Lon E. Lauber
(Guest speaker at the 30th Annual AlaskanBowhunters & Arrowhead Awards Banquet)

Influenced by his father and older brother, Lon E. Lauber became interested in archery at the age of six. While growing up in Spokane, WA, Lon used a fiberglass recurve bow and wooden arrows for target practice and to hunt scrap fish. "As long as I can remember, there's been a hay-bale target butt in our family's garage," he said. "When I was a kid I used to practice until my fingers were blistered. When the blisters turned to calluses, I would tape my bow on to the handle bar of my bike and ride 12 miles round trip to hunt suckers and carp. Archery and hunting are the only childhood activities I'm still interested in."

After a ten-year stint as a rifle hunter, Lon bought his first compound bow in 1981. That fall, while attending Syracuse University, he killed his first deer with a bow. "My tree stand was only twenty minutes from my apartment so after school and on my days off I went hunting," he said. "Shooting that big whitetail doe at 18 yards with archery tackle was more thrilling than any hunting experience to date." Lon has been strictly bowhunting big game since.

Over the years he has killed whitetail, mule, Columbian and Sitka black-tailed deer, black bear, brown bear, Rocky Mountain and Roosevelt elk, Central barren-ground caribou, Dall sheep, mountain goat, musk-ox, javelina, coyote, fox, Moreno sheep, feral hog, Pronghorn Antelope, moose, European wild boar and fallow deer as well as numerous game birds and small game. Of the dozens of animals Lon has bagged with a bow, 50 are Pope and Young-class trophies.

Surprisingly, one of his fondest trophies is a cow elk he shot in 1984. "I've been fortunate while bowhunting and bagged quite a few trophy-class animals," he said. "However, the cow elk I shot in Washington state ranks right near the top of my bowhunting accomplishments. Just before dark on the 13th day of hunting zero-degree weather and bucking thigh-deep snow, I managed to put it all together. I made a clean 27-yard shot. To me, the circumstances of the hunt make the trophy more than the animal's headgear."

Lon is an active member in the Washington State Bowhunters, Alaskan Bowhunters, and a life member of North America Hunting Club and the NRA. Additionally, Lon is a state-certified International Bowhunter Education Program (IBEP) instructor.

Lon is a nine-time Alaska State archery champion. This includes winning the Bowhunter Freestyle Limited category in the 1992 Alaska State 3-D Shoot, the 1993 and 1994 NFAA State Indoor Championships, the 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998 NFAA State Field Championships, and the 1995 and 1998, NFAA State Broadhead Championship.

Also, Lon is a media Pro Staff member of Mathews Archery. His writing and photography assignments are published in most all of the major outdoor publications on a regular basis.

In 2005, Lon published his first book, “The Bowhunter’s Guide to Accurate Shooting”. This 127 page book is lavishly illustrated with over 150 color photos, charts and graphics and is based on Lon’s 25 years of bowhunting experience.

Following family tradition, Lon's sons are active archers too. "Tyler is only 20 but he's been shooting a bow 18 years now," Lon said. "I started my youngest son, Trevor, when he was 16 months old. Aldo Leopold said something like, 'if you don't want to go hunting for your son, take your son hunting,' so I continually involve my boys in outdoor activities."