How old are you?
Wisconsin
I have read Bowsite for years. I rarely contribute. This last week, may have proven that we are "are own worst enemies"! I am trying to understand why people are saying the things they are. The Big game forum had a thread asking "how old are you"? a while back. If the Wisconsin Forum has asked that question in the past, i apologize. Please share the year you started bow hunting or how old you are. I am sixty nine. I started in 1960.
38 I start back bow hunting last year
Too old to cry. Started playing with bows in grade school, summer programs, at the Y.
50, been bow hunting 36 years.
58, been shooting a bow for 53 of them. Started bow hunting in 1971.
Thanks for participating guys. I appreciate it...greg
36, I started in Dec' 2015 but 2017 was my first year I was really able to bowhunt like I wanted to.
Been hunting since I was a kid though.
65-hunting since the farm in 1966.
31. Been bow hunting since 12. Been going out with my old man since I was 8.
62 and I'm going on my 50th year with a VERTICAL bow.
55 years old. First bow when I was 12.
56, been shooting bows since I can remember and started hunting in 1974.
32. I started hunting in '99 and began bow hunting in 2003.
56 and like all others, started young. It will be fun to see the age of the many who always resort to name calling when someone has an opinion that differs with them.
43, hunted compound last 25yrs, last 2 years been using xbow.
66. Started bowhunting for deer in 1967.
31. Been hunting since I was able to sit still long enough for my dad and uncles to trust me to put in a few hours in the tree with them.
68 yrs old - started bowhunting in 1966 until 2016.
Thanks for the responses. I hope that most everyone who is a frequent contributor will join in with their age or when they started bow hunting. I truly believe we can better understand each other the more we know about our bow hunting history. Thanks Greg
46, started bowhunting in 83 and haven't missed a season.
55, started shooting a recurve in the late 1960's, started bowhunting in 1974. Still shoot a recurve and a compound. Still love every minute of it too!
Grape, all the regulars here are a good bunch of guys. We fight like brothers. But in the end that’s what we really are. Brothers of the bow.
<———<<<
64. Started bowhunting at 12. And I am not too old to cry.
40. This will be my 5th year bowhunting with a compound, 2nd with a recurve.
48. Had a bow hanging above my crib the day I was born. Went with dad as soon as I could walk. Started hunting at 12.
That's great DT.... When I started, I tried to learn as much as I could from the few guys who bow hunted. After 58 years, I'm still interested in sharing ideas. Some I use, some I don't , and some I might try to see if they work. Anyone who thinks they have it all figured out.....has more to learn.
I'm 65, started bowhunting around the age of 20
64, started bowhunting 1966.
59, have legally hunted 47 seasons with a bow. I also gun hunt but I don't use that gun during the archery season.
"I also gun hunt but I don't use that gun during the archery season."
Well that's not fair, that is not being inclusive to those that want to "bowhunt" with their rifle.
54, have hunted since I was 12 with a gun and a bow. Shot a bow since age 8. Always wanted bowhunting to be challenging.
72 years old
Was making crude bows & arrows at 10 years old . Got my 1st real bow at age 12 . A Ben Pearson Target Master . This year will be 60 years of real hunting .
Ruger thats tough to follow. I just turned 46 and my first deer hunting license was archery when I was 12 so 34 yrs.
29. Didn't start bow hunting til I was 26
37 and the desire to BOWhunt is the same as it was when I started at age 12.
39, bowhunting for 11 years
Thanks for all the responses. This is really interesting. Everybody on this site started hunting with a bow for a variety of reasons. It's the old " If I knew then what I know now". I'm sure I'd change some things. When I started, there were two of us. We made our first bows out of saplings. The arrows were made out of anything that we could get to fly out of those bows. These were as crude as you can get. My first "store bought" bow became a killing machine.. I'm not proud of it now, but I shot anything that would come close to standing still. ....squirrels, rabbits, birds, chipmunks, frogs, and maybe some things I better not mention. I was addicted! BB gun or a bow...a hunter was born. I can remember my first buck...an eight pointer..like it was yesterday. A stick bow with a borrowed cedar arrow did the deed. It was a double lung shot while standing on the ground in steady rain. I got my picture in the county paper because of the rarity of a " bow kill" on opening day. About a week later, I got a congratulatory letter from the governor Bob Knowles. Lots of things have changed, but the addiction remains. Thanks again for the responses. It would be great if to hear from as many followers on the Wisconsin forum....especially the regulars. Thanks again.
