There is one of these bows for sale in the classifieds and in fact neither the seller nor I know much of anything about it. It looks like a quality bow with some very similar features to the Hatfield Takedown. Hope someone, maybe even Mr. Hatfield himself, can tell me a bit of the history of these bows.

Thanks for any and all info.

DDave

Dave the handle is marked 2430 JHD 11523, 70#@28" ESA 133 and 65#@28" ESA 131. That J in the handle # could be a U. I am guessing that it is similar to the Martin wood compound handles they used to make with the two steel balls between the riser and the limbs.

I think there was also a time when the Hatfield Takedown had the ball bearings. But you make a good point, Jim. As I mentioned I had a Martin Lynx recurve which was the Lynx compound riser adapted for recurve limbs. I am betting the Nimrod was a wooden compound riser adapted for recurve limbs.

DDave

Oops...guess I should sign differently for this user id, eh.

CDave

Better send this one back up

that's a new one on me! must be a martin bow. I didn't have a thing to do with that one!!

Wow...I gotta have that one when even you do not know what it is Larry...could be some sort of prototype that never really got produced...and thanks for the information

CDave

Larry, so its not a Martin? The guys wife said it was a Martin take down bow so I assumed it was. My mistake. Cant find Martin anywhere on the bow and I have looked it over pretty good. Do you know who manufactured it?

Here is a picture of it.

I have removed the add in the classified, because I did not want to mis-represent the manufacturer of the bow.

Well it looks like a Martin Warthog riser, with recurve limbs adapted to make a recurve. If Larry wasn't involved, then that is what it is. The ball bearings were used for compounds so the limbs would pivot to create weight adjustment. I have seen them before on Ebay, and had one similar in my shop back in the late 1980's. Not exactly sure of the timeline, but know it weighed about as much a locust fence post. LOL. I also think, and Larry can correct me if I'm wrong, that the first MHTD designation didn't stand for Martin Hatfield Takedown...but Martin Hunter Takedown. I'm sure it's a Martin bow.....just not sure of when they made it or when.

Jim---you didn't necessarily misrepresent the manufacturer of the bow; unless I am mistaken, that bow is a Martin WARTHOG.

If my memory serves me correctly, and it should as I owned one, years ago, it was made from the Martin Warthog compound riser and used the same ball bearing limb attachment that the now discontinued Martin Lynx used. I remember that bow was heavy as hell in the hand and had one of the biggest, chunkiest risers I've ever held. Not a bad thing, as it made it more stable, IMHO. It also was pretty fast too, and it seemed to perform quite well with very good accuracy---after adding some string silencing material, it was also pretty quiet. If Martin were to bring them back on the market, I'd gladly shell out the shekels to have another. Oh well, perhaps somebody who owned one can chime in, but if that really is a Martin Warthog, it's actually a better performer than you'd think...

And by the way, the limbs on the Warthog are NOT interchangeable with the Martin Lynx riser...found that out the hard way. God and Christ Bless!

No problem taking it off the market, Jim...when Larry says it was a Martin bow he means that it was made my Martin before he worked for Gail Martin...as far as I know at that time Larry worked for Damon Howatt before Martin bought Howatt...one way or another I am gonna own that bow...George and Kent I would have to say your idea that it is a Warthog riser makes a lot of sense and that also makes me want it even more...the first compound bow I ever shot was a Warthog that a buddy of mine built from a kit...I had no idea that I was a 31 inch draw compound shooter back in those days and would guess that bow was way short for me on draw length...around this part of the world "shootin' gophers" is a way of life...with that bow I got so that I would shoot at a gopher the same way I like to shoot at them with a .22...only the top of the head to the eyeball out of the hole...I never actually killed one with that Warthog that way since gophers are way quicker string jumpers than a whitetail but I was usually really close...we used "blunts" made with a .38 Special case and razor sharpened finishing nail ends soldered to the head....very effective

Kent it appears the riser in your pic is laminated which is the way that I recall the Warthog risers...if you look at that Nimrod riser it appears to be about as nice a piece of bubinga as one will ever see...I absolutely love bubinga with that wavy grain pattern...it literally glows

Okay now the fun is over....let's get that bow thumping some of those big ole 2317's I have been saving for just such an occasion...nothing like 725 grain arrows at speed for pass throughs on moose

DDave

George---you suck

LOL....Kent, we were probably typing at the same time. I had one yesterday that I answered basically the same as Bjorn...and it looked like I copied most of what he said. Crap happens. 8^)).

