Note: Most of the photos linked to these thumbnails have undergone varying degrees of enlargement. If you feel you might not want to see a larger version of a given image (such as a "harvest" pic) please don't click on that thumbnail.

 Row One: 1) through 6) is a sequence of pictures captured from a video my wife, Rose made for me while I practiced. I chose to include them here to kind of depict and celebrate my change over to Traditional Archery Equipment. I am standing beside the base of my tower ("The Monster" - seen elsewhere in these pages) and shooting on my range behind the house. The sequence (though taken from random parts of the video) depicts a shot,  from reaching for an arrow in my quiver leaning against the tower in pic one, to the last shot - showing my position immediately after the arrow has left the string. I guess you could say, pointing the new direction of my ongoing interest in archery and to some extent, these pages. Oh, in this session I was shooting my Bob Lee Signature Take/Down longbow.

Row Two: 1) "Smokeman The Archer" - Smoky Joe all grown up and kicking back on the top platform of my archery tower - he loves to hang around my range - must run in the family. 2) This great pic of contrasts in textures is the interesting pet of another of my e-bay bow contacts - "Ambush" is a beautiful female Fawn (cross between Red & Blue) Doberman belonging to Amy & Brian of PA - Amy says she is one of the pets I mentioned that you have to love almost more than people and as we can see she loves hanging around the lake. I've known a number of great Dobies that belonged to friends and neighbors throughout my life - they make really rewarding friends, and 3) thru 5) are the work of Mike Griffith (shown I think) - leatherworker of  Modesto CA - the arm guard shown I already have on order as I hear and see it is a long, thin, cooler traditional looking AG like I have been looking for - I am considering the beautiful back quiver shown which he also makes in a side/belt model - all in 3 different sizes handmade and hand stitched - I'm impressed (as soon as he gets a web site up I will provide a link in my Hot List (web site now up) - in the meantime I can provide an e-mail addee if you would like it). (I posted the following on a forum I visit often, tradgang.com)

[It's noon and lo & behold the mailman brought my Arm Guard from Mike. I just couldn't have perceived just how special it would be. It is even better looking and professional than the picture on my web site can show. The extra piece in the "possible string slap area" is greater even than it appears to be. The hookup for
fastening/adjusting it is so well designed and working that the "easy on/easy off" bit mentioned by bayoulongbowman, Marc could never be overstated. I'm gonna love that part. I am totally impressed and am
sure I will be enjoying this piece of "artwork" for many years to come. IMO I am not exaggerating one bit. Thank you, Mike. Any shooter who doesn't have an arm guard they are completely overjoyed with, needs to look into the "Hunter" by Mike, I'm serious.], and 6) This is "The Mountain House" of the ski resort Winter Place where all the activity centered at the WVA Appalachian Traditional Archery Rendezvous I recently attended. In fact I camped behind the right hand end of that building in that small looking field. The Windsong Ranch Info and Novelty Shoot set up is right in front of the building left of center. The pic is courtesy of Kevin Lawler (an NC son) and is from the top of the ski lift where the competition course started. Pretty place, don't you think? See the story on Journal, Pg6.

Row Three: 1) thru 5) Friend Randy has been trying some nighttime catfish fishin' with his son (Hunter) in the Neuse River here in NC of late and having a little success - I think he said the largest was about 46 lbs - so far - he has been practicing "catch and release" with most of these big vacuum cleaners of the river but keeping an occasional one of the single digit (puny 8 or 9 pounders) for fillets and "bite size chunks" ( for breading and frying - which we fell in love with in SC during pig hunts) - Hunter loves to fish and has done his share of catching also - though most of these are longer than he is tall, and 6) Friend Marty and (now) wife Angela look over their wedding license application prior to a recent weekend wedding - whileI was away at ATAR in West VA - as you may recall Marty is one of our club's consistently best compound bow shooters - however after marrying this very nice, good natured lady (I've shot with them a number of times) the very next tournament he faltered and came in third instead of his usual first or occasional second - Now I guess you know the ribbing he took when he went up for his trophy - " ... never be able to shoot again now, Marty" " It's all over now, Marty", etc., etc.

