I have recently acquired an Indian Bighorn AMO Bow, #258, 58" @50# with number aa-19-5 hand written on by the manufacturer. I am trying to find out what year it was made and an approximate value. It is in excellent condition with NO twist. VERY slight blemishes found by normal use. Any information is greatly appreciated, thanks.

I looked up indian bighorn bow and there was one for sale on one of the forums for $75.

I looked up indian bighorn bow and there was one for sale on one of the forums for $75.

They were manufactured in Evansville, Indiana. Indian made a lot of toy boys as well, but also some nice hunting and tournament bows in the 1960's. I don't know what year the expanded into bows, but probably the late 50's. You can find them frequently on Ebay. They don't bring big prices, more of a working man's bow. Their top of the line hunting bow was the Deerslayer, a 60" full working recurve. They also made a 48 and 52 inch bow to fill the short bow niche in the 1960's. They made a 56" Hawkeye, 48" Mohawk, 52" Magnum Hunter, and a couple semi-recurves like the Seneca and Warrior....to name a few.

They're still around. Escalade sports started in 1926 as indian archery and toy company. They now own alot of sports companys, including bear archery.

Here is a 55# deerslayer still at work.

My first bow was an Indian and I still have it. Not sure of the model, but it has mint-green glass on the face, dark orange glass on the belly, and a leather-wrapped handle. Looks as good as the day my Dad gave it to me over 30 years ago, but I peeled the brass Indian head logo plate off in my youth and lost it. Other than that she still shoots good and remains probably the lightest bow I've ever owned at about a pound.

The first compounds they tried to make were pitiful 8^). They then got some help...from where I don't know...but started making the XI bow that was just as good as others at the time.

Nothing at all wrong with the Indian recurve bows of the 60's and early 70's. They weren't promoted like crazy so the didn't bring much money. Most are a bargain today.

My first bow was an indian warrior semi recurve. I still have it and its still shootable. It was 39.00 n came with 6 arrows, 3 with broadheads, plus a glove and armguard.

I almost bought an Indian 'Comanche' compound in 1978. It was basically a recurve with the tips cut off and the compound hardware added.

I was buying them in the 60's at a discount store out of a 55 gallon drum, Your Choice $15.00 .....Great Bows!

Indian (as said) was Escalade Sports. They made pool tables and basketball backboards and ping-pong equipment, etc. Their recurves were great but don't have a real value. Later X-I Bows came on line and they hired some of Pete Sheppleys boys from PSE in marketing and design. They were very talented bow builders and X-I had Top of the Line compounds back then......till 'the board' (non-hunters) decided to drop X-I and changed the plant all around again.

They now own Bear and several other bow equipment manufacturing gadgets. Escalade is still in Evansville, Indiana and the Bear plant remains in Florida...."CHANGE" , we've seen a lot of that thru the years! Fred should of stayed in Michigan too!

Back in 'the day' I liked Indian Bows and Ben Pearson! Ben had some great quality items also, as did Indian Archery!....I surely miss the 'old days'!

I live in Evansville, Indiana and when I was a little Whipper-Snapper, I would go downtown and walk by the Indian Archery plant and dream that someday I would own one of their Bows!

When I was 19 yrs old back in the sixties, I got a job in the old Chrysler plant which used to build Phymouth cars. This was a very large plant and the company that I worked for leased about a one third of the buiding too Indian Industries and they relocated to this factory building.

By the way this is where "Buddy Waston" worked and designed new Bows and help promote Indian Bows! I've heard a lot of hunting stories about Mr. Waston, such as when he killed his grizzly bear with a Indian Bow! Sears & Roebuck Department store sold Indian Bows and had posters of Mr Buddy Waston and his acheivements with Bow & Arrow hanging in their sporting goods department.

I had a lot of freinds that worked for Indian and therefore I was able to tour the plant on several occasions, I was like a kid in a candy store!

I finally came up with enough Moo-la (Money) to order a Brand Spankin New Indian Bow, Man I was in Hog Heaven! It was a 48" 45lb. Indian Stalker, it was mainly black with several stripes running thru it.

Well, due to my inept hunting experience back then, I never drew any blood with that Bow! LOL

But I really enjoyed slipping thru the woods and admiring my first Brand Spankin New Bow! I wish, I still had it!

Ole thumper

I have several of the bows that Buddy Watson designed for Indian Archery. Also have several he personally made. Have alot of memories of him. He was my father. There's alot of pics and info on the "Buddy Watson" thread. Check it out and post something. It would be nice to see the thread brought to the top again.

Thanks everyone for the input. Very informative. The bow I have is a Recurve and not a compound. I am interested in an approximate date of manufacture if possible. It is Green if that is pertinant. Thanks again everyone.

Anyone have a picture of an Indian Techumseh? I would love to find one.

