By the time Steve Marcinkowski hit his toddler years, he had built his first bow out of a curved stick and a piece of elastic from his mother’s sewing kit.
Marcinkowski, an agent at Rural Mutual Insurance and a resident of Sturtevant, spent much of his childhood shadowing his father, Mark Marcinkowski, who is an avid bowhunter and passed on a passion for the sport to him.
Steve got his first compound bow for Christmas while in elementary school and by age 12 began hunting. He grew up venturing out on bowhunting shoots on Sunday mornings right beside his father.
Nearly every year since age 12, Steve has hunted. During bow season, he typically hunts every other weekend, often with his dad and often in search of deer and wild turkey. The pair belong to the Wisconsin Bowhunters Association, which allows them to participate in open shoots in the area. They also hunt on private land north of Wisconsin Dells.
Steve has hunted with guns but prefers bowhunting, as it allows him to watch wildlife in its natural state, he said. While gunshots can easily scare away animals, bowhunting gives him a chance to see animals in a more peaceful setting.
His time spent bowhunting also opens up an outlet of stress relief.
“It’s my time to decompress and get away and just relax and I guess watch the world how it normally behaves,” Steve said.
He aims to continue passing on the family passion for bowhunting as he begins to coach his 11-year-old son, Connor, with a bow and eventually train his son Gavin, who is still just a toddler.
