The Travels Of The Bow Sacagawea

[ElfEyes]

grrrr!!!

[gatorgar]

Let me guess, it all got deleted. Lol

[Loreva13]

lol

[ElfEyes]

LOL im so glad i have a sense of humor...after 45 minutes of typing i somehow deleted it all....im sorry but im going to bed, 4 am comes too early. i will retype it tommorw after work...ive only shot the bow about ten times and i can say i will own a sarrels bow before the summer is up

[ElfEyes]

ok one last time but not as long, I will try to hit the basics....My name is Ronnie Harper aka Kyle by some. I am twenty five and im originally from Georgia. I moved to Texas at the age of nine and have loved it ever since. I went to school at Hamshire Fannett while in TX. I currently work at a local refinery as an operator and hopefully I retire from there. Im getting married in Colorado next month and forward to the next step in my life. Now my father didnt hunt much and fished a little so I dont understand why im totally obsessed with both. My uncle took me under his wing and started bringing me deer hunting when I moved here. I deer hunted with him and my cousins all the way untill high school. Many of afternoons during deer season found me with them hunting an East Texas pipeline. While in high school he started deer hunting in West Texas and I didnt care too much for that so I sought out something different. I began duck hunting with what is now my best friend all through high school. When school was over my buddy started surfing and gave up duck hunting. To this day I HATE surfing!!! Well while a coworker told me of some public land close that was open to deer hunting so I thought I would give it a shot. The rules of this particular land was bow, shotgun, or muzzleloader only. Since I have toyed with bows off and on since I was around seven I decided to buy a compound. Well I started the season with my bow in my hand how I did many seasons before, sitting on a pipeline. After many of afternoons of watching deer cross the pipeline too far to care about I realized that I was in need of another approach. So off in the woods I went. The first afternoon in the woods I posted up on a huge root ball of a fallen oak. All evening there wasnt anything moving untill right before dark. With a little light still left two big hogs came trotting by, but they were too far to take a shot and quickly disappeared. I was on cloud nine! Since then I have pretty much given up duck hunting. Right then I wanted to call my boss and take all my vacation. I hunted close quarters the rest of the season without anymore close calls. The next season I shot a doe on the pipeline but hit her too far back and for some reason all I could think about was trying to get a follow up shot on her. She took off in the woods and so did I. To this day that is the worst hunting decision i have made. Me and my friend searched for 8 hrs without finding her...Thats the only deer that I have shot with a bow but have blown many of opportunities and taken a few hogs while trying. The doe I lost happened four seasons ago and this past season I hunted bow only untill muzzle loader season. Ive owned a few recurves but never got serious about learning to hunt with one untill recently. Hopefully by this season I will be traditional bow only but I cant imagine ever selling my compound as Ive had too much fun with it. So thats where Im currently at, and if Im good enough at fifteen yards with Sacagwea Ill try to shoot a hog or maybe an axis doe with her. I consider myself a seasonal outdoorsman because winter is nothing but hunting and summer finds me chasing fish, salt water mostly.

[EnW]

Thanks for sharing Ronnie. Good luck with the bow!

[CEpperson]

Good luck Ronnie I hope it all works out and you get a chance to shoot at something. Congrats on the upcoming marriage!!!

[Trick]

Thanks for sharing, and congrats on getting married. Go stick you a hog and post up some LDP.

Matt

[ElfEyes]

Thanks everyone, I'm about to see if I can wear my target out with sacagawea

[caughtandhobble]

Happy Easter brother... Have fun wearing out that target, it's a beautiful day for shooting.

[meangene1969]

Have fun and give updates

[Ron]

I enjoyed your write up.

Have a good time with the bow and I hope you have the opportunity to get you a hog or something with it.

[Chunky]

Thanks for the bio, I enjoyed reading it. Good luck with the hunting....but remember it's all about the experience and not the kill.

[Bisch]

Good luck Ronnie... as Chunky said, it is not all about the kill...I just spent 3 weeks hunting in Australia and I had a GREAT time...even though the only critter I killed was a cottontail rabbit...and I had 4 misses on big animals!

