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Martin Archery – A Tradition of Excellence

By Lon Scott

A few years ago, my hunting partner and I were participating in a very popular traditional 3-D event in Eastern Washington. As we neared a caribou target nicely situated in the forest at the edge of a clearing which provided a magnificent view of the nearby mountains, we noticed a man sitting all alone on a rock. His focus was on the distant peaks and he appeared to be in somewhat of a “trance”.

We offered our greetings as we approached and asked, “How’s everything going?” The archer appeared to be in his late 60’s or early 70’s and a longbow rested across his lap. He responded that all was well and that he was just remembering his younger days when he had packed in hunters and guided for elk in those distant mountains.

After listening to his stories, my attention turned to the bow on his lap. I commented on its handsome good looks and shape. When I asked what kind it was, the archer remarked that it was just one that he had made. He kindly handed the longbow to me for my closer inspection. My eyes were drawn to the riser and the words inscribed on the limbs, “Martin Savannah”. For just a split second I thought about his reply and thought to myself, “Yeah…right!”, and then I recalled reading about this new bow called the “Savannah” and the man who designed it, Larry Hatfield. I introduced myself and he introduced himself by saying, “My name is Larry Hatfield”. After a few more minutes of conversation, my partner and I continued our shooting while Larry remained behind to continue his elk hunting memories of yesterday.

Later that day, we encountered Mr. Hatfield once again and had the pleasure of shooting parts of the 3-D course with him. During a short pause in the action, I inquired about the Martin bow operation with the possibility of receiving a tour of the Howatt facility in Yakima, Washington, and Larry indicated that we were welcome. The main facility or headquarters of Martin Archery is situated in Walla Walla, Washington, where the compound bows are assembled and the accessories are made. By the way, did you know that Martin Archery manufactures the most complete line of Archery equipment in the world? The traditional bows (recurves and longbows) are all made in the Howatt plant in Yakima.

I have been a resident of Washington for almost 40 years and have been a recurve and longbow shooter even longer. With one of the largest traditional archery bow production factories just two hours away, I had never taken the advantage of the opportunity to see the facility. But now, I had received an invitation.

Several months went by since that encounter with Mr. Hatfield, and I still never made the commitment to tour the Martin factory. However, that changed this past June when another good hunting friend Wayne Fontenelle told me of his desire to acquire his first takedown recurve bow. He had narrowed his selections down to two or three different models, and the Martin Hatfield was one of his choices. After I told Wayne of my encounter with Mr. Hatfield and his standing invitation to visit the factory, he encouraged me to call and set up a date and time for the tour.