how did you get started in archery

[masboy]

i started at 8 years old with home made hickory bow and arrows.then later to my dads 40lb. two piece fiberglass bow he shot carp with.my dad never bow hunted.he was die hard rifle hunter.270 always.then a bear recurve next a damon howett super diablo .and then a jennings compound and started shooting a few deer.next a jennings arrow star ,hoyt,buckmaster.mq1, swicthback now excalburs started sons around 8 years old 15lb bear compounds. then browning micro midas 30-45lb.oldest son shot first deer at 10 years old on nov 10 1999 .the first time itook him bow hunting .he was sitting on my lap seen doe 15yds on trail from tree stand. where i put few drop of tinks on way in.he shot her in heart where i told him to aim.i looked behind her after he shot theres a big buck.she turned around and went the way she came .the big buck followed.she went 30yds and fell over dead.the buck would not leave her he stood there and was licking her rear.my bow was back in my truck.he was a nicer buck than i ever killed.we watched for a while then i chased him off and my son got down .a hunt we will never forget.my youngest son shot his first deer with bow also first time he went bow hunting.there wasn,t room for two in this stand so i climbed tree 20yds away and wacthed it from sitting on limb. deer came buy he shot over it.it ran a little and stopped in front of me .he shot i seen spot of blood behind front shoulder.it went 30yds. fell over.we will never forget it. so i feel like a lucky man seeing all that.now all they do is hunt.iguess like father like sons.

[Doe Master]

I am willing to bet your sons getting a deer out trumps any big buck you will ever get .
The first bow for me to truely shoot was Dads Martin ocelot .
My first bow was a Excalibur Wolverine that I purchased when I first got out of the Navy . Then it was like tattoos . One is not enough .

[masboy]

yes my best hunting moment ever i will never forget or they.they still bring it up.hey dad remember my first deer with bow .i sure didn,t get mine the first time out.took me years of mistakes to learn on my own.still making mistakes.

[VixChix]

Took an archery course at The Bow Shop 10 yrs ago - they had us shooting their recurves (vert). Picked up an old vertical bow somewhere (I think it was even called a Wolverine? Can't remember the details - mercifully have blocked them out ). Shot that for a while. It was truly awful. Then decided that I wanted to try bowhunting and so I upgraded to a PSE Nova. Hunted with it for a year. Dreamed of owning a Vixen and then found a deal on one at the Toronto Sportsmans Show. I think I was pregnant at the time, so I guess I've been hunting with my Vixen for 5 yrs now. (In my previous life I only rifle hunted.) Actually just shipped the PSE & all the gear with it off to the west as a gift for my sis-in-law in hopes she'll grow to enjoy archery. Someday I'll probably invest in another vertical bow, but for now I'll use the Vixen for hunting & 3D.

[munch]

i got started a few years ago when my hunting rifle accidentally misfired 3 times and shot my exwife i still wanted to hunt so took up bowhunting i find it very calming

[wheelie]

I started at 8 yrs old. Stole my mothers cloths pins and nailed one on a hockey stick handle and put a nail in the other end. We would take the middle of another clothspin (Metal piece) and tie elatics to it. Put elastic on the nail and stretch it back into the jaws of the clothpin. We use to call them frog guns. We would hunt birds. frogs, squirels and kinda anything that moved. At 10 years old my Dad bought me a pelet pistol. Guess my mother was sick of losing her cloths pins every month. And my father was a Police officer inthe city of Kitchener. Sure couldn't hunt with a pistol at 10 years old in the city parks now days. We would build bows out of willow trees as well.

[strum]

I hunted most of my life with shotguns and rifles till the mid eightes when a friend took me to a bow shop in Lakeland fla.
There i found the friendliest folk i had ever met..
At that time i was so green that i didnt know and arrow from a string..but the folks were patient with me and within a week i had bought a brand new bow .hot for that year,,
it was a whitetail 2..I kept it for many years and got into bowfishing with it,,Lots of great memories..sadly i had a car wreak and the bow didnt survive..since then i have owned more bows than i can count and have met some of the best people there is in any sport,,
funny i remember the pople much better than any deer/fish/gator/frog/snake/turtle/or anything else i have took..
Hope folks that have crossed my path can say the same about me..

[vixenmaster]

What got me started was couple of Klamhoops Indian friends i went to school with & their self made flat Bows. I tried all kinds of wood & string & the cheap dime store arrows in 1958. I picked up beer & pop bottles i did odd jobs i mowed lawns til i had abit over $20 & i went to a Hunting & Fishing store in Arcada Calif. I bought a Longbow & it was at least 2' longer than i was tall about a 40 lb. Can't remember the name but i sure practiced & in 1962 i was learning from another friend who with the help of his father built a small Medieval crossbow. I had an open mind even back then & got to shoot his some. Things have came along way in a circle as i shoot CB's & have fer 14 yrs.

