For those that bow hunted in the mid to late 90’s.....

Hunterreed

Twelve Pointer
I had a red dot scope mounted on the old round wheel bow I shot for years. Eliminated the need for a peep sight on the string. Made shooting in low light easier and could shoot with both eyes open. Just had to know arrow trajectory well at 30 yards my maximum distance I put the dot on top of the deer's back
 

Rexm0311

Spike
I started in 90 when I was 11 with a no name recurve (no attached quiver, no sights, tab rest) that I could barely draw. My trajectory was similar to a mortar. My dad already rifle hunted but started us bow hunting as a compromise to my mother who terrified of me being out during rifle season.
 

Hunting Nut

Old Mossy Horns
My first bow was a Ben Pearson Grey Ghost. Shot XX75 2216 arrows and 30"draw. No idea of speed. 80# draw weight. Shot a finger tab.
Then, late 90's I bought a Hoyt Defiant Supreme. 70 lb draw weight, I think 2317 arrows. I think it shot about 235 fps range. Finger tab, then started using a fletch hunter release had a TM hunter rest with the slide on plastic covers. Finally started killing deer with that one.
Still have both of them.
 

labman63

Ten Pointer
I was reading this thread trying to remember the bow I had in early 90's. I knew it was called Legend and saw the post about XI. That was it. XI Legend Magnum. I killed a truckload of deer with that thing. Bought it at Colonial gun shop in Hillsbourgh in 1990 I think. . I think it shot in the low 200's but can't remember the arrow. My first bow in 1978 ( I was 15) was a Darton....had never even heard of a crono back then and lost about 3 doz arrows the first week or two. Nobody I knew shot a bow and I had no clue what I was doing. Had a little metal red Hotshot release lol. I tend to keep a bow a long time. I have had 3 bows since 1978. I now shoot a Switchback I bought in 2005 and probably will until it breaks or I die.
 

chumstain

Button Buck
Killed a lot of deer with an old hand me down Darton SL 1000 from late 70s or early 80s. It never broke 175 fps through a chronograph. 10, 20, and a 25 yard pins. I believe it was only 40% let off. Hunted with that bow until 2006.
 

CJF

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Darton.png

Here is my old Darton SL50. It didn't win any speed contest shooting Easton XX75 aluminum arrows, but it was a step up from my Robin Hood Recurve bow. I eventually switched over to a Parker Hunter Magnum which was much faster.

LOL by the mid 90's I had already bow hunted for over 20 years. I feel old now.
 
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Andrewd

Six Pointer
Your comment about Robin Hood recurve made me think about my first compound. It was a Robin Hood twin cam deal. With xx75. With a 3 finger tab.
 

30/06

Twelve Pointer
Started out with a hand me down bear something or other from my cousin. No one in my immediate family hunted. It had a stick on flipper rest with a button through it. Saved my pennies and upgraded to a Hoyt game getter. Rarely had enough money for those fancy xx75 arrows, usually ended up with gamegetters, not the cool camo ones but the orange ones!

Finally bought a Pearson spoiler from a catalog. Much faster than previous rigs but what an awful draw cycle. When I went off to college my parents through all my stuff in our leaky shed and it all got ruined. Out of college bought a Mathews FX and about 10 different bows since then.

All you guys with high countries must have been the rich fellas, I dreamed of them and the golden eagles with the reflex limbs.

Thing about those old bows that I hated was the arrow rests. If they ever got bumped it was a guessing game getting them back to shooting straight. Never paper tuned, just got em to where arrow looked like it flew straight again. The new rests are leaps and bounds about them.

Remember the old school sights. 10,20 25 yard pins. Just metal posts in a sliding bracket with a painted pin head. First “fiber optic” was a pin with a fiber T at the end. They always would break the tip off.

Shooting Razorback 5s, blades were paper thin and about an 3/4 inch cutting diameter. Targets were hay bales with paper plates with dots to aim at. Arrows would slide right between the bales. Lost a LOT of arrows.

Lot of fun memories!
 

Hank

Old Mossy Horns
Started out with a hand me down bear something or other from my cousin. No one in my immediate family hunted. It had a stick on flipper rest with a button through it. Saved my pennies and upgraded to a Hoyt game getter. Rarely had enough money for those fancy xx75 arrows, usually ended up with gamegetters, not the cool camo ones but the orange ones!

Finally bought a Pearson spoiler from a catalog. Much faster than previous rigs but what an awful draw cycle. When I went off to college my parents through all my stuff in our leaky shed and it all got ruined. Out of college bought a Mathews FX and about 10 different bows since then.

All you guys with high countries must have been the rich fellas, I dreamed of them and the golden eagles with the reflex limbs.

Thing about those old bows that I hated was the arrow rests. If they ever got bumped it was a guessing game getting them back to shooting straight. Never paper tuned, just got em to where arrow looked like it flew straight again. The new rests are leaps and bounds about them.

Remember the old school sights. 10,20 25 yard pins. Just metal posts in a sliding bracket with a painted pin head. First “fiber optic” was a pin with a fiber T at the end. They always would break the tip off.

Shooting Razorback 5s, blades were paper thin and about an 3/4 inch cutting diameter. Targets were hay bales with paper plates with dots to aim at. Arrows would slide right between the bales. Lost a LOT of arrows.

Lot of fun memories!

Those Razorbacks, did they spin...and did you tighten them with a small metal pin? When I first got to hunt with my Father-In-Laws bow, that was the broadheads that he used. The rest was also just two small metal flimsy piece that the arrow layed on, but you had to be careful or the arrow would fall through.
 

Eric Revo

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I went from the sick on rests straight to Bo-Doodle rests in the 80's , still shooting a glove or finger tabs depending on if I was hunting or shooting 3-d or dots.
For broadheads I shot the Cabelas brand 3 blade(killed two elk using those cheap broadheads) and transitioned to the Simmons Shark for treestand hunting when I started using the AFC carbon arrows. Never worried about getting any penetration with those 190 grain heads. My hunting buddy used the even heavier ones, I think they were 220 or 225 grain, his trajectory was like a rainbow but every deer he shot at was a dead deer, he was deadly with that set up.
 

Crappie_Hunter

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
I shot a PSE Nova back in the late 90's with a Keller pendulum sight. My dad shot an old PSE Phaser II until the Switchback came out and he finally upgraded. That phaser was about as tall as I was hahaha.
 

Billy

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
I shot a PSE Nova back in the late 90's with a Keller pendulum sight. My dad shot an old PSE Phaser II until the Switchback came out and he finally upgraded. That phaser was about as tall as I was hahaha.
I bought a Mathews Switchback XT in Feb 2006 and still shoot it almost every day. Great bows.
 
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