I was just thinking of my introduction to traditional hunting when I was a kid. I guess I was about 12-13yrs. old and I found an old fiberglass longbow with 10 wooden arrows in the garage. the poundage was pretty high and I struggled to pull it back but by the end of summer was shooting it with some hope of hitting the intended target. That fall my friend and I took that bow and those arrows and went after squirrels and rabbits. Only a couple ofhopeful preteens would shoot up into a tree in the woods and not leave until the arrows were recovered. I remember lots of time spent looking for arrows. Not Flu-flus mind you. My first memory of killing something involved a rabbit indeep snow mid winter. We were pretty proud of that. BTW: My friend and I took turns shooting that bow and all shooting was done barehanded. At some point the arrows were wrecked or lost except for one which I still have.
I guess It was 1975 and my parents wanted to know what I wanted for Christmas and I couldn't think of anything. I was big in hunting but never thought about a bow and a friend at school said that's what he was asking for and I thought that would be perfect for me I just hadn't thought of it. So at Christmas I got a 40# Shakespeare Sierra. You have to remember there were very few deer in Ky in those days and all hunting seasons was coming to close.I had gun hunted deer for about 3 years and had not even seen one. The following year I saw 2 does with no shots and took 2 rabbits walking and spotting them sitting. I did trade the bow latter to a friend but my wife got it back for my birthday about 20 or so years ago. It is in my collection.
I remember mine well. My first real bow was a Browning 50 pounder. Green Dickies work pants and a wool cpo jacket with a camo bucket hat. Remember standing on a red oak branch about eight feet off the ground. My quiver was a old Pearson that slid over the limbs much like the ones today. 2016 Gamegetters with three blade Wasp heads. Those were fun learning days. I thought i knew it all.
My first bow hunting memory was hunting birds and shooting a Robin with a suction cup arrow from a little fiberglass bow, at somewhere in the neighborhood of 7 years old. I was my first hit and I don't know who was more surprised, me or the robin. He flew away upset, but unharmed, by the way.
My first real hunting started at 10 when I got a recurve and some arrows for Christmas. I'd lost interest in birds and started tracking rabbits. I probably followed a hundred miles of rabbit tracks that winter and I did as much missing as I did walking, but I learned a lot about hunting and the value of going slow, being quiet and watching the thick stuff ahead of me when on a track.
Eventually the law of averages caught up with me and the rabbits and while tracking one on a fresh snow one morning, I slowly crept up to a small pile of brush and stared into it and there sat a rabbit. I saw my arrow hit and he flopped around a little and was off and running. I walked over and picked my arrow up with shaking hands, re nocked it and started on the track and my first blood trail. It was more luck that skill, but I hit him in the chest cavity and he didn't go far before he ran out of gas. I'll never forget finding him at the end of the trail. I was one proud kid walking home with my first "big game", but when I got home I think Dad was more proud of me than I was of myself. That was a long time and a lot of rabbits ago, but I still love to track them on a fresh snow.
Great thread Scott, thank you for bringing back the memories.
I was a little kid with a toy wooden bow, I eventually pulled the suction cups off the arrows and sharpened the ends by rubbing them on the sidewalk. Bagged a blue belly lizard off my Grandmothers wooden fence, Man was I proud of my kill. I was a by God genuine bow hunter!
My first bow was crafted from the lilac on the yard. My first hunting memory is shooting at a crow in the tree tops across the block. I like hunting birds with a bow, always have. I have been chewed out on forums for shooting pheasants with broadheads, too dangerous, Bludgeons, HTMs, and steel blunts; someone will always disagree. In the case of the crow across the block way up in the tree it was a hi-precision. Those were made locally and they gave them out for free to any bowhunter that wanted them. I have killed a number of pheasants with them. I know how dare you shoot a broadhead in the airat a crow up in a tree? Give me a break, I was four years old the arrow did not even make to our garden.
Doesn't seem long ago at all. It was 1962 when the Engineer at the TV Station my Dad was a director/producer at took me. Used the K-Mag I bought in January with '61 Christmas working money. Got lost at dusk the first day but found the logging road the car was on. Was hunting 16,000 acres of public hunting land and only saw a few hunters back then.
