On Target for Tuning Your Compound Bow (On Target, 6)

Byron Ferguson, a native of northern Alabama, has been hunting as long as he has been old enough to legally do so.He's still at it in a big way. "I hunt something at least 150 days a year," he says. Depending upon the time of year, this could be whitetail deer (during Alabama's bow season, it is legal to tag one deer a day all season long, but no one does) or other various North American big game, small game, turkey, varmints or carp. When he began, it was with firearms, then recurve bow, then compound bow ... and then, in a supreme leap "backward" in equipment use but forward in success and satisfaction regarding his archery shooting and bowhunting, he retired everything else and went strictly to modern barebow shooting with the longbow...the bow of Robin Hood, the bow of Howard Hill. It was and is fitting, for the late Howard Hill, also an Alabaman, has long been Ferguson's hero. To say that he fell in love with this style of shooting would be an understatement. Over the years, but almost exclusively since he began barebow shooting with the longbow, Ferguson has taken more than 300 whitetail deer, five black bears, a Newfoundland bull moose, pronghorn, caribou, countless small game and upland birds, and carp. Byron, however, is more than a hunter. uch more. He is an achery demonstration shooter...archery trick shot, if you will. Today he shoots longbow archery just about 365 days a year...366 days in Leap Years. He gives dozens of performances at deer shows, outdoor sportsmen shows, clubs and association events. He has performed in 12 foreign countries, on their national television in several of them. He was the first American archer to perform in France since the legendary Howard Hill in the 1940s. Ferguson performed before live audiences of 75,000 people at the French Game Fair at Chambord Castle. He was declared "King of the Fair", an award which is decided by the number of standing ovations the performers receive. He was referred to in the French press as "The White Indian, for he has enough Creek and Cherokee blood in his lineage to qualify for Indian treaty rights hunting if he wanted to, which he doesn't. The most nerve-wracking shot he has been asked to make was on Japanese national television, where he put an arrow through the finger opening of a diamond ing valued at $17,000. "I was praying the 'You break it; you buy it' principle wasn't in effect right then," he says. Ferguson also is a longbow manufacturer. His handcrafted traditional longbows are sold worldwide through Ferguson Adventure Archery. He is sought out by celebrities from motion pictures, television, the recording industry and the professional sports world to teach them his style of bow and arrow shooting. He has worked with such people as Don Johnson, Dickey Betts, Gary Morris, Marshall Teague, Will Clark and Steve Kanaly.