[one shot scott]

I started a little later in life. I think 28 or so. I had a buddy from Michigan move to the area and he was raised a hunter. I tagged along on his trip to the bow shop to get his bowtech and and watched him sight it in in his backyard. I tried it his bow a few times and decided to get my own. I bought a used PSE compound and got really good with it and then figured I might as well get my license and PAL too. The first year I hunted I did not even see a deer. Talk about discouraging. The second year I had 3 does come in at 30 yards and I took a bad shot at one. After searching for hours and only finding half my arrow I gave up bowhunting. I wasnt going out there just to wound things. Then one day while reading OOD magazine I saw an add for Excalibur. I figured with a scope on a crossbow I would be less likely to wound an animal and I bought my first exomax and I took my first buck with that bow. I thought it was a doe because it came from behind me and when I saw it, it had its head in the tall grass eating. I took my 20 yard shot, and when my buddy and I went to get it he said "damn, theres antlers on this doe" I will never forget his expression on his face!!( yes, I had tags for both) Since then I have used both bows to harvest deer. Im looking to get another compound soon hopefully.
In my pre-hunting days I used to wonder what the attraction was about hunting. I couldnt figure it out. I bought outdoor magazines for the fishing articles and skipped over the hunting sections. Now I skip over the fishing articles!

[Dash]

Since I remember My brothers and I always made bows from whatever we could find. We never had any money back then. I always loved bows and crossbows though.
After 10 years working overseas I had nothing to do with archery as I didn't have the chance. But eventually I came back cashed up and bought the things I always wanted. After a lot of research I'm glad I chose excalibur as my first crossbow !

[Tired Rooster]

I was about 13 years old my daddy gave me his old Bear Grizzly recurve (55#) and 5 or 6 arrows. I shot that bow all the time and got really good over time. Shot rabbits and alot of other things I should't have shot with that bow. My next bow was another hand me down Bear Alaskan compound with a wood riser. Shot that bow for years. No sights, just instinctive like the recurve. Never deer hunted with the bows just enjoyed shooting them regularly. Always deer hunted with the rifle. Then years later I bought my first new bow, a PSE Fire Flite I think it was. Let everyone talk me into getting into the whole overdraw, sights, release, etc. thing and it really kinda ruined it for me in a way. I shot that bow very little and ended up selling it. I still have the two old Bears. Put archery down for a lot of years sadly. Over the past 2-3 years or so I really felt the urge to pick up a bow again and nearly bought a new recurve. But I also had a real curiosity with crossbows and began researching different types. Now here I am with a new Excalibur and feel alot like a 13 yr old kid again enjoying archery (although different style) all over again. Looking so forward to hunting with this bow also.

[GaryM]

I got my first bow in 1963 when I was in the 3rd grade. It was a Ben Pearson Super-Jet, green and white fiberglas and was 35 lbs pull. I shot 29-cent K-Mart arrows and never had enough. I won't tell you about the spectacular shots I made with that bow as no one would believe me. That old Ben Pearson is hanging on the wall a dozen feet from me right now. I converted it to a bowfishing rig and still use it for that.
Next bow was a Fred Bear Kodiak Magnum, 55 lbs. Never could shoot it and sold it. Wish I would have kept it. Next was a PSE Laser Magnum. Couldn't shoot it either due to shoulder and back injuries. Gave up vertical hunting bows.
Illinois changed the law in the middle 90's to allow crossbows for deer and I got an Exocet in 1997. Very happy since then! Gary

[MADMAX2]

I started on a 35lb fiberglass re curve at age 10 my cousin never used it and when I would go to my uncles farm that's all I did was shoot that bow and my Slavia .177 pellet gun I could nail a flying grasshopper with either at 30yds
When I was in my late teens I picked up a used Ben Pearson compound whitetail hunter and shot my first deer that fall.I hunted with that bow up till about 10 years ago because of a shoulder injury bought my first Excalibur crossbow

[N8tr Boy]

always been interested in hunting from little on up. As a kid we would go to neighbors place to play on a farm, used their pellet gun to shoot sparrows, had a blast. Once in high school our grade 12 phys ed class had archery as an activity and tried it, could not get it to hit target but wanted to try more. After a number of years stopped in at a store in St. Jacobs (chief's,now the bow shop in Waterloo) for some hunting stuff and saw the archery equip on the walls, it tweeked my interest but liked firearms at the time. Only the last 5-6 years have I got into it with xbowkidd getting my son and I into it and possibly some trad and vert mixed in.

[j.krug]

Not sure what sparked my desire cuz no-one else in my family was or is into archery but it all started back in 1986 shooting arrows out in the yard with a Darton compound bow.