First of all, don't start with the "that's stupid, or crazy, or anything else. This was the 1930's before the PC crowd, and done by brothers who apparently had 100% trust in each other...equipment discounted. Anyone can look back and criticize so please refrain from the rhetoric.
Some of you have already seen this, but it's worth a reprise. Just enjoy the short and the quality of shooters involved. Guys today can't hit a pie plate at 30 yards with $1200.00 bows. These guys did it with selfbows, wood arrows, and Walt...due to an auto accident...had to shoot from the hip.
Wow!!! That's the most impressive display of skill I've ever seen. I thought Byron Ferguson was good (and he is), but they could give him a run for his money. Thanks for sharing it George. I'll probably watch it several more times.
I've spent hours watching video's of those 2. They are something to see. One of the most interesting things about them is that they were ARCHERS. they participated in all different kinds of archery activities outside of just hunting. Goes to show you an do it all if you really want to.
I've posted this before, however I don't think it will hurt one more time. Ken Wilhelm the skinny one was also a semi-pro baseball player. In 1929 the New York Yankee's came to Los Angles to do some exhibition games. Ken was a pitcher. In one game he threw 15 pitches to Babe Ruth and struck him out 5 times. Its called hand/eye coordination (instinctive) that's where the term Instinctive shooting came from. Hugh Rich told me a story about Ken, this was in the late 40's early 50's. He and ken were shooting the breeze, Ken drinking a soda in the old steel cans. Hugh asked him if he could still throw the way he did when he was young. Ken threw the can as far as he could, picked up three rocks and hit the can all three times. Bob
That was awesome. What was in those balloons? Hydrogen? I guess all that stuff was before this country was litigation crazy. Shooting from the hip. Is he a gap shooter or instinctive? I wonder how they tuned their bows. Ah, the gold old days.
Yeah that has got to be fake.I keep hearing self bows and wood arrows are not accurate.Ya gotta be using a border or a widda and carbons or what ever .Right. Old farts don't know what they are on about.Selfies and woodies are inferior . OSR
While it's a cool video, I see a lot of folks poking fun at those of us who shoot high level 3D. Fact is people that shoot at a high level can shoot any bow. Let's not use this as a platform for bashing products, people, or target archery. I'd love to see someone with that shooting style show up at a World Championship and school us all, it still hasn't happened in 5 years, I'm still waiting.
the jalopy had a round target mounted on the rear bumper that acted as a cut-off switch. they would tie the steering wheel and set the hand throttle and "sand ski" behind the truck as it made big circles. when they fell, they would take their bows off their shoulders and shoot the kill switch and stop the truck. the truck was almost indestructible. Walt built it at his garage.
"So you're saying that everyone back in those days could shoot like that and archers?" No...you said that.
I said guys today can't hit a pie plate at 30 yards. And if you read most posts here, you will see that is true. Fact is, guys back then took pride in shooting accurately. Not all could, but at least they made the effort to shoot past 30 yards routinely, and relative to the number of archers we have today, they were probably much better. Today it's a big deal to hit a 40 yard target. Back then it was a big deal to hit an 80 yard or 100 yard target. As a whole, we certainly haven't gotten better...except for the ones who have applied themselves to do it.
And no the comment has nothing to do with equipment, it has to do with people not applying themselves to accuracy. Modern equipment should make you better because it's designed for accuracy. At least most of it is.
With the groups they shot at the beginning I wouldn't want them shooting anywhere near me. It is incredible that they can shoot something off each others head and be calm.
Walts nephew gave me a dvr of all the news leaders they made. I stop framed it through a sequence when Ken shot a button off Walt's head, and you can see the arrow goes through Walt's thin hair and the feathers drag the button off his head. less than a 1/2" from bad things happening. ken was a great target archer as well, and Walt was very good with a blowgun.
I've seen vid's of these brothers over the years. Howard Hill said they are the only ones that could give him a run for his money in shooting. keepem sharp
