HeDog Cam Protector
Age: 9 years old
From: Elyria, OH
When I went to my first big indoor Ohio Archers Association this year, I saw kids using stands for their bows and I wanted one. My dad wouldn't just buy it for me since he didn't think I needed something like that since there are stands setup at the shoots to rest your bows on. But I have a deal with my mom and dad when it comes to things for shooting and racing that if the thing I want I just kind of need but mostly just want, that they will pay for half and I will need to pay for the other half using my saved money. But if it's something that I really really need, my parents will buy it for me. When we got home from that shoot my dad got on his computer and went to Pine Ridge Archery and showed me the stand and told me how much it would cost me to get. I love matching colors and picked the purple stand since I shoot purple Carbon Express arrows. Now I have less money saved up to get a NERF gun I want, my parents won't just by me toys for no reason and I have to buy stuff like that myself if I really want it since they say I have enough toys and don't need more. Now that my dad set up a target at home for me and my brother to shoot at, I use the stand on my bow a lot or else my bow would just be laying on the ground when I would go pull my arrows.
At my first 3D shoot this year I ran into another new problem. I still didn't like holding my bow while waiting for the next person to shoot. But that was OK since I now had my Pine Ridge Archery Kwik bow stand, so I stopped laying my bow on the ground. But sometimes I would just put my cam on the ground and lean on my bow. Every time I would put my bow down my dad would tell me not to because he wanted my cam and string to stay clean. I understood why I needed to keep my bow clean, but I still would end up putting it down a few times during a shoot. He would tell me if I was going to put it down to at least rest it on my boot but my bow would always seem to end up back on the ground. Since this was a real problem my dad started looking for something to help me, and he found HeDog cam protectors on the computer. I said what in the world are HeDog cam protectors because I never heard of it or seen one. He told me what they were but I still couldn't figure out how it would work or what it really was, I just liked that he was going to pay for it and I didn't have to pay for any of it.
When my HeDog came in, my dad let me open the box since he knew what it was. He got me the purple one since he knows I like to match things. When we first put the HeDog on my bow it would keep falling over. The reason my bow kept falling over was because the cam protector was too big for my youth size Bear Apprentice 2. It took us awhile of adjusting things so my bow wouldn't fall over anymore, and this is what we did. My Pine Ridge Archery bow stand is adjustable, so we made the legs as long as possible. That made it better, but my bow still kept falling over. My dad moved the HeDog up the limb farther away from the cam than it should be, and that made the balance good and my bow stopped falling over. Now when I shoot at home I don't have to lay my bow on the ground, and when I go to 3D shoots my HeDog keeps my string and cam from touching the ground.
I am in the Lorain County 4H Shooting Sports and every year you need to do a project from your shooting discipline, and my discipline is archery. I thought it would be cool to tell people about the HeDog cam protector so I could help other kids and adults incase they have the same problem I had with my bow. My dad thought this was a great idea since he didn't think anyone else would have ever done this project before. So with my dads help, we emailed Nathan Lawson the owner of HeDog Archery and told him about my 4H project idea. Nathan told me he wanted to answer my questions I had for him because he thought it was cool that I was doing my 4H project on him and the product he invented. I felt really happy that he wanted to help me and that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity for me to do something like this, if he didn't say yes I don't think I would of gotten an A on my project because it would of been boring.
Here are the questions that we sent Nathan and his answers. Q: How old were you when you made HeDog and where do you live? A: I made the cam protector available to the public in 2010 and I am now 45 years old. I live in Tucson, Arizona.
Q: What made you create the HeDog cam protector? A: I created the cam protector because I felt like I needed it. I was always resting the bow on my boot or having to be real careful with it so I didn't damage one of the most important parts of the bow. The string.
Q: How long did it take you to make a working HeDog? A: I made the first one 20 years ago and made a better one every year after that for 8 years. I struggled for a long time trying to figure out how to make a universal one. I still have not quite figured that out But I make two versions that fit nearly all bows. I did not figure it out for almost 7 years.
Q: How did you know how to make the HeDog cam protector? What was your job that let you know how to make them? A: I have always been pretty handy with tools and God give me a good mind to figure out problems. I am a builder and also an aircraft mechanic.
Q: How did you come up with the design for the HeDog cam protector? A: I have 8 different prototypes that were created before I came up with the one you use today.
Q: What materials were the first HeDog cam protector made out of? A: The 1st cam protector was welded pieces of aircraft aluminum that I epoxy to my bow limbsQ: Have you made anything else? A: I have made lots of things, I owned part of some big car washes and always had to make better parts to keep them going.
Q: How do you make the HeDog cam protector now? A: I had a mold made that you put a plastic looking material in and it can make a lot of them very fast. We also only make our cam protector in the USA so we can provide good jobs.
Q: How did you know it wouldn't affect the shooter when he shoots? A: I did not know, I first had to experiment. After experimenting with the first one I realized it did not make much difference where my arrow hit.
Q: How has the HeDog cam protector changed from when you first made it? A: The cam protector can now be taken off if you need to, the cam protector can be installed by anyone and now it is much stronger and lighter because of what it is made out of.
Q: Why did you name it HeDog and pick the logo you did? A: HeDog was a Lakota Indian chief. I picked the logo because my favorite animal is the Bison.
