How long have you been in Archery, What you shooting now?

[The Gnome!]

I don't know if anyone has done this before on this site so I thought I'D give it a go.

I'm a relatively young 38 goin 39, I've been shooting for the past 28 3/4 years now and have taken plenty of game with both types compounds & Sticks My first bow was a 55# Fred Bear Recurve which I shot for some 9 years, I no longer have it now Then I used my brothers King George compound, went to 80# no sights or gizmo's just a stick on rest, still have it Then I Moved onto the Bear Delta V 50# same as King George no gimmickry just a rest, still have that too then onto an Oneida 80# with all the bells & whistles, still have that one after that I went onto a 55# Sherwood Longbow for a couple years Towball now has that one
Then made a Water gum Selfbow under the guidance of Ron White aka Master, it now belongs to a good friend of mine, then I made a 45# reflex-d-flex bamboo backed hickory selfbow which now resides in South Africa
Now currently shooting a 64# Badlands Longbow, & my sons 45# Doratoxilin selfbow on alternate weekends out the club & family properties.

that's enough from me for now it's your turn

Yours In Archery.

Gnome!

[Iceman]

Hi Gnome
Thats a few Bows You have shot.I started with a Hinchco 36# takedown recurve which shot really well (no sights).I was 29 when i started.I then brought a Jesson/Hinchco compound for hunting and shot it for a long time.I ended up puting a 3 pin sight on it to keep up with a couple of my hunting mates.I then got interested in target shooting as well and started with vernier sight and release aid.The next bow I got was a 53# Peter Wilson Longbow which was and still is excellent to shoot.My next bow was a Browning Mirage 3D Compound with all the bells and whistles on it plus carbons for target shooting.I still have it although I do not shoot it as it is now very noisy.My next Bow was a Samick 40# longbow which I shoot most of the time.I also have a Bowtech Pro 38 compound set up the same as the Browning but with new fangled gear for shooting IFAA.My favourite bow is my Longbows as I enjoy making up cedar shafts although I buy feathers already cut.It is really cool to shoot arrows that You have made up and cressted yourself.I am trying to get in some practice with my Samick for the Massey Safari our club runs in February and our Hinchco Memorial in September.I am now 53 and still enjoying shooting my bows.

Ray

[perry]

Sure your only nearly 39 Gnome . Mate I've been shooting for just over 30 years .Started shooting Fita at the Grange Company of Archers in Brisbane and spent 18 months shooting club recurves and a sight until a top old fella Merve suggested I should go and have a look at the Grange Bowhunters club which broke away from the Fita club 2 years or so before then .
Then Mum and Dad bought me a Robin Hood Saxon- Solid glass limbs Hanger bracketsand a continuos steel cable , truly a horrible compound but it was one of the first compounds around either club.
First kill in 1979 age 15 was a small boar on the run at around 20meters total fluke using a Jennings Starlite55#compound, also shoot a mess of national aba records with that bow before it blew up then 80#Bear Grizzly compound which blew up, Pse Citation hunter what a piece of junkand around 1984 switched back to recurves and finally to Selfbows in early 1995. Havent looked back since then.
Regards Perry

[gary p]

My first was a borrowed 35lb yamaha target bow and like Perry shooting at the fita club on emerson park in brissy. After that while on holidays I spotted a 50lb ben pearson cougar recurve in a shop window, I blew a whole weeks wage on it , a whopping $53 ! Mum thought i was mad.Next came the wonderfull robin hood canterbury it had 15% let off such technology . now i shoot a reflex deflex Newell bow 56lb
GAZ.

[The Gnome!]

Hi Ray,

Yeah just a couple but there will be more
keep up the good form mate and keep making those arrows it's agreat way to pass the time.

Perry, I think so don't look back mate I think Nick is sneaking up behind you with a compound

Gary there's nothing wrong with blowing the wages on a bow

Keep it coming people I'm sure there is more of you out there what about the Girls is you out there too

Yours In Archery.

Gnome!

[Mick Smith]

Gnome

I started way back in 1969. I read an article in a magazine about bowhunting and it fired my imagination. Until then I'd been shooting rifles. I pestered my dad to buy me a bow for my next birthday and after a trip to the Bow Hut in Melbourne, he came back with a 36# Black Widow target bow, three field arrows, one hunting arrow, tab, and a vinyl back quiver. I'll post a photo taken back then at the bottom of this post. I used this outfit for about 3 years until I started working. I then bought myself a 50# Red Wing Hunter, followed by a 60# Shakespeare "Cascade", followed by a 52# Howard Hill "Redman" longbow which I still own to this day.

I've owned more bows than I can remember in the intervening 35 years or so. At a guess it would be over 30 bows.

My current bows are, a 54# Chek-Mate "Atilla" (this is a very nice bow), a 50# vintage Bear Kodiak Magnum, a 60# Martin "Savannah" longbow and of course my faithful old 52# Howard Hill longbow.

