Bent Arrows

I've been shooting bow and arrow for three years now. I picked it up because it really makes me feel like a strong and powerful woman. The sport of Archery isn't filled with a lot of women, it's a male dominated sport. So when I go down to the range I'm usually the only female there, which is fine with me, but sometimes there is that one guy who has a problem with a female shooter.
I never encountered this problem in Omaha. My instructor was a woman, she and her son owned the range, women shooters were respected there. She taught me a lot about how to be a woman in a male dominated sport. These past couple of weeks I've used her knowledge down at the range, I've modeled myself after her, and it's worked! I have finally broke down the barrier between me and the only guy who had a problem with a woman shooter. I finally showed him that I can handle it, I can be a bowhunter, I'm not just another wanna be.
Well now that I've finally stepped up and proved myself I've really got to work hard to keep the respect. I've been shooting every day for the last couple of weeks. Not only is it a stress reliever but it's also practice. I'm consistently hitting the bullseye, even with bent arrows. But now here I am ready to take it to the next level and I am stuck. My out dated equipment, my antique, doesn't preform as nicely as a new parallel limb bow. My bent aluminum arrows are logs that fly down the range at half the speed of the newer carbon arrows. I'm still shooting with my fingers, which really doesn't bother me, but now that MC has let me shoot with his thumb release I feel that one would only improve my accuracy. In all honest my outdated equipment doesn't really bother me. It's the way my grandfather shot. It's his bow and arrows, and when I'm shooting them I feel a little bit proud that he bestowed the honor upon me. I get to keep his legacy alive.
In time, once I have a good job, and my debt is paid off, I'll be able to afford that new bow. The Parker Sidekick extreme, in pink camo of course. I'll have new carbon arrows that travel at the speed of sound. I'll have the new thumb release and five pin fiber optic sight. But for right now what I've got is a legacy. Probably the only one still being shot, I've got a Jennings Black Lightning and arrows that were made in a shop in North Dakota and given as a gift to my grandfather. I've become part of his legacy... and I'm pretty proud of it! Not only am I a woman archer, I'm a woman shooting a bow that most men gave up on.
Maybe one day you'll see me on tv on one of thoose hutning shows taking the best shot of my life. Maybe one day little girls just learning how to shoot will model themselves after me. Maybe, just maybe I'll have a legacy to pass on to my grandkids.

Missy. B