I wrote a short article that was going to appear in the next issue of the magazine. Unfortunately that's not going to happen - so instead of a short article in print, I thought I'd turn it into a long post.
Coming full circle – 44 years between trad kills
And Texasbowhunter.com made all the difference!
By John Parker
My first exposure to archery was as a 12 year old Boy Scout at summer camp in the late 1960’s. We received some basic instruction and then spent maybe an hour flinging arrows at a big round field target. It wasn’t much, but just enough for me to catch the archery bug.
When I got home I saved my paper route money and bought a 30lb Shakespeare target bow made of green fiberglass. My dad stuffed a burlap sack with pine straw for me to use as a target and I shot in the backyard for hours on end.
One crisp and cool Saturday morning I put the bow on my back like I’d seen Robin Hood do, mounted my trusty Stingray and pedaled a few miles to a wooded 3 acre lot I knew I could sneak into. Now I was really hunting! I was slipping through the woods stalking deer and bear that existed only in my imagination, when I saw a cottontail hop out of a brush pile about 15 yards away. I drew and released, then watched as the arrow made its gentle arc and skewered that young bunny, killing it stone dead. I was a bow hunter!
Thrilled and proud, I carried that rabbit home in my bike’s newspaper basket, daydreaming of all the great bow hunts yet to come. Unfortunately, I did not know any adults that bow hunted, so without a mentor my interest in archery fizzled. That first kill was to be my last with traditional archery gear for more than four decades.
Fast forward to 2010. At that point I had been hunting with a compound bow for over 10 years and had enjoyed every minute of it, taking numerous deer, pigs and a few turkeys. Over that time I would occasionally feel the itch to try a longbow or recurve but year after year, that itch remained unscratched. My brother-in-law tried to convert me on numerous occasions. When I visited his home he would preach the trad gospel and let me shoot his bows in the backyard. I was intrigued but I could not quite make the leap because it seemed like such a big commitment. For one thing I’d hear traditional archers say you need to practice pretty much every day year round! Every day? Year round? Besides, I really loved shooting my wheel bow and could not imagine giving it up.
This is where the traditional forum on Texasbowhunter.com came in. I started by just lurking and reading questions from others who had recently made the switch to traditional or were considering doing so. I started asking a few of my own questions (or my version of the same old questions) and all were patiently answered. In December of that year I followed the advice I’d been given and bought a 40lb recurve to begin working on form . I practically memorized the Beginners Guide “Stickys” at the top of the forum and read everything I could get my hands on concerning traditional archery. I went to Waco and got four hours of instruction from Mike “Javi” Cooper which was of tremendous benefit. I found myself hunting vicariously through the trad veterans on the website. I watched and re-watched all episodes of “The Buff and Chunky Show”. I read dozens of hunting reports from guys like Bisch and Sam Stephens, who seem to post a new LDP every other day.
I shot in a few 3d tournaments which while humbling, was a great learning experience. The kind and helpful people on TBH.com were with me every step of the way, advising me on arrow and broadhead selection and walking me through the frustrating vagaries of arrow tuning.
After practicing with my starter bow almost daily for 9 months I made the pilgrimage to Manchaca to visit bowyer Bob Sarrels and his son Zach. I was soon outfitted with a beautiful 50lb longbow, and after a couple more months of practice I felt ready to hunt. I was committed - all in. As a sign of my commitment I changed my avatar to read “This space reserved for my first trad kill” (little did I know how long it would take!)
Throughout the 2011 season I probably had a dozen deer standing broadside at compound range, but outside my self-imposed maximum of 12 yards. My first shot was at a pig, and if that pig had been a bit bigger, say 5 feet tall at the shoulder, the arrow would have been square in the kill zone! I blew a few more shot opportunities while clumsily learning to maneuver a bow that was almost twice as long as what I was used to. Strangely, none of these miscues frustrated me much because the journey was so much fun.
Then finally one mid-October morning I got it done. I was hunting a friend’s property in Shackleford County when a group of pigs came rumbling in to the feeder. One was a sow with an unusual color scheme, almost like a calico cat. I waited until she got broadside at 15 yards and took my shot. Success!
Of course I know that there is nothing remotely unusual about taking a pig with a bow, it’s done thousands of times every year. However that was the most thrilled I‘d been over a bow kill in a long time. I felt like – well, I felt like a 13 year old boy riding home with a dead rabbit in his basket!