45 - bowhunting for 33 years
63 bow hunting for big game started in 76.
64 started going hunting with my dad when I was 7 years old. Standing on a rock, no tree stands back then, some of my best memories.
63,hunted two years back in the sixties then brought a compound in 82, now I use a recurve.
Im 59, started shooting with the firberglass kids bows and homemade sapling bows when about 8. Started seriously bowhunting in mid 70,S. From 35 to 50 I took a break from it. Started again at 50 to current and am passoinate as ever about it.
Stagetek said "66. Started bowhunting for deer in 1967"
Same with me.
I am 63, started shooting bow in grade school in an evening class at school. (Two Rivers WI) Started bow hunting at 12, or somewhere near then. First buck I shot at I was probably 14, small 8 point and when I drew I froze up at about 3/4 draw because he looked right at me and figured good enough since he was like 15 yards. Arrow did not penetrate much but I was able to follow blood to my dad on his stand. Found the arrow before I got to him. He shot at the buck too but thought he missed then couldn't figure out why there was blood. We were not able to track him any farther. Next buck I shot at I did recover, I was about 30 years older. (Nelson WI public land) Things got easier after that as I started to bow hunt a LOT more. I had shot a lot of bucks with a gun before that first archery buck but it took that first bow kill to catch the 'fever'.
65...born in the middle of the last century! Recently retired...best job I've ever had.
With the exception of a brief foray into compounds in the late 70's - mid 80"s, I'm a stickbow guy starting at 10, but father time has dropped my bow weights to 53lb, with my fav being a WhippenStick RD longbow.
Started "bowhunting", with NO clue, at 12. Back then, archery tags cost $1.00 til age 18.
This is a very cool thread. We need more of these! No arguing, just facts and reminiscing.
Like I said, I'm 32; and I started out like many others, making stick bows as a child.
I would wander around the public land behind our house for hours and see all these half eaten apples, droppings, deer tracks, trails, rubs, and scrapes below low hanging branches. I had no idea what it all meant but I was intrigued. (This was before we had internet and smart phones!) I learned what I could about hunting from magazines, books, and friends from school. I begged my mom to let me take a hunter safety class. We found a class 45 minutes away, 4 weekends.. I still can't believe she drove me all that way.. My grandpa bought me a Mossberg 12 gauge shortly after and on Tuesday afternoon of the 1999 gun season (my first season) I shot an 8 pointer on public land behind our house. I was leaning against a dead pine tree. I had my boots on, but my socks were hanging next to me on a branch because my feet were wet from scouting earlier! I guess the wind was in my favor because the buck came in at 7 yards and reached for a high branch. He was on his hind legs when I shot! I ran home and had my siblings help drag. We found the wad from the slug in his lungs. I knew hunting would be a big part of my life from that moment on. This story still comes up every year around gun season! I wanted more. I wanted a longer season, more bucks, more venison sticks.. I bought my first bow in 2003. I have only one shoulder mount on the wall but I always have a full freezer! Until 2011, I was the only one in my family that hunted. I finally got my two older brothers to try it and they are hooked. Bow and gun!
Johnny that's a great story. That's one to be told forever with your friends and family. I had mentioned before that when I first started, I shot everything I could. I wish I could do that over. We evolve as hunters. The woods is a phenomenal place to spend time. Don't get me wrong. I still hunt to kill, but there is so much more to it for me. There is nothing like listening and watching the woods wake up in the morning and go to bed at night. Thanks for sharing.
Johnny another thought. You have already probably figured out that we always remember " our first"! We also remember the " one that got away" or " the one that needed to take one more step" or " the one that got away" or " the one that came too late". It keeps us climbing trees in hopes of another story.
55 for 10 more days. Started shooting an old recurve at 10, hunting at 14 never stopped. First time out with my 45 lb. fiberglass green recurve, fell asleep at the bottom of a big old red oak. Woke up to an 8 pt and doe standing under the red oak at 15 yards. I shot and hit square into that oak tree. Hooked for sure.
That's exactly right, Grape! My most recent "one that got away" was in January- haha
Sure would like to know more about ages of guys or number of years bow hunted that participate in this Wisconsin Forum. Thanks again to those that have responded. It only takes a second to answer either one.
