Rick James

I know a few of you have owned a LOT of bows. I have owned a couple myself, but not as many as some of you. I love to hear stories and remember some of the older bows that were around when I started and even before.

So what have you owned?

My list is as follows, in order of oldest to newest:

Multiple no namelong bows from age 6 to about 10

Darton 35lb recurve

Ben Pearson 45lb recurve

PSE compound - really old school, don't remember model. DL was way too long but I was 12 and I was proud of it.

1994? PSE Polaris Express - Killed a lot of deer with this bad boy, including my first at 13 years old.

1997? PSE Baby G - was loud as heck, shot like crap, but was the newest, greatest thing on the market and everyone thought it was cool. Fast for that time too.

2003 Bowtech Mighty Mite - good bow, too short for me though with a 29" DL. Screwed up my anchor point and I developed some bad shooting habits because of this and the baby g before it.

2004 Bowtech Patriot - LOVED this bow....first bow I owned that fit me like a glove. I won a lot of local competition with this bow, and I managed to break a LOT of bad habits with it and develop some good form.

2005 Bowtech Allegiance - Didn't like it when I first got it because of the draw force curve. Still don't like the draw force curve, but I shoot it better than any bow I have ever shot that was 33" ata or shorter including the Patriot, so I will keep it for hunting/backup 3D bow. Faster than all get out at 29" 70lbs, and 352 grains.

2006 Bowtech Consitution Black Marble - Love it, still haven't shot it (tonight). My first target colored bow. I may be biased, but it is the best looking bow I have ever seen. I hope to shoot it as well as it looks.

Wolf killer

I might have the shortest listed posted?
1) PSE ThunderBolt.
2) Darton Typhoon
3) BowTech Tribute.

I bought the ThunderBolt as my first bow, because I could hit somewhere on the target with it every time.[&:] I wanted to buy the BabyG, because it was the cool thing to buy. Even I knew that would have been a mistake.

The Darton Typhoon was fast & felt good to shoot. Looking back I only bought it because I wanted something new. I never shot that bow any better than the PSE.

The BowTech Tribute, is the first bow that I followed everyone advise on. I shot the bows I wanted to shoot. Then I picked the bow that felt best to me.

Cougar Mag

First "real" bow with enough poundage adequate to hunt with : Browning recurve I bought at a garage sale.
Browning Explorer recurve
PSE Proficientcy....4 wheeler with brackets on tips of limbs. Killed my first deer with this bow my first year of bowhunting. My first compound bow.
Browning Compound Hunter.....very accurate bow with 21% letoff.
PSE Citation...4 wheeler that was sweet for its time. My first "top end" bow.
Martin Cougar
Martin Cougar Magnum...one of the first 2 wheeled bows that featured magnum cams..one of the fastest bows made at the time.
Martin Warthog Magnum....beautiful wood riser compound with the magnum cams, recoiled like a mule.
Jennings T-star
Martin Pro Magnum....red riser, black limbs that featured a cable guard similiar to a modern Matthews' roller guard.
Martin Cougar Magnum
Oneida Screaming Eagle.....fast, accurate and very loud!
Golden Eagle Hunter.....sweet shooter!
Golden Eagle Orion
Martin Firecat...all in all perhaps my favorite bow ever!
High Country Top Flite
PSE Fireflight
High Country Royal Hunter
Oneida Strike Eagle
Oneida Lite Force Magnum..very nice shooter with good speed
Jennings Buckmaster......my worst bow ever!
Martin Cougar Magnum....modern version. Have hunted with it 5 seasons now.
Bowtech Patriot.....my new bow.

PABowhntr

I am going to split this up by manufacturers so it is easier for me to remember.

Browning:

Afterburner
Ignitor
Eclipse
Backdraft 80
Combustion
Nitro

Martin:

Bobcat
Rage
Cheetah

Hoyt:

Raider (2)
Havoc (5)
Havoctec
Magnatec (2)
MT Sport
Razortec
Supertec

Sterner Duttera:

Rhino 31

Jennings/Fred Bear/Buckmasters:

CK 3.4R
Rackmaster
G2
G2XL
G2SL
BM 320
Whitetail (Bear)
Epic Extreme (2)
TRX 32

Bowtech:

Patriot SC (2)
Patriot DC
Mighty Mite
Liberty
Pro 40 Freedom
Pro 38 DC
Old Glory '05
Old Glory '06 (soon)

Diamond:

Triumph

XI:

Paragon

PSE:

Nova
Carrera
Tbolt LC

Parker:

UL 31
UL 35

Cougar Mag

Jimminy Frank! You are not nearly as old as me........you must have traded bows 2 or 3 times a year!

newman1

1999 Hoyt MagnaTec
2000 Bowtech Black Knight2
2005 Bowtech Allegiance
2005 Hoyt Gamemaster


Thats all...for now

Primitive Weapon

Just one, so far.

