I don't know what the heck they do to the bows at Howard Hill but I just can't put mine up. I think they put MSG's in the finish, gypsie's curses, vodo spells!!? Something to them bows??? I sat down last week and thought it thru hard and long that I was going to stick with one bow and one bow only for the next 6 months to see how much it helped my shooting?. So I picked the bow that I am shooting by far the best ... a Stalker T/D with 42# limbs.. was shooting it pretty good too... Then I started to get an itch behind my eyeball... it spread down my shoulder to my hands and then legs and Like a man in some zombie movie. I started to the closet door. I tried to make myself stop reaching for the door knob!! Even heared the danger song from jaws. I kept telling myself over and over. JUST ONE BOW!! JUST ONE BOW!! but I couldn't stop myself? Before I knew it she was strung up and missing the taget as usuall. I am soo weak..

I have only had one Hill style bow and I was actually prepared to not like it a whole lot...fortunately I got a HHA Robin Hood special edition and it is a great bow to shoot...I just shoot it a little better each time I pick it up...I bought it strickly for target work yet I think I might hunt it a bit this fall

DDave

I have 9 Hill's and 10 Hill-style bows, so I know the curse very well. I did shoot a recurve yesterday, 1st time in months

Of my 2 longbows, a Wesley Special is one. I shoot my GN Bushbow better, have a solid arrow configuration for it, and have told myself that it is the one for this season and that I should only shoot it.

But that little itch behind my eyeball has started. That could be from mowing the lawn yesterday. But I'm glad I read this so I know to proceed with caution, :-)

D style long bows rule.

I'm all in. No itches anymore. It's me not the bow. The Hill style for me.

I too enjoy shooting a Hill or Hill style bow too much, I am much more accurate with my Black Widow PMA. However that "itch" mentioned here affects me also. I have two Hill bows and one Hill-style bow. All three bows shoot accurately and I really like the lightness of the bows themselves. Oh well, I tried on the advice of another to shoot only one of the Hill bows for an extended period of time and while I did get better with it I was still more accurate with the PMA c'est la vie!

They are light as a feather and quick in the hand . I know I have 1 Hill style and 1 Hill "Redman " . Can't put the bows down.. I also find that I can't have just one . Strange As I am not an acquisitive person by those who know me.

Hill style isn't the only so-called D-bow. Most deflex/reflex longbows will describe a D profile when strung. Just making that clear. And yes, I like a nice D profile too.

Well I guess I am fortunate in that my Hill bow is the one I hit the target with the best

I can help my friend!!!

Ill PM ya my address and you send me them evil Hills,,,ill dispose of them properly and in return send ya any Samick or Greatree of your choice : )

Now....if you are shooting glass ones, get your hands on one that is bamboo, or any other all natural material combination with no glass. Even more addictive if you can believe that.

My only Hill bow is the big 5. I have an itch for another one but flat can not make up my mind which one. What do Y'all recommend? I kind of lean toward the Tembo only for the reason that I saw Howard shoot on stage and the movie Tembo when it came out. Thanks. Ken

The Redman. I've owned all of them and to me that's the best bow that Craig Ekin builds.

Originally the D style longbow was the English longbow. And the D was the cross section of the limbs, not the shape strung. Most longer longbows are D shaped when strung. Someone, when the stickbow craze started in the late 80's misunderstood the meaning and it's been so ever since. American semi longbow is that HIll called it. Most others American longbow. But I'm happy for ya guy if it works for you. I just never had much use for them. I bought a new limited edition Sirocco and shot it religiously for about 6 months. It had to go, they're just not for me. I'm glad you found the bow that makes you happy tho.

Yea! D shape to me is still the cross section of an english longbow/self bow) guess I'm an antique

I have a Wallace mountain longbow (basically a Hill style but the setback has ever so slight of a reflex)

Love it

That and my Schulz are all that my fat little hand grabs when I go out to shoot

my recurves have become wall decorations

I completely agree about the cross section description. Folks tend to forget that the Hill style bow essentially came from the bow described by Ben Hunt and John Metz in the book The Flat Bow published in 1936.

Designed as an improvement over the D style English longbow.

