# Found a Hooter Shooter at the scrap yard!



## Stab 'em (Dec 26, 2008)

I went to the scrap yard this week with the intention of making a "Hooter Shooter"/draw board. The frame and legs are extruded aluminum triangle shaped tubing. The precise-position winch is from Harbor Freight. I re-designed the winch, narrowing the spool and frame because it was too bulky for my liking. The "hand" is some type of aluminum shackle that I machined to what you see, and pivots on a 1/2" axle (a polished bolt). Here's what I came up with for under a hundred bucks:


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## SCBOWHUNTER903 (Jan 28, 2010)

thats sweet man looks as good as the real hooter shooter


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## bginvestor (Aug 12, 2008)

Nice! Do you have vertical/horizontal adjustments?

I'm going to try the KWIK-SHOOTER..


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## Stab 'em (Dec 26, 2008)

bginvestor said:


> Nice! Do you have vertical/horizontal adjustments?
> 
> I'm going to try the KWIK-SHOOTER..


Yes, it will adjust at the feet with threaded rod. The KWIK-SHOOTER looks good, and worth the money. It has more conventional adjustments for the windage and elevation than my DIY project.


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## SOILhunter2 (Feb 7, 2008)

impressed very creative...


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## McChesney (Jan 5, 2009)

Nice work! Kind of makes you wonder why all these other companies want so much for theirs. You may have found a way to supplement your income! Let me know if you ever feel creative again, and want to sell one!


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## lc12 (Jul 30, 2009)

McChesney said:


> Nice work! Kind of makes you wonder why all these other companies want so much for theirs. You may have found a way to supplement your income! Let me know if you ever feel creative again, and want to sell one!


Better check for "patents" first!!

I just could not help myself!!!!!!!!!!!!:icon_1_lol:


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## Stab 'em (Dec 26, 2008)

lc12 said:


> Better check for "patents" first!!
> 
> I just could not help myself!!!!!!!!!!!!:icon_1_lol:


I love re-engineering things to make them a better product for my own use; that doesn't violate anyone's patent rights. The patent and copyright infringement lawyers can ride in the back seat with their inferior product as far as I'm concerned, because once you improve on an existing product then that becomes patentable! However, as crude and simple as this bow tuning machine is to make and use, I doubt that I could violate any held patents if I were to make and sell another one just like it. :thumbs_up


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## Stab 'em (Dec 26, 2008)

Just so everyone can get an idea of how simple this unit is to make and operate, it is a simple draw board concept made portable with legs and with a trigger release attached to fire the bow. You crank the worm gear winch to the exact draw length then aim through the peep, aligning it with the sight aperture and target, then an easy steady squeeze until it fires. On this machine's first long range testing I was sighting in and shooting out to 70 yards last week and hitting the bullseye every time; then I ran out of adjustment on my sight because I shoot heavy arrows or I would have been sighted to out over a hundred yards easy. If you need an inexpensive draw board, why not make it portable and multi-purpose; that's why we DIY!


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## chinnookbuster (May 22, 2008)

*question*

what did you use to attach the release to the draw cord, it looks like a piece of aluminium?
how and what did you use to attach the riser to the machine to hold it in place, looks like a piece of leather with some type of bolts to hold it in place?
I love the idea. Thanks for posting up. Can we see a full pic of the machine.


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## Hoythunter01 (Oct 23, 2005)

Can't beat that !! I love Junkin'.....:shade:


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## Stab 'em (Dec 26, 2008)

chinnookbuster said:


> what did you use to attach the release to the draw cord, it looks like a piece of aluminium?
> how and what did you use to attach the riser to the machine to hold it in place, looks like a piece of leather with some type of bolts to hold it in place?
> I love the idea. Thanks for posting up. Can we see a full pic of the machine.


The release is attached to a modified 3" Turn Buckle (Ace Hardware). I squared the inside of one end with a file for the release screw to sit flush and swivel. The other end has a grooved a machine screw that threaded into it so the cable wouldn't rub the aluminum turn buckle. 

