Cougar Mag

Started shooting a recurve I bought at a garage sale in 1976 and it broke in '77. Bought a new PSE Proficientcy compound for $120 in '77, practiced hard and bowhunted for the first time. October of '77 I got lucky and killed my first deer.....young 8 pt. buck. Never saw a lot of deer back in the late '70's and hardly ever saw another bowhunter for that matter. Permission to hunt was easy to get for bowhunting. It was quite a novelty to many people. One permit allowed. I wasn't concerned with getting a big buck, just happy to get a shot at almost any deer. Wore facepaint every hunt, anybody who saw me wear using it to hunt with really thought it was cool! Seriously, anybody who saw a bowhunter sort of admired them for trying to bowhunt.

Most compounds were 40-50% letoff. My second compound bow was a Browning and I kid you not the letoff was 25%....sweet shooter. Everyone shot with fingers that I knew of. I made homemade treestands and never got very high[8D]. Man, time has flown by.

sandilands

Our stories are different but similar. My dad was a rifle man. I thought he was the best hunter in the world. I got my first deer rifle at 18 and used it. The got a muzzleloader...... then a bow. I was extending my hunting season. Nope. Now I'm a die hard bow hunter. Haven't touched a rifle/muzzleloader this yr. I don't think I ever will again. Bow hunting is just so much more ofa challenge. If my family gets together for a rifle hunt........ I'll be there with my bow.
Oh and I later found out my dad has only killed 2 deer in his life. I found this out when I tiold him that I had hit 43 with all weapons. 9 with a bow. I think he was choked.......... in a good way. My son the hunter!

I was born in 78. Can't imagine how few bowhunters there were. Barn stormers! I thank you all!

Schultzy

All of you guys that say you only had one tag years ago, It's still that way In some spots now. My spot In central Minnesota Is one of them. Only 3 times In 24 years of me hunting have we had more then 1 tag available to us bow hunters In my area.

TFOX

I had a bow in the 70's,an old ben Pearson recurve(buddy has it now) but I never hunted untill the 80's.

Cougar Mag

I feel for you Schultzy. I remember taking a deer and then the thought sinking in that I was done for the season[:-].

Vabowman

I remember the early 90's the most...I was 15 in 1990when I first climbed into my first homemade stand...my buddy and I made 3 stands in locations that just looked good, no sign of deer, but just looked like deer would walk through there...boy were we disappointed that first day...I never looked back though, I loved it then and love it now...I remember back in 88 when I got my first compound before ever hunting, I thought I was Rambo...Golden Eagle Talon Predator....man I thought that thing was fast....never killed a deer with it...but I remember back in the late 80's thinking that a bowhunter was a strange bird around here....come to think of it, we still are

y2khog

Yes things were a bit different back then. I got my first bow, a Jennings Twin Star back in '78 for Christmas. Didn't hunt that season as I was just learning to shoot. I've had four of my right hand fingers cut off and re-attached but still missing most of my index finger. I was told that I couldn't expect to ever be very accurate. Well after lots of practice I started winning all the shoots in the club so the following year I bought a Bear Alaskan. 76#with 33 % letoff. Man that thing seemed fast! Shooting full lenght Easton 2219 "logs" out of a Baker Climber I killed my first doe. What a feeling. Gun hunting was never the same. I feel for you guys that can only get one tag. Hunting in South Louisiana is hard after the hurricanes and what they did to the woods but we do get 6 tags. 3 antlered and 3 non-antlered.

GMMAT

When I see some of the equiment from yesteryear.....I have to wonder how some of you old-schoolers think about where we are, today.

First bow I shot was a pine bough....lol. I graduated to a recurve in HS....but never shot it at an animal (I'd only seen ONE deer at that point in my life). Hunting them seemed futile (and very well would have been!).

I rmember paper shotgun shells.....and remember thinking my double-barrel was a helluva multiple shot weapon....lol.

I think it's cool that many of you have been through most all of the advancements in archery. I find myself wanting to get back "more" to its' roots (trad shooting).

Great thread....and I've enjoyed everyone's stories.

Vabowman

When I got into bowhunting Treebark was huge.. easton alum arrows were the thing, Thunderheads 125 grwere the tip to use and "loc on" tree stands were popular...earth masking scent by some off brand company, Davey Brackets doe urine, screw in steps that folded up, cow skinfinger tabs, straight brass pins with finger nail polish for brightness for sights!!! A grunt call, nothing fancy there....and a Golden eagle compound then i stepped it up to Hoyt Raider!!! And to get me pumped....I would watch Roger Raglin's"Plenty of Big Bucks to Spare East of the Mississippi" and the "Bowhunter" by Kurt Gowdy.....man, I knew absolutely nothing about what i was doing, but God it was fun...still is....however we are losing some that with all the QDM, mature buck talk, gadgets, gimicks, outfitters.. etc...

BobCo19-65

I started bowhunting in 1979 when I was 14. There were most definetely a few hard core bowhunters back then. We'd frequently visit them as they were camping. It was a lot different attitude wise though in general.