Hello all,
This is my first post on rokslide. I originally just joined to get to the classifieds, but after reading a bunch of threads, I am excited to learn from such a large community of hunters.
Here's the dream:
I have been whitetail hunting with a compound bow for years in Northwestern WI. The last few years have been tough to get out bowhunting because of school, but I am getting the itch to be more committed next fall.
I kicked around the idea of traditional bowhunting since high school, but never got around to it. Naturally, with a number of years for the idea to slip in and out of my mind, I got it into my head that I want to build the bow myself too.
Traditional archery has always seemed cool to me, ever since my dad gave a bow with suction cup arrows as a young boy. In hindsight, this was probably long before I was old enough to wield that kind of power. I don't remember this, but apparently I smoked him in the forehead from the top of the stairs as he walked by. When asked what I was doing, I said "I'm in my deer stand, Dad. I'm hunting deer."
A year ago, I cut some ironwood(eastern hophornbeam) logs from around the family hunting cabin. Last spring, I built a shave horse. This fall, I finally got around to splitting and carving down a stave. I still have to tiller and finish. With my intermittent progress, I hope to finish my first bow, learn to shoot it, build a new bow that works well enough to hunt, and go kill a buck next fall. Someday, I think it would be awesome to take an elk in the backcountry with a selfbow. If I don't do that, at least with a compound.
Attached is a picture of my stave so far. Simple flatbow design. 1.75" wide limbs at the widest. I plan to reinforce the handle section and cut an arrow shelf. Might recurve the limb tips... we will see once I get to tillering.
Would anyone be willing to share stories and/or lessons about when you were first getting into traditional bowhunting, bowbuilding, graduating from suction cups to broadheads, etc?
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