I was 8-10 yr old, at granddads house and found 2 fiberglass bows in the corner. A red one which i could easily draw, and a yellow one which i wouldn't be able to draw for a few more years. That red bow was fun but why stop there? Unable to resist the urge to make a Ballista out of the red one, with no adult supervision and knowing no better way to fasten the prod to the stock(a square fence post) decided that hammering nails through it was completely acceptable. Mounted it on the ground at a 45 degree angle and was good to go. It had no trigger, you just pulled it back far as you could with both hands then let go. It was a hit with all the neighborhood kids and i got some pretty impressive flight distances, to a kid anyways. It finally shattered. I still cant recall what happened to that yellow one, but if i had to wager a bet id say it had something to do with the Indian behind the bow getting another "creative idea". One thing was certain, those 2 bows started the fever.
I would go onto build bows out of saplings for the next few years, because i thought that's how it was done. Most of them didn't shoot very far and would eventually break. None of the kids at school shot bows, they were gun hunters and thought guns were better, after all its what their dads used and they came to school with pictures of their kills and venison, it was .270 this, .243 that. I realized real quick that for me this would be a lonely journey. I had a huge archery and hunting interest, but no guidance as no one in my family shot(anything) or hunted. At age 15 i got a job at a outdoor and pawn shop and bought a Browning compound. I practiced with it till a guy in the neighborhood agreed to take me deer hunting. I soon realized deer hunting was a lot of waiting, and when i finally ended up getting a shot at a deer from a stand, i shot over its back. I took a lot of heat from the guy for it supposedly being a bad shot. That and other distractions led to a 15 yr lull. Ages 15-30 was a time of chasing things in life that would prove unfulfilling, largely revolving around jobs, women, urban life and disappointment from things that should've worked out but didn't. Early mid life crisis you might say. Started taking a long look at life and where i wanted to be...and i found myself getting back to my roots.
I started escaping the city and hanging out in the country every chance i had, like when i was younger. I was on my friends land one day and got his permission to cut a few trees down, spent that whole day and the next few weeks making bows. What fun i had been missing all these years! When i finally made one with enough power to kill small game it was an awesome feeling, for the first time i thought to myself "yea this thing could actually work on a hunt!" Taking it to the next level proved to be more challenging. I was using random pieces of who knows what kind of wood, usually from saplings. I remember finally i got fed up and set my last piece of wood in the garage for a whole year. One day i walked by, glanced down at it and committed 100% to getting the help necessary to learn to build a good bow. I took a class from a local bowyer in TX, learned to chase a ring and heat bend, got some Osage and went to work. 2015 i killed my first 2 deer with a primitive bow that i built, and its been where the bar is set ever since.
