We had the good fortune of connecting with Buddy Gould and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Buddy, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I was born into a family of home builders, my grandpa owned a home building company and my dad worked for him. My dad eventually started his own home building company where I first started working and I eventually started a framing sub-contacting company. After several years of framing homes my dad and I started Cedar Springs Homes, Inc. building custom homes together in 1999 After the housing bubble burst in 2008 building stopped for quite awhile. I started working with my old friend Chad at Tree frog Woodworking doing custom woodworking, interior trim, cabinetry, pergolas, custom gates etc.
I have always been a passionate hunter, fisherman and outdoorsman and through the years became obsessed with traditional archery and loved the idea of building my own longbow to hunt with. Chad bought us both kits for the first time bowyer from a bow building supplier and after building those first bows I was hooked. Being self employed was not a new notion to me so it was an easy decision to combine my two passions into one business and Poison Dart Bows Inc. was born.
Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I was born into a creative family as my mom is a very talented painter and seamstress. i cant remember a time when she didn’t have a painting in progress or a sewing project in the works. My dad is a musician and has always played music in his spare time and was a drummer in a rock band when he met my mom. I took a cue from dad and started playing drums when I was in Elementary School and played in bands throughout Junior High and High School. I went to Musician’s Institute in Hollywood after I graduated and I eventually met my friend Chad Beall one night when my band played with his band at a club in Denver. Chad and I would later become friends, partners in the construction business and bandmates in several bands.
I love to create whether its with music, wood, metal , home building or longbows. I especially like to create functional art, and building things that have a purpose.
In 2012 after Chad and I built our first bows from the kits he bought us, I went to Kansas and successfully harvested a deer with mine! I was so impressed that something that I put so much creativity and artistic expression into, could function in that way, I was hooked! We continued to build bows in Chad’s shop for ourselves, friends, and family in our spare time before and after work. We would take them to RMSgear in Wheat Ridge for the owner, and friend, Tom Clum to shoot and give us notes on how we could improve them and to compare them to other bows he had in the shop. Tom and his family encouraged us to keep building them and believed that we were building a really good product that they could easily sell. We built a few more bows but had a lot of projects going and couldn’t devote much time to it.
A year later, in June of 2013 shelly and I tragically lost our son and this would change my trajectory personally and professionally.
I took a bit of time off to grieve and try to come to terms with this incredible loss. I did quite a bit of soul searching sand realized at that time the best thing for me and my family and ultimately for Chad was to step away from Tree Frog where I didn’t feel like I could be an asset at that time. Shelly my daughter Sadie and I sold our family home in Kiowa and rented a small casita from some good friends in Elizabeth, where I built out my first bow shop in an old coal shed in the back yard.
Keeping with the Tree Frog theme, and as a tribute to Chad who was incredibly helpful to our family at that time, I started building bows full time and named my company Poison Dart Bows Inc.
I built dozens of bows in that shop and eventually moved into a much larger shop in Elizabeth until 2020 when we made the move to Paonia on the Western Slope. I built a new shop here in our two car garage.
One thing I really enjoy about the traditional archery community is that people really like to craft a lot of their own equipment whether it’s arrows, armguards, finger tabs or quivers for their arrows. So after getting set up here in Paonia I started hosting bow building retreats, where folks come in for a four day class in which, under one on one instruction, they build their own longbow.
It has been a really fun and rewarding new addition to my business and people really seem to enjoy and appreciate the amount of work that goes into creating such a functional piece of art!
Eleven Years and several hundred bows later I would say that I have made a good name for myself in the traditional archery community, as well as lots of good customers and friends.
Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
The places we like to go most here in Paonia are Big B’s delicious Orchards for great food, music and U-pick fruit. There are several great wineries very close by that makes for a great wine tour (I’m the Designated Driver). Paonia Town park for Cherry Days Festival over July 4th and their Thursday night Pickin’ in the Park throughout August.
We like to take friends floating the Gunnison river on kayaks and paddle boards or to any number of lakes on the Grand Mesa. Leaf peeping on Kebler pass in the fall and hiking in the West Elk mountains.
Or Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area where we can camp, hike, float, see petroglyphs and Desert Bighorn Sheep.
Paonia is an artist community and is home to many incredible painters, sculptures, photographers, woodworkers, artists and makers of all kinds. There are many great galleries in our little town and Final Friday art walk is always a great time.
There are several great hot springs near by which we like to go to as well.
We are about and hour and fifteen minutes from Grand Junction and one hour from Montrose our two biggest towns that have everything you need.
The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would say that my biggest role models in my life have been my parents who encouraged me to follow my passions. They instilled in me a strong work ethic and they’ve always been there with love, positive reinforcement and helpful advice.
My wife Shelly is my most trusted partner and confidant. She is the person who I can always count on to have a fresh perspective or an optimistic viewpoint when my outlook is gloomy. She has supported all of my ventures and has unwavering faith in my abilities to do anything, even when I’m not so sure!
Also Id like to give a shoutout to my best buddy Chad Beall of Tree Frog Woodworking, who not only bought us our first longbow kits that ignited my fire for building traditional bows, but has helped my family and me through some extremely hard and challenging times. Not everyone can say they have someone like Chad in their lives and I feel very fortunate that I can.
Website: https://www.poisondartbows.com
Instagram: @poisondartbows
Facebook: @poisondartbows
Image Credits
Ben Maher
Scott Zuerker
Elliot Ross
Ben Herndon