Bisch

[Texas5o]

This is the first time I've been on the green screen in a loooooong time. This is a cool thread to follow. I've enjoyed reading the bio's and the experiences you all have had with the traveling bow. Hopefully some day I'll get in line and take a turn with her. In the meantime I'll keep reading about her travels from the green screen dwellers. Shoot her straight.

[ElfEyes]

Today I was shooting and feel comfortable with sacagawea for the first time consistently. Hopefully if the trend continues I will bring her into woods to put her and myself to the test... thanks everyone for the comments

[Selfbowman]

Originally Posted by ElfEyes

Today I was shooting and feel comfortable with sacagawea for the first time consistently. Hopefully if the trend continues I will bring her into woods to put her and myself to the test... thanks everyone for the comments

Enjoyed your Bio Ronnie , good luck with the pigs.

[ElfEyes]

Well my time with Sacagawea is coming to an end and I have had an absolute blast shooting her. She came to me while Im still trying to figure this traditional archery thing out but i was more than pleased with my time with her. I just got back from hunting at Big Oak Bowhunting and had an awesome time. While I didnt kill any animals it sure wasnt from lack of opportunity. I had animals in front of me every time I sat. With it raining most of the day and only being able to hunt one day due to my prior obligations Buff had his work cut out for him. He busted his butt trying to get me a kill but I just couldnt connect. I had multiple chances and had just as much fun just shooting Buffs 3d targets in between sits. Well Rick a while back i was speculating on what my first shot with a trad bow would be a miss high or miss low and you commentted on the subject adding encouraging words.....It was low LOL I tried and I honestly believe I have enough accuracy to hunt with Sacagawea I just couldnt shake my nerves. But like Buff told me a miss low is better than a poor hit high...... Well Mr. Clay the bow is yours next if you will pm me your address and I will send her on her way

[RickBarbee]

Good read Ronnie.

While I remember the thread about the miss speculation, I don't remember what I said. I'll tell ya this - patience is a virtue, and it will come to you soon, because you have the fire & excitement for it driving you.

As for the nervousness when it comes time to drop the string - I live for that moment. If I ever lose that feeling I'll quit. The rush of adrenalin, and pure joy & excitement over just being there is what it is all about at the moment of truth.

Rick

[CEpperson]

Well Ronnie at least you got to get in the woods and have an opportunity with her. It will all come together for you next chance you get. I'll send my info to you, thanks

Clay

[bob sarrels]

Glad you had a good time with her Ronnie. Sorry you did not connect at Buff's place but thats hunting. Can't count the times I have been out and did not get a shot or missed. Each trip was still a gas. I love that feeling of having my heart trying to pop out of my mouth. I am with Rick, if that feeling leaves me I would probably quit hunting. That is what I do it for. Good luck on your next hunt and see ya down the road. Bob

[Chunky]

Good write up, glad you enjoyed your time with her. Keep the stories and adventures coming.

[ElfEyes]

Thanks everyone, Clay I sent the bow off today

[CEpperson]