Rallison, "Started bowhunting at age 12 with "NO CLUE", Exactly my thoughts of my first few years. Shot my dad's 50lb Shakespeare fiberglass "straight" longbow with accuracy to about 10 yards. But it was a "blast"
I forgot about those Shakespeare's. I had a semi recurve I think.
73 years old now. First went bowhunting in September 1957. Had a 10 yard shot (missed) at a small six point that first morning and that became the seminal opiate for a lifelong addiction. Took me until 1964 to get my first deer. This fall will be my 62nd bow season.
I remember the first compound I shot. A Jennings. It had like a after burner. Upon release it would have a start up speed. Then the thing hit the after burners...think it was a Jennings model T....crazy thing
I had a lot or bows over the years. One great memory is the American Archery bows. They were made here in Wisconsin . American Ammag They shot about 180 feet per second at 55 lbs. shot instinctive with that with Bear broadheads. They were deadly.
That's great Case. The very 1st time I Bow hunted, I was sitting on the ground on the side of a hill in western Wisconsin ..It wasn't even the witching hour and I had four deer come and lay down about 15 yards from me. I thought. "Well this is easy"...I'll wait for a buck.....I waited a long time til that happened....a couple years.
26 years old, started bow hunting 2 years ago. Still waiting for "my first" story to share!
It will happen Channel!!! Love to hear it when it does.
Is there two different sized grapes asking the same question? a capital G and a small g??? Looks like information gathering for some reason. I'm 6 and started hunting the youth hunt until Wisconsin passed the age limit reduction. I'm toting my own 30-06 now into the bush.
Pasquinell, I don't know if there are two Grapes...I don't think so. If you read my 1st post, I was curious to when people started hunting and/or how old they are? There are a lot of ideas being shared on this site. I just think that it gives bow hunters a better understanding of where some of our ideas come from. I'm not trying to gain information or make anyone feel uncomfortable.. If I did that , that was not my intention.......and you write very well for being six!....Greg
I am 50 - Started bow hunting at 17 and other than chasing birds with my dogs the only hunting I do is with my bow. I moved from WI 3 years ago after a great run of 47 years. One year in Iowa of great deer and bird hunting and now am in SC.
You need to move away to appreciate. Come together guys - WI will always be my life.
Why are you using two different G's - Grape and grape? Just wondering. My Moms calling gotta go....
I just looked back at my posts in this thread. There are two Grapes. One with small g..one with Capital G....I really don't know how that happened but on this thread they are both me......and don't forget to wash your hands before supper!!.....Greg
Hahaha hilarious pasq!
Sam, I agree that one gains a new appreciation for whitetail if they move away for a while. I was in the Army, stationed all over, but I always made it back for a week or so to hunt. The passion is the reason I moved back after discharge! I considered Arizona or staying in California but I had to get back and do some real hunting.
Grape, (or grape). Fine thread you started. Someone starts or restarts one of these threads a couple times a year. Guessing you are signed in on two different devices with the different spellings. Pick one and stick with it.
Thanks Jeff I've been moving back and forth from computer to iPad all afternoon. Yeah, I find it really interesting...ages of guys and gals, when they started, what they started with, and some of their first experiences. I think some of the guys are reluctant to join in with ages and when they started. People see things a bit differently as we grow in this sport. Most of the time I just read on this site, but the last two days we got hammered with snow. I've been home bound. We got over two feet. With all this wind, it's crazy. So...I've been on here a lot. Thanks for pointing out what you noticed...I see it now. I see you are active most days. Thanks again. Greg
I mentioned earlier about "kid huntin' " back in the 60's. While we were an enthusiastic lot, none of us had any idea of what we were doing...but, by God...we were DEER HUNTERS!
Any, and I mean ANY deer spotted in range (translation: any deer not beyond the horizon) had an arrow sent in it's general direction. The call of, "I got a shot!!!", was proof of manhood!
The probability of our arrow and a deer's vitals occupying the same space and time was, like, impossible to one...but that trifling detail did not deter.
Then...one day...it happened. ONE of us (sadly, not me) actually HIT ONE!!! Right in the hoof...but, he had real deer blood on the tip of his Bear Razorhead...HE WAS A GOD!!!