I made the "hand" from a piece of aluminum on my drill press. It swivels on a 1/2" bolt. The head was cut off the bolt and I put two 1/2" locking collars (Ace hardware) on it to secure it to the frame and so it could be adjusted to turn freely. The 8-9 oz. holster leather is sewed around the hand at the bottom and the tabs are held down on the outside by a studded 1/4-20" hex nut that turns on finger tight to hold the bow. The inside hex nut is thread-locked in place and drops down onto a 3" bolt after the shot, so the bow doesn't roll forward too much.

The winch (Harbor Freight) and cable was modified to make it narrower. This required a lot of hack sawing and some welding! The spool is narrowed by almost 2" and so was the frame and all the hardware. This is not necessary to make you unit work properly, I just wanted to make it "mine" and nearly half as big. I also bought thinner cable from Ace (800 lb. capacity). The 2000 lb. cable the winch came with was overkill; it was just way too long and hard to work with like that. That is the one thing that should be modified for sure.

Another thing I would suggest everyone do with whatever type of winch they use is put brass bushings (Ace hardware) in the cable spool for the axle to rotate on. This makes the draw more much more smooth.


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## Dthbyhoyt (Dec 4, 2004)

Nice !!!


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## Eldraad (Jan 7, 2009)

Perfect! I was just going to ask you to post pictures of the winch, "grip" and release...and bang! There they are. I am now afraid I WILL have to try building one, Thanks!


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## Jovush (Sep 28, 2006)

What are the chances of you posting a video on Youtube with your excellent creation in action? Always wanted a make a shooter but struggled with the mechanism that holds the bow after the shot. Seems you have solved this. Great work.


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## chinnookbuster (May 22, 2008)

Stab 'em said:


> The release is attached to a modified 3" Turn Buckle (Ace Hardware). I squared the inside of one end with a file for the release screw to sit flush and swivel. The other end has a grooved a machine screw that threaded into it so the cable wouldn't rub the aluminum turn buckle.
> 
> I made the "hand" from a piece of aluminum on my drill press. It swivels on a 1/2" bolt. The head was cut off the bolt and I put two 1/2" locking collars (Ace hardware) on it to secure it to the frame and so it could be adjusted to turn freely. The 8-9 oz. holster leather is sewed around the hand at the bottom and the tabs are held down on the outside by a studded 1/4-20" hex nut that turns on finger tight to hold the bow. The inside hex nut is thread-locked in place and drops down onto a 3" bolt after the shot, so the bow doesn't roll forward too much.
> 
> ...


Perfect!!! Thanks that was what I needed.


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## jim p (Oct 29, 2003)

I have always wanted to know how do you tell when you have it at the correct draw point. You can't feel the wall so do you use a scale or just winch the bow back to a certain measurement?

I use a poor mans draw board sometimes. I tie the bow to one tree and then use a rope on the string and pull the bow and tie the other end to a different tree. When I do this the bow always wants to drop when it goes to full letoff. I just put a little more pressure on the bow and the slack comes out of the rope. Does anything like this happen when you winch a bow back or does the fact that the bow is sort of attached to the draw board keep the bow from wanting to move.

Also the more pictures of this that you want to put up the better. I usually can't improve on a design but sometimes I can find less expensive ways to achieve the same results.


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## Stab 'em (Dec 26, 2008)

jim p said:


> I have always wanted to know how do you tell when you have it at the correct draw point. You can't feel the wall so do you use a scale or just winch the bow back to a certain measurement?
> 
> I use a poor mans draw board sometimes. I tie the bow to one tree and then use a rope on the string and pull the bow and tie the other end to a different tree. When I do this the bow always wants to drop when it goes to full letoff. I just put a little more pressure on the bow and the slack comes out of the rope. Does anything like this happen when you winch a bow back or does the fact that the bow is sort of attached to the draw board keep the bow from wanting to move.
> 
> Also the more pictures of this that you want to put up the better. I usually can't improve on a design but sometimes I can find less expensive ways to achieve the same results.


