[bgamble]

I started shooting Archery in 1975. The local sporting goods store had a clothes dryer box cut down and "thrown" in the box was 11 or 12 Bear Whitetail Hunters........$72 a piece. For you gun guys on the back wall they had a new Colt AR15 for $200. Back to Archery. The old Bear Whitetail wasn't drilled for a rest, it had an indention where you could, if you had the guts, this was spooky after spending such an amount of money. So I went high tech, instead of sticking a rubber rest on I went all out and bought a flipper. Progressed from there to a Jennings Sidekick.........$48 (moving up as this was a 2 wheel bow). Next came my Browning Cobra. I was so proud of this bow, I just thought it was beautiful. One Sunday afternoon me and a buddy was out cruisin and ended up at the local outdoor archery range 34 miles from town. We parked and walked down in. Two archers came out of the woods, one had a blue Jennings Arrowstar the other guy was shooting a PSE Citation. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Those 2 bows set my world in motion. My first target bow was a Pse Laser Magnum. 45lb peak draw, I don't have an idea what the draw length was but it was short. On our practice range I couldn't shoot the 60 because of the trajectory putting me in the trees. Over the years I have shot alot of different bows, rests, arrows, releases, you name it. This morning I am setting in my easy chair,everybody is still in bed. I am sitting in the quiet drinking my coffee thinking about shooting and looking at my bow. I think of all that has went into where I am now. The long hours of practice, but there is no where you would rather be. The day(s) called in sick because that new bow got here. 4 bows blowing up (damn old magneium risers). Shooting a 29" draw with a 23" arrow of an overdraw (tough on vanes). All those times you punched yourself because something wasn't right with your release.
I've done a little rambling on but I love the sport, the people and everything about it. For you young guys, when you look at some of the old guys that been around a while think about what has gone into where he is now. The hunts,the tournaments, the wins the losses, there are some great stories, great memories, and more to come.

 

[Jersey Ray]

Nothing wrong with rambling about something you love! My first bow was a Bear Whitetail Hunter back in the early 80`s....

 

[ron w]

my first "serious compound" was an Astro, "stinger", bought at the shop in Milwaukee (west allis), where they were built., back in about 1974, I had that bow until about 7 or 8 years ago, and my daughter learned how to shoot with it about 14 years ago.

 

[cc122368]

Same whitetail hunter.

 

[Camp Creeker]

I started with a Jennings Arrowstar as my first compound. The fun of 4 wheel compound tuning. I loved that bow . To me it was king s&[email protected] back then. I've been through so many different bows since then and don't regret any of them. It has been one heck of a learning experience. Speaking of Experience a Bowtech may loom on the horizon. Or could it be a strother or who knows. For right now a Chill sits in my hand and I'm loving it.

 

[CarlV]

The hunts,the tournaments, the wins the losses, there are some great stories, great memories, and more to come.

Ain't that saying it all. I think I might have a few years on you, but only a few. Sometimes I think I should start writing down the memories as more and more they seem to be fading; and then they come alive again in my dreams. You young guys just hang on...........it's a hellofa ride and well worth the price of a ticket.

 

[LHpuncher]

good thread

 

[Varmintwade]

Oh yeah....Dont forget the Baker treestands too!

 

[BearArcher1980]

I am still a young gun myself but I remember back in the 80s when my best friend got his first compound bow. Was a Bear bow his mom got him at Kmart, don't remember the name but the Limbs were all yellow, black riser and had 3 brass pins on it. Was only a 40# bow but we would both look at that bow with amazement wondering just how it worked with those wheel lookin things on it lol. We had always shot recurve bows till he got that old Bear. Once he moved away we lost touch and I quit shooting in the early 90s once girls and football took over lol and BMX racing...now those were my days lol. My first recurve was an old red Indian bow, was as tall as me but I could shoot accurately to 20 yards and loved it. Back before we knew what real sights were and only had aluminum arrows from Kmart lol. We would shoot our arrows till the vanes came off and most of the time kept shooting them bent, missing fletchings and whatever we could find. We learned everything ourselves, didn't have anyone to show us how to safely and properly shoot our bows. I made a string for my recurve out of thick kite string when the first one broke lol. We even made actual stick bows out of tree limbs and rubber bands with tree limb arrows with throwing dart tips screwed onto them with home made fletchings out of duct tape lol. We had a blast with that stuff.

