Instinctive

If Rick Snell can't harvest it with a traditional recurve bow, then it wasn't meant to be harvested.

At least that's what he'll tell you.

Story by T.L. SIMPSON Photos by LIZ CHRISMAN

"It's been a lifelong passion of mine," Snell says. "My dad was a hunter all my life. It was a part of my family, so I started hunting at an early age. I started shooting a bow when I was five or six years old.”

There’s gratification in harvesting a big game animal but more if you can harvest it with a weapon of your own design. Snell has been shooting a recurve bow most of his life, but not too long ago he began making them himself.

“I used to make my own arrows all the time,” he says. “I got to tinkering around and wondering about building bows. Now, it’s basically a hobby of mine. I build them as guys want them.” Snell makes two models -- the Snell Silent Stalker I and the Snell Silent Stalker II.

Building a bow is a laborious and tedious process, but it's one Snell takes pride in. He described the process from start to fi nish. "The fi rst thing you do is you want to pick out the wood," he says. "Whoever is wanting the bow, they'll pick out the wood they want, whether they want a dark lacquer color or they want brown. I put in different African and South American hardwoods. You glue up the block, which is four inches wide and two inches thick and 19 inches long, and that's what becomes the handle." Then it’s on to choosing material for the limbs. The limbs of a bow are where the weapon gets its power. They’re made from wood and glass, the colors, variety and strength of which help determine not only the poundage but also the visual appeal of the bow. "The poundage of the bow is fi gured out by the thickness of the glass in the bow and the thickness of the lamination you're using for your core," Snell says. "Most people wanting to hunt are shooting between 55 and 65 pounds, anywhere in that range. I used to shoot 70 or 75, but as I got some age on me, I realized I don't need all that weight. I keep it around the 60-pound range. It's totally different than a compound bow, which relies on cables and pulleys to do what a curve in a recurve limbs do.” Snell then makes the parts to glue up the limbs, puts them in a press and in an oven. "I cover them in a heat-treating ep-

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oxy, and that's the messiest part,” Snell says, “gluing up the riser and gluing up the limbs.” After that is done, you have to clean off the excess glue, shape the handle and get the handle all worked and everything is in the rough, and that's where the process starts." The Silent Stalkers are three-piece bows with the limbs bolted on and removable for easy storage. Special care is taken to taper down the limbs, fi t the string and make sure everything lines up straight. "From there I can start cutting the limb tips," Snell says. "That's a very tedious process because it's done by hand with a hand fi le." A recurve bow gets its name because the limbs have two curves in them. Snell's bows actually have three. "The model I build now has a curved limb pocket. Where the limb fi ts into the bow, I put a curve in it," he says. "My bows ultimately have instead of two curves like most recurves, three. My design makes the limb work farther out toward the tip, which hypothetically makes the bow fi re faster." Snell says he loves the aesthetics of the bow, the curves of the limbs and the exotic woods. “The beauty always fascinated me,” he says. “I used to really love high-end shotguns for the same reason, but I’ve always been in the recurve market because they are always built with exotic woods.” The other reason he loves the bow -- he views the weapon as an extension of him-

self. When someone says they are a bowhunter these days, most of the time they mean they shoot a compound bow. “To me, that’s become too mechanized,” he says. “I rely on instinct.” Snell, like all instinctive shooters, doesn’t use sights to hit his mark. Some call instinctive shooting “aiming by not aiming.” The best way to think of it might be like throwing a baseball to a friend. You don’t aim. You just throw it. An instinctive shooter has fi red an arrow so many times that they can hit a target by feel, their “instincts” effectively doing the aiming for them. >>