That same place was hunted two years later after I introduced bowhunting to my best friend, the son of a professional caddy at the golf club I worked at. We tailgated or air-dragged my '57 Ford with completely bald tires directly behind semi trucks to keep the gas cost down, froze in worn out sleeping bags in my canvas pup tent and ate pit buried beans/hocks and greens that week to make it affordable. My friend years later became the President of the Oklahoma Longbowmen before he had arthritis so bad he had to sell his rack of Hills, a few years before he passed.
Remember the first time I went swamp rabbit hunting in SE Oklahoma with my instructor and an archery club freind. It was really really fun. Had hunted cottontails locally a bazillion times, but couldn't believe how big those swamp rabbits were.
Saw my first Jack-a-Lope mounted on the cafe wall of a small town back then too. But just like someone on here said in a reply long ago, seemed like we only saw the does out hunting Jacks to make Jack Rabbit chili.
The first time I went hunting with a bow, it was on a Sat am in the winter. I was 10, and without any archery training, I just assumed it was like hunting pheasants or rabbits with a shotgun. You get up, eat quickly and grab your gear, head out the door early and do it. I had always gone hunting with my Dad and Grandfather, but not this time. I grabbed my fairly new BP fiberglas bow, 3 field tipped arrows and took off for the snowed over, swampy bog 3 blocks up the street. It was cold, The sky was overcast, still kind of dark and pink at the same time. By the time I got there, I was half frozen. I started walking thru the reeds looking for some tracks in the snow, crackling thru the iced over spots. Never found anything except what looked like small birds feet. About 20 minutes later, I was done. I went home with frozen fingers and feet. I felt miserable the rest of the day.
The year was 1974 bought a Ben Pearson hunter 2 52" 45# with a bear snap on quiver Ben pearson wood arrows and I forgot what kind of broadheads i used. In Missouri the deer hunting was not that good back then but i hunted most of the season but no luck.
Got a couple requests for this. Once I had a house. Then she gave me a room. Then the kids were born. Now I have corners in the basement. Its all good though.
I remember my introduction to shooting even though it was nearing 50 years ago but for bowhunting I have varying bits and pieces of memories shooting squirrels and rabbits by the house. One of my first bowhunts I remember clearly. We started off at a diner near home and arrived at our site as the sun was rising. Even as a kid I thought that was crazy late. Soon I started seeing deer, it was Oct 26 and the rut was just starting. The spot I was in afforded me 3 longer range shots. I missed them all. Only had 4 arrows and lost two. That afternoon the grouse, ducks, squirrels were all making it known they were around by either sight or sound and I almost didn't bowhunt. There was a shotgun in the truck. I was in a tree perhaps 8 feet up, opposite of where I'd missed earlier. The deer kept making their way on the ridge above me. Was having a ball. 5 deer started running toward me bounding like some African Safari show. Anyway three deer headed toward the farm road, two stayed. The doe saw me. She left and her fawn stayed. I drew back and the fawn stepped forward, , perfect. I got to anchor and expected her to run but she never did. Upon relaxing my fingers I could actually see a ring of blood hit the ground with the arrow. I saw her run off and I ran to my neighbors truck carrying a very bloody arrow. I remember the track job, drinking water that day from an old green wine bottle. I remember scouting mid day a different section and the rubs and early scrapes we saw. I remember how warm the legs of my first deer felt. I remember rushing home to show my brothers too. To say the memory is vivid Is an understatement. I can even remember the coat I wore and still have the buck knife I used. I go back once in a while. The old barn is knocked down but the place is the same. It's under new ownership but still woods. I can no longer walk it but just driving by the turn in the road it sits in, and smelling the leaves is like turning on a video. I thank God for that day and for the memory.
A new Browning Wasp. 40 or 45 lb.used aluminum arrows and used Bear broadheads.a friend gave me. Hunted Eastern Ohio and Lower Michigan. No luck,but lots of Fun.
I was 10......1956..... I made a bow from birch just a sapling, and used bailing twine from my uncles dairy farm. my neighbor made his own archery stuff, he felt sorry for me I guess, he made me a couple of arrows so I could throw those branches away that I used for arrows.
He put flu- flu feathers on them and took me pheasant hunting with him. obviously I was no match for a pheasant with that sapling.....Ha!Ha! But it was my start. My parents could not afford to get me a bow so I went without until I was old enough to get a job and buy my own.
