Contributors to this thread:
Are you? When did you start shooting a bow (any kind). 46, 5, Pearsons longbow. Still have it and shoot it
59. Started with a Pearson fiberglass bow when I was 5. Dad got me a Pearson Bronco laminated recurve when I was 7.
61.....kind of a late bloomer to bowhunting. Got a used Jennings Forked Lightning in '83. I needed something to do to kill the month of October before trapping season opened. Bowhunting was a perfect fit since I lived in the middle of the timber in a 1958 10x50 trailer house. Good times....
Just had my 75 th. birthday, got my first bow at about age 4 or 5. For as long as I can remember I have owned and shot a bow and arrow.
First bowhunted for deer at age 12 in '57, haven't missed a season in all those years.
Archery/bowhunting = a great sport, hobby, activity, way of life.....sure kept me out of a lot of trouble in my younger years.
Be 66 in a couple weeks. Started bow bunting 40 years ago. Bought my first gun a few years later.
56...started at 17...Bear Whitetail. Have not missed an archery season ever since. Archery and bow hunting elk have changed my life.
40. I dont remember when I shot my first bow but I shot my first gun when I was 8. It was my father's 12 gauge and I still have. I also still have my first compound that I got in the early 90s.
46. My first bow was a no name wooden longbow I bought at a flea market for a quarter when I was six.
Less than 2 months from turning 66. Like midwest, I came to the party late. Bought my first bow, a Jennings T-Star Express from Bowhunter’s Warehouse, when I was 31.
Just turned 56. Dad brought home 3 Bear fiberglass stickbows, a green 45 lb'er for him, a red 25 lb'er for my big bro and a blue 15 lb'er for me. I was 4. I remember dad couldn't figure out why the string kept popping off every time he tried to draw.....until a buddy that was into archery told him he was a silly polock and was stringing the little recurves backwards....
That started it. I wore the rubber handle off that thing. I can still feel it in my hand and have many memories of terrorizing anything that crawled, walked flew or simply looked like a target. Wish I still had those 3 bows.....
Me and my buds had those skinny yellow, fiberglass Indian or Bear bows with wooden arrows when we were like 8 or 9. That would have been 1969 or 70'.
77 shot first buck at 14 with cheap pearson bow.
29. Like others grew up with the cheap kid bows for as long as I can remember. I got my first hunting bow at 12 a old Martin compound.
I will be 55, started shooting a bow when I was 5. Killed my first buck at 12 with a Red Wing Hunter recurve. So 50 years basically, I still shoot a recurve and also a new Traverse. Killed a deer with each this year. Shawn
I'm 58. Started shooting a Pearson fiberglass bow when I was 8 or 9. First hunting bow was a Bear Kodiak when I was 18. Wish I still had it.
55 started 1968 fiber glass long bow 3rd gen Archer
58 years old now...started shooting a little fiberglass recurve, when I was about 5 years old (Thanks, Dad).
Got a beautiful Ben Pearson laminated recurve when I was about 10.
Bought My first Compound when I was around 14, with money from my paper route. Jennings T II Hunter. Killed my first buck with it when I was 15.
67. Shot my first deer in 1978 with a Bear Tigercat. Still have it.
Be 75 next month. First bow was when I was eight. I believe it was a Bear kid's recurve "little Bear?" and I was really proud of it for shooting arrows so high I couldn't see them and had to listen for them to thump down onto the lawn. When I insisted I wasn't kidding, and Dad came out to watch, he realized I had inherited his myopia and scheduled a visit with an optometrist. I could see much better after that, but the Little Bear couldn't shoot them clean out of sight any more.
Don't recall shooting any archery after the Little Bear until I was sixteen and bought a no-name fiberglass skinny one from a hardware store that was rated at 55#, apparently by someone who didn't have access to a scales, and we had a deer season.
Hunted with a bow every season since. And shot LOTS of archery between seasons. Still love it, though I finally had to give up finger shooting a few years ago get used to a release.