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“What I love about it is that you are using the ability God gave you innately,” Snell says, “and if you practice enough, you can do it too. I can have someone hitting the target on their fi rst day of practicing with a bow and arrow. Shooting traditional equipment is hand-eye coordination. Pull the bow up, draw, shoot. You’re aiming for a target as big as a paper plate.” Snell says he also likes the fi nesse of a recurve and prefers it over other traditional bows, like the longbow. “Stalking is doable with a longbow, but a recurve is shorter and easier to carry,” he says. “Plus, you have that beautiful curve to the limbs.” Snell moved to Pope County in 2006, mostly on a whim. Before that he lived in Alaska and Illinois. But after visiting friends in Arkansas, he and his future wife knew they had to move here. “I came down here at Christmas in 2005,” he says. “My wife was riding a horse across a piece of property. The next thing I know, I’m buying that property and building a home. We love it here. Of course, it doesn’t have the mountains of Alaska, but this state is magnifi cent. Thirty years ago, I’d have laughed if you told me I would live in Arkansas, but it’s been one of the best decisions in my life. It’s an absolutely beautiful state.” Snell loves the outdoors and Ozark Mountains and the beauty of it all, but more than that, Snell says he loves the people. “The people I go to church with are like family to me,” he says. “Where I live surrounded by the south end of the Ozark Mountains, it’s as rough and rugged as it was in Alaska. I have all the fi shing and hunting and wildlife I could want, and my wife rides her horses fi ve or seven days per week. She knows these mountains better than I do.” With his own bow in hand, Snell has harvested every big game animal in Alaska, where he used to live. It’s a feat known as "The Alaskan Grand Slam." Snell's main passion is hunting grizzly bears. Stalking them and killing them with a bow is just about as exhila-

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rating a thrill as you can fi nd, Snell says. "It takes a lot of nerves, and it takes a lot of patience," he says. "Especially if you are hunting them on the ground.” At one time, Snell had one of the largest bears taken with a recurve bow. Records for bear aren't kept by the size of the animal, but by the size of the animal's skull. His biggest measured 25 and 2/16 -- that's 16 inches front to back and 9 1/2 inches wide. "It put him in the top fi ve in the world in 1997," Snell says. "It's tied for 10th now. It used to be the Alaska state record, but there's been bigger taken." But one bear has alluded him all these years — the Kodiak brown bear. Kodiaks inhabit the islands of the Kodiak Archipelago in southwest Alaska. They are the largest recognized subspecies of

brown bear and one of the two largest bear species alive today, the other being the polar bear. To get a permit to hunt one -- its luck of the draw. Snell said he stopped putting in for a permit some time ago. “I had a stroke,” he says. “It knocked the wind out of my sails.” Still, Snell says he’d like to hunt one if he ever had the chance. “I’d like to go after that one, but that’d be the fi rst time I’d have a gun behind me.” l

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Sandi Patty coming to Reynolds Performance Hall

As one of the most highly acclaimed performers of our time with fi ve Grammy® awards, four Billboard Music Awards, three platinum records, fi ve gold records, and eleven million units sold, Sandi Patty is simply known as “The Voice.” She is also the most awarded female vocalist in contemporary Christian music history with 40 Dove Awards and a member of the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. Sandi Patty brings her Christmas Blessings Tour to Reynolds Performance Hall at the University of Central Arkansas on Friday, December 11th at 7:30 pm. She will delight audiences with an intimate concert event of music, including her rendition of “Angels We Have Heard On High,” “Jingle Bells ala Sandra,” and her moving arrangement of “O Holy Night.” After 40 years in the business, Sandi recently became semi-retired when she concluded a 90-plus city worldwide tour, performing to tens of thousands of fans. In addition to her music career, she is the author of eight books, including her autobiography “The Voice.” Tickets go on sale Friday Oct 16 at 10 a.m. and are $40, $35, and $30. Student/ children tickets are $10 and senior/UCA Community and Alumni discounts available as well. Tickets can be purchased at the

box offi ce Monday through Friday from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. or by phone at 501-450-3265. Reynolds is taking extra measures to provide a safe-as-possible atmosphere for events. This includes: • socially distanced seating • required face masks • contactless ticketing available • timed entry and exit into and out of facility • thorough cleaning and disinfecting of all areas of Reynolds after • each event including theatre seating • lobby closed before/during/after events and more Reynolds Performance Hall continues to closely monitor the COVID-19 pandemic and has plans and protocols in place to ensure the safety of its patrons. In the coming months, Reynolds will continue to follow all mandated regulations for large venues and institutions of higher education. Plans will be monitored and assessed on a show-byshow basis, depending on which phase we are in with the COVID-19 pandemic. This could mean that your seat assignments may be moved for any of your ticketed events. For more information on all our upcoming season 20-21 shows, visit our website at uca.edu/reynolds and follow on Facebook, Twitter, an Instagram for updates.

