Made this birthday present for a friend
General Topic
Front of the arm guard
Front of the arm guard
Back of arm guard
Back of arm guard
John in all his glory
John in all his glory
Last weekend, I finished this arm guard for my good friend, John Pruitt, who will turn 79 this coming Sunday. Mr. Pruitt is an accomplished bowyer and gunsmith and I have whole room full of his bows and flintlocks to attest to his skills. He's also as windy as a sack full of politicians which brings me to the story behind this arm guard.
John never lets an opportunity go by to tell me some tale. Over the years I have known him, most of these tales I have heard many times. This one is no exception. John claims that anyone can hit a big target like a deer or moose with a bow but it takes exceptional skill to hit something really small like the time he killed 811 field mice with his bow in one year. Mr. Pruitt swears that all these kills were confirmed by his friends who, conveniently, are all dead now so I will just have to take his word for it. When I first heard this story, some 15 years ago or so, I think the number was quite a bit less than 811. But that is the number he is going with now so I have recorded it on the back of his arm guard for posterity's sake.
I don't think anyone cooks in his family so I sent John a pan of brownies and a do-it-yourself birthday party kit along with the leather work. He received his box of goodies yesterday and was very pleased with the contents. I told him to send me a photo of him celebrating and this is what I got. It sure made my day!
Arm guard specs: The backing is made from vegetable tanned cowhide and the facing is hippo hide. The yellow trim is moose hide that, ironically, came from the one I killed with my longbow in 2015. The field mouse was laser etched onto a piece of deer hide by my friend, Chad Thomas, at Springfield Leather Company. I carved the lace hooks out of deer antler and sewed everything up by hand using artificial sinew.
Darren
Love it, Darren! John seems like a story telling machine. Pretty cool of you to make that for him. Kudos.
That is very cool, Darren. Good on you for doing that for a good friend. Seems like now a day things like this are a rarity.
Good on you! Everyone should be so lucky to have friends like this. Happy Birthday John!
Very nice work on the armguard and the friendship. What a special gift!!!!!!!!!!!
That is awesome! My hunting buddy, who is 77, is in hospice and although he has told me several stories several times I never stopped him from telling them and glad I didn’t as he is incapable of telling me any more of his stories. Cherish your time with John. Well done!
Darren,
Thank you for sharing your gift to John, for his birthday, and his "811" kills.
My birthday is a week from Saturday. Just sayin... ;-)
Pretty cool...you're a good friend!
This site needs a like button with a double thumbs up!
That is a very kind gesture and very thoughtful!
What an awesome gift for a great guy! Very special! Thanks for sharing with us here!
Nice job,,your a great friend!!! I have zero doubt as to the 811 kills! Great post .......
Hahaha... I got a good chuckle out of that! Guys like that are a hoot to be around and listen to. Great job on making his birthday a memorable one!
What an awesome thing to do, you are very lucky to have a friend like that with such integrity.. :)
Unbelievable! I thought my 764 field mice with a bow in one year was some kind of record!
Dammit, John! *shakes fist in the air*
(The arm guard is very nice. You can tell you've done this before by how neat the stitching is.)
Darren you know they call Missouri the show me state surely he mounted some of those kills!
As most hunters claim, " we eat what we kill!". Well, maybe not in this case.
Good friends and good memories, Life is good. Nicely done. Paul
Made my day thanks for sharing Lewis
Very nice, Darren! Looks like your buddy was pretty tickled.
Very cool!! Thanks for sharing
And I thought that I had a record when I trapped 16 mice in one day in my old camper while bowhunting Colorado. I wonder what his choice of head was to do such a feat. Congrats to you both..........badbull
Vey cool. He would be handy in elk camp to keep the mice away. He is lucky to have a friend like you.
That was a very nice thing to do for your friend, and he looked very happy that you did it for him. I’d say that is a win !
Nice work and friendship.
Very nice gesture. Every camp needs at least one guy who doesn't let the truth get in the way of a good story.
Game changer with all the crap going on in this world your act of kindness made my day kudos to you.Good luck Lewis
Awesome! Thanks for sharing...brings back memories for sure!
mice gesture i mean nice gesture
Nice. When I saw 811 confirmed kills, I thought he must have been one hell of a sniper. And I guess he is.
Idy, you have to shoot them, not club them with your bow.
God. Looks happy. I love older people. Your are a good friend I would say.
Everyone should have a friend like John. Well done!