It's funny how vivid I remember that and can't tell you what I did yesterday.
Thanks Cobra for posting this, you have a heck of a nice collection there.
Oh I'm left handed so the dual shelf on the Montgomery Ward was all that i got, but my brothers used their hay making money to buy Bear Black Panthers at Kmart in Dubuque for $59.99 ( they never had lefties) we could go to Walsh's store and get cedar arrows for 34 cents each. The red ones worked best rabbit hunting in snow.
Oh I'm left handed so the dual shelf on the Montgomery Ward was all that i got, but my brothers used their hay making money to buy Bear Black Panthers at Kmart in Dubuque for $59.99 ( they never had lefties) we could go to Walsh's store and get cedar arrows for 34 cents each. The red ones worked best rabbit hunting in snow.
I can still remember being told to sit on the deck and stay out of the way as Dad would shoot across the back yard. I can still see the flo green nocks streaking through the sunlight as Dad bombed them in from 40. I was hooked. That was 1975. I've been hooked ever since.
I started with my dad when I was 5 years old. I'll never forget sitting on his lap, back against an old oak. It was on a warm fall afternoon. Like my own son, I think I was a chatter box and the likelihood of seeing anything much less snapping off a shot, must have been a distant dream for the old man.
There was a rustle in the dry leaves. He shushed me and a six point that seemed enormous came trotting past within ten yards or so. My dad was not a great shot nor did he practice much but I'm here to testify, he shot that buck threw the lungs, sitting on his but, back against a tree, me on his lap!
That was it for me. He called my his lucky charm that day. We had many great adventures together after that faithful day. I mis him dearly and would give most anything for one more day in the woods with him.
Chasing rabbits at the sewer plant with my brand new Shakespeare Sierra. My cousin and I had started archery a few months earlier and gettin ready for our first deer season bow hunt. The sewer plant was loaded with cotton tails so we got lots of shooting and rabbits.
I was 12 the first time my dad took me bow hunting with him. He put me in a tree stand near his a couple of hours before sundown. I hadn’t, seen anything but a couple of squirrels until about 15 minuets before dark. A big doe came trotting down the hill off the field right down in front of me and stopped about 10 yard in front of me. When I shot she jumped straight up and ran off. I was sure I had hit her. We couldn’t find my arrow that night, but when we came back the next morning, there it was stuck in the ground right where she was standing. I had shot under her. That was in 1963, and I’ve been hooked ever since. Sure do miss my dad too.
It was 1969 and I bought a Bear Grizzly, Bear quiver and a dozen Bear Microflight arrows with Razorheads on 6 of them. I went to a State Park and arrived in the dark. I walked for a while and settled on a stump to sit on where it looked like I could see a little. Daylight came finding me sitting on a stump in a clearing in full view of everything making me feel dumb. I walked around a little and went home.
First bowhunting memory...about 1950...I was 6 or 7...getting away from rubber suction cup arrows and getting arrows with actual metal points...then about 1952 or so, taking a shot at a ruffed grouse that flew up in front of me...I missed of course...12 years old in 1957...first time deer hunting with a bow...having a 10 - 12 yard shot at a running 6-point buck at the Necedah Wildlife Refuge in central WI...again, a miss (That shot was the seminal opiate which started this bowhunter on a life long addiction.)...1964, taking my first deer with a bow...basket 8-point, but a real TROPHY to me!
Some kind of light blue fiberglass recurve that was marked 35 pounds and had 6 cedar arrows I was given for Christmas one year and I took it out "rabbit hunting". Good thing I never got one with it 'cause I didn't know what the heck I was doing at the time.
