So as not to hijack another good thread called Remember When, I'll start this one.

With all the talk about form this and form that...and I'm guilty of that too, I got to thinking about the early years for me in archery.

I started in 1955 when I first saw Richard Greene as Robin Hood on Walt Disney Presents. I was pretty much hooked as soon as the show opened with the arrow flying from Robin Hood's bow, across the way and into that tree. As a nine year old kid, that was about as good as it got for visual effect.

My first bow was a lilac limb, and my arrows were golden rod stems with a notch cut in the small end for a nock. Didn't have feathers or any way to put them on, but the natural taper of the stems seem to help with that...at least for a little while. A binder-twine string provide for a velocity of just a tad faster than a dead-run.

I got pretty good very quickly and could hit a cardboard box at ten feet on a regular basis. To me that was pretty fine shooting and I eventually got to about fifteen feet or so while maintaining pretty good accuracy. At least I thought so.

I shot that bow, or another like it for probably two years off and on. We had no shortaget of lilac limbs since there were several of them and mom used them for switches for when we needed adjustments. The ones you picked for your mom to use, and the ones that made good bows varied quite a bit in size. Otherwise they were from the same bush.

I once was able to reach a flock of blackbirds that were using our area for a staging point during their migration. They were literally in the hundreds flying low over the house when I launched a golden rod in their direction. I did hear a kind of whiffing sound and had a few feathers come floating down, but the birds kept going.

That bow, and it's siblings disappeared one day right after mom caught me stalking the local flock of leghorns in the side yard. That was then end for that year, but alas, the fire was lit.

George, you were nothing but trouble when ya was a kid.

LOL

I lost my bow privileges for a while when I was 8 years old, after shooting the plastic frosty snowman xmas decoration in the front yard full of holes:)

Can't understand how Dad knew it was me.

LOL

Guess I was eight or nine and had one of those green fiberglass bows. Probably 15lbs. I kicked an old basketball into the air in our back yard to try an aerial shot. Shot over it and the arrow hit the power line to a house four yards down. There was a huge bang and flash of light. Nothing happened to me because they weren't home, and I didn't tell on myself.

'...the fire was lit.'

That's exactly it, George, the fire was lit.

I was nine or ten years old in '70 or '71 and had been cutting grass for pocket money. I bought one of those Fred Bear junior archery combos with a GREEN FIBERGLASS FOX BOW, three arrows, an arm guard, a tab, and a paper target for $10. It was big money then. I did not have a good backstop so I went through the arrows pretty fast and spent more money on more arrows. It was the most powerful piece of equipment that a kid could get could get his hands on. There was a hay field directly behind the house where I would shoot for range. I couldn't believe how far those cheapie arrows would fly.

I've still got the bow, the original quiver, and the fire. Thanks for the buzz.

Great stories. Keep them coming.... I remember the local sporting goods store had a display of beautiful wooden arrows that were too expensive for me to buy. On my way home from school I would stop in and admire the arrows until the owner would kick me out for being a pesky little kid with no money. Needless to say I was only allowed in the store when I was actually purchasing something.

When I was 11 , my Uncle gave me an old Shakespeare recurve . Green glass , 45lbs at 28" . I think I drew it maybe 24 or 26" . Shot it off the shelf with vanes cause I didn't know any better.

If I wasn't mowing, picking blackberries, or working in the garden , then that bow was in hand.

I had bales set up with a paper plate that I shot at . Once the plate was getting shot up, I'd fold it over and keep shooting until it was about the size of a playing card. Just kept shooting.

Sometimes, I'd carry a bunch of old tennis balls and just toss them around the yard to shoot at . One summer's day , I began tossing them high up and letting them bounce on the hard packed dirt by our barn , same area doubled as my basketball court, and try to shoot them on the first bounce .

By the time school was back in session , it was more common than not for me to connect on those bouncing tennis balls.

Moral of the story ...a bored 11 year old with a bow isn't bored for very long and can accomplish some great things . Especially if they aren't locked in front of a TV with a PS4 controller in their hand.

I remember in about 1972 getting a little red fiberglass bow for Christmas I think and walking across the street to the School Yard to flight shoot it, about all I did with that one, had a lot of fun doing it though! Now if you did that in a School Yard, the SWAT Team would get called out, even for an eight year old!

I got a red Bear fiberglass bow for my 6th birthday in 1978 and it went everywhere with me. My Grandma caught me posting up near her bird feeder and that was the last time I was allowed to bring the bow to Grandma's. I had so much fun with that bow and wish I still had it.

I remembering gadding at the golf course all summer when I was about 11, 1959, to save money to by a solid fiberglass bow. I remembering trying to make my own broadheads using snips to cut thin tin. I remember those broadheads folding up when they hit anything! But most of all I remember how much fun I had with that bow.

My dad was a custodian at the public school 2 blocks away. He brought a bow home that was used in phy ed class so my brother could shoot it. My brother is 3 years older than me, and they wouldn't even let me try shooting it, "You're not strong enough!"