Mick

[Stickbow Hunter]

Good form WAY back then Mick.

I have been Bowhunting for close to 26 years – since the begining of 1981. I did also shoot a bow and arrow back when I was kid and into my early teens. However it wasn’t until the beginning of 1981 that Jude and I started shooting bows seriously. I shot a Jennings mechanical device for the first few years.

In 1984 I started shooting longbows. My first one was a Paul Wheller ‘Warrigal’ which was around 56# at my draw - I still have this bow. I did actually sell it to a mate but I made him a new bow a few years later in return to get it back.

I then for a short time shot a couple of Vince Hamilton longbows in the 60 to 70 pound range and then a Howard Hill longbow which was around 68# at my draw length.

I started making my own longbows in 1987 and have shot them ever since. I shot around the 70# mark until around 1992 and then went back to 66# which I shot for approx seven years. I have been shooting around the 60# mark since the late 1990’s.

During these times and up to the present I have also shot and hunted a little with a few self bows. A couple were made by Dennis La Varenne and the others I made.

I am presently shooting a 60# longbow with bamboo lams that I made about seven years ago.

One of these days I would like to take a recurve for a walk in the bush.

I don’t participate in organized shoots much these days but I still really enjoy my bowhunting.

Jeff

[Brumbies Country]

Mines a chequered career re archery . I had this long involved competitive career with horses, bit of time as an amateur jockey, alot of eventing, bit of endurance, quite a bit of showjumping. I remember my stepfather shooting a bow when I was a kid and thought that'd be great but the horse passion put archery on the backburner until late 1988. My neighbour shot a longbow and it looked a real challenge. I started with an old Hoyt recurve, but then got a 50lb Don Rust longbow. He was a an ex-seaman bowyer from the South Coast of NSW. I hunted with this longbow and shot a few AA and ABA shoots. I'd hunted with shotguns before this. My neighbour saw they were holding the IFAA World Championships in 1990 on the North Coast of NSW. We thought we'd give it a burl and trained up a bit. We finished down the longbow field but had a lot of fun and both had an IFAA world ranking next two years, pretty undeserved . For some reason, now hard to fathom I got back into horses until two and a half years ago when 32 years of falling off horses caught up, left arm started to become useless and a very good surgeon fused three vertebrae in my neck. No more horse riding he said. I said "What abour archery". That'd be alright" he said. I got a Darton compound. A few months later I thought "Bloody hell, if this thing breaks down I can't fix it and anyway it's too mechanical". I went bare bow recurve with a Samick Masters and had a lot of fun and some success, but the longbow thing was in the back of my mind. Arms and neck by now were pretty good. Bought a Samick SLB 45lbs off the shelf. This was followed by a Samick Outlander 40lbs and a 48 lb Joe Vardon LB. I have been back shooting LB for a year and I've only been satisfied with the way I've shot three times. But therein lies the challenge. Shooting a longbow well is one of the harder things in life. Everytime I pick up one of my longbows there is a challenging contentment I want to be shooting a longbow when I'm 95 .

[Stickbow Hunter]

I want to be shooting a longbow when I'm 95

Nothin' wrong with that.

Jeff

[little arrows]

A recurve Jeffrey - goodness me, you won't know yourself.
Casting my memory back many many moons, Steve took up Compound in about early 1981. His first bow was a Darton, and he shot at Bensons Indoor range at night, I used to go with him and just watch while he competed, until one day an older guy buy the name of Lex got me to shoot his longbow (after a great deal of encouragement I might add, I didn't really think I would be able to do it). So the next thing I have this Longbow and I used to shoot in the comp too. Unfortunately Steve's back went to custard, so after his op we went back to indoor, then joined Campbelltown ABA. Now I too had a compound, an assortment of pieces you could say, no-one made a bow in the short draw, so Bensons peiced one together - it shot well. Steve's had not in any particular order a Delta V, a PSE Citation, Hoyt Defiant, Hunter Magnum, Vince Hamilton Longhow - still got - gosh way too many to mention. Then we moved to Qld and joined the Longbow Club at Tairo. Steve had an ML14 and I had an ML10, then we had Razorback longbows custom made (we still have them), shot longbows til about 1993, then went to Sky Recurves, then in 1994 went back to Compounds and was still in ABA. We were members of the Gympie ABA club, and then in mid 1996 had a brain fart and quit. Big mistake. 3 years out, way too long. Brought two brand new compounds - yuk - still sitting on the wall, met Glenn Newell, and had matching Defiant longbows made. Then I got a Hoyt Pro Hunter (1 peice)- still got it and Ragim Impala deluxe t/d (about to be sold) so I can get my Chekmate here, yeah. Steve's had a Samick Hawkeye (gone) Martin Dreamcatcher (bought by Towball) Martin Hatfield T/D (still got) and his new Chekmate. Steve has been hand making all our shafts since 1989. I've probably forgotton quite a bit, don't like to think back toooo far, it just makes me nostalgic (or that a nice way of saying older......)
sue

[The Gnome!]

