Bow Technician
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Reidsville NC USA
Posts: 1
Bow Technician
As owner/operator of a rural, Northern Piedmont, North Carolina grocery/hardware store, wildlife check-in station averaging 550-600 deer per year, I am interested in expanding with hunting and fishing items. Being familiar with bows and bowhunting, I would also like to offer maintenance and tuning to my fellow hunters since there is no place close by to offer these services. Does anyone know of any courses/schools offering education in the set-up and tuning of bows? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
#3
RE: Bow Technician
I am sure one of the pro shop owners could give you some definitive help.....but I thought that PSE offered some form of training program for pro shop workers. I could be wrong though. You might want to check out their website for more info....www.pse-archery.com
#4
Typical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: .. NH USA
Posts: 970
RE: Bow Technician
Everyone thinks a compound bow is a pretty easy animal. Unfortunately, it is not. Regardless of their seemingly complacent appearance, they can be some of the nastiest critters to repair and tune CORRECTLY, contrary to popular belief.
Nothing, and I mean nothing, beats hands-on experience. You can read every book there is, and go to every school available, and you are just simply not going to learn it all, and this is where the hands-on part comes in. Being a dealer you will have instances where you will have to "wing-it", and to do that you must know the different brands, their configurations, and all of their individual quirks, and this takes years to learn. Anyone can go and learn to be a tech with enough to "get them by", but to become a tech that can handle any crisis you have to be in it for the long haul.
There is a wealth of knowledsge on the net to develop some basic skils, the easton technical page, Merlin website under "tec-talk", and the bowjackson website can point you in the right direction. There are shooter/dealer schools around, PSE has one of each, and I would recommend them both.(shooter schools are good for developing a relationship with the bow, and have some interesting points) Bernie Pellerite offers an NFAA school also, and you can also sit in on seminars by other Techs such as Norb Mullaney, Emery Loiselle, and Larry Wise at shows and throughout the year to learn more about the technical side of the bows themselves.
The bottom line is that one must develop a keen sense of understanding of BOTH the shooter and their individual styles and statures, in addition to learning individual compound systems and their quirks. Far too many hop in with both feet and think it is all fun and games with friends and a quick way to make a few extra bucks, but this illusion quickly fades when the "friends" come back screaming because their equipment wasn't set-up or repaired properly. Take the time to learn as much as you can about the equipment before you start to offer services, and take it from there. Good luck! Pinwheel 12
Nothing, and I mean nothing, beats hands-on experience. You can read every book there is, and go to every school available, and you are just simply not going to learn it all, and this is where the hands-on part comes in. Being a dealer you will have instances where you will have to "wing-it", and to do that you must know the different brands, their configurations, and all of their individual quirks, and this takes years to learn. Anyone can go and learn to be a tech with enough to "get them by", but to become a tech that can handle any crisis you have to be in it for the long haul.
There is a wealth of knowledsge on the net to develop some basic skils, the easton technical page, Merlin website under "tec-talk", and the bowjackson website can point you in the right direction. There are shooter/dealer schools around, PSE has one of each, and I would recommend them both.(shooter schools are good for developing a relationship with the bow, and have some interesting points) Bernie Pellerite offers an NFAA school also, and you can also sit in on seminars by other Techs such as Norb Mullaney, Emery Loiselle, and Larry Wise at shows and throughout the year to learn more about the technical side of the bows themselves.
The bottom line is that one must develop a keen sense of understanding of BOTH the shooter and their individual styles and statures, in addition to learning individual compound systems and their quirks. Far too many hop in with both feet and think it is all fun and games with friends and a quick way to make a few extra bucks, but this illusion quickly fades when the "friends" come back screaming because their equipment wasn't set-up or repaired properly. Take the time to learn as much as you can about the equipment before you start to offer services, and take it from there. Good luck! Pinwheel 12
#5
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Marquette MI USA
Posts: 69
RE: Bow Technician