Sometimes I dont think the old Indian Archery bows get the credit they deserve. Yeah we hear about the old Bears, Pearsons, Martins and others, but I gotta give kudos to the craftsmen and women that produced the Indian Archery bows. They aren't as popular as some of the other Classics, but they leave nothing on the table when it comes to a fine shooting and performing bow from yesteryear. Just for fun I went out and shot one arrow each from my Warrior, Seneca and 273, (which later became the Cochise I believe) and couldn't have been happier with the results at 15 yards, sitting in a hunting situation. Kudos to the long ago Indian Archery crew.

Yessir. Folks tend to get infatuated with the big 3...Bear, Pearson and Wing. That's good for the folks looking for good shooting bargains. I had a Hawkeye and a Mohawk and liked them both.

Its tough finding information on Indian Archery, but the bowyers that they recruited seemed to be top notch. Building bows on a production scale such as they did ,requires one heck of a team and bowyers that would be on line with those of the other mass producers of the time. Pretty impressive to say the least.

Here's a 56" Hawkeye that I had, and it was every bit as sweet a shooter as several Browning Explorers that I've had in that same length...and maybe even better looking! They made a good bow, especially around 1970.

moleman -

The Cochise was my first laminated "recurve" in the late 60's. I shot several other models after that. IMHO, the IA bows didn't get the credit the "big 3" got for good reason. And when compared to bows like the Hoyt PMs and the Damon Howatts, the "big 3" may have come up a little short as well.

Let me ask you this, how many times did you see IA bows on major target lines. Let's face it, that might be the best benchmark.

Viper out.

This one is on Ebay as we speak, it closes in 6 hours. It's a Cheyenne model with rosewood core and phenolic. Indian wasn't on the target lines because they didn't make a lot of target bows, and they didn't advertise them either as did Bear and Pearson. We get that you don't like them Tony, but some folks may find some benefit in a decent bow at a low price, versus several hundred plus for a bigger name. Most of us here aren't AA barebow shooters.

Sweet looker there. I liked my Warrior, but since I re-injured my shoulder, I put it on the local auction site. Someone will get a good, solid shooter.

I've never seen a Robertson on the target lines either but Dick makes some of the best bows made.

Back in the day Earl Hoyt mostly owned the target line, particularly in NAA and Olympics (started back in 1972). Black Widow, Bear and Pearson also had a good share. As good as Wing was you didn't see near the amount of Presentation models as the other brands, yet no one can deny they were great bows. Hoyt was a special breed back then and the shooters naturally gravitated to the take down models when introduced.

Anyone wanting to get into collecting nowadays, unless they have money out the kazoo, would do well to look at those "less desirable models" like Indian, Tri-State, American, etc. Gear snobs will dismiss many of them, but like guitars, there are some excellent models out there yet that will do the job and won't cost you parts of your anatomy. 8^)

Mr . Stout -

It's not that I didn't like them, I'm just being honest about them. I've seen that bow and similar in IA catalogs, but to be honest, I never saw one on a target line. Sure marketing matters, but there has to be a little more to it than that.

And it has nothing to do with being a AA shooter. There were plenty of bows in their price range. Stemmler, Darton, and even Pearson's entry/intermediate bows wouldn't break the bank.

BTW - the bow is your pic is a direct Hoyt knock-off, and a number of companies here and abroad were very happy that Earl allowed free use of his patents. Thing was most of the knock-offs didn't quite shoot as well.

They were good, serviceable bows, just not stellar in any regard. Were they good for the time? Probably, but but now looking back, we see a bigger picture, I think anyway.

Viper out.

At one time Indian Archery advertised a lifetime warranty. I wonder if Escalade would still honor that?

Personally, I own 21 Indian Archery bows. I find myself amused by them.

The worst bow there is will do the same thing every time if the input is the same. So, it becomes a matter of learning what the bow does and deciding if you like that.

IF you like to carry a chunk of firewood between the limbs, there are lots of bows like that.

My first bow was an Indian Seneca, given to me by a gent I met at the bus stop. We talked bowfishing and I didn't have a bow, being a broke college student. He gave me that Seneca, I still have it.

got a savage by IA . zebra wood shoots plenty good...ron

What does that mean, "I find myself amused by them." Amused good or amused bad?

I think,like me he is amused and tickled pink with them...sence some say they not much good lol

foodtraveler, Indian had good and not so good bows but served a clientele that likely didn't have the money go buy bigger names. They made only a few target models and never got serious in that area. They did make some excellent bows in the hunting style, but most of their line was what we would call entry-level. A term I dislike at best.

The good part of this is they are very affordable yet and can make a fine serviceable bow for someone maybe on the edge of deciding if they want to try traditional archery. A few of their bows are worthy of interest for any bowhunter for sure, you just need to peruse the big auction and look them over when they appear there....usually often.

Where would a person find a Indian head side plate like moleman has on his?

Thanks, Mr. Stout. PLease keep coming much appreciated posts that recall archery from that era.

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