deer

[Wolf Watcher]

Your story sure brought back lots of memories of mule deer and elk stalks.  Like your way with words and especially appreciated the blessing of the animal at the end!  Hope you will submit some stories to the PA mag.  Was at a local ranch rodeo with a bunch of my cowboy friends and all of us feeling a little cowboy tough when a fellow showed up in an old van.  He pulled out a stick bow from the back along with some blue ribbons that he passed out!  He strung up the bow and asked if anyone of us could pull that rascal and offered ten bucks for the feller who could do it!  Now that was enough to draw a chute run bareback with the potential of 50 or 60 dollars winnins.  So we all lined up for the chance and all he said was no dry firing!  You know bareback riders and cowboys in general consider themselves a little tougher than the average dude.  Well there was a lot of strainin and some serious red faces when none of us could even start to draw that bow.  Had to be the bow from hell!  One of the sore contestants said we will all bet you ten bucks we can pool up that you can't pull ole tree trunk yourself.  Now this feller was dressed in khaki pants, tenny shoes, and a tiedyed tee shirt.  Must have scaled in about 160 pounds and measured less than six feet.  A real bean pole Ichabod specimen.  No comment from him!  He nocked an arrow and pulled back and sent it sailing plumb out of sight over the ridge!  Pulls about 110 says he and I'll take that tener now!  This is a true story as I remember it from l969.  Pokie

[Pappy]

Another good story,I'm loving this.
   Pappy

[GregB]

Good story Pokie! Would be nice to know who that gentleman was and a little of his history!

[robby]

Good one Watcher!! Makes me wish I had been there. Not for the bow pulling part, but it sounds like there was a lot of laughing and a bunch of guys having a good time. Back in the day, ten and more years ago, when our club would get well over a hundred guys to a 3-d shoot. I guess I was some kind of oddity, I mean, I was not only the only guy with homemade stuff, you couldn't even find a modern laminated recurve amongst all that towing equipment. If I took a buck for every time some confound shooter came up to me and said "Oh, I've heard of you, I thought you'd be bigger", I could have bought some of those fancy arrow shafts made from re-cycled beer cans, I hear they make great tomato stakes. I always looked them in the eye and replied,"Yeah, well, I'm big inside." I never really liked the attention, but I'd stand at that practice range and shoot the breeze all morning If it would help get the shooters out. These days, we are lucky to get twenty shooters, though I do see more traditionalists, quality over quantity, I guess.
Robby

[Wolf Watcher]

Robby:  I found out later that the fellow with the tree trunk bow was named Jim Patterson.  He did not always have a job and grew himself a reputation earning some grub and gas money pulling that bow.  He showed up one day at a turkey shoot and pulled the same stunt.  Nobody ever got mad at him taking their money cause he fair enough earned it.  And in those days it was a common occurance for a little fracus to break out over minor differences, especially if someone figured he might just have the upper hand.  Well when you watched ole Jim brace that bow, you thought twice about chastizen a feller who you just watched do somethin you never had a chance doin!  One of my aquantances said he got to be pretty good friends with ole Jim and they used to get in the cups together.  Guess he was just as good at arm wrestlin as bow benden and that provided some fair amount of free beers.  Kind of reminds me of that wrestler from Oklahoma that could break a pair of pliers just by squeezin um!  And that is also a true story!  Pokie  He must have been just plain tough inside also! 

[Ohio John]

I'm glad I took the time to read that one. This is what it is all about.

[Adam Keiper]

That's one heck of a photo Robby, and an even better story.  That's the neatest thing I've read online in a while.  Thanks alot for throwing that up.   

[ballista]

 robby, thats an inspiring story- a great buck, and an 85 pound bow? geez, mite as well go out there with a warbow haha. oh, and i have to thank you for honoring the dead, theres more and more unethical hunters out there, its good to see one who knows his way around. -jimmy

[PeteC]

Great stories fellas.Ya'll sure nuff sound like my kind of hunters.God Bless

[Postman]

Great story - especially the recovery from a miss,  and the term "woodspeed" gotta remember that, thanks

[Ohio John]

sounds like my kind of guy