Special Report ustom bows. Bold, graceful arrows hit where you’re looking – bows are always in great demand. lines and striking patterns of without sights. After a few shots, as Additionally, traditional archers often Ccontrasting hardwoods blend you’re walking back to the shooting feel special connections to their bows. form and function, resulting in a hand line, you’re picturing yourself stalking is is evidenced by the way so many crafted masterpiece created by a true your next big game animal, with this of them have names inked on them. master of the art. When a bowyer mas- bow of course. Your heart beats a bit I have done it myself: named bows. ters the bow building process, each faster. As you imagine the scene, the Perhaps you have as well. It’s OK. bow is an expression of his or her pas- animal appears, you pick a spot and in Hunting with traditional bows and sion and intuition. From that moment an instant, the arrow is away. A perfect arrows is an intimate game. Shots are in time, there is magic in every bow his shot! e animal is yours. Now you’re generally up close and personal, so you or her skilled hands bring to life. hopelessly lost; this bow must be yours. need a hunting partner you can trust. Not only are these exotic bows easy Driving home, you look over at your Compound shooters are drawn to on the eyes; some seem to carry a beautiful new custom bow and smile. traditional recurve bows and longbows power of attraction. You might nd All is right with the world. too. Many of them have complete con- yourself irresistibly drawn to one of e preceding story has repeated dence in their day to day compounds them. At rst, you might simply nd itself for generations. As humans, we’re but still they view them as mechanical yourself appreciating the inherent naturally drawn to objects of beauty, shooting machines. ey know how beauty and may only be interested in especially when those objects are tools deadly accurate they can be but they a closer view but then you pick the we will regularly use. ere is actual often admit that something is missing. I bow up. At once, you notice that your and intrinsic value in owning a tool hand ts the grip perfectly. You weren’t that is at the top of its class, one that expecting that. It’s so beautiful. What will truly get its intended job done the heck, what can it hurt to shoot more easily and more pleasurably for it? Wow. It’s smooth and fast and the its owner. For this reason, true custom Roy Hall (right) is a true gentleman and master of his craft. His open, honest style and well made bows bring him a lot of A selection of the high-performance de ex-re ex longbows crafted by Roy Hall, custom repeat business. Here, he discusses the bowyer and owner of Navajo Bows. Although best known for his ne Apache, Aztec and virtues of his riser and limb designs with a Cherokee longbows, he does also o er a recurve called the Diamond. customer at the Kalamazoo show. 76 July13AT076-086.indd 76 6/4/13 3:57 PM Custom & Near-Custom Bowyers By Todd Smith Time and time again Mike Yancey, premier self bow craftsman and owner of Pine Hollow Longbows shows the e ectiveness of self bows with his big game harvests. Mike o ers bow building classes at your location. It is a great opportunity for you and your customers to learn the art of self bow making. say that because over and over, we who bow is simply more sell traditional bows hear the same special and easier basic story told and retold of how these for an archer to con- compound shooting bowhunters are nect with. each looking for an extra challenge, or What exactly is perhaps they’re each looking for some- a custom bow? at thing more, a deeper connection to the is a good question Self bows of all natural materials are pictured here in harmony weapon of choice. and there is no clear with the natural world. Self bows are totally natural, use no I used to often share with custom- cut answer. ere is berglass and, when constructed by the skilled hands of a master ers who were converting from com- a ne line between bowyer, are amazingly e cient and lethal weapons. These ne self bows pictured are by Mike Yancey of Pine Hollow Longbows. pound to traditional that it seemed to what archers think me the archery industry had through of as “custom bows” as opposed to “fac- to mainstream media. Many pro shops the years, in the name of eliminating tory bows.“ Even at factories like Bear have been adding what we call “fac- human error, come very close to elimi- Archery and Martin Archery, it takes tory bows” to their lineups. e two nating the human element. is state- hands-on skill from trained individuals main players for years have been Bear ment always seemed to be received to manufacture the quality products Archery and Martin Archery. Both with a resounding, “Yes, that’s it!” e they are known for. What if a bowyer manufacturers o er beautiful and customers want more of themselves in has an employee or two? What if dupli- well performing bows but what of the the bow-hunter relationship and that is cation machines, CNC machines, jigs, custom bowyer in America? What of what shooting a traditional bow o ers. etc., are used? e nal choice is yours; the craftsman that seems destined to Many bowhunters want this extra what do you consider custom? For the make bows? At the time of this writ- connection to their bows and this con- most part, traditional archers of today ing, America is recognized as home to nection seems much easier to manifest consider a bow custom if it was made many of the nest custom bow build- with a bow that has been built by a by an individual craftsman who builds ers in the world. For those of us in this particular craftsman from start to n- one bow at a time, start to nish, giving country who have been in the industry ish rather than a bow that was created customers their choice of core wood, from the 1980s, this fact is easy to take on an impersonal assembly line. Right berglass color, bow weight and bow for granted. For those outside of the or wrong, that is the impression we length. United States, it is a di erent story. have. If a custom bowyer builds a bow As we have stated in previous arti- Even though there are many ne from start to nish, pouring his heart, cles, recurves and longbows are cur- factory bows on the market, what many intuition and skills into the work, that rently enjoying quite a revival thanks people don’t realize is that the retail 77 July13AT076-086.indd 77 6/7/13 3:32 PM The distinctive lines, exotic wood combinations and Great Plains These one piece recurves from the Great Plains Traditional Bow medallion have made these one piece longbows from the Great Company show many of the riser wood choices and combinations Plains Traditional Bow Company popular with traditional archers of a customer will have when ordering a bow from this supplier. all kinds. price of many top quality custom bows is not all that much higher than the price of many factory bows. If some- one can get a custom bow for nearly the same price as a factory bow, why wouldn’t he or she upgrade to the cus- tom bow? Custom bows can be pro table. I have personally seen the sale of cus- tom bows work well for both the dealer and the bowyer. Back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when I worked with ree Rivers Archery, we o ered bows from several custom bow companies. In those days, our mail order cata- log, website and bricks-and-mortar shop showcased custom bows from Appalachian Archery, Elburg Bows, Kohannah Bows, Legacy Bows and the Great Plains Bow Company. e expo- Bill and Linda Foreman are well known for their unique bow designs, their workman- sure worked out well for the individual ship and their mastery of combining hardwoods and phenolic with dramatic e ect. All this is quite evident in these three piece recurves from the Great Plains Traditional Bow bowyers and of course, the bow sales Company. and assorted accessory sales were good for building customer relations and for dealers if they did not already, what started out small. ey advertised in the nancial growth of our company. sorts of discounts would be acceptable retail traditional archery magazines, Remember those accessories that go to them and what advice they might traveled to various traditional shoots along with traditional bows: quivers, give to dealers o ering custom bows. and trade shows and, in time, built cli- gloves, tabs, strings, tip protectors, eir views were very consistent but ent bases that now totally self-perpetu- stringers and more. there were some surprising exceptions. ate through repeat business and word How does one add custom bows to e bottom line is that with a little of mouth referrals. his or her retail shop? ere are many e ort, you should be able to add cus- ese are usually not the bowyers things to consider and many options tom bows or custom made exclusives you are going to be selling in your shop.