BINGO

Hill bows "Float like a butterfly; sting like a bee". :o)

After shooting recurvs on and off for 50 years I developed an itch for a longbow and got my first one a year ago. A Northern Mist Classic. I have not shot any of my recurves since. I was not as accurate with it as my recurves but it is coming around. I am just captured by the grace and simplicity of the Hill Bow. Actually I am a little afraid to shoot a recurve again. Afraid I will be a lot more accurate with it.

Until I met G. W. Flanagan of Marietta, OK I was pretty much tied to Craig Eakins HHA bows. I still own 4, down from a high of 8, but I now find myself reaching for a Flanagan made bow more often than not. Maybe it is because I have grown to consider Mr. Flanagan as not only an excellent bowyer, but also a friend. It might also have something to do with the fact I have reduced my draw weight since meeting Mr. Flanagan and his bows meet my current demands. With that said, I love my HHA bows and will continue to shoot them on occasion, but this hunting season will find me in the woods with a Flanagan made R/D longbow, God Willing.

A philosophy of fluid versatility without sacrificing accuracy is the core of the Hill shooting technique, the Hill bow is the best tool to use with that technique. If one would stick with just one longbow and with the goal of making a fluid and versatile hunting shot, adjust to the bow, rather than attempting to force the bow to adjust to you, proficiency and seeing the shot possibilities will come as the rhythm and form become natural and second nature.

Dean that fits any bow, recurve or longbow. Personally I shoot a recurve a lot better than longbows.

"Hill bows "Float like a butterfly; sting like a bee". :o)"

Lol ,that was my problem. My arrows floated too long,lol.

I now have 4 ASL's with another on order and shoot them almost exclusively. On a rare occasion do I brace up the hybrid. I don't even have a recurve at the present time but i do love them too.

Howard Hill RedMan

JD Berry Vixon

Jd Berry Misty Dawn

Jack Harrison HHC

I think for most who draw 28" or less, a 58" hybrid or recurve are very handy bows. I just happen to not like deep recurve grips when hunting, they argue with my bent bow arm.

Enough with the talk of those beautiful, simple and graceful lines of the Hill bow! Let's see some skin! Here's mine - Wesley Special. A slim beauty 64" and 54# @ 27 and I draw her to that. Macassar Ebony riser and black glass on both sides. A masterpiece of simple, pure functionality!

2 Wallace mountains, John Schulz and Wallace Mountain

I can play this game.

Here,s plenty of longbows. My Hill Sirocco is the tallest one standing at the closest corner of the cabin with the hill back quiver and orange n yellow fletched arrows. Risers teak with stingray wrapped grip. Sorry but I don't take pics of bow much more than I do of dead animals.

Holy Cow Larry! What a beauty!

That beauty killed 27 animals last year, ranging from doves to deer.

My Hill's

My JET's

And a few more

Glf, just how tall are you? At first I just thought you shot a long bow, but those arrows!

I have 1 right now....a Dave Johnson that's 47@28.

I'd really like to get another, maybe a JD BERRY or Ekin Hill bow in about 44 pounds.

I really like the bows. I wish I had discovered them sooner.

Think I need one more longbow.A true ASL.All I have now are D/R.They're close but...

Theres a beautiful ASL in classified right now 50#/28"(no affiliations)for good price Wish i had the money Just say'n now might be the time for one : )

How does the Berry bows compare to HH's?

I have owned over 16 of various makes ...

Give me a 68" Redman and a back quiver full of good arrows , and as much as I hate to admit it , I'd never really need to buy another bow .

If I live to be 70 , I doubt I'd kill more game with any bow than I did with my Hills.

I am with you Ben, I will take a Redman any day,68" or longer!

I've noticed quite a few HH bow fans prefer the Redman/yew over the bamboo Hills.Nothing against yew bows.Just curious why that is?

Love my Redman!

"Glf, just how tall are you? At first I just thought you shot a long bow, but those arrows!"

I'm 6'4" and draw 32" on recurve and a hair over 31" with longbow. Because f my draw I shoot 70" bows mostly but got one coming gthats 66" . I burned my finger and shot 3under for a while and liked it so much I stuck with it. But as you can see I use that length. My point is at the front of my bow.