Thanks Ronnie im looking forward to getting it and shooting it. Well i guess i will tell you all a bit about myself. My name is Clay Epperson I am 28 I was born and raised right here in good ol East Texas in the town of Brownsboro. I have been an outdoors junky as long as i can remember. My brother and me have been chasing critters and fishing together since we were able to get out and go. I only have one brother he is my best friend and we have made lots of memories together in the woods. I started gun hunting deer and anything else that stood still when i was 9 or 10 years old. I got my first bow when I was 13 and killed my first deer (a doe) that same year in Lampassas on our deer lease. That hoyt rebel was the best and worst thing to ever happen to me. The best because i found something that drove me to be the best i could be, something that excited me, bowhunting was and is my get away. The worst because I have a wife that respects my hunting lifestyle but does not completly understand it LOL. Im married to a great woman and mother to my four year old daughter Lilly that is my world. My wife Tori hunts with me some and was able to kill her first buck ever and her first animal with a bow. I work as a mud engineer for Newpark Drilling Fluids and have been in the oilfield for the last 7 years. Now to the Traditional stuff, I have always had a recurve laying around that i would tinker with and then leave alone. several years ago i was in a pawn shop and i found a 45# Bear recurve for $125 i bought it and went stright to the archery shop and got me a dozen arrows to fit it. I had never been serious about being good with a recurve but all of a sudden I was consumed with it. I shot everday and when I got accurate out to 15-20 yards I started taking it to the woods. That whole season i never had a deer or hog in range the days i took my recurve, but every time i carried my Matthews something would walk right under my stand. I ended up buying a bow from a local guy in Athens that builds longbows it was a 45# Spirit II from Renegade Archery. I shoot that little bow real good and its super quiet. I started hunting with the longbow alot and finally last year i killed my fist animal with trad gear. I was hunting over a feeder and had hogs all around me when a coyote came right up the trail and ran the hogs off, he walked right under my feeder and was quatering away walking at 12 yrds. When i let the arrow fly i had a huge smile on my face because it all just felt right, the arrow hit him where i was looking and he feel in sight of my stand. The feelings and nerves i had at that moment are unexplanable to someone that has never got that first kill with trad gear. Two days later i killed my first trad deer with that same longbow. He was a little 3 point but i was and am still as happy with him as any other deer I've ever killed. After last seasons success with trad gear i put my compound in the classifieds and vowed to go traditional only. The next chapter of my traditional lifestyle started the day I decided to hunt with trad gear only, i went to Jacksonville and visited with Rob Lee and J.J. I found what I wanted and had a bow built for me. I was a wreck waiting on them to call and tell me my recurve was ready. I had pigs coming to feeders and could not wait to get in a tree and break in my new bow. As soon as I got the call I rushed over got my bow got some arrows to fly good and i was in the tree with my 60" 58# Lee signiture recurve name (the Grey Squirrel). The first sit I made with the bow was one i will never forget, just after daylight I heard footsteps coming up the trail. I was so tense i didn't think i was going to be able to draw my bow. I finally found a black blob coming towards me, I let him get in the opening i had shot pigs with my compound several times before. There was no corn under the feeder so i knew i had to make something happen quick, I let the arrow fly and watched it go right behind the shoulder and out the other side of him. Again those feelings rushed through me, I was on cloud nine. I love hunting and fishing and just being outside, that feeling you get when it all comes together, you have done your homework, put in the time and in a flash that buck you have been hunting is standing at 15 yrds and you are at full draw. Nothing compares to that feeling and as long as im able i will be out there chasing that feeling. I have been blessed with an amazing family, a great job, and people that I enjoy sharing those moments of great highs of a successful hunt and the lowest of lows when you send an arrow over that big bucks back. I am glad to have stumbled into a few of your lives through this forum and hope to meet yall one day in person. I am excited to have a month with the Traveling Bow Sacagawea and have big plans to put an arrow in a BIG boar that is coming to a feeder, as hard as it has been to leave him alone I REALLY want to get him with Sacagawea. Thanks to all that are involved in this Bow I am honored to get a chance to hunt with her. A special thanks to Mr Bob Sarrels for builing the bow we know as Sacagawea I will do my best to get another kill under her belt, but either way i will have fun trying. Report to follow as soon as she is at the house and put together!

Clay

[thebowhunters]

I'm jelish, great story and happy hunting to ya. How would one get on the list to shoot her?

[EnW]

Great write up Clay. Good luck with Sacagawea!

~Eric

[ElfEyes]

I enjoyed you biography Clay, good luck win her

[bob sarrels]

Nice write up Clay. Good luck with that little girl.

[CEpperson]

Originally Posted by bob sarrels

Nice write up Clay. Good luck with that little girl.

Which one lol!!!!

[meangene1969]

Great write up. Good luck.

[Selfbowman]

Great write Clay,enjoy the bows visit.

[LMButler]

Great bio Clay. Now it is time to put that pretty bow to work. Best of luck to you.

[Chunky]

Originally Posted by thebowhunters

I'm jelish, great story and happy hunting to ya. How would one get on the list to shoot her?

The list right now is made up of 20 archers who all donated to have the bow built. When the bow has traveled to all of those, we will probably start a second list....but that is yet to be completely worked out.