24. First bow was a little red fiberglass one when I was younger than 10.
Bought my first real bow at 18 and could actually start hunting. Been obsessed ever since.
Just turned 67. Got my first "hunting bow", a 48# browning recurve in '68. Got my first compound bow (Browning) from Cabelas in '86.
46, first bow was a red fiberglass compound at 7 yrs old. Have never hunted big game with anything else.
54...10...Herters Recurve from 1975 that I still have.
62. Got my first real bow in 1982 a Martin Warthog. Still in love with archery!
56, had a fiberglass 35lb now when I was 13. Bought my first compound PSE Polaris at 23.
44 I did have a kids recurve at about 6 years old but didn’t get a real bow until age 12 when I bought a bear mini magnum from a friend for $50
47, first bow as a york I was 15, its been an obsession since
I'm 56, started shooting an old Bear fiberglass kids recurve back in the early 1970s sometime. My first real bow was a Bear Polar LTD purchased at Kmart in 1976 or 1977. Somewhere around there.
59
Started making bows out of saplings around the age of 7-8. They would last (hopefully a day or two) before breaking and being forced to make another one.
My parents bought me a fiberglass bow soon after and owned 2-3 arrows. Hunting rabbits, squirrels, frogs, woodchucks, etc.
Grass would eat an arrow and we would spend hours looking for the lost arrow.
Life was simple and so much fun.
I'm 47. I started shooting a red Bear recurve when I was about 6. Bought a Bear Whitetail 1 compound when I was 12 with money I earned bailing hay. Switched back to a recurve 2 years ago, a 70's Bear Kodiak Magnum. Killed a 10 point with it the first year I hunted with it. Life and bow hunting are journeys and I enjoy them both immensely.
61 first bow was a ben pearson rouge. I was 10 years old.
81, My first real hunting bow was a used solid fiberglass long bow that I bought for 5 bucks from a friend. I do not remember what happened to that bow and I was about 16 years old. Before that, I would classify all my bows as toys. Since then I have owned Pearson, Allen , Jennings, PSE, Hoyt, Mathews, Mission, and a couple others. Some in different models of my favorite bow makers above. IMHO, I have seen the best of times with respect to the evolution of bows and bowhunting. For me, archery and bowhunting has been a big part of my life that is my legecy to my sons and grandchildren. BTW, I am still trying to hang in there bowhunting the best that I can with the ailments that old age inevitably brings. Good hunting to all........Bob
38. Started shooting a bow when i was 8. Took a few years off starting in high school. Picked it back up again when I was 25. Always knew something was missing during those years when I stopped.
60 Dad bought me a fiberglass at age 8. 1st real bow browning recurve shot 1st deer with it at 16.
This is my 48th season hunting big game with a bow. Started when I was 16 but had to wait 3 weeks of the season before I turned 16 so I could purchase a permit. 63 now.
51 now, started at 8 with a tobacco stick with a fishing line string, my Dad got me a Bear Whitetail at 13, been at least 5 bows in my house upon me getting my first job. Now my wife, one son and I shoot 3-D and hunt bow only. No other hobbies, none needed!
I'm now 56 . I started out with a bow I made when I was about 8 yrs old. Dad made cabinets so I would have him rip a 1"x1" piece of oak that was scrap . Made several of them and made my own arrows too. Then I went big time. I bought a recurve with about 15 assorted arrows for 10 bucks when I was 14. It broke when I was 18 so I went even more big time. A 99 dollar Darton 30 or 50 , not sure but it was the last weekend of the deer season and dont think I shot it 20 times before I went hunting with it. Then another Darton for several years and shot my first deer with it on Nov. 12, 1988. A doe in the Nicolet National Forest in northern Wisconsin. I was the happiest guy on earth when I saw that doe. Next year in the Flambeau River State Forest my first buck. I just got a Mathews Avsail come in today and is my 6th and final compound . After this it will be a crossbow. My shoulders can't do it anymore.