This thread needs a Sunset Hill!

I have 3 Non Bear bows I luv to Shoot @ times a Hill Tembo & a 1956 Pearson D bow plus a Ed Neat selfbow !!!

The 56 Pearson D Bow !!!

Graceful extremely light and quiet. Occaisonally I get a little wrist/string slap if my grip placement is sloppy. I own Ole One Shot and like it very much. Shot a bottle cap with it at 16 yds three out of four shots and decided this ones a keeper.

Couple others on the rack too... The Schulz built bows are super and I would be shooting them if I didn't have the Sunset Hills.

I have built a few bamboo backed Hill styles. There is something about them that brings me back to shooting one once in a while. I have to be very conscious about how I'm gripping the bow, but when I get it right I can shoot pretty well with mine. Recently I've gotten the itch to build another, so I think I'll make myself something real purdy.

My HH Big 5 is the most predictable bow I shoot. If I go snake-eyes, that arrow is going to hit right where I want it to. Now if I could just keep from dropping my bow arm...

Not sure where that picture came from?!

I am going to order one in a few months. Ebony riser, bamboo cores, with osage veneers and ebony tips. Can wait for the piggy bank to get full... lol

Nice thread...a rarity here. Hard to beat a Hill and wooden arrows.

If you really want just one Hill Style you better get a Carolina Night from 7 Lakes. Believe me the others will be just a memory after a week or so.

I bought the 7 lakes blank a few years ago. First class blank. To bad I turned it out so bad.

Has anyone tried a Miller Longbow? He says that he makes them just like Howard Hill made them and not a watered down version???

Never shot a Miller but that's just cause could never get my hands on one. David Miller was a student of John Schulz and John was taught by Howard Hill himself. So yeah, David Miller is the real Deal. Also have heard a lot of good things about the "American Longbow" that Jim Belcher is building right now.

A "Osage Royal" Hill style longbow from Chuck Jones is one of the best values out there for the dollar.

Schulz Sage...

Above photo shows four Miller longbows and two Schulz trophy hunter.

I got to see the American model that Jim Belcher is making at Denton Hill. Man what a beautiful bow. I now have one on order. :o) He said he had taken all the measurements of one of Howard's own bows and reproduced the same on this bow. I especially liked the grip. Mine will be dark green glass on the back and white on the belly--bamboo lams of course--just like the one he had at Denton.

Wow some nice bows and collections being put up here!.....

WOW, Fred, left handed bows! Nice.

Why bother with any else???

I swear I don't know what it is but I could look at Hill style bows all day long. Recurves and Semi-recurves not so much. There is something magical about them to me. You guys got any pics of hunting with them in the woods? Maybe even some hero shots? lol

That Sage is a beauty Dragonheart.

They are the perfect instinctive shooting weapon. I love them and enjoy shooting them........until the pain starts in my elbow.

Nate very nice photo.

skookum, PM sent.

Those open country piggies must have the same eye sight problem as Iowa whitetails, they cannot see that a white longbow can hurt them. Deer did not seem to notice the few white ones that we glued up, Beltcher style, in the late 70s either.

Dean, that's "sky camo".... the newest/oldest thing going. Works real well on pigs that are always looking up....and I'm the tallest thing around. Have to wear light colors to blend in with the sky...lol.

Yes, but us under 6' guys don't have to duck as far to get under low branches. One year a wheelie boy turned me in to the game warden. He said that I was scaring all of the deer away with my white bow and another guy was not in a tree either and he was sitting on a white bucket. The game warden came and told me of the report and wanted to check to make sure my was really white and stiff enough. I cannot type what he said when he tried to shoot it, but Hill's comment about cutting washers off a butt applied to him. I said, "Are you gonna check out the other guy's white bucket?" He said, "Oh yes, the guy on the white bucket with a recurve is me."

ok

Now that's what I'm talking about!!! Greg, with you around, we'd all be well fed! Nice pics!

My obsession continues. Here my latest: Legend Stick. 64" and 57# @ 27. Shoots lights out. Hopefully will have a pic or two of her making meat this fall.

