"Homemade" Bows......

[Gordon]

At the range that I hang out at the compound shooters generally show me respect. Some of them are even interested in my bows. I encounter a jerk every now and then, but jerks exist in every human endeavour.

[Newindian]

l just think that compound bows are no longer real bows in a sense. you can look at all the bows in history and they are all kinda similar untill you get to modern compounds. plus they take very little skill to use, less skill to hunt with, and they have led to a "newest is best" mind set. but mainly like you said it hurts our feeling when they look down on us. but what can I say I have been caught pulling out the wheeli twice a year ( plus what is the point of shooting a bowrifle if not just for a longer season and less noise)

[soy]

I agree with some aspects of that However I shot numerous deer with my wheelie bow and not much is gone to waste... the fact is I'm very precise with a wheelie bow and not so much with a primitive bow... so out of respect to the animal I choose to use that 1 however I don't think it can't be done I've seen Ranger b's videos and I can't hold a candle to him with nothing! I'm not saying 1 is right and 1 is wrong but  judgement is being placed on whole groups for what reason?

[Marc St Louis]

You should have reversed the question on him

[lesken2011]

Nothing against those guys with modern bows. I just don't want to be in line behind them at a 3-D shoot!!

[PEARL DRUMS]

If you cant shoot a glass/wood bow accurately enough to hunt with you havent dedicated yourself or your time to it....yet. 


And yes, I listen to BS like that all the time at work. I just chuckle and show them pics of harvested animals on my phone from me and others in our sport.

[lostarrow]

Just finished a rawhide backed Cherry bow for my older brother after he asked me if I thought you could take a moose with one.(his isn't heavy enough for Moose ,but you have to start somewhere) .Funny thing is I'm the youngest of 4 brothers and I  bought my first Wheelie bow when I was 15 in a place and time where bowhunting didn't really exist,let alone traditional. Northern Ontario is a gun hunting culture , and even now a bowhunter gets raised eyebrows. It's catching on more now because it gives you a longer season. It wasn't long after I bought my bow ,that my oldest brother bought one,............... then second oldest.......... then the next bought a cross bow. Switched over to trad years ago because I hunt from the ground and found that you can't shoot a deer at 5yds with a wheelie. They don't seem to want to wait for you to draw ,aim and shoot.LOL. No prob with wheelies ,cross bows, guns, I've used them all. But I rather enjoy telling a wheelie guy That I spent less on my entire setup ,than he did on three arrows and then ask if he wanted to shoot some aerial targets or go stump shooting.Oh sorry ,that's not in your skill set. Hey by the way, where do you carry your extra string if you happen to nick it with a broad head? Wow that bow weighs a ton, is that what the wheels are for?

[Pappy]

I use to hear that stuff a lot,not so much anymore. :)I do get ask now and then
 " can you really hunt with that"  or you shoot with just your fingers,I just smile and say well they did for thousands of years so I guess so. to be honest most seem impressed when they find out you hunt with it and actually kill stuff or can hit a target with it.
   Pappy

[killir duck]

yep one of my buddies thought the same thing but when i got pass through on a cow elk at 45 yards he changed his mind

[Stringman]

A couple of anecdotes to add to this very entertaining post...

Earlier this season my buddy drove his 4 wheeler up on his trailer, closed the gate and headed home after an evening hunt. Halfway home he remembered he had left his bow and case on the back of the quad. Long story short, the whole shebanged was lost to the gods of the 4 lane. He was a very diligent searcher for a couple days and finally concluded that be was gonna have to buy new. So he called me one night and said he was headed to the local sports store and I said how much will it cost to replace it. He said between $1500 and $2000.

A short time later he called back and said someone in the area was trying to get hold of him about his bow. It seems an unknown person had picked it up, thrown it in the back of their truck drove off with it and then it fell out of their truck also!! Another person found it and started looking for the owner. Moral of he story: use what's at hand, make an extra! 

This same buddy and I were driving down the road the other day and it came out that he still hasn't killed a deer yet with his bow. I could tell he was having trouble admitting the fact so I wasn't trying to rub it in. So I nonchalantly mentioned, "hey did I tell you I got a deer and a turkey this year with stick and stone?" He says, " I know, I know!" ( I wouldn't do this, except he and I are like brothers)
Moral of this story: the bow don't make meat, the hunter does!