Row Four: 1) My cousin (Gay) recently sent me this pic of her Dad (Fay Lee) and my Dad (Vernard Dunn) I'm not sure if they were friends before they started dating (and married) the two sisters (Harriet and Lois) that were our mothers, or after, but I do know they were good friends throughout their lives. This picture I had seen in the past but had forgotten about. What struck me about it is the placement of my Dad's hand on his face. I must have seen him do that a million times and the funny part is that when I got the picture, I immediately realized I also often do the same placement when listening, watching, or just contemplating. Gee wonder where I got that ( I think my brother "Dag" does it too), 2) Here is the "infamous" huge green foam target (taken from tower) I trucked back from ATAR and what a pleasure it is to use - I will be posting some more shots of the newly arranged range (say that 3 times fast) as soon as we get some more sun - you can see I sprayed black around a deer silhouette on the face and put red dots on for "pickin' a spot" and it came out so well I did the same to the old huge yellow foam target I had (way in the rear) - in between is my oldest 3D McKenzie deer - he's getting a bad case of the saggies - still good to go though,  we got a bit more sun so 3) is my new range setup as seen from the ground at the base of the tower (where I was shooting my bow from in the sequence above) - as you can see I've done away with the "hanging bags" from ropes (of recent years) and placed them at the front raised on pieces of Styrofoam, and 4) 5) 6) are shots taken down from the tower top. You can see I've added a fox (front left) and a strutting turkey (behind the first deer) - they are used ones that I was lucky enough to "capture" when Dave held an auction of some of our old ones at the 3D range at the last shoot - the first bag is about 5yds - first deer 10yds - big green foam 20yds - old yellow foam in front of backdrop is 30yds - of course on the ground one can move back and increase total range to last target to 50 or even 60yds. Oh, the "deer hanging in the tree" is just the silhouette I used to spray the two big foam targets with. I now have my two oldest targets the furthest out so that my friends who shoot fast bows (and compounds) maybe won't tend to get "pass-through" shots on them as often. Hope this may help others with ideas, as the pics of my home range setups have in the past. It makes a real nice range now for traditional bow shooters as well as those of the "other persuasion". Again, remember it has evolved over the years.

Row Five: "Hurry, Hurry - getcha news here - old man up a tree - hurry, hurry!"

1) "How the devil did I get up here?", 2) "Oh well, might's well set up a shot.", 3) "Better Stand up.", 4) "Hey, here comes one now.", 5) "OK, remember everything now...", and 6) The results (if a bit blurry)

From my Ol' Man (coincidental brand name - LOL) climber tree stand in/on a tree beside my home shooting range - getting ready for the season in earnest now. Note the great arm guard that Mike Griffith in California made and a full body safety harness. Here I'm shooting my Bear Cheyenne recurve with the poplar wood arrows  from Troy. Boy, it was hot - how 'bout those old bird legs again? I tell ya, it's got to be hot for me to break those legs out and I've been doing it a lot the last couple of years! These pictures were taken with a Bushnell "ImageView" binocular that has a small digital camera incorporated. Should be handy for this season and it's optimum pictures are at 20 yds (thus the blur when my wife swung to the closer target picture above).

Row Six: 1) One more shot at a different angle - checking if I could hit the target with bow canted at different angles - I was very pleased with all six shots I took before melt-down, and 2), 3), 4) are shots of a different kind - taken with a West Virginia friend's game tracker camera - Mike "beartracker" Gemind sent me these pics taken this past week as a part of his scouting program - He says this is a good bear but it's coat is rough from all the heat and bugs lately - their bear season opens in October- another smaller bear came in also but it's ears were tagged so the pictures were turned over to the wildlife folks up there for tracking info,  5) old friend Lee (retired Marine Mess Sgt turned taxidermist) displaying the evidence of his prowess at wing shooting with a limit of 12 doves taken at one of the many southern traditional Labor Day Pig-pickin'/Dove Hunt shindigs - really big in the south, and 6) (relativly) New friend Dave ("Doc Nock") with his traditional gear harvest of a (his first) Sika Deer (Maryland Shore) - the breed is very small even when mature and the spots do not mean fawn - it is a mature doe and a difficult target (especially with  stickbows) as well as very difficult quarry in the first place. This one is "average size" (large or fat fox) - even though they seem to be more of the elk family than deer. Oh, Dave kept his camo mask on for the picture - he really does have a face -  reportedly.

Row Seven: 1) Now this is a Sika buck taken by Doc Nock's friend Rod and is not average  sized but rather a "Honkin' Monster" for the species. Note the elk-like sweep of the antlers, 2) Speaking of elk-like here is cyber and e-bay friend Dan D. (the artist formerly known as Elkabong) with a fine bull elk he took on his annual hunt to Montana this season with his Samick traditional bow (Dan also harvested 3 Mule Deer and 2 Antelope on that month long trip), 3) & 4) Friend Lee C. had little or no time for his bow and bowhunting this year (bad news) but he has been raising sand with his guns since that season opened with two or three deer and a bear already taken on local farms he has permission to hunt, and 5) from the beasties to the beauties if you will bear with my ill-concealed pride - Grandaughter Onesty's 2003 pic at 17 yrs of age - sporting her Great Grandmother Coleman's hair bun (she'll kill me for that) - she often wears her hair this way as like most girls she doesn't like "the way my hair does" - I love it no matter how she wears it - this way tends to make us realize how very much her face is also shaped so like Rose's Grandmother's face was, and spot # 6) I will save for when we get the "retake" of Granddaughter Haylei's 2003 pic - my other beauty! And here she is - at 13 - bless her heart. Looks a great deal like her Dad but also looks like the family's girls/ladies and her sister's sister, doncha think? 2003 Has been a year for both of them that they can be proud of - with Onesty back on the Principal's List and Haylei's best ever year in school. We're not perfect but we're doing mighty good!