69 began shooting with a Shakespeare recurve in 1966. Paid a whopping $19.95 for it brand new came with six arrows tab and armgaurd. Built my own bows since 1983.
61 yrs old. I think 5or6 started shooting a bow. bought my first bow at forest orchard archery northboro mass.1972 red wing hunter. hunted Vermont that year never looked back. my 9th grade teacher told me forget about bowhunting you'll never amount to nothing if that's all you think about. guess he was right haha
66 and started shooting a fiberglass recurve around 1960 give or take a few years.
48, started with an old fiberglass recurve and wooden arrows my father had as a kid that I found in my Grandparents basement when I was 7 and shot all weekend at my Grandfathers mulch bin . When my father seen how much fun I was having he bought me my own and we built a range in our back yard to shoot together . When I was 12 I bought a 6 wheel White Tail Hunter bow and got my license to hunt with him . Great memories missed a few deer with buck fever LOL but finely got a big doe at 14 and retired that bow at 18 and went with a Martin bow and many successful seasons . In 2010 I bought a Hoyt Havoc which I loved but in 2016 updated to the Factor 30 and love it . I'm sure I'll buy another someday but as of now I'm loving it .
56 now. Saved up my hard earned quarters and bought a green fiberglass recurve at the age of 9 or 10. I walked the woods and shot stumps and what not like I was the baddest archer on the planet! Those sure were some great times at our cabin in northern Minnesota!
I was 9 years old shooting a Ben Pearson recurve, damn I loved that fiberglass bow, wish I'd of hung on to it!
ElkNut/Paul
42, started shooting now when I was about 8. It was a little red fiberglass bow - I killed a lot of cardboard boxes with that bow! Had my eyes on upgrading for years but it didn’t happen until I graduated from Tech school and got my first decent full time job (20). First hunting bow was a billed as a nimble and extremely maneuverable 38” ATA Reflex compound - haha.
I’m 47 now. My first bow was a browning black knight 45# compound my dad bought me when I was 14, 1986 or so. Killed my first buck with it the next fall.
I'm 58 grew up in NC hunting doves quail small game & waterfowl wasn't until my father got transferred to the Pentagon & we moved to VA that we started deer hunting don't know how old but I was in 5th grade when I killed my first deer it was at Quantico & I killed it with a 12 gage at about 15 feet got my first bow at age 18-19 it was a Browning accelerator compound
Age: 75 Got my first bow in 1952, age 8. Child-size English Longbow (we lived in England at the time). Started big game archery hunting with a Bear Recurve in about 1963, before that it was mostly target practice, archery shoots and squirrels, rabbits, etc.
I'm 59, played around with my Dad's Actionrod fiberglass long bow at age 13, bought my first compound bow a Bear Whitetail at age 17.
36. Started shooting my first real bow at 12, upgraded to a Darton at 14.
59. Started shooting around 1980 with a Browning Nomad compound.
I'm 64 and started shooting archery in 63 or 64. Had a mail ordered Ben Pearson Pony or maybe Mustang and never looked back.
79. Got my first bow, when I was 12 or so. Ben Pearson long bow, lemon wood, still have it.
I’m 72, got a fiberglass recurve at about 13/14; Shakespeare I think. Had a hickory kid’s longbow before that and my brother and I made them before that. That was kid stuff but I got into bowhunting in 1979 I believe with a Bear Whitetail II. A brief hiatus when I went out of state to work in ‘82 and picked it back up in ‘84. The last two years my shoulders have kept me from bowhunting regularly though.
65. Started shooting in Cub Scouts when I was around 8 or 9. Shot fiberglass until about 11 when I traded a belt buckle supposedly owned by Annie Oakley's little brother for a maple recurve. By 16 I had a 57 Willys Jeep, a Bear Kodiak Magnum, met some like minded buds in high school and all hell broke loose. From then on, my life, relationships, and business career have enabled my bowhunting problem.