One day when nobody was home, at least I thought nobody was home, I grabbed that bow and an arrow from the garage, went to the end of the sidewalk and shot at the window in the front door. (I don't know what I was thinking... I was just a kid too small to shoot that bow.) What I didn't realize is that mom was home, and just coming to the door to check on me when that arrow went through the window.

Obviously everybody knew I did it, but my parents didn't punish me for it. I always thought maybe it was the look of hysteric fright on my face that saved the day. I kind of would have liked to have seen the look on my mom's face when that arrow came through the window.

I "earned" my first bow, a solid 'glass Stemmler by selling boxes of Christmas cards to neighbors and family when I was 10, in 1967. Promptly punctured the aluminum siding of my parents' house a couple of times. Those holes are probably still there. Fred Bear was my hero then and still is!

I remember being about 9 or 10 and seeing an old Indian bow in the back corner of the closet. I don't know where that bow came from. I think someone gave it to my dad. He didn't now hunt. I remember I could not draw that bow. But boy when I could i about wore it out. I still have it.

From my older brothers, we had multiple bows around the house to choose from, so I was shooting all the time. But, I was always making my own, all you need is a knife and a piece of string. Lots of fond memory's of those days. Chasing every animal around the house and any woods around the house. I got more enjoyment with a knife and a piece of string than any of the toys I had. Probably would be the case today if people would let there kids do it.

I remember the old home made bows and arrows that I constantly made with help from my grandfather. One bow we made was out of a piece of Ash my grandfather hid from me so it could dry. The one memory was the end of the homemade arrows. One hot summer day after looking for straight sticks and feathers for arrows I couldn’t wait for my grandfather to get home so I started working on them myself. No big deal I watched it done numerous times. So I grabbed my dads old hickory filet knife and started sharpening the sticks and decided to cut my self nocks. Not a good idea. That knife split one of the sticks and stopped when it hit the bone. I ran out of the shed screaming, blood flying everywhere. I ran on the porch and was abruptly to to get of the porch because I was bleeding all over the place. After my dad rises it off with the hose he told me to go to my grandmothers house and have her put a bandaid on it. I remember after the band aid my grandmother get on the phone and chewing my dad a good one. After that I always had store bought arrows. Shortly after that the Ash bow broke and I got a glass bow. That thumb took months to heal!

I was about 12 or 13 when my granddad picked up a Ben Pearson Jet fiberglass bow at a yard sale and gave it to me. I had it for a week before I could get my parents to carry me to town to get a string and an arrow. I could only afford one arrow, my dad bought the string for me. I shot that bow all the time, at hay, trees, rabbits, the ground, in the air.... and I was hooked. Took a 5 year detour into compounds, my 14th birthday I asked for a compound......years later I was in the local archery shop and there was a few recurves for sale so I bought one just to play around with... in about 2 months I had sold my compound bows and I have never looked back.

I grew up on a farm.

I started the same way, George, with saplings strung with twine and arrows fletched with chicken feathers. It was right around 1956. Points were nails tied on.

Some things never change.

Jawge

Thanks folks, you're making my day!

Here I am with my first bow dressed in my Robin Hood outfit. I was somewhere around 5 years old (circa 1956). I use to stand on the threshold of our dining room and living room and shoot into the kitchen where my target was propped against the door leading into the garage. About 30 - 40 feet. Needless to say, the door had many holes in it as the arrows did not have suction cups on them. This also served as my bowling alley.

My Dad bought me my first bow in 1969, a 1969 45# Bear Green Fox Bowhunting Set. After Dad seen archery and bowhunting wasn't a fad for me and something I'd end up quiting he ended up buying me a 60# Bear Grizzly a couple years later. I still own both of these bows. They hang on my gameroom wall now but every now and then I take them down and shoot them. They're sentimental to me since my Dad passed away in 1975. The only years I haven't shot archery or bowhunted was when I enlisted in the U.S. Army for eight years. A few times I got home and some of the places I was stationed at in country and overseas had military sportsmen's clubs so I did get to shoot archery some. After I got out ( ETSed ) of the Army the sky was the limit and I've bowhunted every year, and shoot my bows every day. :)

Think I was 10 years old when I took my saved up 12.50 to the sports store and bought a Indian Archery Lemon wood bow set. Funny, still have that bow with orginal hemp string and only one loop. In 1962 or 63 I bought a Ben Pearson Pinto, 55#@28”. Would still have it but I was talked out of it. Those were fun days, putting holes in the garage wall when I missed the target. Chasing the local rabbits and squirrels was a great pastime. Yes, miss those simple days.

At about 8 years old my passions were baseball and archery, I combined the 2 sports by shooting arrows straight up and catching them with my glove, which was a big challenge because the arrows went soooo high that they were hard to see. It was great fun, until I got caught. Parents said something about being unsafe, whatever that meant.

The suction cups didn't stop the wood shafts from putting dents in the door, ask me how I knew that.

My first bow was a lilac branch. i shot with a thumb hook release just like ichi, I did not know that at the time. When Turned five in the summer I was taught how to shoot canting the bow the other way and shooting with my three finger. I remember the string hurt. i also remember taking one of older brothers arrows, a 5/16" cedar with a small hi- precision head and shooting utmost of the way through a morning dove off of Mrs. Denhartog's white fence. She cleaned the the dove and cooked it, we each had a couple bites of dove and some lemonade with an ice cream cone for desert. Then later that month I had to go to kindergarten and they wouldn't let me take my bow to school to shoot at recess time.

