When I was in junior high school, my stepfather introduced me to the sports of archery and bowhunting. At the time, the compound bow had been around for a couple of decades, but we are talking about the round cam era. My first bow was a PSE Scamp. Its metallic silver riser and laminated wooden limbs made it a fashionable bow for the mid-80s. When my father gave me the bow, I literally cried tears of joy.
Like any teenage boy, I longed to be like my dad — an archer, a bowhunter. Although he made his living in the small eastern Arizona town in the logging industry, you would never know it from his “shop.” In fact, you may have thought it was an archery shop, except that really didn’t exist in our world at the time.
At any given time, there must have been at least 20 dozen arrows — all fletched and ready to fly — hanging from the walls. Among the arrows were several variations of the ever popular Easton Gamegetter and newest Gamegetter XX75s. Trust me when I say, “It was more aluminum than any two guys could fling in a lifetime. That said, eventually a dozen would be gone, another dozen having replaced them on the wall.
During the mid- to late-80s, I remember the following bows hanging from the shop walls. I recollect two Browning models: the Nomad and the Xcellerator, their beautiful, laminated wood risers hidden with camo spray paint. At one time, there was an 80-pound Bear Delta V, an advanced bow for its era. Of course, later on there were the newer magnesium riser PSE bows, the riser cut away with a Dremel-like tool and a overdraw installed for the ultimate in broadhead clearance.
My father liked to tinker. As a young adult, he and a few friends owned and operated a top fuel drag racing team, and the tinkering came from the racing industry I’m quite sure. The goal of all of the bows, various aluminum projectiles and the inordinate amount of tinkering was simply to get a properly-spined arrow to fly true at or more than 200fps when released with fingers — this was also the tab era.
Through high school, I spent countless hours with my father tinkering with bow setups, building arrows, and of course, hunting every chance we had. I suppose my inner archery geek was kindled during that time.
Having served in the United States Air Force for half of the 1990s, I was removed from the archery world to some degree for that period. After re-entering the civilian life, it was several years before the flame was once again rekindled. Now, my archery geek is worn on my sleeve.
Although the tools have changed substantially, today you’ll find me in my “shop” curating my archery geek. I spend countless hours working with formula-driven Excel spreadsheets to calculate arrow weight, bow speed and front of center percentages in hopes of finding the optimal arrow to maximize kinetic energy, momentum or speed for use on my next bowhunting adventure. And in today’s technology era, there is always a new gadget to tinker with, whether it’s a new rangefinding sight, touted new arrow or the latest speed bow.
Looking back, I have to thank my father for providing me with a hobby that spawned my archery obsession and bowhunting passion — and ultimately my career.
The bottom line is that in one way or another, we are all archery geeks. Since there is not a 12-step process to rid us of the addiction, I say, “Embrace it!” Take full advantage of your vast knowledge within the archery field and use it to your advantage to grow your business, while providing your customers great service.
Remember: If there is a topic you would like to see included or expanded upon within the pages of Archery Business or you simply want to send me a note, please feel free to reach out at any time: darren.choate@grandviewoutdoors.com. Best to you!
