Critr-Gitr

I missed the 70's by a little bit, but not much, I got in in the early 80's. First bow was a Martin Bobcat, with 2018's and satelite broadheads. Dad had a Browning that looked like a cross between a recurve and a compound. Brass sight pins with paint on them, shooting a glove with no peep. Didn't know anyone else that used a bow besides us. We hunted turkey with them for a couple of years but never got one. There really weren't any deer to speak of then.

Got out of the bowhunting for quite a while, was briefly back into it late 90's, and started the current serious foray into it around 2005. Had that same bow, just upgraded sights, rest and release untill '05 when I sprang for the Bowtech I have now.

virginiashadow

My hats off to you guys blazing the trail for others to follow. Great stories guys.

crenshaw

I wasnt even a twinkle in my fathers eye yet in 1970. But my hat is off to those of you that hunted with archery back then. thank you for paving the way for today.

bigcountry

I didn't start until 1982, but one thing I remember is you definately had the woods to yourself. Bowhunting wasn't that strong. Especially in my area. I had a bear whitetail. People didn't go after deer near as hard as they do today. It was one of those things you did it if you had time. Then around 1988, I graduated to a browning excellerator II. great bow. Things started picking up. I knew many friends who took up bowhunting. People started hunting the rut exclusively.Everybody was goingcrazy for these crazy trigger releases.But still in my area, hunting was mainly the orange army. Around 1990-94, it seemed things started to explode. PSE was heavy on the scene, performance was good. We all had overdraws and some even had these fancy carbons. Some people were blowing up thier bows on these fancy carbons. Everybody I knew was doing it. Everybody was hitting the woods pretty hard.

Now, lets move forward to today. Bowhunting is hot. Multibillion dollar market. About as many people do it as gun hunt. Resources are endless. And I am not sure how I feel about all these changes.

Rickmur

This was my 1st year of bow hunting back in 1973. Bow was a 2 wheel Jennings shooting alumium arrows. At the time mostly what was used was 4 wheel and some where useing 6 wheel bows. I was looked upon as somewhat strange shooting a 2 wheel bow.The bow shot on the 120fps range but killed many a deer over the years.Deer were far and few between but what deer you did see were big. This was a 170 lb dressed 6 pt. My how bows and timeshave changed.

davidmil

I started bowhunting in 1971 when I returned from my second tour in Vietnam. Hunted with a recurve for several years and then went through 3 compounds in 2 years. I finally settled on a PSE Lazer Magnum in the late 70s and hunted with that bow into the 90s. Shot a deer my first year. When I started bowhunting in NY there were literally no bowhunters around. I hunted my first 5 or 6 years and never saw another bowhunter. Deer herds were a lot smaller in most places. I think just about everything was one tag up until the later 80s. My first bow kill. And WOW... Rickmur with a mullet. LOL

burniegoeasily

Early 80s is when I got serious about bow hunting. Most I did was bow fish, shooting frogs (while everyone else was gigging them) and shoot rabbits in the 70s, and that would have been in 78 on. And at that time, people thought I was crazy.

doc098

This was taken by the great grandmother's, yes grandmother,deer taken in the early 70's. Largest deer in the state for that year.(1972?) That is my dad standing next to it. This picture was taken for a newspaper in the 90's.

Taken in Tensas Parish, LA. The story goes that she didn't realise it was there until she went to climb from her stand made of 2X4's and saw it bedded under the tree she was in. True? I don't know, but it makes for a good story!

Sliverflicker

My cousin gave me my first longbow around 1960, had to hold it sideways to shoot it. Gotmy firstnew Bear recurve in 1963 and started putting a hurting on some of the local small game. Killed my first buck in 1967 with a 50# Kodiak. Started shooting competitively in the late 60's. Mid 70's Uncle Sam got, but still managed to hunt AL,VA and SC a little, spent 2 seasons in Okinawa and never touched a bow!. Things changed alot in them 4 years, went to get me a new bow in 1978 and no one even carried a recurve, I picked up my first compound. At the same time I figured out that if I kept filling my tags with little bucks, I could never kill a big one. Took me a few seasons to score on a big one, but it was worth the wait. Went back in the service in the mid 80's and stayed till 95 and missed 2 more seasons while in Korea, but hunted KY, GA, and Kansas. Dont know what I was thinking when we moved here, one of the worse countys in the state of MI for big bucks, butI will movesoon!

NCBloodtrailer

You mean these aren't popular anymore? But really, this is what I still use, and probably will for at least a few more years until I get into the cedar arrows and flint points.