Rural Workforce Development Southern Region Summit – Nov. 5-6

Innovation in Times of Change

The Rural Workforce Development Southern Region Summit is an annual convening in its second year for rural partners to identify and share innovative practices, opportunities, and resources they can use to address changes in workforce dynamics. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet potential collaborators and identify actions they can take in their own work and in their communities to improve local economies. See our program agenda or a

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full list of speakers, panels discussions, and other activities. Attendees will represent industry, business representatives, legislators, health care workers, K-12 educators, higher education, nonprofi t professionals, and public servants from the Southeastern United States who will come together to share best practices and learn from others. SPEAKERS AND PANELISTS INCLUDE: Caitlin Cain, Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) Vice President and Rural Director; Marta Loyd, Executive Director/CEO of the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute & Lisa Willenberg, Chancellor, University of Arkansas Community College; representatives from Argenta Downtown Council, Arkansas Department of Education, Arkansas Rural Health Partnership, Entergy, Future School of Fort Smith; Go Forward Pine Bluff, Green Bay Packaging, Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce, University of Arkansas Small Business & Technology Development Center WHERE: Winthrop Rockefeller Institute and the University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton. There is also an entirely virtual attendance option. Registration: rockefellerinstitute.org/rwd20

The Arkansas Hospice River Valley Home

The Arkansas Hospice River Valley Home was dedicated in September 2011, as an 8-bed facility with the fi rst patient served in

SavetheDate ENGAGEMENTS List your engagement or wedding announcements in the pages of ABOUT the River Valley magazine at no charge. You can email yours to: editor@aboutrvmag.com or mail to: ABOUT Magazine, 220 East 4th Street, Russellville AR 72801. A phone number must be included for verifi cation.

NOVEMBER

Heather Bramlett & Christopher Steuber (14th) Shelby Bryant & Corey Hottinger (21st)

DECEMBER

McKenzie DuVall & David Meeks (12th)

JANUARY 2021

Andrea Vega & Tyler Gri n (8th)

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Andrea Kindrick & Michael Mullen Hannah Sanderson & Lane Bene eld (27th) Carlie Taylor & Hunter Hobby (27th)

MARCH 2021

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Avery Elliott & Brant Collins (24th)

MAY 2021

Bailey Harris & Logan Gilbert (1st) Madison Van Horn & Cody Davenport (15th) Maebre Hale & Luke Curtis (22nd) Alix Ann Laws & John Harpool (28th)

November 2011. This dream of an inpatient facility was realized after several years of fundraising efforts by a committed group of local campaign volunteers. The project was a total community effort with individual, corporate and civic support raising a total of $2 million under the auspices the Arkansas Hospice, Inc., and the Arkansas Hospice Foundation Board of Directors. Since that opening date, the facility has served 1,698 patients with medical leadership provided by Allan Kirkland, MD, and W. Robert Thurlby, MD, FACP, and 16 nursing and administrative staff. In addition to these dedicated professionals are numerous volunteers who provide various services including meals for the patients, their families, and the staff as well as direct service supporting the patients and their families. At this time of year, an appreciation and recognition is event is usually held to recognize and honor a few groups who provide their time, dedication, and fi nancial support to assist with the overall mission of Arkansas Hospice: “To enhance the quality of life for those facing serious illness and loss by surrounding them with love and embracing them with the best in physical, emotional and spiritual care.” Continued on page 25...