Time marched on, we went our own ways, some never kept up with bowhunting while others made it a life's passion. My freezer's been home to much venison, I've got a couple on the wall, and shelves of antlers, hunted a few states...but...I surely miss those innocent days of youthful vigor, energy, and enthusiasm.
If it's true that we learn from our mistakes (it is!), then we became bloody geniuses...lol.
48...began bow hunting at 16.
59. Started bowhunting with a friend in '75. Had a 35# Shakespeare recurve (stapled on rubber hand grip), 6 Gamegetter 2117's, and Wasp broadheads. I still have my 1st compound, a '76 Jennings Sidekick, scaled at 58# with 20% let off. Shot it with a finger tab, flipper rest & no sight, wearing an old army field jacket & self painted camo pants.
Rallison said" " HIT ONE!!! Right in the hoof...but, he had real deer blood on the tip of his Bear Razorhead..."
Reminds me of a time I was deer hunting with some buddies, well more like goofing around in the woods with bows in our hands. We might have been like 14 at the time. I found some wild red raspberries and spread some of the juice on my arrow and broadhead. I had those guys helping me find 'my deer' for a couple of ours before I told them.
The last couple of entries certainly bring back memories of where, when and how we started. It also reminds me of how many of us evolve as hunters. I know I was guilty of shooting at anything that would stand still. Birds, rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, frogs, and like I said earlier....some things I won't mention. It was fun then, and in a way funny now; but there was a whole lot of " bad" in my early shooting. I know for a fact too many of my early bow hunting shots were " i want to see if I can just...Hit The animal"! That was in itself a success. That was bad. Teaching my kids and grand kids to " pick a spot...a kill shot" is challenging. That's where I would change my bow hunting history.. I know ..I can't, but I can " pass it on".
Grape...we ALL evolve in hunting, as in life. Google "The 5 stages of a hunter". That essay is as true today as in the time it was written. By the way...I'm now in the "Gray Beard, stage 5" category. Lol.
Also, read the hunting journals from Saxton Pope & Art Young. While part of the modern bowhunting founding fathers, and pioneers for our sport today, they'd be raked over the coals by today's moral standards with many of their shot choices and hits.
I won't hold court over the ethos of my young compatriots, nor myself, from those innocent times of stumbling bumbling kid hunting. It's really a pity today's kids aren't afforded the opportunities we had. Land access was no problem...the world was our oyster...we'd pound those woodlots from dawn to dusk, never realizing that we were actually laying the base for a lifetime of learning, albeit basically from mistakes.
Take your kid out hunting and you won't be out hunting for your kid!
One buck story I won't forget. I was probably 16 or 17 and in the duck blind up the river we lived on. Looked up and on a picked field 300 yards away I saw a nice buck (turned out to be a decent 8 pt) . He walked over and bedded in the field near a fence line, on the other side of that there was some cover. I picked up the deeks, speed home in the boat and grabbed my bow, sped back and put the sneak on that buck. I just got up to where I thought I could stand and get a good shot when I remembered it was the Friday before gun season and bow season was closed. I stood up and pretended to draw my bow, he stood up and gave me this evil look and ran toward the marsh. That could have been my first archery deer and dad was proud of me. This past Friday I sold the land that I owned next to that field that had been in the family for at least 80 years.
I will be 59 this May. I was a gun hunter as a teenager then picked up the compound bow in 1998. I was self taught for the most part but have an Uncle and Cousin that I used to call for pointers. Also learned a lot on the internet.
I somehow took my first buck my second year a nice little 7 pointer. Then I think it was 2000 or 2001 I was hunting some public land and took a spike and a doe within 15min of each other. Like most as the years have gone by my standards have changed. Also around 2001 I bought my own place and a lot change for me. Now I let a lot of deer walk. There have been many years since I chose to not pull the bow back. I continue to love the sport and have made things tougher by mostly hunting with a recurve now.
Bow hunting has given me so many memories. It has allowed me to challenge and test myself like when I went on a drop hunt for Caribou in AK and took a bull on the last day with my recurve. Those memories and challenges met matter only to us. They only make a difference to us, and in the end that it something worth doing and doing well.
