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I remember well my first bow. It was an old recurve Bear Bow. As a matter of fact I believe it had an emblem of Fred Bear himself on it. It was awesome, I loved it.  My Uncle Art Sr. gave it to me when I was just a kid to get me excited about bow hunting with him and my cousin Art Jr.  Man, those were the days. In my case the good ole days.  I remember when my Uncle Art gave it to me. He asked "would you like to start hunting with me and Artie?"  "Would I"  I said, "I would love it." As a young kid I always admired the great outdoors. Art knew that about me.

 

That's where it all started.  I was just a young man. I never had the experience of bow hunting, but I was about to learn. To start with, stringing that thing was ruff. Just as ruff as unstringing it. Remember those days. When you would have to do that?  Well I do. Maybe you have to be considered an ole timer to know this. But if you didn't have a stringer you had to stuff the corner of the limb of the bow in between the sole of your shoe where it met with the bottom of the shoe and bend it down enough to slide the string off. If you were to cheat and step on the end of the bow you could crack the limb. Yeah that bow was the cats meow. I loved it. It was a fiber glass white long stick bow. A recurve. But I covered it with camo cloths and threw some cat whiskers on the string. We set the knocking points. Art threw in an old back quiver and some arrows with field tips for practice and an arm guard to help save my wrist. The sights I would have to buy in time, but I didn't. Maybe that's why I learned to shoot instinctive.

At any rate I can remember him giving me some of his old camo clothing and boots and gloves just to take me hunting with him and Art Jr. Man it was great. He put me on the ground for my 1st hunt while he went up in a tree stand across the field from me. I could still see him after he was in his stand but barely. I think he was hunting and keeping an eye on me for my 1st bow hunt. He set me up with Razor Back broad heads and I think Game Getter arrows. Man that was a great time. I remember it like yesterday. I am now 51 years old. I was about 17 when this took place yet I remember it well. Talk about fun. I got a bit impatient after awhile and started thinking maybe I won't do this sport after all. But year after year I went back. I couldn't get it out of my blood. It became such a fad with me that it became one of my favorite sports. Even though on that 1st particular hunt I started to get a bit impatient after awhile. But for some reason I still loved it after we left the woods. It was just in me now. Don't know why. But I enjoyed being out there.  At any rate, after the 1st day I was kind of cold and hungry and tired, but I went out with them the next day. We did the traditional hunt. Hunt in the early morning hours until about noon, take a break, come in for awhile, ate a bit, rest and head back out for the evening hunt.

Funny thing about that. Year after year I kept going back for more. There was something about the great outdoors that kept me coming back for some more bow hunts. My first year I did not get a deer. But I was proud as could be with my Fred Bear Bow. As a matter of fact Fred Bear became my idol that year. I think somewhere in the back of my mind I have kind of idolized the man every since. Of course it's no secret that the man has passed on many years ago. But he invented the bear bow. That to me back then would be like winning a million bucks today. As far as the deer go, I've been getting them now. But when I first started out it took me until my 3rd year where I was getting better at sticking them whitetails.

But now I'm good enough that I can get them from tree stands, hunting blinds, or just on the ground in good cover. As far as site shooting yeah, I do it. But I still like the challenge of instinctive. However, no matter what you enjoy, with sites or without, if you're one of those lucky enough to be able to get out and bow hunt be thankful. I am every day. So thanks Fred Bear. Thanks Art and Art Jr, and thank GOD for the break to be able to get out into the wild outdoors to truly be a part of nature. There's nothing better then that.

Written by :

drr1289