Post by BT on Oct 26, 2008 8:42:26 GMT -5
Archery didn’t start out as a life passion for me. But it did manage to start out as pure fun and joy! I was in first grade when my dad brought me home a yellow and white pure fiberglass longbow with recurved tips! I could buy wood arrows for something like 15 cents each up the street at Union Hall. I spent hours watching the arrows fly in graceful arches from the house, up through the air, and then drop at the edge of our yard. In the fall, I’d shoot at the apples I wanted in my neighbors tree until all of my arrows were stuck up in the tree – then my neighbor would come out with a ladder and get every arrow down for me, and give me what ever apples I wanted as well! I still like to watch arrows fly over the distance, watching them fly is like salve for my soul on a bad day.
In middle school, dad came home with a Starfire target recurve bow. 40lbs worth of draw weight! We would take the bow and share it at a converted bowling alley down town. We could get 20 yard shots. The method was to place a mark on the court, place the tip of the arrow on the mark as your means of aiming. Move the mark, move your shot. Dad bought some custom aluminum target arrows so we’d have perfect arrows for our “rig.”
By high school, many a winter day found me walking the fence rows and forest edges looking for rabbits and pheasants! At that point, deer were not yet back in the area so I hunted what we had. The bow had changed a bit, now I had a Bear Kodiak Magnum with a 50lb draw. The arrows were still wood, but made by Bear and sported a nice white paint finish - red, black and sliver cresting – yellow and red fletching with a red nock. And wood arrows stored for most of a winter underneath a snow drift do not survive the experience!
In the early 80’s I found Jennings Archery and compound bows with aluminum arrows. No more wood arrows, and long distance accuracy! At 40 yards, I could put four arrows in a target the size of a cigarette pack; every time, all day. I was invited to my first ever white tail hunt! A pal of mine set this up, I did exactly as told. I walked out on one bent over branch, and hung on to another crossing branch in the middle of a thicket through which passed a “deer trail.” When the sun came up enough to see by, I noticed that the “pastor” in front of me was very evenly cut indeed. The “deer path” really didn’t seem to go anywhere or be very well defined. Then an hour or so later, when the golfers came by slowly walking through the thicket looking for their golf balls, imagine the looks I got bobbing up and down on a 5 inch diameter branch, holding a bow in one hand and a passing branch in the other, dressed in full camo, all of 6 feet off the ground… The thicket of Russian Olive trees were on a bend in the fairway and I guess it collected a lot of balls in its day. I left at this point, but in fairness, I did find a deer track between the tree and truck. When I go back to northern Illinois now, there are deer everywhere! I guess their numbers were not impacted much by that early threat…
In the last 16 years I’ve had 4 compounds and currently shoot a Bowtech Pro 38 with carbon arrows. I have seven sight pins on the silly thing and shoot tennis balls at 60 yards. It was all about speed, flat shots, long distance, pushing the limits! Then my dad passed away.
Late in life we’d managed to get back together through archery. We’d both been true to the sport, but individually rather then together. The last time out, we were hunting white tails in Nebraska. I had to carry all the gear and let him brace both hands on my shoulders and follow me through the high grass to a blind by the river. He couldn’t make alone. He had Parkinson’s very bad, and when he drew that bow you kind of wanted to duck! But when he settled in, all shaking stopped and I can tell you that I didn’t want this old man shooting at me at 20 yards! After dad passed, I was given all of my fathers wood working tools. He’d never let me near them much as a kid, I think he feared I hurt myself or bust up tools he could not afford to replace. For a long time, I couldn’t stand to go in my garage for seeing all of his stuff out there.
About four years ago I decided that I needed to use these resources, and that I should use them to make longbows. I guess it is my own tribute to the heart of a woodworker and the man who started my love of this sport. It seemed the perfect match. I don’t shoot the Bowtech much anymore, and don’t much care about shooting tennis balls at 60 yards… But I sure love to see who can come closest to a stake at 100 or 200 yards! Just love to watch those arrows fly…
What I have learned through all of this about archery is that this sport is all about the rhythm of the gear you use. I have shot recurves, compounds, and longbows. Each has a bit different form, style, rhythm. There is a tangible cadence that you can hear, feel, deep within you as you bring a shaft a bear on a mark. Loose the mark, break the cadence, loose the rhythm, miss the shot! Pull it all together, and you know where that arrow will hit before it gets there. Everyone can be introduced to a bow and taught the basics of form as it relates to archery. But the best shooters, they hear and feel the rhythm! It is more than just shooting by the numbers. It is rhythm. Each move is orchestrated to achieve a greater accomplishment -.perhaps more demanding in traditional shooting, but no less a factor with compounds. Find your rhythm!