2005 "Bowtech" Diamond Victory - 60# & 28in draw length

PABowhntr

...or just had 3 or 4 bows at one time. That was a "long" time ago though, before I was married with two kids, a mortgage, car payments....

..in other words, back when I had money.

mobow

Bear Whitetail Hunter
Bear Whitetail Hunter 2
Pro Line New Wave
Pro Line Riptide
Hoyt Ultra Mag

Arthur P

Compounds.

No-name Pearson (at least it had the deer hoof cutouts in the wheel hangar brackets, so I assume it was a Pearson.)
Hoyt Pro Series Gametter.
Hoyt Pro Hunter - won lots of field archery shoots with that one.
Golden Eagle Hunter - Yep. One of the sweetest shooters made.
Martin Cougar XRG - drew 110 pounds and shot 30" 2419's with a 4" overdraw. I broke a brand new McKenzie deer target when I shot it with that bow and the club banned it from the range.
Hoyt ProVantage Tracer - won many field and 3D tournaments with that one too.
2nd Hoyt ProVantage - can't remember the model though. Piece of junk. Crappiest quality and workmanship I ever saw from Hoyt. Quit shooting Hoyt for a long time after that bow.
Bear compound - Don't remember the model, but it was the first one from Bear with a fastflight string and steel cables. Broke three sets of limbs on that one.

Got entirely ticked at compounds and went back to traditional. 10 years later, back to compounds again.

Hoyt Raider Intruder. Never did shoot it as well as I thought I should.
Hoyt MagnaTec Intruder. I liked that bow pretty well, but it was like lugging a chunk of lead around. Heavy sonuvagun!
McPherson SoloLite. My first single cam bow. Good bow, but it only drew 31" and I had to use a very long string loop in order to shoot it. Decided to go back to a bow that really fit me.
Martin Jaguar w/Fuzion cam.
Pearson 440 Quad. Dual track single cam. It solved most of the problems I had with singles. I liked it but didn't keep it long because I was asked to shoot Hoyt for the local shop. Since I don't hunt with compounds and only use them for tournaments, I couldn't use it.
Hoyt ProTec. Good bow but I absolutely HATE Tec risers. It is my last compound. Period. End of discussion. No more compounds for me!

Traditional.

Aside from dozens of selfbows and no-name secondhand recurves I've had over the years...

Hoyt Ram Reflex - what a recurve that was! Sold it on advice of the Hoyt rep. He said it would blow up if I kept shooting it at my draw length.
Bear Black Panther.
Damon Howatt Hunter... I've had at least six of 'em.
Martin ML-14 Mountaineer longbow- two of those. I thought they kicked like mules... that is,until I got hold of a Jerry Hill longbow!
Pearson Colt - two
Homemade longbow that I got from a guy at a tournament. It was pretty good.
Dan Quillian Bamboo Longhunter
Bill Stewart Multicam longbow
Pearson Cougar
Brackenbury Legend - it had the mojo and I've regretted selling it every day since.
PSE longbow - [:'(]
Jerry Hill longbow - [:'(][:'(]
Saxon Mongoose - two
Bighorn Custom TD - wierd grip gave me tendonitis in my elbow. Sold it pretty soon after getting it.
Bear Cub - 1955 vintage. Got it just to have an old Bear, but I can't have a bow and not shoot it. Sold it so I wouldn't break a collectible.
Samick Explorer - still got it but it's got a busted limb and Ihaven't bought replacement limbs yet. Probably won't.
Homemade reflex/deflex longbow - made it myself and love it.
ChekMate Kings Pawn Special
Wing Redwing Hunter - @ 1965 vintage. My latest acquisition. Super nice litte bow. Can't believe I waited so many years to get one.

I've probably forgottenquite a fewothers.