No problem George, heh heh. Hate to admit it, but...DDave's post actually makes me wish I still had my Warthog. Not only did I like the original, but I had a chance to get a few pairs of spare limbs as well...That Warthog may very well have been my keeper to this day...

I would not be quite so casual about parading that bow around on here if it was a righty Kent...pretty sure someone like you would have already scooped it in that case...sometimes it really pays off being able to shoot highish draw weights both sides...I will keep this bow out there and hope that it will lead to finding you a nice righty...I would bet they are around waiting for new owner gathering dust

Thanks for your input guys...Wallers are the best kind of folks

DDave

I think they're actually kinda rare...seems like I hardly ever see a Martin Lynx for sale anymore, and while the Lynx was kinda rare, the Warthog is hardly ever seen for sale. I haven't had that bow in my possession for a number of years, DDave. In fact, I traded it off to a "Waller and he, in turn, put it on eBay. He said it sold for about three times what I paid for it! :O

Maybe Martin should take notes...Bear seems to be enjoying great success in the resurrection of their older models...Martin/Howatt made a number of great bows in the past that I'm sure lots of guys would enjoy today: The Ventura, the Lynx, the Warthog, the Revelation, the Vision...seems like Martin gets rid of the good ones before people get a chance to try them. Oh well...God and Christ Bless

Didnt Martin Archery build that bow for Jim Cox? Im pretty sure they did. Think it was back in the mid 80's..I know they built the Dyna Bow for him as well...

They may have Anthony, I only remember Jim Cox with that Dynabow.

Gentlemen, Thank you all for your input and comments. Dave, like I told you, I am selling it for the boy. It is way to heavy and wrong hand for him to-boot.

Sent you a pm, Jim...just have to work out the details...glad to get the bow and help a young fellow get started in this addictive enterprise

DDave

thanks for the pictures! that bow was never called "nimrod". it was called a #2430 warthog "a" t.d.. it should have a whd, 1977-1988 production years. from 1988-1992 we had an A plus that had a black laminated riser with zebrawood overlays. we built them at howatts, both the riser and limbs.

Here is another one of the limbs.

A friend of mine has a Nimrod T/D recurve. I thought Rene' at East Side Archery in Chicago, IL had something to do with it.

The Nimrod has more deflex in the riser and looks to be made of bubinga with maple accent stripes.

My buddy's is 75@28 and looks like a bomb proof, working man's hunting bow.

Great minds think alike Paul...just popped back from the thread I started on Tradgang where I got a hit on the bow...you are 100 per cent correct about the East Side Archery connection...apparently they placed ads for just such a bow in the Alaska Bowman magazine back in the late seventies...the interesting part appears to be that they were available in draw weights from 50 to 80 pounds...can you imagine trying to sell a takedown today with that range of draw weights...and of course the ESA marking on the limbs would stand for East Side Archery...how would we ever have sorted this out without the internet, eh?

DDave

east side archery did their own writing on those after receiving the limbs. we never wrote that stuff on any of them. don't know if martins were aware of what they were doing, I sure wasn't!!

Thank you all for your help on this. I new Rene at East Side and I guess that would explain it all. I never really thought of it. Interesting history on that bow Dave.

I hadn't seen Rene in 7 years and was up that way visiting a friend from online. I mentioned to the gal that I thought East Side Archery was close to there and used to go there awhile back -- she asked me if I knew Rene... lol.

We had some time to kill before meeting some others for lunch, so we drove over there. The Archery shop wasn't open but the East Side bar was next store so we walked in. There was Rene tending bar and his jaw about dropped when I walked in.

The archery shop was basically closed, but he took me over there to see if he had any thing I might want from what was left.

