Bighorn Recurve
Contributors to this thread:Equipment
From: Buck
10-Sep-03
Does anyone know anything about Bighorn Recurves? I have the chance to pick one up. Did not know what they are worth.
Thanks,
From: BruinAle
11-Sep-03
Custom Bighorn bows are top notch, I have one myself and it shoots as good as any other recurve I've owned or shot. I see a foreign made mass produced recurve called a Bighorn on ebay occasionally so you want to make sure you know what you are looking at. If it is a true Bighorn, they can be worth anything from $325 on up depending on options.
From: ROOSTER
11-Sep-03
I own a Bighorn, got a chance to tour the manufacturing facility in Loveland Colorado before they moved to Greeley. Great bow, I own a custom 55# - shoots great, I bought it consigned at $300. They retail new for $900 with all the bells and whistles.
They comped me a sleeve and string keeper just for stopping by. Good company, I'm pretty sure the most recent owner passed away recently so I'm not sure where they are going if anywhere. I have seen other used Bighorn bows sold for between $250 and $500.
They used to have a pretty nice website, it appears to be gone now.
From: Golfer#1
15-Apr-08
I am looking for the Bighorn Bows website if anyone can help!?
From: FireBow
15-Apr-08
Doug,
Ask that question on the leatherwall--there's tons of great traditional bowhunters that can answer your question. Good luck.
Fire
From: Ironbow
15-Apr-08
I owned 2 TD's and a one piece. Very nice shooting and looking bows, but I had 2 limb failures on one TD and the one piece handle cracked. Getting them replaced took months. And they were very well taken care of.
From: Sixby
15-Apr-08
From: go-in-huntin
15-Apr-08
Zbone, I think your right about the older ones being collectors items now. I had a guy about fall over himself trading me out of one about 10 years ago. I wished I would have kept it now.
From: Ziek
15-Apr-08
I also have a custom Bighorn recurve. Bud Boker bought the company from King Cavelier several years ago. Unfortunately, Bud died shortly after that and the company no longer exists. Some of his boyers might still be in the area, but I don't know how you might reach them.
From: Rock
16-Apr-08
Ziek, Bighorn is still around, Ron Nelson one of the original Bowyers has it now and still builds Bows. I got one from him about 2 years ago for my wife.
From: Ziek
16-Apr-08
Rock, Thanks, that's good to hear.
From: Bowgramps
16-Apr-08
Would like to have a Bighorn.
From: acox
16-Apr-08
does anyone have a phone # for big horn bows. I payed for a bow on ebay two months ago and have'nt got it. I would like to contact them ! THANKS.
From: Wapiti Hunter
17-Apr-08
I have an email address for Ron. I think he lives in Johnstown, Colorado, so you could probably find a number for him there. His email is/was [email protected]. It has been about a year and a half since I got a new longbow from him for my son. Ron worked for Fred Asbell and also for King after he bought the company. Some how, Ron and his brother got the company a few years back, and his brother passed away. The Bighorn website has been down since about the first of the year. I don't know what's going on. The Ramhunter longbow my son shoots is a very high quality bow, finished nicely, and shoots extremely well. I have an older Ramhunter possibly from Fred's era that I like as well.
Mike
From: kyhunter
17-Apr-08
I purchased a Bighorn bow from Fred Asbell just after he started the company in the mid 1980s. If I remember correctly is was $300, which was a large amount of money at that time.. It was a great bow and bunted with it for years. It developed a slight crack in the handle and I talked with Ron just before he passed away. He could not repair the bow because some of the jiggs that are used in the construction of the bow were no longer available. So I had to retire the bow. Alot of great memories and it sits in my bow rack today.
From: fuzzy
18-Apr-08
great bow, smooth and quiet, not super-fast, but no dog....can't go wrong!
From: bbenson3
01-May-08
I have a Bighorn Colorado takedown I'd like to sell. It's like new. My brother ordered it about 20 years ago. I bought it from him right after that, because he wanted to order a 55-60#. I shot it once at an indoor range and I know he never hunted with it. It's like new. On the limbs it says 58" 4503 50# @ 29". On the handle it says Colorado Bighorn TD. All hand script. I'm not sure what it's worth now. Any ideas? All I have is the bow and original string.
From: rupescot
01-May-08
I have one it is 78#@29" anyone interested! It is fast but it's hard to pull and keep steady for any period of time.
From: Criso
05-May-08
Hi, I want to buy a used Bighorn TD from a friend of mine, but I'd like to know the year. It has a serial number on the limbs, it's 01805. Can you please tell me approximately in what year it was built? Thank you
From: Kodiak
25-Apr-19
Those Asbell curved limbs are pretty sought after.
I'd say eBay is your best bet.
From: Jaquomo
25-Apr-19
Didnt know you could pull up a 13 year old thread.
I used to shoot Asbell Bighirns until I figured out there were faster, smoother bows being made at less draw weight. Sold both mine and never looked back.
From: JSW
25-Apr-19
I started reading from the top without looking at the date. I started to have that WTF feeling and then I saw it was from 2003. Talk about a blast from the past. I shoot only bighorn bows. I've tried faster but I don't think I've tried smoother and faster. My bighorn has the best combination of both. At least for me. I saw elkstabber's post and started salivating. Then I reminded myself, I don't need any more bows!!!!
From: Shug
25-Apr-19
Bighorn was the first custom I ever bought... 1982 I believe. Working in the corner deli and saving my money I still remember the exact amount of the money order I mailed Fred Asbell /Denny Behn $367.95
I also remember waiting nearly 6 months for it to come. Lastly I remember calling a few times a month asking if my bow was done yet.... thanks for the memories.
From: Jaquomo
26-Apr-19
Shug, my first custom recurve too, and I remember how excited I was to first hold it and shoot it. My first wife bought it for my birthday. Might have been the last nice thing she did for me...