Steve

That last drag queen was looking a little rough by the time I got her down the hill ;)

One of the proudest was that "last sandwich" deer on my shoulder. Stalked from the ground and killed on a very large overhunted public land here in MD. Hunted up there for years without killing anything, but I love the big wild mountains!

Drag Queen LOL!

I've bought 5 in the last 8 months.3 used....very good deals and 1 new one...I just have to work to pay for them now...

I need to learn how to down load pics from my tracfone. I never carry a camera.

No wonder I can't kill nothing. Twoforhookin done killed em all... Lol u r a beast with that hill.

small game anyone?

Great bows and so satisfying to shoot

C

Can't kill anything with those bows LOL

Two4looking- you sure don't have problem connecting deer. What's the secret? Nice pics and needless to say ,I'm envious.

Hunt where the deer are ;-)

(Sounds like something Hill would say....)

Read Straight Shooting and study Schulz......

Are these Hill bows made out of yew?

You can have them made out of just about any wood you want. Though most of them have bamboo cores. Or at least most that I have seen.

They make them out of yew, bamboo, red elm, osage, honey locust, and juniper. I may be forgetting some. That's the limb cores. Lots of choices in riser woods too.

I use D-97 on my Schulz and Wallace mountain-just like the feel of it better

no string sliencers on either

just kinda of a thump noise

need a little higher brace with the D-97 than I do with B-50 Schulz recommends 6- 6 1/4 and I use 6 1/2

Wallace recommends 6 1/2 to 6 5/8 with B-50 and I use just under 7 Don't think the B-50 is any quieter just a little lower pitch than the D-97

I think HHA sends them standard with D-97 unless requested differently.

I have an email from Craig about two weeks ago where I asked him this very thing. He says he sends all bows out with B50 if the customer does not specify Fast Flight.

Steve

B50 came on all my Hills from Craig.

Regardless of what you shoot, you gotta luv this thread and pictures. Thanks guys. Shick

Some osage, yew, and juniper

I am shooting B50, overbuilt 16 strand, small loops, Flemish, and well waxed. Heavy string does not need silencers. Low hum is hardly heard by game. My Sunset likes a very low brace height. 6 1/2 on my Hills. It should smack low on your wrist at every shot.

Welcome to insanity Monkeyball!

All those great looking bows are killing me with envy. I'm ready to have Craig make me one now. I'm considering the takedown option, do any of you have one?

I had one but didn't care as much for it as the one piece. The sleeve is two round on belly side and too wide for my taste. Unless you really need the TD feature, I wouldn't pay the extra money for the TD.

Greg - with a 16 strand B50, what arrow nock are you using and how do you make it fit so it's not too tight? I want to make a 14 strand B50 for my Legend Stick and i want to use bohning classic nocks. Any idea on what size serving to use on that to get good nock fit?

Thanks!

Steve

Thanks David, good to know. I wanted the takedown to make it easier to transport, but I hadn't though about the grip being bigger. I have what I guess one would call medium size hands so a too big grip wouldn't be good for me. I'll talk to Craig about it. Thanks again.

It's not that it's so big, just the shape is too round for me. I like grips that are 2" front to back and about 1" wide. I don't know about what Craig has available not, but he did offer two different size TD sleeves. One was pretty small.

There area a number of take down options that don't require grip alterations or the same grip alterations, notably the Great Northern, that latch mechanism, and the interrupted screw.

Thanks, I just checked the site and you're right there are two size sleeves available. I'm going to call him tomorrow and talk about it.

I think this curse is contagious. I don't have a Hill bow but my next one will be one.

Anyone ever have one of those sleeves get stuck? I was at a shoot and a fellow longbow shooter said that he couldn't get his unstuck, so he had to take his pickup instead of his Goldwing. He offered me a burger and a coke if I could get it apart, I would do almost anything for a burger and a coke, but I couldn't get it apart.