He had a bunch of mounts from Africa in the bar and I asked him if he had gotten those, he said no -- his grandmother did :)

He had stationary and on the bottom of it it said "from the gut pile of Rene'"

The older I get the more I believe life is all about human connections...truly amazing the connections this bow has brought to light...thanks all for your input

DDave

I have done a lot of research on this bow and have not been able to find a lot of information on it, can anyone help?

This has been most informative. One of these Warthog/ ESA one-off takedowns has shown up on the auction site with two sets of limbs and the pawnshop seller is as perplexed as others have been. I don't shoot that heavy, though!

Oddly enough, I have a same-generation Jeffrey 44 Magnum compound that uses the same slot-and-ball bearings limb-mounting system and I was thinking of trying to convert it to a takedown recurve, but I decided to let that notion pass because it couldn't be done without serious milling on the riser to accept ILF or some other modern limb . Now I know that there may be recurve limbs that will actually fit that old wooden compound riser.

Raptor, that makes sense that ESA was targeting big game recurve hunters who needed a heavy bow but also needed a take-down to travel on small planes to hunting areas in Alaska, Africa, etc.

Thanks for bringing this thread back...it was very interesting to learn about a little piece of archery history...I never did buy that bow even though it sold for very little since I decided I would not be able to handle the draw weight...good thing since bursitis in my left shoulder has reduced the amount of weight I can handle even further

DDave

I bought a LH Warthog compound at a yard sale, thinking I'd be able to shoot it as is, or warf it. Draw length was too long as a wheel bow, couldn't get different cams, couldn't find recurve limbs, and mod'ing it for ILF would have been major surgery. The riser was pretty but like a 2x4. I ended up junking it, probably should have sold it here.

Raptor, that info sheds light on another curiosity I saw recently on the auction site, a takedown with a big ole laminated green, brown and gray riser, marked "American Archery" on the end of the riser and no identifying markings on the limbs. I could find absolutely nothing describing an American Archery takedown recurve...until your post!

Rene' always told me back then that Africa was a way better deal than hunting Alaska. I have about a dozen of those heads :)

I also got the 3 issues of Alaskan Bowman magazine... from East Side Archery :) Excellent read.

What ever happened to Dick Hamilton?

My buddy still has his old Warthog compound that he bought in high school. I always thought the wood riser would look better as a recurve. He just bought a new fangled c-bow, but I still can't talk him out of the 'Hog, too many memories I guess.

Back in 1979 I bought a Nimrod TD from East Side Archery. Excellent bow made by Howatt--it even had HTD (Howatt Take Down) written on the riser but the limbs were marked Nimrod TD. It had a more sleek looking riser than the bows pictured above and the limbs mounted with large knurled thumb knobs slightly rounded on top so no tools were needed to assemble. The limbs had brown glass and the riser was bubinga with a single highlight strip of maple running through it. I sold that bow when I switched to laft handed--sure would love to have one in a lefty!

Okay now I am officially adding this bow to the list of ones I wish I had bought...sometimes it is just nice to own an interesting piece of history...and as I said before that is one of the nicest chunks of Bubinga I have ever seen

DDave

I see the Warthog /ESA takedown with the laminate riser and two sets of limbs is back on the auction site. But those are some heavy limbs.

Wish I had bought/wish I had not sold or traded...the list goes on...my mantra these days is so many bows and so little time...I have a Kempf Kwyk Styk on the way and a Robertson Wolfer to finish paying for...hopefully those two will stop me from buying any more hunting bows...but then there is still my old Bear addiction...and I really should have a couple more Hoyts

DDave

The bow I mentioned above was also made for some other rather large shops that did a good bit of mail order business back then. It was named Alpine TD for Jim Dougherty archery as I recall, and Doug Kittredge of the Bow Hut in Mammoth Lakes, California carried Howatt bows under their own name as well. I believe he called the TD model the Backpacker TD. It seems a few dealers were selling Howatt-built bows under their own names. I used to look with envy/desire at pictures of that Kittredge signature recurve (looked to be a Howatt Hunter)in the Bow Hunt catalog which was actually a combination of catalog and magazine. Those were fun days!

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