Tales of the American bow.

Photo from Valor games

And another issue is upon us. I was trying to think of something different for this issue. I would like you to meet the appropriately named Debbie Archer. Dare i say one of the best female primitive archers in California. Debbie is now the president of bowhunters unlimited and has been for the last 12 years. By no means an easy feat. by any standards. She has two grown boys Tom and Alex who are both archers. Bowhunters unlimited is an archery club in California that was formed about 60 years ago with about 300 members. Mainly consisting of traditional archers.which in this day of the compound is really great to see. Debbie was late getting into archery and only started about 15 years ago when a friend brought her to the club just to see what she thought of archery. Now as we all know once you're bitten by the archery bug that's it, no going back. Now with over 40 bows in her collection. A lot of vintage bears a hoyt and bob lee im feeling a bit envious. Debbie also is a NFAA/USA level 2 coach and has coached JOAD (junior olympic archery development). And what more some of her students have won state medals.way to go Debbie. I asked if she bow hunted which i got a no it's too much work and messy. And i get loads of game from the hunters in the club without the hassle. Debbie is an admin member on an archery facebook traditional bowhunters and trying to keep page over 37000 of us in check is by no means easy. I really don't know how you do that. She started out shooting a traditional recurve and then went onto a longbow to challenge herself and is now shooting primitive bows just because she found shooting primitive bows more challenging.Most of her archery skills and knowledge came from the older members of the club. So you young ones listen to your elders. You never know you might actually learn something. And on top of this is now making her first old English longbow from Washington yew with horn tips. It's currently about 65 # and will finish up at 35 # just so she is able to shoot it. At a recent shoot at Marilyn and Steve Dutra's ranch who were recently inducted into the California archery hall of fame. Rather than shoot she helped her friends with the shoot as they had over 200 archers at it. That must have been hard watching that lot. And now onto what she considers her proudest accomplishment in archery along with her friend and vice president of Bowhunters unlimited Linda Bates. Debbi specifically asked to give a honourable mention to Linda as she could not have done this on her own.

medal from the valor games

These two ladies were archery coordinators for olympic style games with the department of veteran affairs for over 100 veterans for archery at the Valor Games. For those of us who don't know what the Valor games are. I will go into it a little bit more. It's an event where wounded, ill, or disabled veterans can compete in competitions like Archery , shot put,powerlifting,discus and some other sports. This is all done on a voluntary basis. So a lot of time is involved in such things. Which i think is awesome as the veterans who served their country selflessly deserve things like this.as a way to show appreciation to their service. Great work ladies and all those involved. Now we will go a little bit into Bowhunters Unlimited.

This is an archery club in Stevens creek county park saratoga california. So great weather all year round and some great vineyards for those who like wine. This is a free to shoot range once you have your own bow. Annual membership is $40 for the upkeep of the club. Which is for nothing in my opinion. They host many fundraising events throughout the year and here are just a few of them. The turkey shoot, which is before christmas as we can guess. The prizes are 1st a turkey, 2nd a chicken and 3rd which is my favourite a Cornish game hen. So there is a great turnout and archers missing targets for 3rd place. Another one is the hunger games food drive And the toys for tots which the U S Marines are involved in along with the firefighters. All great causes. And a great Club showing support for the community. And now onto my favourite event which the club host is the annual primitive skills day.this is a free to attend day where people give up their time to show the public their primitive skills like leatherwork, fire making, flint knapping, cordage from plants, bow making, and knife making. They also have falconry, showing all kinds of birds of prey. All of which are dying skills being kept alive by a few passionate people. You never know when you may need to make a fire without matches or a lighter. Speaking of such Debbie is a skilled leather worker herself making all of her own quivers. Truly skilled lady. She doesnt make her own arrows though she buys them from David Morley custom arrows in New York state. I have seen his custom arrows personally and can say they are awesome. Look him up folks. He is on facebook at Vintage Customs by David Morley. Thanks Debbie for taking the time out give the readers an insight into who you are. Really appreciate it.

Hope I did this justice and you all liked the read. Have a Many more projects in the pipeline. Stay tuned and keep your feathers dry. Shoot straight. Nick.

For any archers ever visiting California check out Bowhunters Unlimited, I am sure Debbie and the team would be only to happy to show you around.

https://www.bowhuntersunlimited.org/