Over the last 5 years or so, I have seen some Bow & Arrow stuff, scattered around the various Sub Forum's and thought it would be fun to have a thread for folks to post photos here of what you have. Doesn't matter if you made or bought them but stories about them would be interesting.

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s.
Semper Paratus

 

My introduction to Archery began when I was about 14 and had a paper route. On my route there was an elderly black gentleman  who taught me a life's lesson that is with me still. At that time the paper boys would collect the weekly money for the subscriptions and turn them in to the route supervisor. The gentleman had failing eyesight and when I would collect the money, he would say there was money on the table by the door take what you need. I asked him how he would know if I took the right amount and he said he wouldn't know but that I would know. That lesson about honesty really stayed with me and I never took more than needed.

Every once in a while when I rode by his place on my bicycle he would be out in the vacant lot next to his house, shooting at a target with a bow and arrow. One day I stopped to watch him and due to his poor eyesight he missed the target a lot. I asked him if he would like me to get the arrows for him and he said sure, it's hard for me to find them. I collected them and headed home.

I told my folks about the encounter and my dad who was a Lt. on the police force said that he knew the gentleman and that he was a decent fellow and it was ok for me to help him with finding his arrows. One day when I was getting the arrows for him, he asked if I would like to shoot some. Silly question and I said sure, was dying to try but afraid to ask. He basically taught me to shoot a bow and arrow. He said the bow was one he made when he was a young man it looked a lot like the bows seen on the old western tv shows. I found out later they were called "Self bows".

One day just before Christmas when I was collecting the money for the paper, he told me to go over to the corner of the living room and bring him the bow. I did and he held the bow out to me and said Merry Christmas it is yours to keep. I took it home and told my folks about it and my dad said it was alright to keep it as the gentleman had flagged him down and told him what he wanted to do with the bow. I learned just before New Years from my dad that he had passed away.

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s.
Semper Paratus

 

What is the draw weight on the bow Randy? Do you still shoot it?

I haven't shot in years, a dislocated shoulder makes my compound too much to pull to it's break and I don't know what happened to my Bear. Probably got borrowed when I wasn't looking.

Shooting bow and arrow is so much more visceral than firearms, you're very much one with the bow and arrow. It's like reaching out and touching the target. 

Frosty The Lucky.

 

I have, well had a bow that was made for me by a local bowyer. (i just learned that word recently, bowyer) He wanted a tomahawk and traded a long bow for it. Hickory with a bamboo backing. Only had about 40# draw but it was fast. He even made the string with the Flemish twist. 

My nephew wanted to try it so i said sure. I handed it to him, as i did something inside said i should have strung it. He went to bend the bow to string it, twisted it,  and cracked the wood. 

Me and my granddad back when i was a kid made a couple bows. I have no clue as to the wood i just remember what seemed hours of scraping the wood down. We made arrows out of horse tail, a weed that grows around not actual horse tails. Horse shoe nails for arrow heads and he is the one that taught me long soft pine needles are almost as good fletching as feather. 

Now as far as my archery skills, i cant hit the broad side of a barn at 10 paces. I will argue however that firearms can be just as visceral as the bow. I have always been good with a rifle. There is some sort of Zen that i get when shooting. 

 

I really don't know the weight of it, but as a kid I could only pull it about half way back and at that it was fast. The last time I saw that bow was when I joined the USCG and departed for boot camp January 1964. It was in the closet of my bedroom.

When I got out in '68 the bow was gone and mom didn't remember it. I always suspected my brother or some friends of mom's that helped take care of her while I was away had absconded with it. By then life got in the way, raising 2 kids, a career in the automotive industry (parts manager of a large Cadillac dealership) a couple of divorce's and finally marrying Debi.

When we moved to Arkansas in '82 the urge to shoot came back and Debi loves shooting both firearms and bow & arrow so the journey began anew.

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s.
Semper Paratus

 

Sometimes your relatives can be an issue. Say when my folks dug out my comic book collection and let my 3 yro niece rip them to shreds. Well, they were just comics. I had a number of pretty "valuable" 1st additions, Spiderman, Daredevil, etc. not to mention complete collections of others. They'd been read but carefully stowed with moth balls and in plastic. Not plastic slips on each but best I could when I moved to Alaska. 

My old 40lb. Bear long bow in Cal. is who knows where, though it wasn't special to me. My Grandmother kept wadding bow strings up and putting them in the junk drawer with pliers, etc. I finally learned that one and kept them on a reel. I made a 35lb. aluminum bow in Jr. high metal shop 2 but hated shooting it. It would string burn you wearing an arm guard! Bummer was, once the school admin discovered we were making a <GASP!> weapon in shop no more bows. It wasn't just my school, the Cal. school board outlawed them state wide. I don't recall anybody being shot with a bow in a robbery, drive by, riot, bar fight, etc. Even now I can't think of one. A couple kids up here got into it with spears some time ago but . . .

 Frosty The Lucky.

My bow can bring down a peterbuilt at 50 yards lol, an Alpine Hunter 100# compound, need to use carbon fiber arrows

How long does it take to dress one, Steve? I shot aluminum shafts and plastic fletching with my 70 x 40lb. compound. It'll put a field tipped wooden shaft into the water jacket on a cast iron engine. Once. I had to do something with my wooden shafts, they didn't last long with that bow. 

Frosty The Lucky.

We have 4 bows, An old Jennings T Star compound, a Bear Victor Super Grizzly re-curve, a replica of a Japanese Yumi and Debi's Mongolian re-curve. None of them have been shot in around 20 years and the Jennings needs some repair, which I'm in the process of doing. I'll post pictures of them all but for now here is the Yumi. When I found the 31 inch arrows for this bow the plastic fletching had disintegrated so I will be fletching them before we shoot it.

 

I learned on a Yumi, so I use the left thumb for support not the index finger when the bow allows, and Yes I still have my thumb ring somewhere around here

My 90# korean bow so light weight but strong and incredibly fast love it 

That's a good looking bow. Thanks for bringing this thread back up, I had forgotten about it... my bad.

I doubt I could pull a 90 pond bow though. Here is the Jennings T Star, that I had to make a draw string cable end coupling for and reinforced the original other one. The cables have to be custom made and cost $ 150 U.S. and what I can tell the bow isn't worth that. I have it set for a 50 pound pull and it's about all I can manage now.

On 9/18/2024 at 11:10 PM, Irondragon Forge ClayWorks said:

for a 50 pound

Yeah a 90 pound can be a bit taxing on the shoulders 

I have a similar bow (in terms of how it looks. I don't know much about compounds)

Draw is too short for me now but still fun for messing around  as its like 30 lb Draw