While i was at the archery range today...

[Nidhoggr]

While I was at the range today, an elderly man walked over to me while I was shooting my bow.

"Did you make that" he asked.

"Nope. I wish I did."

He went on to tell me that when he was my age, after retiring from the military (he was a pilot), he and a friend of his used to hunt with primitive bows.  He began to tell me all manner of tips on archery.

I could see the sparkle in his eye when he ran his hand along the bow as if he was remembering all his old times.

"You are absolutely more then welcome to take a few shots if you'd like, sir"

He gave me a huge smile and just said "Those days of mine are gone, son.  I had surgery and can't even lift 5 pounds anymore".

That tugged on my heart a little bit.  So we talked for about 10 or 15 minutes about archery and the like, and he walked off into the woods to hike.

I kept shooting for an hour and right as I was taking my last shot, he showed back up. 

"I see your form improved a little bit" he said with a laugh.

We talked for another ten or fifteen minutes.  He wanted to explain the best way to find center and so i handed him the bow and he stopped mid sentence and just looked at the bow. 

After a few more minutes said he had to be leaving and we shook hands.  Whether or not I see this man again, he was exactly the kind of person I try to be when people are learning.   And with just people in general.   

These are the experiences that make life beautiful.

[mullet]

 You will be suprised how many people you attract when you start shooting a "simple" bow. Even more so when it's one you made. Looks like you have started the journey.

[GregB]

Nice story, although a little sad...

[Eric Krewson]

I went to a big rondy at David Crockett park in Lawerenceburg Tn this year just have a look-see at other peoples flintlocks to see how my first build stacked up against theirs. I mentioned to the guys I talked to that I made bows, everyone wanted to see one but I had left them at home.

The next day I took a BBO and a copperhead backed osage bow with me to show to the buckskinners camped at the event.

I couldn't walk 50 feet with out someone stopping me, wanting to see my bows, offering to buy my bows or have me teach them to make a bow.

One guy asked how they shoot. I told him the park had a permanent archery range across the road from the encampment and offered him a shooting demonstration. The word spread as I walked the 1/4 mile to the range and I soon looked like the pied piper with a long line of people in tow following me.

Fortunately I shot very well so all were impressed.

I found out later the two game wardens in my entourage were impressed with my bows but not too happy about the copperhead skins on one of my bows, killing copperheads is against the law in Tn. The skins came from Charles Sinclair in Texas so if confronted I would have been OK. I live in Alabama where snake killing is also legal.

[criveraville]

Nidhoggr, that is a great experience.  When you meet a genuinely good person.  Thanks for sharing with us. 

Cipriano

[Nidhoggr]

Nice story, although a little sad...

My thoughts exactly.  It was bittersweet.  On one hand, I felt like I had made his day and let him reflect on his experiences a little bit.  Perhaps even made an impression to where he would remember "that nice guy at the archery range with the tattoos and piercings shooting a primitive bow". 

On the other hand, I felt like he was sad that he couldn't do what he used to.

Either way I felt like he had chosen me to gift some knowledge of his life and his experiences. I won't forget that man.

[Kpete]

While elk hunting this year I bumped into a forester, kind of young, who was surveying beetle killed trees.  He saw my longbow and was fascinated  by a "wooden bow".   He commented that that seemed like real archery.  He did not like most hunting, but thought that hunting with such an "organic" (his word) bow would be something he could enjoy.  He asked about resources to learn about how to do so.
He hardly took his eyes off the bow the whole time.

[JW_Halverson]

He hardly took his eyes off the bow the whole time.

No surprise...we all stare intently at the bow porn posted here.  He had the chance to see it up close and personal!!!

I have a rabid vegan shooting one of my bows and she even said in passing last summer that she would be willing to eat what she shoots.  Non-bow people are fascinated with our organic archery and aren't afraid to oooh and aaah over them.  They never do that over the wheelie bows!

[Nidhoggr]

LMAO @ Wheelie bow

I've known vegans who have said the same about hunting before.  The problem a lot of them have is the inhumanity aspect of "mass produced meat" I suppose.

[JW_Halverson]

LMAO @ Wheelie bow

I've known vegans who have said the same about hunting before.  The problem a lot of them have is the inhumanity aspect of "mass produced meat" I suppose.

They aren't the only ones that choke at the idea of the inhumane treatment of feedlot factory cattle.   

[mullet]

I thought most of them blocked out the thought that store bought meat came from real animals? And they focused on the real blood and terrible suffering of the animals that are harvested during hunting season. Not to be confused with the natural killing by wolves, coyotes, foxes, raccons and etc.

[Kpete]

JW,
You make it sound so dirty!

[osage outlaw]

What a wonderful experience you had.  I'm sure it meant a lot to both of you. 

When I was a teenager I worked at a small town hardware store.  The owner was a bowyer who had killed several deer and an elk with his bows.  At the time I wasn't interested in primitive archery so I never really talked to him about it.  Now I go back to that little hardware store every now and then just to talk bows with him. 

[Nidhoggr]

I wish I could see that old man every time I go to the archery range. If for NO other reason then to tell him "Thanks" every time.

[Del the cat]

Great story.
I think thats how the word is spread, we all do our bit to pass a little on.
I still remember my first archery mentor, long since dead. A stocky gruff man with a beard, looked like a black bear, but a big softy really. Name of Jim Butcher, great name eh?
My fave' story was how he took a look at my first Elm ELB which I was taking into work so I could measure the draw weight.
It wasn't strung, he looked it over, flexed it against his foot.
" Sixty pounds" he said, thrust it back into my hand and stomped off.
That lunch time I got it onto a big dial scale and slowly took it back to full draw.
60# spot on
Del