t want to realize your release is in camp.
No matter the bow, from a Byron Ferguson longbow to a Tiny Parker compound, I shot fingers. I do not know what finger pinch is. I shot one up and two down. When I came to full draw, I dropped the bottom finger. Not once have I forgotten my fingers or had them misfire.
I carried a four arrow quiver and shot with it detached. When ground hunting, I used a belt quiver, first a Chuck Adams model, then something called a Sidewinder that accepted the Quickie device.
Mostly I shot 125-grain Thunderheads. Mr. Stojanek sent me two dozen every year and I never saw any reason to use anything else. One year, I killed a bear, an elk, a mule deer and three whitetails with the same head, same blades, same arrow. It was still shaving sharp when I broke the arrow on a shoulder.
I always shot with gloves. In winter, I had wool gloves with glass packing tape on three fingers. The rest of the time, I wore either raquetball or batting gloves. For a while, a company in Indiana made a special finger shooter glove for me. Unfortunately, they went out of business.
I always carried two bows set up exactly alike with 18-arrows, 12 with broadheads attached in protective covers and 12-spare b�heads. My quiver and gloves also went in the double case along with an archers multi-tool. This was before we had to pay for bags on airlines. Within the bowhunting industry, there was a small, tightly knit band of about 10 who often hunted and traveled together. At about any time, we could pick up each other's bow and shoot it well enough to hunt. I seriously doubt you could do that today
I spoke at length yesterday with a friend who guides elk hunters in a beautiful piece of New Mexico. He wants me to come stay in camp a few days this fall and just hang out. I know I cannot. But as I am often asked, �What is the one hunt you would like to do again?� That would be it.
I am not sure exactly what year I started shooting a bow. It was a couple years before I moved to WY. I was at a rodeo in Hudson, WI and for some reason, out of boredom, I walked into a small archery shop. I had never been in one. For $30, I walked out with an old Bear recurve, a new string and three arrows with swedged field points.
I carried that bow with me for years. At rodeos, during the day, I shot at whatever presented itself-cans, the clown barrel etc. I replaced arrows frequently. After a while, my traveling partner, a bronc rider, Larry Spurgeon from Taylorsville, IL started shooting, too. A hundred years later, my friendship with Larry opened a huge door for me in hunting IL and guiding there. I leased his farm, 560 acres and the 1,000 acres joining it. I had one of the earliest guiding operations in IL just as the deer began to flourish.
Anyway, about 10-years after I got the recurve, maybe 12, I got the compound and that is how the "job" started. When I went to work for Bow and Arrow, one of my jobs was to test and evaluate bows. Each bow had to be shot at least 1,000 times. Therefore, they could not be sold by the company. They were given to me. Most I sold for or donated to charity. A few I kept. I always had at least four bows, setup exactly alike and ready to go to hunt with.
I was never a target or tournament shooter. ONLY A HUNTER. I cared nothing about hitting a dime at 30-yards. I wanted to be able to hit a softball every time at whatever distance I shot. I picked equipment based on two criteria-dependability and hunting value. If it was not dependable or helped in hunting, I had no use for it. The best thing to ever happen to bow hunting was the AL. arrow, in my opinion.
After a bit, as my reputation grew, I also got arrows free to test and various other equipment. When I went to work for Champion Bows, I quit testing other brands and shot Champions the last 10-years of my vertical archery life. They were, in my opinion, a fantastic bow. I could have shot any bow on the market for free. I chose Champion and still hunt with the former owners today.
If something had no value as a hunting tool, I did not use it. So, many of the things hunters today regard as mandatory, I have never used. I kept it simple. When you are at 12,000 feet with a big bull blowing snot on you, you don�t want to realize your release is in camp.
No matter the bow, from a Byron Ferguson longbow to a Tiny Parker compound, I shot fingers. I do not know what finger pinch is. I shot one up and two down. When I came to full draw, I dropped the bottom finger. Not once have I forgotten my fingers or had them misfire.
I carried a four arrow quiver and shot with it detached. When ground hunting, I used a belt quiver, first a Chuck Adams model, then something called a Sidewinder that accepted the Quickie device.
Mostly I shot 125-grain Thunderheads. Mr. Stojanek sent me two dozen every year and I never saw any reason to use anything else. One year, I killed a bear, an elk, a mule deer and three whitetails with the same head, same blades, same arrow. It was still shaving sharp when I broke the arrow on a shoulder.
I always shot with gloves. In winter, I had wool gloves with glass packing tape on three fingers. The rest of the time, I wore either raquetball or batting gloves. For a while, a company in Indiana made a special finger shooter glove for me. Unfortunately, they went out of business.
I always carried two bows set up exactly alike with 18-arrows, 12 with broadheads attached in protective covers and 12-spare b�heads. My quiver and gloves also went in the double case along with an archers multi-tool. This was before we had to pay for bags on airlines. Within the bowhunting industry, there was a small, tightly knit band of about 10 who often hunted and traveled together. At about any time, we could pick up each other's bow and shoot it well enough to hunt. I seriously doubt you could do that today
I spoke at length yesterday with a friend who guides elk hunters in a beautiful piece of New Mexico. He wants me to come stay in camp a few days this fall and just hang out. I know I cannot. But as I am often asked, �What is the one hunt you would like to do again?� That would be it.
