king' s outdoor world - Index

king' s outdoor world - Hunting Illustrated - October/November 2007 - Index

were also the first company to list
"hunting speed.?
So, let's get into the speed question
then. Is the fastest bow the best
bow and how does Whisper Creek
handle the "need for speed?
mentality of bowhunters today?
Let's take a look at the 340 to 350plus
fps bows. We were recently
experimenting with one of our
competitor's bows the other day.
They a have a very nice, fast bow.
The brace height is extremely small.
It is approximately four inches. Any
time you start reducing brace height,
you start to reduce accuracy. To get
the speed numbers up you have to
sacrifice brace height. We are very
honest about the speed of our bows.
We were the first company to bring in
an independent engineer that was not
working for our firm. That engineer
came in, ran tests and certified that
those tests were done and then put his
stamp in our catalog.
This is also the reason why
we listed our "hunting speed.? We
teamed up with Keith "Doc? Ainsley
who is a world renowned big game
hunter. I sat down with Doc and put
together a realistic hunting situation
bow setup. We ended up publishing
our real world hunting speeds. I think
that is really important to the customer.
The customer pulls that bow out of
the box and shoots it and says, "I
should be at 280 feet per second.? He
looks and he is. He knows his bow
is performing optimally. If he thinks
he is supposed to be shooting 330 fps
and he can never achieve that, he is
wondering why.
What is your relationship with
Marlow Larson and how has it
affected Whisper Creek?
Marlow and I go back thirty years.
He was the primary designer on the
original Browning bows. He also has
his own bow called the Continental
that he shoots in tournaments, but is
not available to the public. Marlow
has over fifty archery patents. He
has taught me a ton over the years. After
Andy left to concentrate on his Duracell
thing and we became shorthanded, I called
Marlow. Marlow is 74 years old and
retired, but he still shoots competitively
in tournaments. I asked him if he would
be willing to come sit down and look
at my product line and give me some
pointers. He is a brilliant designer and
we are working on some new systems
and technology that we will be releasing.
Marlow is a big part of our team. I am
lobbying that Marlow be inducted into
the Archery Hall of Fame. He has been a
huge contributor to the industry.
So, what does the future hold?
Whisper Creek is entering into its fifth
year in production. We are getting to the
point where people are just starting to
recognize our company. This business
is about sustaining yourself. This is a
hard market to stay in, with getting into
the major retailers and building your
dealer network. It is only through staying
power, and the merge with Milltree
Outdoors, that we have now signed on
new rep groups for 2008. We have also
launched our new youth bow product,
which we are proud to say will have the
King's Mountain Shadow pattern. Those
bows will be released for the upcoming
Christmas holiday. That is a whole market
segment we were not in before. We are
releasing a new bow at ATA that should
corporate
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be phenomenal. We have learned a
lot over the last four years about what
our dealers need and have used this
information to refine our product line.
We expect 2008 to be our breakout
year. We now have dealers who are
exclusive Whisper Creak dealers
and we are their primary line. That
is huge for us. Getting this company
going has been a lot of hard work, but
I couldn't be more proud and proud
of the people we are involved with.
Sure, we have had our struggles, but
we have battled through it and taken
care of our dealers and consumers.
My goal is to be the best customer
service bow company in the industry.
We are here to help archers until their
problem is resolved.
What would be your dream hunt
with a bow?
My dream hunt would be hunting
in Africa. My passion is design,
development and manufacturing.
My son Jonathan's passion would be
to take that bow and test it out on as
many hunts as he can. Early in my
youth, I was a professional race car
driver and was captain of the United
States Racing Team in South Africa.
We went over for two months and
raced all over the southern tip of that
country. It would be nice to go back
to that country and hunt.
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