Coming full circle – 44 years between trad kills
And Texasbowhunter.com made all the difference!
By John Parker
My first exposure to archery was as a 12 year old Boy Scout at summer camp in the late 1960’s. We received some basic instruction and then spent maybe an hour flinging arrows at a big round field target. It wasn’t much, but just enough for me to catch the archery bug.
When I got home I saved my paper route money and bought a 30lb Shakespeare target bow made of green fiberglass. My dad stuffed a burlap sack with pine straw for me to use as a target and I shot in the backyard for hours on end.
One crisp and cool Saturday morning I put the bow on my back like I’d seen Robin Hood do, mounted my trusty Stingray and pedaled a few miles to a wooded 3 acre lot I knew I could sneak into. Now I was really hunting! I was slipping through the woods stalking deer and bear that existed only in my imagination, when I saw a cottontail hop out of a brush pile about 15 yards away. I drew and released, then watched as the arrow made its gentle arc and skewered that young bunny, killing it stone dead. I was a bow hunter!
Thrilled and proud, I carried that rabbit home in my bike’s newspaper basket, daydreaming of all the great bow hunts yet to come. Unfortunately, I did not know any adults that bow hunted, so without a mentor my interest in archery fizzled. That first kill was to be my last with traditional archery gear for more than four decades.
Fast forward to 2010. At that point I had been hunting with a compound bow for over 10 years and had enjoyed every minute of it, taking numerous deer, pigs and a few turkeys. Over that time I would occasionally feel the itch to try a longbow or recurve but year after year, that itch remained unscratched. My brother-in-law tried to convert me on numerous occasions. When I visited his home he would preach the trad gospel and let me shoot his bows in the backyard. I was intrigued but I could not quite make the leap because it seemed like such a big commitment. For one thing I’d hear traditional archers say you need to practice pretty much every day year round! Every day? Year round? Besides, I really loved shooting my wheel bow and could not imagine giving it up.
This is where the traditional forum on Texasbowhunter.com came in. I started by just lurking and reading questions from others who had recently made the switch to traditional or were considering doing so. I started asking a few of my own questions (or my version of the same old questions) and all were patiently answered. In December of that year I followed the advice I’d been given and bought a 40lb recurve to begin working on form . I practically memorized the Beginners Guide “Stickys” at the top of the forum and read everything I could get my hands on concerning traditional archery. I went to Waco and got four hours of instruction from Mike “Javi” Cooper which was of tremendous benefit. I found myself hunting vicariously through the trad veterans on the website. I watched and re-watched all episodes of “The Buff and Chunky Show”. I read dozens of hunting reports from guys like Bisch and Sam Stephens, who seem to post a new LDP every other day.
I shot in a few 3d tournaments which while humbling, was a great learning experience. The kind and helpful people on TBH.com were with me every step of the way, advising me on arrow and broadhead selection and walking me through the frustrating vagaries of arrow tuning.
After practicing with my starter bow almost daily for 9 months I made the pilgrimage to Manchaca to visit bowyer Bob Sarrels and his son Zach. I was soon outfitted with a beautiful 50lb longbow, and after a couple more months of practice I felt ready to hunt. I was committed - all in. As a sign of my commitment I changed my avatar to read “This space reserved for my first trad kill” (little did I know how long it would take!)
Throughout the 2011 season I probably had a dozen deer standing broadside at compound range, but outside my self-imposed maximum of 12 yards. My first shot was at a pig, and if that pig had been a bit bigger, say 5 feet tall at the shoulder, the arrow would have been square in the kill zone! I blew a few more shot opportunities while clumsily learning to maneuver a bow that was almost twice as long as what I was used to. Strangely, none of these miscues frustrated me much because the journey was so much fun.
Then finally one mid-October morning I got it done. I was hunting a friend’s property in Shackleford County when a group of pigs came rumbling in to the feeder. One was a sow with an unusual color scheme, almost like a calico cat. I waited until she got broadside at 15 yards and took my shot. Success!
Of course I know that there is nothing remotely unusual about taking a pig with a bow, it’s done thousands of times every year. However that was the most thrilled I‘d been over a bow kill in a long time. I felt like – well, I felt like a 13 year old boy riding home with a dead rabbit in his basket!
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