Realtree.com
FEATURE STORIES
Part I: The Team Bow Doctor Is In!
By Bob McNitt
Travis Turner, of Hogansville GA, is the bowhunting and archery guru who handles all of Team Realtree‘s archery needs at his Archery Unlimited pro shop. That includes Bill Jordan, Michael Waddell, David Blanton and others. His knowledge of how to set up and fine-tune archery equipment to each individual‘s needs is becoming legendary.In this two-part interview, he shares a lot of his trade secrets and thoughts, about both the sport and the equipment, and also talks about how he got into competitive shooting, winning many national awards in the process. Once you see what this modest man has to say, you‘ll understand why he‘s considered one of the best at what he does.
 Four-time Georgia-state champion knows his way around a compound like few others in the industry.  |
THE BOW DOC IS IN
Question: When did you start hunting, bowhunting?
Travis Turner: I started hunting at about the age of eight and started bowhunting when I was 19.
Q: When did you start shooting competitively?
TT: I started in 1988 and actually started competing before I ever started bowhunting.
Q: How did you get into competitive shooting?
TT: I was doing a lot of fishing with some buddies back then, and when they started practicing with their bows in June, they said that if I was going to hang out with them, I‘d better start bowhunting. It wasn‘t that I was against bowhunting, but I didn‘t think I‘d be very successful at it. But I agreed to go with them to buy a bow.
When we went to the archery shop, the guy there introduced us to 3D archery and then told us about a local range where they were having a tournament that next Sunday. The day we were at the shop was a Wednesday, and on Saturday my friends said they were going to the tournament and did I want to go. Even though we‘d shot a lot that week, I said, “Man, I just bought this bow on Wednesday.”
 Turner is what you'd call a quick-learner with natural ability. His shop has trophies like this to prove it! photo by team realtree |
Q: Do you think that natural ability plays a part in archery?
TT: It can‘t hurt. But don‘t get me wrong, anyone, regardless of their athletic skill, can become an excellent archer.
Q: How did you get into the archery shop business?
TT: When I started competing in tournaments, I was only in three or four events the first year, but then it grew and I would shoot in 30 to 40 a year. So then all my free time was being spent tuning my own and others‘ bows, fletching arrows and fine-tuning equipment. At the time I was working on interior installations for Mercedes-Benz in Atlanta, and although I enjoyed the work, I‘d taken the job about as far as I could take it. I thought it would be nice to make a living at what my passion was. So from 1992-94 I got a job as an archery manager at a store, where I could spend time working on archery and talking about the outdoors. In 1995, together with another professional archer, Don Yancy, we opened our own shop. I also spent that year working part-time at Mercedes at the same time I was working in the archery store.
 Turner runs a soup-to-nuts operation at his shop. As one could imagine, it's a place most bowhunters and shooters really get excited about entering. photo by team realtree |
TT: It was a struggle. Even though the shop was along an interstate, it wasn‘t in an area where we got a lot of traffic. So we relied primarily on the quality of our service and good name, and that‘s what kept us going.
Q: What do you offer at the shop?
TT: We have anything related to archery — tournament, traditional, bowhunting, accessories, bows, arrows, hunting equipment and, of course, full customized setups where we tune customers bows and arrows. This year we‘ll be carrying clothing as well. We also custom-build strings, something that very few people do. I designed a serving machine that, as far as I know, is the only one in the state. By the way, we don‘t sell guns. We strictly concentrate on archery.
Q: What do you do when tuning that is different from what other shops do?
TT: We take the extra time to tune every outfit to its user. Some shops just run them through like straw, throwing the outfit together. We take the time to custom measure you and fit the bow specifically to you. If the bow doesn‘t fit you, you‘re not going to shoot it efficiently. It‘s very important that we get the weight and draw length right. We make sure your center-rest is right so your arrows fly right. Since there‘s 60 or 70 different size arrows, we also match the arrow and point to your setup and style of shooting.
 Talk about going the extra mile for his customers...Turner uses 'Benz leather to quiet arrow rests! photos by team realtree |
Anytime you get metal-to-metal friction, or even metal-to-Teflon, you get noise. I fix this by putting Mercedes leather, suede side out, on the rest. And I can apply it to just about any kind of rest. It‘s perfectly quiet, doesn‘t wear down or change, lasts a long time, and getting it wet doesn‘t change it. I guess that Bill, Michael and David really like it.
Q: How about draw weight?
TT: I‘d say about 50 percent of the people who come into our shop are trying to shoot too much poundage and too long a draw length. Because some consider archery a macho sport, they feel they have to draw as much as they can and that arrow has to travel as fast as it can. I like to say that a “slow hit is better than a fast miss.” It‘s much better to have something that you can shoot accurately and consistently, rather than something you‘re straining your guts out on. It also makes it a lot more enjoyable to shoot, and that means you‘ll shoot more and more often.
 Taking precise measurements for draw lengths is critical to setting up bows in a proper fashion. photo by team realtree |
TT: With today‘s bows, the manufacturers advertise such fast speeds that the beginning archer tries to jump right into one of those fast bows, which is like a 16 year-old kid jumping into a Corvette--it‘s just too much car for them. Beginners get one of these bows that has a radical reflex riser, which means it‘s real hard to tame and an unforgiving bow for new archers.
Q: How important is arrow speed versus kinetic energy?
TT: There‘s a happy medium there, and this is something that could be argued for days. The smaller shafts are faster, have less drag, so there‘s deeper penetration. It depends on what animal you‘re hunting. For elk or something like that, a heavier shaft will produce more energy, but smaller shafts have less downwind drag and also less drag as they enter the animal. It‘s kind of like if you‘re trying to drive a landscape spike versus a 16-penny nail, the nail is going to drive easier.
Q: Right now, what‘s your favorite shaft?
TT: My favorite is the (Easton) ACC because it‘s so consistent and straight. It‘s aluminum wrapped in carbon, and it offers the same small diameter as carbon, but because of the aluminum core, it allows you to tune your broadhead.
END OF TRAVIS TURNER FEATURE PART I.
Editor's Note: Tune in next week for the final installment plus news on the upcoming bowhunting Q & A interactive features!
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