Mick,

Like jeff says you do have good form, The Black Widow looks good too. Is that a Davies Delta or Shovel broadhead I still have 5 of each tucked away for colection purposes.

Jeff,

I have yet to make a longbow though I do like to make selfbows and go hunting with them, I will be teaching my daughter to make her first one over the xmas break . I like to go to organised shoots as we get to meet the great people of this sport and have a good time swaping yarns over the fire or while shooting on the range.

Brumbies Country,

Horses are great animals arent they I love to go hunting on mine as much as I can Good to hear that you are back shooting again, no stopping the will or the spirit. And yes like you I'd like to be shooting bows when I'm 95 years young

Sue,

Many many moons have past by You and Steve have certainly got some bows between you over time. Hope that Drawing still hangs proud Brain Fart Towball is up to 50 something bows now Steve's arrows are some of the nicest I've seen next to mine that is

Keep it coming guys there is plenty more of you out there tell us what you have got or not regardless it is all about us.

Yours In Archery.

Gnome!

[Brumbies Country]

I want to be shooting a longbow when I'm 95

Nothin' wrong with that.

Jeff

Thanks Jeff

One needs to plan ahead in life .

Really enjoyed reading your longbow history. I remember plenty of people talking about Jeff Challacombe when I shot a longbow the first time round. Felt that I was actually talking to a living legend when I talked to you on the phone a few months back and it was really good to draw on that knowledge re strings and things and thanks for sharing that knowledge .

[Brumbies Country]

Brumbies Country,

Horses are great animals arent they I love to go hunting on mine as much as I can Good to hear that you are back shooting again, no stopping the will or the spirit. And yes like you I'd like to be shooting bows when I'm 95 years young


Yours In Archery.

Gnome!

Have to agree about horses Gnome. They made sure I never became a wealthy man and they kept me away from archery for too long but I have shared many wonderful moments with them. I didn't have your good sense to combine them with archery on an onging basis though I did a bit of practicing shooting that original recurve off a steady endurance mare at the canter in the early days. Still have three horses in retirement .

[The Gnome!]

Brumbies Country,

I would like to take my horse to other shoots but don't know bout the insurance side or for that matter if there would be room at the venues Am starting to train a new mare now as my Tynee one 17.2 hh was put down ruptured apses or tumor in the lungs. He was the best Hope she proves to be as good or better

Yours In Archery.

Gnome!

[Stickbow Hunter]

Gnome,

I used to shoot at a lot of shoots many years ago but because of health reasons I had to slow up quite some years ago. I did go to a couple of Trad shoots this year.

BC,

Glad the strings helped you to be able to shoot more comfortably.

Sue,

I have never hunted with a recurve and I would like to take game with one. Don't worry, my longbow wouldn't be out of my hand for long.

By the way, some of you mentioned the old Delta V's, I still remember hearing the 'crack' of them being shot around the courses back in the 80's. They sure were noisy things.

Jeff

[The Gnome!]

Jeff said,

By the way, some of you mentioned the old Delta V's, I still remember hearing the 'crack' of them being shot around the courses back in the 80's. They sure were noisy things.

Yeh mate sound like a .22

Yours in Archery.

Gnome!

[Mick Smith]

Hi Gnome

The broadhead in that old photo is an original Bear Razorhead. You can't buy them now days.

Mick

[The Gnome!]

Mick you wrote.

Hi Gnome

The broadhead in that old photo is an original Bear Razorhead. You can't buy them now days.

Thanks Mick,

I have only 2 of those

Yours In archery.

Gnome!

[yeoman]

I first started shoting at about age 5. It was a plastic bow from a Robin Hood showbag.

Of course it only had suction cup points and no fletch or nock, but I thought it was great.

10 years later, the archery flame was rekindled, and I got myself a (don't flay me) compound bow. More than that, it was an obscure, el cheapo brand with cheaper, less-brand aluminium arrows.

I wasn't satisfied with this setup, though I did have some fun with it. I took the sights off, got some wood arrows and shot off the shelf.

At the same time, I started saving my pennies. Every bit of money I could lay my grubby little hands on, I put away for two years to buy the full set of The Bowyers Bibles.

Nearly as soon as I got the first one, I put the compound away and made my own.

I've made (and therefore shot) everything from really short flatbows to 80lb longbows, and everything in between.

At the moment my bow is a 30lb at 28" bow made from a branch out of the apple tree in my backyard.

http://ozbow.net/phpbb2/album_pic.php?pic_id=1199

I know it's not much bow, but I'm only shooting in the backyard and at re-enactment events. I'm planning to make myself a warbopw soon once I finish a bunch for other people.

Dave