Jim, the my bow is held up from sagging by the "hand" in front of the machine. It will rotate a bit a it is on an axle as it is drawn, and because you don't want the hand to induce torque on the bow by not swiveling around. You are getting sag from holding the bow handle up in the air with ropes? A fixed pin attached securely to a beam/board, ect. will stop the sag you get from holding the bow between two ropes. 

As far a being consistent with drawing your bow back to the wall with a draw board goes, spray the bottom end of a shaft with foot powder, draw the bow by hand with that arrow to your anchor and then let down, the powder will scrape off to full draw. Then you can either mark the arrow there with a Sharpie pen there or you draw it back on the machine with the powdered arrow until you reach those scrape marks, then mark the arrow with the pen at the rest. Once you have your mark on one arrow then just transfer that length to the rest of your arrows or mark the draw board somewhere so you know the bow is being drawn back in the machine to the exact spot that is your back wall. I just look at my cams and see when the bow strings come around to my draw stops on the cams. Either was is just as consistent, so long as you draw it back to the same point every time.


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## AdvanTimberLou (Aug 8, 2005)

Forget the couch, now that is a piece of furniture!  

You did an awesome job! :thumb: Thanks for sharing!


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## jim p (Oct 29, 2003)

Thanks for the explanation of how to use the draw board/shooter. That is a very elegant solution for determining the point of draw for the bow. Now I need to go and find some parts.


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## Stab 'em (Dec 26, 2008)

jim p said:


> Thanks for the explanation of how to use the draw board/shooter. That is a very elegant solution for determining the point of draw for the bow. Now I need to go and find some parts.


Your very welcome, Jim. When I drew my bow the first few times I just drew/cranked until I came to the draw stops. But when I powdered and marked the shaft and then drew the bow on the machine to my actual draw length stop I was surprised at how much further I was actually pulling and rotating on the cams past just touching the stops. I'm sure this mattered at long range. I used the machine to set up my modified HHA slider to max-out to about a 100 yard distance last week. After shooting the machine out to 80 yards I took an off-hand shot at 90 yards distance and hit the top of the bulls eye! Very impressed with myself and my machine at that point! :shade::thumbs_up:darkbeer: 

The bow was my Limbsaver Deadzone 32, with 450 grain Trophy Ridge Crush shafts.


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## Barry O'Regan (Nov 2, 2008)

*Damn nice rig*



Stab 'em said:


> I went to the scrap yard this week with the intention of making a "Hooter Shooter"/draw board. The frame and legs are extruded aluminum triangle shaped tubing. The precise-position winch is from Harbor Freight. I re-designed the winch, narrowing the spool and frame because it was too bulky for my liking. The "hand" is some type of aluminum shackle that I machined to what you see, and pivots on a 1/2" axle (a polished bolt). Here's what I came up with for under a hundred bucks:


One day, when I have the time I will have to head to the hardware store and build me one.


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## ahawk19 (Aug 16, 2007)

*awesome*

I have always dreamed about having a hooter shooter...Now im just going to make one. Your "hand" idea is great.


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## dugy40 (May 28, 2010)

*Very Nice*

Great job


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## daltongang (Jul 29, 2009)

*Very nice!*

I wish I had room for this stuff. :darkbeer:


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## Raymond 1 (Feb 23, 2010)

*Hooter Shooter*

What the heck is a hooter shooter? Is it a HOOTERS GIRL doing SHOOTERS, . I really don't know what it is, please explain.
Thanks,
Raymond


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## MysticFlight (Feb 8, 2006)

Raymond 1 said:


> What the heck is a hooter shooter? Is it a HOOTERS GIRL doing SHOOTERS, . I really don't know what it is, please explain.
> Thanks,
> Raymond


