Just wrap this hobby with a bow

POCATELLO, Idaho – At age 4, Colton Neeser feels the same utter elation when he draws a bowstring as his 72-year-old grandfather, Steve Rowlands.

They’re both crack shots – Colton squarely strikes the plastic garbage can lid in his grandfather’s back yard most every time he fires, although Rowlands occasionally has to retrieve a stray arrow from the roof of his shed.

The only difference is Colton has just one bow. It’s a green plastic beauty about as tall as himself with a matching plastic-tipped arrow. Rowlands has accumulated his collection over 50 years, dating back to when he first made a hobby of everything related to archery.

Rowlands, a tall and lean Pocatello man with a snow-white Vandyke, has so many bows he’s lost count, mostly antiques he’s restored to mint condition.

In fact, Rowlands has such an extensive collection of bows and arrow-filled quivers, he refers to his basement as his archery museum – his wife, Pat, won’t let him bring his toys upstairs, except one bow that hangs on a kitchen wall. Rowlands handmade that curvy “snake” bow from a good piece of wood, and Pat, an artist, painted ivy leaves on it.

“She’s got more paint bottles than I’ve got bows,” Rowlands said.

Pat responded in jest, “Well big deal. My paint bottles cost 59 cents.”

Rowlands’ archery museum has longbows, shortbows, metal bows, ivory-inlaid bows, compound bows, old Indian bows, handmade bows, wooden bows, bows that have won national target-shooting championships, wooden bows converted into compound bows; he has more than 100 bows in all, and he keeps a log book with the history of each one.

He also makes arrows from old fence posts and cattails.

Rowlands is addicted to buying, selling and trading bows. He’s found some of his favorite specimens at thrift stores and yard sales. The next generation, Steve Rowlands’ grandson, Colton Neeser, 4, shows off his lightweight fiberglass child’s bow.

“I keep my eyes open, but it’s harder all the time to find them,” Rowlands said. “There’s so many people doing it now.”

He can restore even the most battered bows to better-than-new condition. He’s more than willing to help a friend fix up an old bow.

While Rowlands showed off his collection, Colton ran upstairs and grabbed his own bow. They both inspected their bows with equally big smiles.

“I usually shoot elk, at least when I get older,” Colton boasted.

Rowlands had to give up bow hunting, but he fires more arrows now than ever. He still bow fishes, and he shoots targets – or puffballs, weeds and stumps – five days a week. He spends his free time repairing bows and arrows, admiring his collection or chasing around his grandson.

He shoots both indoors and outdoors on Pocatello Field Archers club ranges. He plans to keep letting arrows fly as long as he has the strength to pull back the string.

“We don’t worry about being able to hit the targets at 50 yards. We just go out to have fun,” Rowlands said. “I hope to be doing it when I’m 90 or 100. We (at Pocatello Field Archers) want to build a handicapped-accessible range. If we do that, I’ll be in my wheelchair doing it.”

When he started shooting, he bought mostly right-handed bows, each fitted with leather pads for resting arrows. But he came down with a severe case of target panic. He explained it’s a common affliction among archers, and it’s completely mental.

For some reason, one day he simply couldn’t draw a bow properly with his right hand. So he switched to shooting left-handed.

Now, he’s constantly on the lookout for hard-to-find left-handed bows.

“I shoot better now than I’ve ever shot with a stick bow, and I’m getting better,” Rowlands said.