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Who Introduced YOU to bowhunting?

For me it was just my love for hunting and another opportunity to get out and hunt. Dad was a great rabbit, pheasant and gun deer hunter. He supported my bow interest as I collaborated with high school buddies.

Those early days, hunting rabbits and pheasants with the Bear recurve were some very special times!

My stepdad introduced me to hunting. When he died, I didn't have anyone to take me so I quit until I became an adult. It was my coworkers who convinced me that I wanted to be a bowhunter. The stories they would share were funny, intriguing and exciting. I borrowed a bow and started my journey. I didn't actually hunt with those co workers for the first few years but they are the ones I credit for getting me to put down the gun and pick up a bow.

While my dad was my hero, best friend, and hunting mentor, he was not a bowhunter. That I picked up on my own.

The neighbor kid. He had a bow and shot it in an empty lot across the street. My dad was kind of anti-bow, calling them sliver slingers. A couple years after I was into bowhunting and shot a buck (while we were scouting for an area we had doe tags for the gun season) he seen first hand that bows weren't toys and became a bowhunter as well. This was in the early '70s.

I hunted a lot as a kid and younger adult but for whatever reason hadmt bunted in about 10 years.

I was sitting with my boss at work and she kept talking about bowhunting (something that never appealed to me before) and it got me interested.

I hopped in Craigslist and found one for sale for $25. Practiced a bit in the local park and bought my first archery license right after gun season ended. Had no idea what I was doing.

I registered with this site and got some great advice and entertainment and have aince met some great guys.

Mom & I went to a lot of movies . We went to see a Robin Hood movie staring her heart throb Flynn . I was amazed at how accurate the bows were .

I built my 1st bow the next day . Age 10 .

Three of us used to grouse hunt as teens in the U.P. One weekend we started talking about bow hunting and by the next weekend we all had bows. That was the start of it for me. As life got busy in my mid thirties, it was put on the back burner. When I retired at 50 my oldest son got me going again. I am fortunate to have the time to enjoy it again in my life.

I always gravitated towards bows. First with a more or less toy one with suction cups on the end of the arrows and then my brother had a long bow that caught me eye. Practiced with that through my early teens. And then in high school became friends with another student that had a recurve and we hunted and hunted a lot. Made a life long friendship and the bow never was far from me. The mid 70's came and they started talking about a compound bow that would give you a 50% let off. I tried that and carried that for many years. Never went the mechanical release road. To me it took to much away from the experience of hunting. Hunted like I said for a long time out west and NW territories and Canada. I loved everything about bowhunting. I also bought 80 acres of land to hunt. I thought I was set but in 2002 I think it was I got health problems and at the same time so did my wife. Doctor bills piled up and had to go on disability in 2005. Because of bills I had to sell my land which toke a piece of me with it. Sold my arrows, bows and arrow building tools. One day I made the decision to buy a crossbow. I know, I know the dreaded crossbow. Don't like them but I owed them for getting me into the woods again and breathing that fall air. I really care less if I get one or not, but to play that cat and mouse game is so satisfying to me it gave me back something to look forward to. Well now my wife is on an exotic infusion and I found infusion that works for me and everything has calmed down a bit. Even got into my shop again and made a few crossbow stocks to fill the void of not having wood in my life. Life has sure not turned out the way I intended it to be. But like crossbow or hate them they became a positive in my life. I found out that it matters nothing what others think of what your carrying in the woods or for that matter anything you do in life because when the chips are down it is YOU and your loved one that ONLY matters and that is about it. So whatever your carrying even you may not be carrying it for long no matter how healthy you may think you are. Always tell the wife, if I fall face first in the muck rest assure that is where I want to end it. Good luck and good hunting.

My dad put a stick and string in my hand in 1963 and I’ve never looked back.

My ex brother-in-law hunted a little bit with a bow and it intrigued me. I bought a Red Wing recurve and that was the start. I self-taught myself as my father wasn't a hunter.

My Dad taught me to hunt and fish. He loved duck hunting in the fall as did I. As he grew older he eventually gave up on duck hunting, I continued on a few years but wasn't as fun without a hunting partner. Eventually with the urging of a co worker I switched from duck hunting in the fall to bow hunting. Funny thing is I enjoy the alone time with a bow a lot more than duck hunting alone.

My dad was in Vietnam and hasn't held a weapon since. My uncle's took me hunting every weekend when I was a kid. Honestly though if we didn't have the family farm growing up I don't think I would be a hunter. Hunting public where anyone can hunt has always been a huge turnoff for me.

My cousin gave me an old Bear recurve when I was about 10 years old. Shot many rabbits, a few squirrels and a pheasant with it. Spent many, many hours shooting in the yard for practice. Finally at age 15 I killed my first archery deer with that bow and a cedar arrow, a doe with an 11 yard shot. Eventually got a compound, then another, then another. Through many years, I still have and occasionally use that old Bear.

A garbage can in the alley on 21st Avenue SE Minneapolis in about 1968. That's where I found my first bow, a yellow fiberglass recurve that somebody had thrown out. My mom bought a string for it and a handful of wooden arrows. I fashioned a grip and shelf out of masking tape, cardboard and foam rubber and a bowhunter was born...

The hunter was born in me. I realized that when one of my first memory's was my dad buying me a red and black shirt and a dart gun shooting gallery. Bow hunting came along in progression for another type of hunting and from my dad and older brother.

My wood shop teacher Frank Harmeyer. I bought my first bow from him in 1977

Would you believe it was the milk man? Well, I was playing with my kid's bow at an early age but it wasn't till our milk man started teaching an archery class when our middle school opened up (with targets built into the walls behind garage doors) when I was 10-ish (1964) that I really learned how to shoot a better bow that I got more interested. I was probably 14 when I sort of hunted deer with it and 16 or so when I started to get more serious about it. It was about 1979 when I actually got my first buck with one.

1979 was a good year for me too Jeff ;^)

Of course the newspaper got it wrong, it was a 15 yard shot and an 80 yard blood trail.

My Dad. He shot target archery at the rod and gun club in Grantsburg back in the 60's-70's. I must've been getting in the way, or on his nerves, because one day he handed me his Indian Archery recurve, a handful of mismatched cedars with rusty Bear heads, and told me to "go have fun!". I was eleven, still have that bow, but it has forged a lifetime of memories and enjoyment, for sure!

Cheesehead, glad you explained that 80 yard shot. I wasn't buying it.

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