Takes all human variables away while shooting a bow. You can paper tune, tune your arrows and group tune a bow and not worry about having the exact same grip/form every time. the machine holds the bow exactly the same every time. Go to youtube and search Hooter Schooter and will come up with some great videos of one in action


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## turkeycallmaker (Jun 10, 2010)

MysticFlight said:


> Takes all human variables away while shooting a bow. You can paper tune, tune your arrows and group tune a bow and not worry about having the exact same grip/form every time. the machine holds the bow exactly the same every time. Go to youtube and search Hooter Schooter and will come up with some great videos of one in action


I'm not trying to be sarcastic, but why would you want to remove all of the variables to set a bow up? You can't take something that size to the range or in your treestand. Once your bow is set up on a rig like that, you have no excuse but human error when you don't hit the 10x every time?


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## gbear (May 30, 2009)

turkeycallmaker said:


> I'm not trying to be sarcastic, but why would you want to remove all of the variables to set a bow up? You can't take something that size to the range or in your treestand. Once your bow is set up on a rig like that, you have no excuse but human error when you don't hit the 10x every time?


Exactly what you said, *no excuse but human error*....this is the reason.
if you take out that variable, which is just that variable (just like the wind), when setting up your rig you know if your bow/arrrow combo will or won't shoot 12 arrows into the same spot. then you only have to see if the shooter is up to the task.
same concept as shooting a hunting rifle to sight in or test handloads. shoot from a good solid bench with sandbags. then move off the bench and see if the shooter is up to the task.


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## Stab 'em (Dec 26, 2008)

TTT, for those who may be looking for something to build. I am currently working on designing an arrow spine tester, to take even more of the human variables out of the equation.


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## Indianbullet (Jan 18, 2003)

nice job


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## McDragon (Oct 30, 2011)

Stab 'em said:


> The release is attached to a modified 3" Turn Buckle (Ace Hardware). I squared the inside of one end with a file for the release screw to sit flush and swivel. The other end has a grooved a machine screw that threaded into it so the cable wouldn't rub the aluminum turn buckle.
> 
> I made the "hand" from a piece of aluminum on my drill press. It swivels on a 1/2" bolt. The head was cut off the bolt and I put two 1/2" locking collars (Ace hardware) on it to secure it to the frame and so it could be adjusted to turn freely. The 8-9 oz. holster leather is sewed around the hand at the bottom and the tabs are held down on the outside by a studded 1/4-20" hex nut that turns on finger tight to hold the bow. The inside hex nut is thread-locked in place and drops down onto a 3" bolt after the shot, so the bow doesn't roll forward too much.
> 
> ...



I would flip the winch 180d and use a strap instead of the cable.


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## Stab 'em (Dec 26, 2008)

McDragon said:


> I would flip the winch 180d and use a strap instead of the cable.


Thanks. That was my plan when I come across a decent piece of ratchet strap that is not too thin; but these modifications are way down on my list of things to do because I don't use the machine much now that everything is tuned. 

For those of you who may be thinking about putting one like this together, this simple design shoots great so long as your trigger finger is steady and aim is true (by aligning your peep sight to the sight ring; no kisser buttons!).


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## Quackersmacker1 (May 1, 2011)

Nice


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## Unk Bond (Aug 1, 2004)

Hello All
For Later


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## krieger (Jan 24, 2007)

Tag


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## arrow1969 (Nov 23, 2012)

Great job.


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## Stab 'em (Dec 26, 2008)

Bump for Scott826


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## Paintman75 (Feb 26, 2012)

tagged


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## KenHo (Apr 14, 2014)

I just joined tonight and found the best thread ever!!! Thanks to all for their contributions.

Ken H>


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## sad_story (Aug 5, 2014)

Can you provide more details or photos of "the hand" . .. Specifically the piece you made on the drill press, and what did you start with to begin that part of the fabrication.


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