Q: Will you make a smaller HeDog to fit smaller bows? I have one on my bow but my dad had to slide it up the limb a lot or it would make my bow tip over when I use my Pine Ridge Archery bow stand. A: I don't think I will make a smaller one right now. Molds are very expensive, Over 60,000 dollars so it might be a while before I can do that. I would sure have to sell a lot of them.
Q: What made you want to make HeDogs for everyone in the world? A: Even today I work HeDog archery so everyone can have a good product that is made well. A lot of people work to make lots of money but I continue to make them available because it makes me feel good to see people enjoy a product I created.
At my first 3D shoot this year I ran into another new problem. I still didn't like holding my bow while waiting for the next person to shoot. But that was OK since I now had my Pine Ridge Archery Kwik bow stand, so I stopped laying my bow on the ground. But sometimes I would just put my cam on the ground and lean on my bow. Every time I would put my bow down my dad would tell me not to because he wanted my cam and string to stay clean. I understood why I needed to keep my bow clean, but I still would end up putting it down a few times during a shoot. He would tell me if I was going to put it down to at least rest it on my boot but my bow would always seem to end up back on the ground. Since this was a real problem my dad started looking for something to help me, and he found HeDog cam protectors on the computer. I said what in the world are HeDog cam protectors because I never heard of it or seen one. He told me what they were but I still couldn't figure out how it would work or what it really was, I just liked that he was going to pay for it and I didn't have to pay for any of it.
When my HeDog came in, my dad let me open the box since he knew what it was. He got me the purple one since he knows I like to match things. When we first put the HeDog on my bow it would keep falling over. The reason my bow kept falling over was because the cam protector was too big for my youth size Bear Apprentice 2. It took us awhile of adjusting things so my bow wouldn't fall over anymore, and this is what we did. My Pine Ridge Archery bow stand is adjustable, so we made the legs as long as possible. That made it better, but my bow still kept falling over. My dad moved the HeDog up the limb farther away from the cam than it should be, and that made the balance good and my bow stopped falling over. Now when I shoot at home I don't have to lay my bow on the ground, and when I go to 3D shoots my HeDog keeps my string and cam from touching the ground.
I am in the Lorain County 4H Shooting Sports and every year you need to do a project from your shooting discipline, and my discipline is archery. I thought it would be cool to tell people about the HeDog cam protector so I could help other kids and adults incase they have the same problem I had with my bow. My dad thought this was a great idea since he didn't think anyone else would have ever done this project before. So with my dads help, we emailed Nathan Lawson the owner of HeDog Archery and told him about my 4H project idea. Nathan told me he wanted to answer my questions I had for him because he thought it was cool that I was doing my 4H project on him and the product he invented. I felt really happy that he wanted to help me and that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity for me to do something like this, if he didn't say yes I don't think I would of gotten an A on my project because it would of been boring.
Here are the questions that we sent Nathan and his answers. Q: How old were you when you made HeDog and where do you live? A: I made the cam protector available to the public in 2010 and I am now 45 years old. I live in Tucson, Arizona.
Q: What made you create the HeDog cam protector? A: I created the cam protector because I felt like I needed it. I was always resting the bow on my boot or having to be real careful with it so I didn't damage one of the most important parts of the bow. The string.
Q: How long did it take you to make a working HeDog? A: I made the first one 20 years ago and made a better one every year after that for 8 years. I struggled for a long time trying to figure out how to make a universal one. I still have not quite figured that out But I make two versions that fit nearly all bows. I did not figure it out for almost 7 years.
Q: How did you know how to make the HeDog cam protector? What was your job that let you know how to make them? A: I have always been pretty handy with tools and God give me a good mind to figure out problems. I am a builder and also an aircraft mechanic.
Q: How did you come up with the design for the HeDog cam protector? A: I have 8 different prototypes that were created before I came up with the one you use today.
Q: What materials were the first HeDog cam protector made out of? A: The 1st cam protector was welded pieces of aircraft aluminum that I epoxy to my bow limbsQ: Have you made anything else? A: I have made lots of things, I owned part of some big car washes and always had to make better parts to keep them going.
Q: How do you make the HeDog cam protector now? A: I had a mold made that you put a plastic looking material in and it can make a lot of them very fast. We also only make our cam protector in the USA so we can provide good jobs.
Q: How did you know it wouldn't affect the shooter when he shoots? A: I did not know, I first had to experiment. After experimenting with the first one I realized it did not make much difference where my arrow hit.
Q: How has the HeDog cam protector changed from when you first made it? A: The cam protector can now be taken off if you need to, the cam protector can be installed by anyone and now it is much stronger and lighter because of what it is made out of.
Q: Why did you name it HeDog and pick the logo you did? A: HeDog was a Lakota Indian chief. I picked the logo because my favorite animal is the Bison.
Q: Will you make a smaller HeDog to fit smaller bows? I have one on my bow but my dad had to slide it up the limb a lot or it would make my bow tip over when I use my Pine Ridge Archery bow stand. A: I don't think I will make a smaller one right now. Molds are very expensive, Over 60,000 dollars so it might be a while before I can do that. I would sure have to sell a lot of them.
Q: What made you want to make HeDogs for everyone in the world? A: Even today I work HeDog archery so everyone can have a good product that is made well. A lot of people work to make lots of money but I continue to make them available because it makes me feel good to see people enjoy a product I created.
Originally published in the September 2017 edition of The Young Archer Magazine