I can't remember not having some type homemade bow & arrows but my 1st memories are of rabbit, squirrel hunting with my 1st real bow in 1956 & then having 4 missed shots in Illinois FIRST ever Deer season in 1957. Arrowing my 1st Deer in 1958. Tons of great times with the local Archery club members & the organized hunts we had for small game & the week long bowhunt in Northern Ws. & field shoots on the local archery range. Casekiska-my 6 point taken opening morning of the late season, Necedah Wildlife refuge 1964. He ran down the trail & stopped 10 feet from me & dropped 40 yds away. I had forgotten my knife & gutted him with a Bear razorhead. Pic in front of my shop/lanes after getting home (Illinois)
This is not my first bowhunting recollection but probably one of my best. My son was five years old and it was the first time I took him bowhunting with me. I had a wooden home made ladder stand I had set up along a creek. I was sitting on a little stool I placed on the bench of the stand and my son was sitting between my legs. Luckily, we had not been on the stand more than 20 minutes or so when I heard a rock disturbed over my left shoulder. My son heard it too and stiffened up. A plump spike walked out in front of us quartering away at about 20 yards. I raised my bow to shoot and the bottom limb was constricted by my son's shoulder not allowing me to come to full draw. Without ever saying a word, he very slowly leaned over giving me the opportunity to shoot. I shot high and spined the spike. He dropped in his tracks. I quickly shot another arrow to dispatch him. I will never forget my son turning his head and looking up at me an saying, "Dad, you are the greatest bowhunter in the world". I was beaming, not because of the buck, but because my little man had the knowledge to not make a sound and lean over to allow my shot. That was over 30 years ago. I will carry that memory to my grave.
Speaking about first hunt, that would legally be in 1965 for me, but my introduction to archery was around the same time that Disney brought out the Robin Hood series in 1955.
After watching that each week, I decided to build a bow....actually a bent lilac limb with baler twine for a string. The string likely weighed have as much as the bow. Golden rod stems, split and tied to work for nocks worked okay, and I could almost hit a bushel basket at ten feet.
I did manage to launch some into the masses of blackbirds that migrated across our property back then...even heard one of the arrows hit/glance off one of the birds. Never killed anything with them but had lots of adventures.
I can Hijack my own thread right? Before hunting with a "real bow and arrow" there was making your first bow and arrows frommaterials at hand and a limb off of some kind of springy flexible tree. Then who can forget their first slingshot whittled from a tree limb with your very own pocket knife. And, of course, searching for an old inner tube and piece of leather to build a formidable weapon! Then there were the BB guns and tubes of yellow Daisy ammo that killed more frogs, birds, mice and flying grasshoppers than anybody could count. And, finally, going out armed with a 22 rifle and a box of bullets in your pocket. Man, YOU OWNED the WORLD! But, as with most good things, puberty hit, girls got into the mix, and after that everything went to hell. :)
Christmas morning 1960 just unwraped a brand new Pearson Ole Hickory bow with arrows. Took it out that morning found Rabbit tracks in snow followed them and found the bunny sitting in Honey Suckles hit him in the throat face on it was over right there,and that was my very first shot with that bow.
I grew up in the 90's my first bowhunting memories have wheels. My first traditional bowhunting memory was trying to retrieve an arrow from a wounded skunk. I thought he was way to far to ever hit, wanted to see how close I'd get. Dummy.
In about 1962 I inherited a 40# Pearson(?) solid fiberglass hybrid looking bow with a bad 'splinter'in the upper limb, from my older brother. I had a batch of mismatched arrows with which I hunted rabbits on RR tracks on the southern city limits of Cleveland, Ohio. My buddy and I spotted 'sitters'....and got deadly at shooting them. The area had a LOT of rabbits, and it was illegal to hunt there, being just within city limits. My self-devised aiming method often put a finger in my eye. I remember using bodkins and some goofy mechanical head that looked like a pair of scissors. These hunts were great, especially on a sunny day with a few inches of snow on the ground, making the bunnies a bit easier to spot at mid-day when they came out of cover to warm up in the sun. We also broke some arrows shooting from the RR tracks at pigeons perched under overpass bridges. Amazing hunts, never to be forgotten!
I was 11 and I shot a cottontail rabbit in my neighbors yard with my Paul Bunyan fiberglass bow. My dad gave me this bow when I was 9 and I shot it all the time. This was my first bow kill and without any help from my dad I skinned it and got my mom to cook it for me.
I was 11 and I shot a cottontail rabbit in my neighbors yard with my Paul Bunyan fiberglass bow. My dad gave me this bow when I was 9 and I shot it all the time. This was my first bow kill and without any help from my dad I skinned it and got my mom to cook it for me.
Scott, as long as you started it... My grandfather made me my first bows and arrows. Just branches with string grooves cut into them and strung with whatever twine he had handy, along with arrows made out of small straight branches or shoots, but man, what fun I had with them. And they lit a fire in me that's never gone out.