Row Eight: 1) One of my nutnick (Haylei) with her hair down (she doesn't like this one but we do), 2) thru 6) is another shooting sequence made up of new video stills taken by my wife for me showing my new "lid" from Noggin Tops hat supplier, presented to me in a surprise move by Thunder Bill Wooster, my new (relatively) arm guard from Mike's Leathers, and my shooting of both wood and aluminum arrows with my Bob Lee longbow. The hat is a Crushable Camo Safari model and I really dig the muted camo pattern. The last pic shows the follow through of the firing of the arrow and what they call "pulling through your shot/release" (I hope). I also call it "Pulling through/kiss this" - ha ha. My index finger anchored in the corner of my mouth prior to the shot apparently pulls my mouth into this configuration as or after I fire, since it shows up in all shots. My old hat in turn has gone to adorn and protect the head of Barb in GA, a cyber friend, lady bow shooter  who like me was having trouble with shooting caps/hats that didn't work.

Row Nine: 1) This is a proto-type quiver that cyber-friend (Mike) of Mike's Leathers in CA sent me to "wring out" for him - He calls it an "Arrow Holster" and it has his usual, quality hand stitching and extra layers at stress points plus a  riveted loop to slip arrow shafts through and a file sheath near the lacing, 2) The ease of use and out of the way design are easy to see (and easy to use - even for old dummies ha-ha) I think you have a real winner here Mike and it is kind of like a hip pocket quiver to me but worn on your belt - Very neat and user friendly, 3) This southern lass is cyber-friend Barb of GA with a Jud Strunk made selfbow with snake backing (one of her favorites) - Barb doesn't hunt but she loves arrow slinging and makes the prettiest Lakota Style Plains Quivers you would ever want to see - on the very same day I got Mike's latest addition to his line of fine leather products I also received one of Barb's beauties - two very different works of artful craft in one day - are you kidding - why I felt like the luckiest man in the whole darned world. Oh - Barb is still supposed to send a pic wearing the "new/old" hat that I sent to her (when I got my new one) so we can see how it looks on that striking head of red hair, 4) Here is the fantastic Lakota Plains Quiver from Barb with 20 hours worth of authentic beading - horse hair and elk antler rosettes - deer antler strap fasteners - chocolate elk hide fringes - gold elk hide mouth - lined with sheepskin - wooden bottom with leather covering in and out - body is "oil-tanned blacksmith leather" and overall it is completely traditional but "unreal", 5) Barb told me that Lakotas take a little getting used to - I am laughing in this pic because the first time I reached for an arrow with it on (while Rose was video taping) I fumbled for the end of the quiver and Rose busted me up with a comment about me not being able to find my arrows - "Ayuh" looks great in use though - a thing to take pride in and hand down for generations to come. Thank you Mike and Barb, I am truly a rich man for your friendship and the sharing of your talents - oh a link to Mikes Leathers is already in my Hot List Table of Links and here is a fast ride to Barb's personal pages for a look at a bunch of her Lakota beauties, and 6) here is our Georgia Lass (Barb) in her new/old hat that looks like it was made for her and was just biding it's time until it found it's way to her. Also wearing another of her fine quivers. She says the hat already feels like an "old Friend".

Row Ten:  1) through 6) are stills of a test longbow. It is an O.L. Adcock SS ACS - O.L. Adcock is a retired Navy Chief and a Bowyer par excellence not to mention a good man and friend to all who know him and/or just need one. This is a very special bow (one of which I have on order) and has been sent to me to "play with" for awhile. I will be posting more on it but for now I want to get the pics up - up - and away! (It may not be faster than a speeding bullet but it will flat get the arrow to town in a hurry.) This ACS is 58" long (cut off length at which SS, Super Short models start) and it is 42# @ 28" (draw weight @ draw length). I have given this bow (while it is in my care) the name "Someone", as in "Someone Special". The next Gallery Page (Pg8) will  start with pics of it drawn by shooters and also unstrung, if all goes well.