 

[kerrye]

Back in the early sixties, I was shooting tournaments in Germany with a 35# York target recurve. Just about every military base and post in western Europe had an archery club of some size. We started hearing rumors about these crazy new bows with cables and pulleys and thought it was probably BS. After I got out of the Air Force and returned to SW MO, I learned that Wilbur Allen in Billings, MO had invented and was making those "crazy new bows". Not too long after that, I gave Mr. Allen $40 of my hard earned cash and bought one from him.

 

[matt flint]

my first compound was a crx32.well unless you count that old wheel bow with metal cables i ran around the woods with as a kid.
im only a year into all this,but me n my son have many years of enjoyment coming

 

[ike_osu]

Good thread. I love hearing about the history of an archer.

 

[atennishu]

When I was in High School we didn't know there were any archery companies other than Bear, and when I got my first NEW compound bow in 1978 it was the best thing since sliced bread.

 

[Camp Creeker]

I am still a young gun myself but I remember back in the 80s when my best friend got his first compound bow. Was a Bear bow his mom got him at Kmart, don't remember the name but the Limbs were all yellow, black riser and had 3 brass pins on it. Was only a 40# bow but we would both look at that bow with amazement wondering just how it worked with those wheel lookin things on it lol. We had always shot recurve bows till he got that old Bear. Once he moved away we lost touch and I quit shooting in the early 90s once girls and football took over lol and BMX racing...now those were my days lol. My first recurve was an old red Indian bow, was as tall as me but I could shoot accurately to 20 yards and loved it. Back before we knew what real sights were and only had aluminum arrows from Kmart lol. We would shoot our arrows till the vanes came off and most of the time kept shooting them bent, missing fletchings and whatever we could find. We learned everything ourselves, didn't have anyone to show us how to safely and properly shoot our bows. I made a string for my recurve out of thick kite string when the first one broke lol. We even made actual stick bows out of tree limbs and rubber bands with tree limb arrows with throwing dart tips screwed onto them with home made fletchings out of duct tape lol. We had a blast with that stuff.

We did all that to growing up. I remember my dad had an old bear recurve and some cedar shafts. We didn't know anything about bows or how dangerous they could be. We (neighborhood gang) would shoot arrows straight up in the air until we couldn't see them anymore and then we would all run like hell and hide until they landed. We made our own bows out of lilacs and shot at each other with them. Can't believe non of us even got a scratch. I did take a few rides down a tree on a Baker Climber. That was always a surprise and the source of some raw hands.

 

[bishjr]

My first bow was a hand me down Bear Whitetail II that my father had before he got his Martin back in 80's. That was my first bow when I turned 12, and I shot that till I was 15. The draw on that bow had to be close to 30", because it is still to long for me and I am a 28.5" draw now. I have come a long way in my time since I was 12, as it has been a little over 13 years since I was first given that Bear bow.

Speaking of those Baker tree stands, my father still has 3 or 4 of them. I would never personally put myself in one of them, even though I have hung a few for my dad. Man do I love this sport!

 

[Camp Creeker]

My dad worked two full time jobs back then to feed all 7 of us. If he even knew I had that bow outside I would still have ice packs on my butt. Back in the day when kids were kicked out to go play all day and we did. I can say that I never gave up archery to this day. It has been a lifelong love for me. I was one of the lucky ones to have a great father. Some of my friends were not so lucky.

 

[Kstigall]

My first real bow was a Jennings SideKick III in '78. Killed my first deer with a bow on my first bow hunt only a couple of hours after climbing the tree with a Baker climber. I was 15 at the time and I've bow hunted ever since..... 40 lb, 25" draw bows are MUCH more potent now than that little Jennings was but I killed a few deer with the little bow before giving it to neighbor kid.

I had never shot target archery but in 1990 I shot a little indoors with my father. At the state championship that year I shot a personal best 299 the first day and then shot a 300 on the second day for another PB........ I would not shoot another spot target for 15 years and really got into it in 2006. I've been "diseased" ever since!

 

[RedbeardHD90]

I remember my parents taking me to sport-mart on my 11th birthday to get a bear whitetail hunter. I stood there waiting forever for someone to get it off the wall for me. Then the disappointment happened when I couldn't pull it. I was so upset but there was another bow there called the bear mini-mag. It must have been a youth bow but I got that one with some arrows and kept it for many years. I traded it in on a bow. How different archery was then. Bows seem to not go out of style every few years. ~redbeard

 

[BlueBuggy]

First bow was a PSE pacer I am thinking 78 or so right in there. Shot a few deer with that bow and then started moveing up the equipment latter. Shooting the bows in my signature mnow and still enjoying it.

 

[General RE LEE]

First bow was a Parker Trailblazer.