Tuning my bow. And Putting together my TSS tree stand. And getting ready for my first bow and arrow deer hunt. Had a couple of missed shots the first year. But scored on a nice mature doe my second year out. Saw her lay down less then forty yards away from my tree.
My cousin was my mentor, he taught me how to bird hunt and fish. Little did I know it was all leading up to bowhunting high country mule deer.
I had just spray painted my new recurve with a homemade camo pattern. I sat up in a tree on a creaky Baker tree stand, didn't know safety harnesses existed. Brought a book with me," Zen and the Art of Archery" somehow I dozed off.
Thank God when I awoke I was still in said treestand and a buck was walking down the gametrail that crossed my tree. The rest is poetry.
My ACTUAL first memory as it relates to bowhunting was sitting in the living room watching my dad sharpen old Bear Razorheads with a file. Then there is the smell of the leather treatment he would always put on his leather early season boots about a week or 2 before the season opened.
After that, there was watching him go over his equipemtn. Checking his string for frayed places. Making suere the string nocks were in the right place along with the brush buttons on bothe his main and spare string.
At the age of 4, I licked the suction cup tip of an arrow and shot it at the cupboard. It went 'thwak' and stuck. I was hooked. Loved that sound, loved watching the arrow fly across the room. Since then, I have loved the sound of a straight flying arrow striking something wood. Maybe that's why I seem to hit trees when I'm shooting at animals.
Living on the outskirts of portland OR at about age 6. We made bows from hazelnut shoots and butchers twine. Arrows were smaller shoots and fletched with road kill bird feathers. We spent many hours trying to shoot any bird we could find just to get more feathers for our arrows. Things sure have changed!
Maybe not a true bowhunting memory. But I got hooked at a very young age. I used to make a blind in the living room out of couch cushions. Had a nerf bow. Bow i hunted the dogs hard. Eventually they got educated. If the hunting was real slow I could always fall back on "who wants a treat".
1965, chasing starlings with a 25# self-bow made by my great grandfather. Also 1968, shooting jack rabbits with my first store bought bow, an Indian recurve. 1972, week long deer hunt near Hayden, CO.
First shot at a deer: I was 14 in '70...Had my Dad's 45# Tigercat, was sneaking through our Oneida Community archery range in Kenwood, NY. It was a large range with two dozen stations or so. I was way in the back of it. Leaves were on yet. I spotted a bedded doe with her back facing me and snuck to within 20 yards and drew back, released, missed she got op and ran off. Never found the arrow. Bear razor head, orange and yellow cedar arrow with yellow fletch. Still have one of those I think. I learned how to sneak up on stuff real good by stalking roosting blackbirds and starlings (the most difficult to stalk birds except crows) in the spring when flocks returned.
1956, shooting my older brothers bow. He shot a meadow lark. I missed every thing. First deer hunt was 1972, sitting in an oak tree on a limb with Browning wasp. Nice buck came down hill following a trail that passed under me. The buck winded me and stood like a statue about 40 yards from me. When he turned to leave, I about fell out of tree. Later killed 2 bucks out of that tree. Good luck
1964 bow made of chinaberry limb,arrows from dog fennel,took a coke bottle cap And bent it over the end for a broad head ,popped a rabbit first day...in the big woods.
Thanksgiving weekend 1980. My father allowed me to tag along with him as he went out with the rifle. He let me sit about 15 yards away from where he was sitting and I had a yellow fiberglass 35lb Bear recurve and one Bear cedar shaft tipped with a Razorhead. I even remember it had 3 yellow feathers and a blue nock with blue lettering on the shaft. We didn't see anything but it was an awesome experience. It hooked me on this game.
1977 young 12 yr old kid growing up on a farm. 45# ben pearson recurve. Shot it till my fingers were sore and blistered but kept right on shooting everyday, anyway.
Had a back quiver full of cedars, fiberglass microflights. Was a good trail coming through some mature oak on a big flat. Took a stand in between the trunks of a big oak with multiple trunks. Was cold that morning, I didn't own the latest and greatest camo or hunting clothes, was no such thing back then, mostly used hand me downs and army surplus stuff. Group of doe fed close enough and I missed my first shot, got off a second missed again, Memory's have a way of fading or getting off fact with time, but If memory serves me correctly I think I managed to get off multiple shots before they all decided something was up.