Bill
To add more to mine, first and foremost, I am a hunter. I enjoy the days I can grab my rifle for a few days and them my Muzzle Loader a couple days and wander the big woods of Sawyer County just still hunting and chasing adventure. I love chasing wild steelhead on the Brule River, fishing but also hunting. The top for me is the simplicity of the bow and arrow and the challenge of getting game within range, fair chase style using my own wits against theirs. And then, to watch that arrow in flight toward that game, is just magical to me. At that point, all my practice, preparation and boot work comes to one point and the arrow is on it's way. It is an exciting thing to behold.
I am 30 years old and have been deer hunting since 12 and started bowhunting when I was 13.
57, picked my first bow out of a neighborhood garbage can in 1968. It was a fiberglass recurve with no handle grip, rest or string. My mom took me to a store and found a string for it and she bought me some wooden arrows. I made a handle grip and a shelf out of some foam, cardboard and masking tape (pretty resourceful for an 8 year old) and an archer was born.
Been hunting since 1972, first few years with a Bear Black Bear recurve and then stepped up to a new Bear Whitetail Hunter compound in about 1976 or 1977.
I am 51. I started hunting in 1977, started deer hunting with a gun in 1980 and purchased my first bow in 2008. I still gun hunt deer with a gun and I get out to occasionally chase ducks and pheasants. Bow hunting is by far my favorite hobby however. I love the long season and the ability to watch deer and other game act in a natural, mostly unpressured setting. On a typical year I will pass on at least a dozen bucks while bowhunting waiting for Muey Grande to walk by. Most years I will harvest a doe with my bow. I have shot a couple bucks with my bow but have yet to connect with a real stud. I believe I have killed 64 deer in my lifetime and only seven of those were with my bow. I have three fairly large bucks on my wall that I have shot with guns. While they are meaningful to me, I now get more enjoyment of fooling and passing on a mature buck with my bow. That being said I will be really excited when I finally connect on a large buck with my bow.
I will only own a crossbow should my age or physical condition not allow me to draw my compound bow. I will never be happy hunting with a crossbow but will do so if its the only way I can get out to enjoy what hunting has to offer me.
So let me share a couple more early "bow hunting"and "bow shooting" stories from about 1960. My grand parents lived on a farm in western Wisconsin. Woods, fields, cattle lanes, and lilac bushes were my hunting territory. Now, I didn't have a lot of arrows, so each shot I took; I needed to try and retrieve my arrow. Those lilac bushes were my favorite hunting spot for anything that had a heart beat. Each shot, If the target of choice was more than a few feet off the ground had to be calculated. I would have to position myself at an angle so the arrow would go high into the sky and land where I could find it in the lawn or a hay field. Hopefully not a farm building, a cow, or a pig.I honestly didn't lose that many arrows. I did, however, shoot many things other than the sparrows I had permission to shoot. I often wondered if grandma and grandpa knew what I was doing. The other really crazy thing that kids would never get away with was shooting arrows at the local high school football field. Nobody EVER stopped us. Two or three of us guys would take our bows and arrows to the middle of the field. We would then shoot the arrows almost straight up in the air. We would try to follow the arrow and watch its flight. We would try and have it stick close to us. Again ... I can't ever remember anyone telling us to stop it. That was the early 60's. Times have changed. We'd be in trouble today for sure...or jail.
59, started bowhunting in 74. I first hunted with my dad at 7. He had me carry the 22 for him while squirrel hunting. He had the 12 gauge. Never any danger of me doing something dumb with the 22. I couldn't pull the hammer back.
First sit bowhunting I dequivered(no deer harmed). That hooked me for life.
I am 47 and started bow hunting in 1984.
I am 68,,,, my dad was ahead of his time, was in the woods by 6, first gun at 9, and hunted all the time, plus trap,,, lost my dad, too early,,,,, anyway, got into bowhunting in 78,,,,,, shot 3 bears before I ever killed a deer....... back than I would go to Ontario, with a group of guys I met and bowhunt bears and catch walleyes,,,,,, I thought everyone did that,,,,,, than when I joined a deer camp, I found out, bear hunting was a bigger deal than I thought.....
29 and I started bowhunting when I was 14 in 2003
71 and started bowhunting in high school.
I'm old enough to know better...But I'm still too young to care! 40. Been chasing the dream since ‘87 when I got my first bow and killed my first deer the same year. Killed a couple critters since. Now, love watching my kids enjoy all of their “firsts”. I still absolutely love the thrill of the hunt, but perspective and objectives each season seam to shift.
Just turned 67 April 19th. Been hunting bow all my life.