From: snareman
26-Apr-19
Id buy that 78@29 if it was still around..lol
From: stagetek
28-Apr-19
They're great bows. The biggest issue is many of the Asbell era Bighorns were ordered over 60#. Many folks were making the switch from compounds and felt they needed a bow that heavy. Very few of the early ones in the 45-50lb. range.
From: Tim Hoeck
28-Apr-19
I have a lefty that I'm going to hunt with this year unless I sell it . Great shooting bow
From: jjs
29-Apr-19
Remember visiting Kiko Tovar (KT44 bows) and he had the collections of Big Horns from when Denny Behn and Fred Asbell were working together, Behn design was more of a shorter riser/bow and Asbell was the longer, interesting story behind the development. Kiko had a good collection of bows with a story behind each owner of the bow, when Kiko pass away the collection was bought up and went to the unknowns.
From: leftee
30-Apr-19
Kiko and Toad.Break out smiling just thinking about them.
From: Buglmin
30-Apr-19
Fred's bows were dogs!! Slow in arrow speed, big grips, and hand shock. I tried three different times to shoot his bows and never could. Bows like Groves, Fazio's, Bob Lee's, Sleys, made the Bighorns look bad in feel and shot.
As far as Fred's curved limb bed bows being highly sought after, no one wants them and you see them showing up all the time for sale. They aint highly sought after cause guys are dumping them cheap or sending them to rmsg to try to sell. I used to shoot with Fred at times, and he was always trash talking other custom bows, hated my purple Bob Lee and carbon arrows. But that was Fred. Him and that stupid swing draw he was always trying to get guys to use.
From: Phil Magistro
30-Apr-19
I was shooting Howatt's when Fred came out with his bows. I bought two takedowns then, over the years I owned a few more as I dropped in draw weight. His design, with the profile of a Bear Super Kodiak, was a real eye catcher. Also like the Bear Super Kodiak, his bows weren't extremely fast but were a solid performer a pleasure to shoot.
They were never the same after he sold his company.
From: markr
30-Apr-19
jjs, yes Kiko had a number if Bighorns in his collection, Lamont Granger (previous owner of the"The Footed Shaft") bought all of his bows except for the Bighorns witch my dad bought, Kiko's widow kept one KT-44 ("special friends bow"). There was a number of early prototype one piece and take downs, there was one of the first take downs (Denny Behn's) in the bunch that I sent back to Denny, it had a similar latching system as Bear. I still have one of Denny's 54" one piece bows that he used in Africa (too bad he's left handed!) and a really nice looking curved limb bed take down with Toad Smith's name on it. The prototypes were sold to a collector in Indiana and we have most of the rest. Buglmin is correct Iv'e always thought they were slow and had a lot of hand shock compared to other customs, they were not very consistent in how they were built either, one would have nice tapered laminations in the limbs and the next would not, I always thought they looked great and still like them.
From: JSW
30-Apr-19
Don't you just love all the trash talk. I fell into the misconception that bighorn bows were slow. I bought into it so much I bought another bow. Brand B was supposed to be so much better, faster, everything. When I couldn't get brand B to group I wondered just how much speed I was giving up with my old slow bighorn. I bought a chronograph and tested them. Turns out the 57# brand B bow shot exactly the same speed as my 52# bighorn. 5# heavier and not one FPS faster. On top of that, I shot my bighorn so much better, I instantly had to stop shooting at the same spot so's not to ruin any arrows. I've been hunting with that same 52# takedown for 20 years now and close to 100 animals later, I'm not looking back. That is hands down the best bow for me. The best combination of speed, feel and accuracy. Trash talk all you want. They are still great bows. I have 4 risers and 6 sets of limbs. I even have an identical set of 52# limbs that I've only shot once to make sure they shot the same. I think I'm set for life.
From: Shug
30-Apr-19
I ended up owning a few through the years... Hand shock is not a word I would use describing them... even the ram hunter longbow was smooth and ridiculously free of hand shock unlike one of the biggest name bow companies longbow that I owned. I won’t mention their name but their initials are Black Widow
From: markr
30-Apr-19
Not trashing them, but when I compare my 84' Schafer take down to my 84' Bighorn take down, both of the same weight... Silvertip wins hands down, but like I stated I really like the old Bighorns.
From: Ambush
30-Apr-19
Single strings bows are like women. Can’t argue with someone else’s taste in either.
From: Buglmin
30-Apr-19
I'm not trash talking Fred's bows at all, simply stating a fact, the bows were dogs! The local shop owner had a Shaffer Silverghost that Damon Howatt made for Paul, friend was shooting a pretty little Groves, and I'd starting shooting a Fazio. Compared to my Bighorn, these bows were a lot faster then the Bighorn, and my Fazio blew it away, three pound less weight. And the Chastains... Fred had nothing nice to say about Keith and his bows. Bighorns had big grips, Fred would only take off so much in certain areas, just never enough for me to like. The Bighorns were pretty, well built. Just not as quick as some wanna say or think.
From: bowonly
30-Apr-19
I bought my Bighorn bow at auction at a CBA banquet. It was donated by Fred and the art was donated by Marv Clyncke. That was 1990. Probably not that many around with an inlaid scrimshaw by Marv, but it was meant to hunt and I have hunted all over with it. I even managed to kill to a respectable bighorn ram with it during that time. I guess I was lucky he stood around long enough for my arrow to get to him with the arrow being so slow and all.
From: Rock
30-Apr-19
Ambush X2, everyone has there favorite for any number of reasons and we do not all shoot identically so everyone has a Bow that is the best fit for them. Some of us have found that Bow and others are still searching, whatever you are shooting enjoy it no matter what anyone else says.