I bet he used some kinda lubricant. Oil, wax, ect and made a vacuum. I would take the smallest drill bit I could find and carefully just kiss the bottom of the female end until you broke through to break the suction... Or second thought is that the sleeve was just too tight to begin with.... So I would take a hair dryer to try and heat up the sleeve to get it to expand... But being careful not to heat up the riser. Don't want the glue heating up much.... I would personally try the hair dryer first... Maybe put the really good aluminum duct tape around both ends of the sleeve to help protect the riser as much as I could.

Halo really tight gets my 18 stand the pergect size for merc nocks.

Has anyone ever seen a HH with red ceder veneers?

So is there a way to choose the correct length for a Hill longbow? Seems like if your short a long longbow would be too long and if your tall a short longbow would be too short. At 5'10" and drawing 27+ is there an optimum length for me?

At 5'10" and drawing 27+

Same here and I like a 66 inch bow, but there are differences between makers. If I was shooting a Howard Hill bow I would be at 68 inches.

I can now be counted among those with the Hill longbow curse. I bought a Wesley Special from one of the members here. This bow, according to Craig, was made in August of 2003, and in spite of it's age it is absolutely pristine. I don't know how whether the cell phone pics show it all that clear, but it has black glass on the back, gloss finish, and white on the belly. Really a beautiful bow, and my first Hill bow. The grip is the straight grip, also a first for me. It is 68" long and 70# @ 28", my draw is 26 3/4" which gives me a draw weight of around 65#. I know the question has to come up as to why buy a bow this heavy? Two reasons, one is that I wanted it. The other is that I intend to use it as a trainer bow for my normal weight of 55#. However, I consider myself fortunate that at my age, 66 years old, that I can shoot it. I'm working into it gradually and not wearing myself out, but I'm very impressed with this bow. I have read the stories about hand shock, however I haven't experienced any that I can notice. I am shooting a 687 grain arrow so that's probably why. I also like the smoothness of the draw, plus it appears to shoot fairly fast. Here's some pics, although they may not be too great.

Maybe a better view.

Believe it or not this is the first five shots, only at 11 yards but still not bad for me and a new bow. BTW, the paper plate is one the deer target because with the sun it's hard for me to pick a spot on that target face.

GREAT STUFF.

Someone else said it earlier and I totally agree with him in that I could look at Hill bow and accessories pics ALL DAY LONG! They are just gorgeous.

I was lucky to get my first Hill style last year, but it broke in my hand while loosing an arrow. Fortunately Dave Johnson took care of me and got right on it and built me a new one and I just got it last month.

The problem with these Hill style bows is that once you get one, you sit around and convince yourself you need another....and then another. Right now I want the one I've wanted for so long, a Craig Ekin Hill in JUNIPER. Then I want a JD Berry and then a Sunset Hill, but his list is close to forever, I think. He makes gorgeous bows too, as you all know.

These things are like Lay's tater chips!

The one I have now is all Bacote with bambo cores. The next one I order is going to be black ebony riser and tips with either yew heart wood or figured Osage .

Owned a cheetah, 68" 58@28 with moose hide grip and antler tips a little over 10 years now. Its been my primary bow the first 7 or so years, but the past several its been trading duty afield with a couple shorter recurves. When it comes to the fun of just shooting, the Hill is without a doubt my favorite. It's just not the most practical choice for much of the dense coastal swamps I hunt most often. On those days I just don't feel like dealing with the hassle of the extra clearance I'll grab one of the recurves instead. Still, I'll hunt with the Hill quite a bit through a season.

As much as I love this Hill and doubt I'd ever sell it, I don't see me owning more than one though. I've shot a big 5, a Wesley and a redman at TBOF shoots. They're just not that different to where I'd want one of each. For me, my bow collection is more like a set of tools, each needs to fill a different niche. Unless I won the lottery I don't see me having a wall full of Hill or Hill style bows.

a little further south...

Where is the best place to get a string? I still have the original string that came from the bowyer but it is kinda small for my nocks. Had to thicken it up with floss cause it was so small.

I'm 6'2" & 220# in great shape. Not saying I'm bigger than you, but, bigger than me have fallen as hard!! Geaux with that bad boy Mr. Howard Hill wing flinger!

Any more of them beautiful Hill longbow pics?

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