I started out like George and Jawge with homemade lilac bows in the mid '50s after watching Richard Greene on tv. After a couple of years of this my buddy and I had saved up enough money to buy real bows. We went to one sports shop in town and the owner said he had some kids bows on order. Be in in about a week. So afer checking back every week for about a month, with no results, we went to the local music store and each bought a bow for $5. He got a 20# lemonwood longbow and I got a no-name solid fiberglass semi-recurve with no markings on it. That no name bow got my dad, brother and younger sister interested in archery, so I reckon it was a good investment. bvd

The summer I read Fred Bear hunting stories set the stage. Was already primed since my brother and I would often talk about Russell Annabel adventure stories we read in those sportmans magazines. Would be typical of Russell to spin a tale about bears while living in Alaska. But Fred Bear was even a better. He hunted them with a bow. Back when we rode our Schwinn bicylces to the lake and river to go fishing, ole Fred and of course Russell, sure were some mighty big heros.

Do remember seeing some (NFAA) "Archery" magazines at the metal Boy Scout quansit hut. That no doubt added a little fuel to the fire.

But I think Fred was the largest influence, as the first bow I bought when young, not long after reading that Fred Bear book, was a 1962 Bear (K Mag). Funny how I'm still addicted. The last bow I'll ever shoot off my rack will be a 1962 Bear (63-inch Kodiak Special).

Much like the others of my generation, Richard Greene as Robin Hood lit the fire for me. Lucky enough to see Howard Hill shoot on stage after the movie "Tembo" in Passaic NJ in 1961. I was really hooked for sure.

Deno

I don't even recall a Richard Greene Robin hood series!? Maybe we didn't even have a TV at that time ...hmmmm

George thanks for starting this thread. Brought back lots of memories.

Jason

I grew up on a small farm where we raised laying hens and meat chickens. When I was 5 my mother made me a deal.

If I could shoot the Big Barred Rock Rooster that kept crowing before daylight with my homemade bow and arrow she would cook it for dinner. Having chicken for dinner was common but being given permission to hunt big game was brand new and the hunt was on.

I soon discovered that even a barnyard Rooster figures out pretty quickly when he is being stalked by a hunter. I hunted that bird for three days straight. I put at least twenty kill shots on him but never harmed him at all. My homemade arrows would not penetrate that bird, I would hit him square in the chest and he would let out a squawk and take off running for cover missing a feather or two.

I finally seen my opportunity, I caught the big boy going into our feed shed and went in and closed the door behind me. I shot him three or four times and still my homemade bow couldn't do the job. I was under bowed. I decided to catch him and tie him up so I could get closer for a sure kill shot. It didn't go as planned, my mom had seen me and the Rooster enter the shed and decided to investigate.

When she opened the door there I was with the rooster hog tied on the floor about to launch an arrow. The hunt was over, Mom declared the Rooster the winner and I had to cut him loose and not shoot at him any more.

I asked mom,"I thought you wanted him dead?" She told me If she just wanted him dead she would have chopped his head off like all the other roosters that ended up in the stew pot. She wanted me to learn the thrill of the hunt and the concept of fair chase. It was a lesson I have remembered all my life.

Maple sapling bow,braided cotton string, then wood bows at summer camp, then talked my mom into buying me a hickory bow set. That was about 1956. Been at it ever since.

Great stories guys. I like the lil Robin Hood outfit. I remember the arrows with suction cups. I had them stuck on all the walls of the house. Man those were the good old days/ Can you imagine a kid now shooting arrows around the house. The parents would be locked up. LOL

Back in the late 50's, I had a red, all fiberglass bow that could be shot right or left handed. My first attempt at archery and I tried shooting it right handed, which I thought was how it was supposed to be done. I couldn't come close to hitting anything. I rememberedI shot my red Ryder BB gun left handed because of my better eyesight in my left eye. Tried the bow left handed and nailed the telephone pole dead center. What a breakthrough. Been shooting lefty ever since.

Bought my first real bow a Shakespeare Parabow 25# I still have when I was 12. Around that time the local college built an off campus athletic complex about a mile away from home as the crow flies. After shooting our way through two woodlots to get to it we would shoot field goals until we got bored and head back into the woods looking for the next target.

I lost my 1 rst bow and my dad broke it that I got for Christmas because I shot the neighbors chicken in the butt.

That was my 1rst arrow kill. He bought me another bow for my birthday next so i only went a week without one.

I was actually down to my last arrow when I hit the chicken and off he flew and down he went on their lawn.

That was big trouble that day. LOL

First bow I remember was actually a crossbow...two pieces of wood nailed into a "T" with a notch and pivoting cloth pin and stretched-on slice of innertube. Shot rocks. Amazing velocity and accuracy. Hit a similarly armed buddy in the forehead... Was warned and given a Winchester 68, then a lemonwood longbow. Slippery slope.

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