When You Started Shooting A Bow

[Buckshot06]

I seen a poll like this on another web site and thought it would be interesting to find out when everyone got there addiction started and possibly how or who influenced you.

I was 14 years old when I got my first bow my dad purchased from a yard sale. It was an old Bear whitetail set at 50lbs. I shot fingers then and never had a shot at a deer for years. I did love having contest with my cousin to see who was the better shot. I had 1 pin set at 20yards and I was deadly out to 30 yards. I could shoot a walnut off a milk jug at 30 yards with just this one pin. The pin was bent and I never knew anything about a peep site. It was some good times back then and good memories. That is how I got started, self taught loved every minute of it.

[SPIKER]

Same age here, I used to shoot my dad's recurve.

[madoktor1]

I started in my 20's in '92-'93. I got into archery to hunt in the city limits where I live. The house in lived in at the time was in an area very heavily populated with deer. Now it is heavily populated with subdivisions. The very first time I hunted with my bow was opening day of archery in '93 and I took a 125# doe dressed weight. It was a through and through in both lungs. My first bow as a Bear Whitetail II set at 70# and was the same basic set up I have now. I wish I still had it but that is another story for another time and a not so public place. LOL!!!

[BT]

4 years old and it was a crossbow.
8 years old was recurve
14 years old for the first compound bow ever offered for sale....the Allen.
Got it out of a Herters Catalog

[oldfarmsblueman]

I don't remember but know I was sick in bed and the
Dr.came to the house.My mother said she would buy
me a bow if I didn't Carrie on to much when he gave
me a shot.She came home with the bow.I remember
being in bed and putting it behind my feet and pulling
it back.Snap :oI broke it .She took it back and the
salesman said no kid could break this bow .Well I did.
She got me one for my birthday that is in the end of
May.I took it out into the backyard drew it back pointing
it straight up and broak that one.Mon was not happy
with me.I got anouther and had it for a while till my
buddy's and I were going rabbit hunting.I got on my bike
and stuck one end through the spokes.That was the end
of my bows for a while.The bow I remember the most was
a Bear long bow.I lived in the suburbs of NY and had to
shoot at an angle across the yard to get any distance.The
arrows were ceder,warped and if broken we sharpened
them in a pencil sharpener.

[nkybuck]

I started shooting a Ben Pearson Colt 40lb recurve and started hunting with it when I was 13. I bought a pearson Renegade 3 when I was 16 I killed my first deer with it when I was 19. Never got a shot with the recurve but I still have it and will put enough time one of these days to kill a deer with it. My dad got his first bow kill with it.

[bowman]

I was 12 way back in 1975 I bought a brand new Bear 76er. Two years later I bought my first compound a Bear Whitetail. The family thought me and my older brother were crazy for trying to hunt with a bow.

Actually I think most still think we are crazy.

The wife and I started our kids when they were 4 years old.

[Doegirl]

A little red fiberglass longbow that me and my dad competed in seeing who could launch an arrow the farthest. I was 8 or 9.
I got a Bear Black Bear compound at the age of 12. I was pretty proficient with it, but my stick in the mud rifle coach wouldn't let me hunt unless I used a "real bow" (ie trad equipment). Funny, his son used a crossbow and he only hunted with firearms.
Anyways, sold the compound, tried using a recurve for a season and became disinterested. Did not pick up a bow again until I hit 25. Got my first archery deer in 2001 with a 45lb Parker Challenger