The idea is that all that spend money would have a chance to get her in the first two years.

[Loreva13]

Great bio, hope you get that big boar!!!

[thebowhunters]

Originally Posted by Chunky

The list right now is made up of 20 archers who all donated to have the bow built. When the bow has traveled to all of those, we will probably start a second list....but that is yet to be completely worked out.

The idea is that all that spend money would have a chance to get her in the first two years.

Thanks Mark, I know Bob won't Believe me but I'm ready to shoot one of his bows. Just let me know how much and when, thanks

[Ron]

A great write up Clay and good luck with Sacagawea. She's a shooter for sure.

[luna-tuna]

Great bio ! Dang that is a nice buck you got with your Lee !!!

[Texas5o]

Excellent write-up. The coyote is still on my bucket list. I've missed 4 of them; still have yet to connect on one.

[CEpperson]

Well I got ol Sacagawea together and strung up. It took a bit of tinkering with the brace height but I got her dialed in. I'm goin to shoot her for a day or two and then get in a tree and get serious. At 15 yrds I'm pleased with my groups and would take a shot at a pig and bs confident that I can put a good arrow in it. Hopefully the wind will lay in the next few days and I can really see what we can do as a team!! I'll keep y'all posted


Clay

[bob sarrels]

Good luck with her Clay. I know this bow takes a bit of work to get shootin right because of the fact that it shoots on the east side and the west side. Takes a little more limber arrow since it is not cut to the center. Couldn't do that and still have some riser left. Sometimes it seems to require just a bit more cant in your shooting to pull the arrow to the center of the target. Play with it and you will get it runnin down the pipe. Have fun and keep us posted. Bob.

[CEpperson]

Ok Bob I got out just now and shot her with no 30mph gust of wind and I got her figured out. I am shooting my usual full length 35/55 goldtip arrow with a 125 grain Magnus stinger, the only thing I had to change was I added a 100 grain insert. At 15 yrds this is what she does every time......
I am pumped to get her in the tree and give her a chance to draw blood. I know now there are no excuses if I do my part she will put it where it needs to go. Great bow Bob I can only imagine what your longbows cut normal shoot like!!! I hope to hunt several days next week so y'all wish me luck.

Clay

[Chunky]

Best of luck Clay, can't wait for the story regardless of the out come.

[bob sarrels]

Cant argue with that shot placement.

[caughtandhobble]

Clay,
I'm confident that we'll be seeing a picture of that big boar before to long. Good to you my friend!!!

[Oneway]

Tuned in here at Maxey! Go Get'em Clay!

[meangene1969]

looks good

[Bisch]

Go get 'em Clay!!!!!!!

I'll be watching.

Bisch

[CEpperson]

Whoever has Sacagawea next please send me their mailing info and I'll get her headed your way. I've had a ball with her but I think it's time she moves on down the list so the next in line can get a hunt in before it gets any hotter.

Clay

[Bisch]

The pass around bow just got its finish applied and Zach shot names for the list. I have some wrist damage so he had to take care of it. Here is the order the names were hit.

1.....Mark Johnson..................Chunky
2.....Ron Jones.......................Ron
3.....Curt Czaplicki..................Uncle Saggy
4.....Ronnie Harper..................Elf Eyes
5.....Clay Epperson..................C.Epperson
6.....Alex Guitierrez..................Gator Gar
7.....Charles Jones...................One Way
8.....Chris Driscoll....................agtex 42
9.....Michael Buffington.............Meat Eater
10....Kirby Wiseman..................Flywise
11....Jason Sanders..................Jason Sanders
12....Matt Smith......................Trick
13....Arvin Weaver...................Selfbowman
14....Gene Bohanon..................meangene 60
15....Eric Wortham...................ENW
16....Marty Thomas..................Buff
17....Deb Weaver.....................Deb
18....Roland Guerra...................Mesquite
19....Todd Bolton.....................Stick'um
20....Jerry Bischoffburger...........Bisch

Here is the list from the other thread. Looks like gotorgar, Alex, is next in line.

Bisch

[CEpperson]

Thanks Bisch

Clay