Who's YOUR Archery Mentor?

[Brandon Pattison]

Mine is my dad. But, not because he bowhunted before me or taught me how to bowhunt but because he helps me. If anything I help him with my OCD, in regards to archery. Here are merely two small examples from a myriad of examples.

He made the flemish string jig with my idea and the arrow straightener 20 years ago to keep me shooting longer. He helped me build my house and puts up with my ornery requests. Who's yours?

 

[Brandon Pattison]

Maybe 25 years ago on the straightener. We made a turkey wing processor. He made a sweet pre-parallel limb bow press. He took up bowhunting to spend time with ME! There's a bowcamp going 32 years strong from GM tool and die workers that I look forward to each fall. In fact, these guys made CNC-machined overdraws and PSE Mongoose sight pin blocks in the late '80s and early '90s because mass-produced accessories were sloppy.

 

[Lawnboi]

Your lucky, archery talk was my only mentor. Still have a lot to learn though.

 

[Rucker61]

For me, it's the owners of Gannett Ridge Archery in Fort Collins, Tyler and Josh. They've listened to a lot of questions in the last year or so.

 

[jmez]

I never really had one. Didn't know anyone that bowhunted when growing up so pretty much everything was done on my own.

 

[Buster]

My dad, cause he prepared me for bowhunting from when I was old enough to pull a tiny long bow. I remember waking up one morning when I was 4 to see styrofoam cutouts of rabbits throughout the yard. Apparently he was up until 2am cutting out targets for me to "hunt".

 

[velvetfvr]

My dad got me a bow and his friend helped me a little, but he passed on before he could see me get my first animal (muley this year) with a bow.

And the rest has been from knowledgable guys on forums.

 

[Archelk]

Never grew up around hunting unfortunately. Looked up to my dad for a lot of other reasons but everything concerning bow hunting elk was self taught with a lot of reading and help from strangers like you guys on this forum. I'll never forget reaching out to complete strangers for help on where to go hunting in Colorado OTC. A retired minister who hunts sent me a PM on an exact spot that had been good to him for the last 10 years. We went there out first year and called in a bull. Never got a shot but from that day on we were hooked. We had no clue what the hell we were doing at the time but this "spot" has been good to us for the last 7 years as well. Crazy that a complete stranger gave me a chance and gave me information that I will forever be grateful for.

 

[Manosteel]

Never had what you would call an archery mentor, got into the sport 20+ years ago becuase I liked the challenge of getting in tight on animals and the more time it took to get one down. My Dad and uncles taught me how to hunt and it always seemed like we were getting inside of 40 yards on every animal we harvested so I figured why not do it with a bow.

A few years ago I met a mathews pro staffer and we became good friends and hunting buddies. He took my archery shooting form to another level, gone was the writst strap and he forced me to a handheld release (painfull process), and my effective range has doubled. I now practice at distance (80+ yards) regularly and work on my own stuff, tunning, arrows etc... basically turned my garage into a tech shop, press and all.

 

[JWP58]

For me, it's the owners of Gannett Ridge Archery in Fort Collins, Tyler and Josh. They've listened to a lot of questions in the last year or so.

Great shop with good dudes running. My mentor is a coworker/friend who knows more about bows and bowhunting then I will ever know lol.

 

[Nick Muche]

My dad, without a doubt!

He never tinkers with his setup or goes to great lengths to make sure he has the best of anything, but the guy flat out gets it done every year. If not for him I have no idea where I would be right now. He's been a great mentor when it comes to my love for bow hunting.

 

[Evan Williams]

Archery Wise I believe that I have 3. 2 are guys that I work with Bill Pellegrino and Kurt Geist and the other is my Mule Deer Guru Marc aka MULEYSLAYER Smith.

 

[dreamingbig]

My Dad! He introduced me at an early age and we are still hunting together 30yrs later. Thanks Dad!

 

[nflesher]

My parents neighbor who was retired when we were young and had our first bows. He set my golden eagle up so good, I thought it was a Matthews lol. He showed me and my older brother a lot of the basics. I still have a lot to learn, but he helped us out more than we knew at the time. He is 74 now, and still hits it hard every fall. I hope I can do the same at that age.

 

[Pilgrim]

Well, my very first bow hunting and archery mentor passed away last week, family friend. He taught me how to shoot. I'd say any more, the few hunting buddies I have are my mentors, as they have been for a decade or so. No better group of guys than your hunting crew.

 

[Bowhuntr64]

Since moving out to Colorado, my top two mentors are Aron Snyder and Shane Chuning (Ontarget7). Aron is my gear and strategy teacher and Shane is my archery tech teacher

 

[5MilesBack]

Never really had a mentor. My dad quit big game hunting when I was 10 when his partner and family were killed in his private plane. So had to pick it all up on my own.