Hill Cougar

Dick Wightman

 

The "top line" Hill models, the Wesley, Big Five, Tembo, Redman, Halfbreed and Cheetah seem to be fairly common. Less so are those listed later in the catalog: the Crocodile, Rhino, Bighorn Sheep, Wasp, Owl, Ruffed Grouse and Cougar. These bows seem to emphasize different woods, even having some that seem not to use bamboo at all. We have a couple of members with Owls and I think someone has a Ruffed Grouse, but these later listed models don't show up used as often as the others, and I was very interested in getting my hands on one for a try. Recently I got the chance to get a used Cougar... honey locust front and back over two lams of bamboo. I was very interested in how this bow would look, feel and perform.

The seller assured me that he was parting with this bow because he couldn't shoot it... didn't like it. To him, it confirmed all the tales of Hill bow hand shock. He did get a buck with it, but, as he put it, "only because the buck wandered to within 15 feet of me!" I thought that maybe at last I'd encounter the legendary hand shock, but not so. The bow shoots just like my others. It does have one difference that surprised me... it is fast! This bow is tillered for 65# @ 29". With my short draw of 25", I expected fairly soft performance. On my scale, it draws 50# @ 25", but it must have a great power curve, because even drawn 4" short, it seems as fast as my custom carbon Black Bear. I was quite impressed! I used my 50+ spined wood arrows.

Dick

 

 

Here you see the "Cougar" name... lower limb, as per usual. Note the soft color of the honey locust outer lam. First time I've seen this wood. Quite lovely and especially so with the ebony trim features used on this bow.

 

This bow carries the original owner/orderer's name. Riser is ebony and grip is black laced elk.

 

This bow looks has a very slight set to it. I checked with Craig because I actually wondered if perhaps it was a purely wood bow. He said, as expected that he makes no bows without glass. This one apears to be an older one, some of which took this slight set out of the mold. They built a bit of backset into the mold to prevent this. Sure doens't hurt the shooting!

 

Ebony limb tips

 

This bow has the thinnest ledge I have seen yet. I was a bit worried about it, but then, I was really worried when I saw the ledge on my first Hill. This one works just fine.

 

 

Here's the whole riser... the ebony, bamboo lams and honey locust make for a really lovely bow. This is my test group (again below). It's a bit better than I usually do as it was raining and I had to shoot from inside... only ten rather than my usual 14 yards. the four shots at the left are especially nice, and I felt that with practice, I could do very well with this one. Nice shooting bow.

 

 

Here's a picture of the strung bow and that same group.