But one fact remains clear to this day is...I had the WORST case of buck fever you could ever possibly get, I nearly passed out..LOL seriously that's a fact.
I killed a buck that year with a gun, old 30-30 single shot. didn't get anything as a 13 yr old but again got buck as a 14 and 15 yr old with a pump 30-06 I bought with money saved working summers. Finally at 16 I killed my first buck with a Bear recurve. I got hooked on bowhunting then. Now who knows how many deer later, I wish I could get a little of that early buck fever back.
Started out at about 6 or 7, 1954 or so, w/ a ligustrum branch, a trot line string, and some suction cup arrows w/ out the cups, sharpened on the sidewalk, like stated above. Had a ball shooting at birds, rabbits, whatever! Finally dispatched a rabbit one day at about 8. Been hooked ever since. First encounter deer hunting was in 1964, w/ my new Red Wing Hunter - shot at a nice 8 point, he was 20 or so yards and did a 180 at the release and kicked the arrow straight up in the air as he left the scene! I was absolutely amazed at the ease w/ which he vacated the area, never to be seen again. Been learning ever since, and finally scored later that year on a fat little spike. Stalked and shot him at 8 or so yards. Been chasing deer and elk of some sort ever since! A wonderful sport and pastime - archery!
Shade, the formula for getting buck fever is to not have killed a branch antlered buck with a bow... Believe me, you don't want to know that feeling, esp. at almost 62 yo.
Trapper...Closest I got to having that good old time buck fever was a number of years ago we were up at a cabin in the Moshannon State forest with my wife's dad and her grammy and pap.
I was the only one bowhunting. Grammy and pap got up early with me and gram made breakfast, pap made coffee. It was thee strongest coffee I ever drank in my life! Talk about the jitters!!! dang near thought I was gonna have a heart attack in the mt. Don't think I blinked for at least a week.
Growing up in Los Angeles there were a surprising number of places kids could shoot bows’n arras back in the day. Got my first critter with a Bear target type bow, dont remember too much about it except that I was a durn good shot. It had a sight you would slide up and down to set the range and I anchored under my chin. I learned to set it for 30 yards and guesstimate ranges on the fly. There was a relatively remote place in the San Fernanado Valley, right next to The I-5 freeway where I nailed my first rabbit. Hit a jackrabbit on the fly but it didnt even slow down. Me and my buddies took chase and finally filled it full of arrows. I felt kinda bad because then we didnt know what to do with it. City kids...
A few years later when Imhad my lisence I drove all the way to the Eastern Sierra mountains. I had my Red Wing hunter, 45# and was raring to go. The Kittredge catalog had touted the latest in camo which was a headnet /poncho. Great idea.... but when I had my firat real live deer in front of me the sun glared in the netting so brightly I couldnt tell which end of the deer was which.
Still have the Red Wing (Actually a White Wing) which is made in the same press but with white glass. Remember camo socks for limb covers?
Shade, that's funny....caffeine buck fever. I only got real true buck fever once (I do get the shakes, but can control it mostly). It was opening day of elk season in WA, and I saw a big Roosie 6x first thing, probably 700 yds across a huge clearcut across a steep creek draw. I literally was shaking violently and could not even load the rifle, but finally did and shot n missed. Decided to go around and intercept him, which I did over an hour later which seemed like an eternity, and got him. By then the 'fever' had subsided.
1960 I started with a 45 Paul Bunyon custom recurve and 5 cedars with bodkins on them. The early season started and the farmer cut all the corn where I had my platform stand(plywood in a tree 6' off the ground) and I dididn't know what else to do or go. The opening of the December season found me with 2 other kids in a 60 studebaker at a state park in a snowstorm. Now comes the real memory.... the driver had poured Bucks buck lure on his pants cuff when he hunted that morning and the heater in the car was on high so the aroma filled the car! Sugar shack was playing on the radio and every time I hear sugar shack my mind goes back to that day and the smell of Bucks buck lure.
Must have been around 1963 or so...out roaming with a fairly-low poundage fiberglass bow....spied a groundhog, naively let arrow fly, and I got lucky. First groundhog I ever got with anything.