I have a "Laminated Longbow with Clarified Calf Skin on the face" made by Indian Archery! It has a LOT of laminations in it making up this bow. Several years ago I had this old bow re-done by a highly qualified bowyer! It looks like new, with new clarified calf skin and all. Original stickers and writing on it still.

When we were friends with X-I and The Indian Archery Plant we had inquired about this type of bow with Al (CEO) and the vise-president (name slips my mind, I hate that)....anyway, they didn't know what year it was made and a lot of that info died over time when Indian Archery was near it's end.

This bow I have is trully a WORK of ART! I wish I had all the information about it also!

Myles Keller and my wife did a lot of X-I's advertising thru the golden years of X-I. (compound shooters)....I still have packets of large posters X-I did with them and a few other 'shooters' on their advertisements. Used for display in booths at sport shows and Industry Shows and also to 'sign' and hand out to 'the public' on ocassion!

*starr*...it would be interesting to know more info on "Buddy Watson"....maybe ?? he made this bow I have ??....I'll PM you.

HeadHunter....that could very well be one of my dad's bows. He always made his bows with many many laminations. I remember watching him run the lamination machine and hearing him talk about all the different types of wood that went into each bow.

i use a 10 strand fast flight string on all of my vintage bows i put phenolic tip overlays on them,did this with a indian hawkeye recurve and it shoots like most of my other vintage bows among which are howatt hunter pearson hunter red wing hunter bear mag bingham kit bow blackhawk i like them all about the same they are all 50 lbs. at 28 inches and perform much the same i just picked a browning wasp up i love those 56 inch bows dont be afraid of indian bow and you can buy them for a fraction of what it costs to build one today as i have built quite a few thanks bobby b

My first real bow in 1974 was an Indian recurve my Dad bought at the BX. Seems like it was the Seneca or Cochise..think it was 58 inches long. Loaned it to my cousin in the 80s..never saw it again.

My first bow was And is a Indian Cochise semirecurve still has the original string, arm guard, back quiver,and one wooden broad head arrow. last year I bought a Indian Savage 58" 50lb and it shoots great and it is no slouch in the speed department if it was my first bow I would have hunted with it and still may someday. Widow

Indian ran tests against Bears and Pearson to show their bows were just as fast ,quiet, and accurate at a much lower price. They were right in every aspect.

GLF -

While what you posted may (or may not) be true, the detail you left out was that Bear and Pearson hunting bows were not hi-performance bows by any stretch in the same time period.

They (Bear/Pearson) were over built to a point where some performance was lost to make the bows last, which they did and a lot still do. Most Bears had better finishes than Pearson and Indian, and BP's philosophy of making a solid bow, knowing where to cut corners to make them more accessible.

Even as you went up the price range, Bear and BP put out better made (designed/built) products than Indian, which was why AI didn't last as long as Bear and BP.

BTW - Speed is a measurable function, quietness is usually a function of tuning and accuracy has to do with the shooter and not the bow. The feature that IA should have cited was precision, which is a function of stability of the bow over a shooting session or life span - and few, if any laminated bows fall short in that regard.

Just remember, for a while IA was touting their solid fiberglass, plastic risered bows being the equal of laminated bows. That marketing stunt didn't fly either...

Viper out.

Indian archery started in 1926. I think you'll find that they lasted just fine till compounds got popular. They went that way a while but they were into table tennis and other things so much the chose not to spend the money to compete in compounds. The point was they made bows just as good as the big 2 and sold em for alot less so the average Joe could afford them. And to be technical they outlasted the others. They bought/merged with the company who copyrighted the name ping pong and changed their name to Escalade sports and now own Bear and a ton of other sports compnies.

Btw they had the table tennis market but the catcher name ping pong was important enough to buy the company just to get the name and eliminate the competition.

And another BTW, they made some very nice bows that should never be overlooked as well-designed, and very functional. The Hawkeye, a 56" bow similar to Pearson's Predator/BPH-70 is a very nice shooting bow. The Ambusher and Mohawk are also great short bows..I've owned and shot all three of the aforementioned.

Here's a bow made by Buddy Watson for Sears that demonstrates the level of expertise Indian Archery was capable of...

Here is a closeup of the face of the riser...simply beautiful lamination work.

A view of the belly side of the riser...

Last one of the tips..it is 66" long, 50# and a dream to shoot.

Indian Archery made some beauties...the Mohawk that George mentioned was also a looker.

Archery was just part of a larger business with Indian Industries so it wasn't their only means of keeping afloat. Still it's silly to label them as less than viable in a functional sense. And as Peter shows above, they could do fancy if they wanted or needed to.

Nothing other than Erine Root was a part of it. Rooty

Rich Lopez has pics of a "Tecumseh" - a wonder of laminating .... http://droptinetraditions.com/php/modules.php? name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=5522&highlight=tecumseh

you'll most prob. need to me a member of his site to view in detail

I have a 40lb.warrior indian archery bow that has a maple handle plus ebony circles on it.Never saw one like this.Do you guys have any information on it ,and what is it worth? thank you.

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