Howdy & welcome to my new column on Hunting Life. I’m a professional archer that makes a living shooting a bow and arrow on stage at various events and shows across the United States. They call my show, “The Aspirin Buster”, for abvious reasons. Although my show features a variety of shots, the grand finale is a baby aspirin shot from mid air from behind my back! Sometimes we even try and hit three pills at once but we’ll save that story for another day.
I have been shooting a bow and arrow since 1971 at the age of four. I took three deer before age 12 and my first bear with a bow when I was 18. My parents own and operate Addington’s Bowhunter Shop, a retail pro archery shop in Winfield, WV. Pop helps me maintain my stage bows and is the best bow tech around. I rely on him to keep my equipment in top shape and when you visit up to 30 states a year that’s alot of banging equipment around! It’s a challenge but he’s a great pit crew. Mom has taken 18 bear with a bow and she lives to bowhunt and now that my wife and I have a son she also lives to help watch him at every opportunity.
My wife and I are both graduates of Marshall University and live in West Virginia with our son, some barn cats, a spoiled dog, two miniature horses and several quarter horses. My son fired his first arrow at about 18 months old! (He beat me by two and a half years!)
I appreciate you reading this first column for Hunting Life. I don’t spend alot of time at a desk, I like to be outside shooting my bow or on stage. Our tour this year has been dubbed, “The Have Bow Will Travel” tour. A few years ago I was jealous because my friend Ted Nugent got to name his rock tours each year and since I was logging lots of miles and staying in hotels, I wanted to name my tours too. That was the first name that popped into my head.
Anyway, long story made short I was a protege’ of the late Rev. Stacy Groscup. Groscup became the first archer to ever hit an aspirin from mid air and would later set a world record on national TV by hitting seven aspirin in a row without a miss. In later years he was inducted into the national Archery Hall of Fame as the 49th inductee. When I was 18 Rev. Groscup tossed a Pepsi can into mid air and challenged me to hit it. I did and later that day he put me in front of an audience shooting. It was an amazing time. His father had Baptized my father when Pop was born, so I tell people the Lord really does work in mysterious ways.
Now, 24 years later, I travel coast to coast doing archery shows and promoting the sport of archery every where I go. What can you expect at my exhibitions? Six arrows at one aerial target, two balloons from mid air with one arrow, targets of all sizes from mid air, down to a baby aspirin or multiple baby aspirin— all shot instinctively with my bow behind my back. Why this unconventional method? I wanted to have a signature shot. A baby aspirin behind the back is just about the hardest shot I could come up with. The shows are fast paced and usually get great media coverage. Our meet and greets sometimes last for a few hours in large venues. I love to promote archery and hope that families will discover this lifetime family sport!
I am fortunate that time in the sport of archery and bowhunting has allowed me to cross paths with so many of the archery greats, from Fred Bear to Ted Nugent, Earl and Ann Hoyt, Gail Martin, Al Henderson, Joe Johnston, Ann Clark, Chuck “Woodrow” Adams, Jim Easton, Ted Nugent, Dick Mauch, Glenn St. Charles, Matt McPherson, and so many well known figures from our sport. My life has been blessed by all the archery friends I’ve met.
I hope that your family joins you in your outdoor pursuits. I am a big believer in turning off TV, computers, video games and leaving cell phones behind to spend time as a family outdoors. If you agree then please stop by my columns from time to time to keep up with my adventures. We’ll soon be adding more.
Thanks for your time. Until next time, Adios & God Bless.
Shoot Straight,
Frank