I'm not a hater. I started with wheels and some day I might go back. I am pleased with what Ive accomplished with stick and stone and enjoy challenging myself with whatever I choose. It helps me to remember that this is a personal pursuit. It is a GREAT challenge to build your own equipment and hunt with it. Not everyone can do that, but I choose to.

Scott

[bubby]

the guys that make the most noise," you cant hunt with that, it's just a toy" and so on, there the same ones that picked on the fat kid in school or the one with thick glasses, there's a certain amount of a-holes everywhere, most of the time they are to busy looking at it and how light it is and wanting to shoot mine, when I belonged to a archery club I always brought a bow that I had to loan out and let guys try it out, it's a blast 'cause most of them cant even come close without their sights, given several away just like that when they find out how fun they are to shoot, Bub

[Ifrit617]

I know how you feel. Here's a funny story.

Me and my dad were at a primitive knapp'in and my dad found a great deal on a fiberglass longbow that he snatched up immediately and carried around with him for the rest of the day. We wandered over to a guy who was making wooden bows and started talking to him and sharing stories when a random guy walked up to my dad and asked him if he was holding a "real" bow and where he found it. Keep in mind the whole time we were standing in front off 1/2 dozen finally crafted Osage bows.

I told him he was looking at about 1/2 dozen real bows, and he just looked dubious and scoffed at them. I was a little annoyed at this point and told him that wooden bows have been taking game for 10,000 years compared to fiberglass and compound bows that have been around less than a century. That shut him up real quick and me and my dad shared a good laugh.

Jon

[bubby]

yeah Jon, some people are just uneducated andand can learn and some just cant be educated,Bub

[Arrowind]

Wow.  Sounds like I touched a nerve.   
It's very interesting to read everyone's comments.  Thanks for sharing!  Us lesser "Homemade bow" people have to stick together.

Don't get me wrong he was not trying to look down on me.... (just my bows)    by any means.  He was actually trying to be nice. 
He genuinely just doesn't understand.  In fact I'm positive that it's been our conversations over the last few years that has given him the motivation to get back into archery which I think is really cool.   

I had no intention of drawing some kind of battle line or something between two camps.  Not at all.  I just thought it would be fun to share and was interested in hearing other peoples examples of encountering ignorance.

Now I have seen some people obviously looking down on me and my equipment at the range.  In fact one day my bro and I were out shooting our "homemade bows" and had our stuff all set up on a table at the 30 yard target and were preparing to shoot.  While we were stringing our bows two guys with their compound bows came walking right up and started shooting right there where we were set up.  They acted like they owned the place and we had no business being there and our stuff was merely an annoyance.  These guys were just jerks plain and simple.  Having "compound" bows didn't make them jerks they would have been jerks with golf clubs, bowling balls, squirt guns, or whatever they were using.   

I have also had some people with compound bows take quite a bit of time asking me questions about how I made my bows and were obviously impressed showing quite a bit of interest etc.    ...I'm sure you guys have had that happen as well.  Fun stuff! 

I have a friend who hunts with a compound bow and we have had several conversations about archery and my adventures in bow making.  He will go so far as to smile and call himself a cheater.  I say "no you aren't dude you just do things differently".   He smiles and says "no, I'm cheating."   He has a geat deal of admiration for traditional archery.  I think he goes with modern equipment because he doesn't get to get out and hunt as much as he would like and wants to give himself as much opportunity to be successful as possible. I totaly respect that.  He's a cool guy. 

Cool people will be cool no matter what they are using too.   

I wish I had a awesome hunting story of my own and hopefully I'll change that this year.   For now I need to improve my accuracy so I can feel good about actually killing something I'm trying to hit rather than injuring it and feeling horrible. 

I'll have to go to the range with my friend from work...or even make him a bow.  I'm sure once he shoots one a light will go off in his mind.

[DQ]

When talking about selfbows I prefer to say "handmade" in place of "homemade".  Homemade sounds inferior.  Handmade speaks of quality workmanship.  Just a thought.