Al33
Senior Member
I realize up front for many who have suffered great losses, the blessings may not be so obvious as mine is for me, after all, I have not even suffered the loss of a tree. Certainly my heart goes out to all, but I wanted to share this with my fellow Woodyites.
My neice and her husband are both in the Navy serving in Pensacola. She has been there for four years now. I have not seen her since she spent the summer with us here in Georgia at age 12. She is now 24. I got a call from her last Wednesday morning wanting to know if I could give them safe harbor for awhile. Of course I could and looked forward to their arrival. They got in Wednesday afternoon earlier than I thought traffic would allow them. Not having ever met her husband before, I quickly querried him about his likes and dislikes to see if we shared any common interests.
Just so happens he likes to hunt, and did a little in Wyoming with a firearm when he was there for a short while, but did not achieve a harvest.
Now most of you should know what my next question was.
I asked him if he shot a bow. He stated he never had. :speechles Knowing the rains were going to come at any time, I asked him if he wanted to shoot some. He said he doubted he could pull back a longbow before even thinking about asking about poundage. :
Now folks, this boy ain't no skinny kid. He works out everyday and it was obvious to me looking at his arms. I said, "You have got to be kidding" noting his arms. "C'mon, lets go shoot".
I put the right handed 62# Lofton longbow in his hand, which I keep for these occasions, showed him how to put on an armguard and finger glove, grabbed a few dozen arrows and out we went. I put him about 7 yards from the target and explained the basics. Like all beginners, he didn't even know which side of the bow the arrow went on or how to place his fingers. However, this young man listens good and learns fast. His first arrow completely missed the 3' x 3" target, reason being he allowed the arrow to pull away from the bow just before releasing it. We quickly remedied that problem and his following volley did not give cause for an arrow search. We stepped back to 15 yards and shot a few more. After looking for a few arrows buried under the grass, I brought out the flu-flu's. Wasn't likely he would lose one of these. I also took an empty drink can and placed it on the ground, had him follow me to a distance of 20 yards from the can, and told him he was about to pop that can. He exclaimed, "NO WAY" he could hit the can at that distance. That's when I explained to him the "sanp shooting" method of shooting a bow. Again I covered the basics for this style of shooting and his first shot came within about 6 inches of the can. He couldn't believe it. I said you will hit the can within a few more shots and watched his form closely as he continued shooting, all the while coming very close. After about 5 or 6 shots, I told him to pick out a very tiny spot on the can and to look at nothing else on the can. He shot and dead centered it sending it flying about 6 feet further back. We both were estatic, I think more me than him. I told him to shoot it again where it laid, and he drilled it again, two times in a row. Guess what folks? The boy is hooked big time. We continued to shoot both the flu-flu's and others until his arms got weary. Just waitng for better weather to do it some more.
This has been just one of the highlights of my enjoying their stay. I regret it took a hurricane to bring about the visit, but I am thankful.
Al
My neice and her husband are both in the Navy serving in Pensacola. She has been there for four years now. I have not seen her since she spent the summer with us here in Georgia at age 12. She is now 24. I got a call from her last Wednesday morning wanting to know if I could give them safe harbor for awhile. Of course I could and looked forward to their arrival. They got in Wednesday afternoon earlier than I thought traffic would allow them. Not having ever met her husband before, I quickly querried him about his likes and dislikes to see if we shared any common interests.
Just so happens he likes to hunt, and did a little in Wyoming with a firearm when he was there for a short while, but did not achieve a harvest. Now most of you should know what my next question was.
Now folks, this boy ain't no skinny kid. He works out everyday and it was obvious to me looking at his arms. I said, "You have got to be kidding" noting his arms. "C'mon, lets go shoot".I put the right handed 62# Lofton longbow in his hand, which I keep for these occasions, showed him how to put on an armguard and finger glove, grabbed a few dozen arrows and out we went. I put him about 7 yards from the target and explained the basics. Like all beginners, he didn't even know which side of the bow the arrow went on or how to place his fingers.
However, this young man listens good and learns fast. His first arrow completely missed the 3' x 3" target, reason being he allowed the arrow to pull away from the bow just before releasing it. We quickly remedied that problem and his following volley did not give cause for an arrow search. We stepped back to 15 yards and shot a few more. After looking for a few arrows buried under the grass, I brought out the flu-flu's. Wasn't likely he would lose one of these. I also took an empty drink can and placed it on the ground, had him follow me to a distance of 20 yards from the can, and told him he was about to pop that can. He exclaimed, "NO WAY" he could hit the can at that distance. That's when I explained to him the "sanp shooting" method of shooting a bow. Again I covered the basics for this style of shooting and his first shot came within about 6 inches of the can. He couldn't believe it. I said you will hit the can within a few more shots and watched his form closely as he continued shooting, all the while coming very close. After about 5 or 6 shots, I told him to pick out a very tiny spot on the can and to look at nothing else on the can. He shot and dead centered it sending it flying about 6 feet further back. We both were estatic, I think more me than him. I told him to shoot it again where it laid, and he drilled it again, two times in a row. Guess what folks? The boy is hooked big time. We continued to shoot both the flu-flu's and others until his arms got weary. Just waitng for better weather to do it some more. This has been just one of the highlights of my enjoying their stay. I regret it took a hurricane to bring about the visit, but I am thankful.
Al
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