Just toying with the thought of actually getting to the point of going out with my bow. What is it gonna take, and at what point did you decide that you were taking your trad bow to the woods?
As Dirty Harry said, "A man's got to know his limitations." If you know you can get 90% of your shots in the kill zone, in similar conditions from which you plan to shoot, from a distance you can accurately estimate in the field, then you're ready.
Some might apply those limitations only to big game, and take a more relaxed view of shots at squirrels, rabbits, etc. I'd have to leave that to each man's personal ethics.
When I no longer wished to carry a compound bow.
As soon as I could sneak it out of the house without my mom seeing me! :biglaugh:
When did I decide? When that's the only kind of bow there was. ;)
McDave was right on target with his answer... Only you will know when you are ready... That being said, I remember what got me to make the switch from a compound to a traditional bow for hunting deer...
Read someplace many years ago: "If you can keep your broadhead arrows within a six inch circle at five yards, go hunting. Just Don't Shoot Past Five Yards!"
So I went out there, hunting the cover, stalking and still hunting and had a blast... In time, my effective range got longer... Knowing when NOT to shoot is just as important as when to shoot...
... mike ... :archer2: ...
Like rraming above, one day I no longer wished to use a compound. It was the last time I ever did. I bought a stickbow shortly thereafter and started hunting right away. Never even thought about keeping my wheel bow as a back up - gave it to a friend.
Don't over think it. Decide what your own limit is on distance when shooting at a live animal then stick to it. When your shooting ability allows you to lengthen that distance, do so. Enjoy the process, the lessons learned and the simplicity.
I can put all my arrows in a 6'' circle at 15 yards now. Very seldom have a flyer. I've been shooting every day since last December. I'd go hunting with it today, but I'd keep my shots under 15 yards, and 10 or 12 would be even better. But I'm determined to hunt with just my recurve this year. If I actually kill a deer with it, my compounds will be for sale and I'll be buying a really nice trad bow for the following season!! I'll be shooting from a chair when I'm hunting, either in a ground blind or pop up...so starting about July that's the only way I'll practice. About the first of September, I'll only practice from sitting and with broadheads. In October, hopefully I'll be posting pics of my first trad deer!! Good luck, I'm sure it's different for everybody. But I'd say whenever you feel confident, just like with anything else. And just be aware of your limitations.
I hunted with a compound one year. I bought a recurve and practiced a ton to the point I figured I was ready. Right before the season I chickened out and reluctantly used the compound for the second year.
By my third season I was both physically and mentally ready for the switch. That was in 1987 and I have not shot a compound since.
No shame in hunting with what you are comfortable with, we owe the animals we persue that much. You will know when you are ready.
Wow some very good thoughts here guys and I appreciate the encouraging statements made. With that said I have a goal set for myself that this fall I will be taking my bow to the woods. It seems like I'm getting better everyday and everytime I pull my bow back I learn something different. Will I attempt to harvest and animal with it I'm sure I will given the right opportunity within my comfort zone. Whatever that is come Oct 1st
Mike is one wise human. And a generous one.
Killdeer :thumbsup:
When I finally realized a longbow or recurve is a better hunting weapon than a compound..
I wanted to up the odds in my favor, so I switched..
You have to believe and have dedication...
I gave up hunting with a rifle because there was no longer any enjoyment in the hunt, the same with a compound but several years later. Being trad only for the last 10 years has made hunting fun again.
Agreed I enjoy shooting traditional way more than compound that's a no Brainer but if I ever get a chance at any big game with my trad bow and seal the deal will be a great day in the woods and a day to remember!!!!
Day one. When I decided to bowhunt, trad was the only kind of bow there was.
when i picked up a Bent stick and put a string on it and shot a few other sticks with nails. i said to myself is this fun or what. and i aint looked back since oh hang on yeah i did i picked up a sling shot. but hey its a bent stick LOL!!! :biglaugh:
I practiced until I was confident I could put my arrow in the kill zone every time 20 yards and under. I practiced setting , standing ,from a tree stand , all kinds of different bow cants , and all kinds of hunting senerios till I felt confident .That's the same type of practice I still do to this day .
In your heart you will know when you are ready. Listen to it !
I would shoot alot, almost every day. I shot from known distances and got comfortable with form, anchor and release. But seldom do deer come into your 20 yd marker.
To practice I would take 6 arrows, stand at my target and throw them in all directions and distances. Subtle changes in distance and angle can make or break you.
Those of you who brought the compound thing into it are not helping this young man. He needs to feel confident and comfortable shooting a traditional bow not pressured by your personal ideas.
Just remember that you don't HAVE to take a shot at an animal when you are hunting. I've passed my share of opportunities to shoot an arrow at game, simply because the shot didn't feel right. At some point in time, usually after you've become proficient in practice and you gain confidence in your own abilities, you'll decide to take the shot.
I can't think of a good reason for you to wait, other than your local hunting laws...
"just toying with the thought" - Hey no disrespect but I have never felt that way about bowhunting - The only bows available when I started were recurves and longbows - which is the equipment that attracted me to what I see as hunting. Probably would not have hunted big game at all if it weren't for real bows. I probably was not good enough to hunt first few seasons in the 70s but no damage was done. Everything happened inside 10 yards for years - misses - and kills when they came.
Go for it! Life is waiting
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I actually started with traditional equipment over 45 years ago. Compounds were just getting off the ground, and I have used them as well, but traditional is where my heart is.
More to your point, my biggest switch was from recurve to longbow. Back when I added a longbow to my arsenal, the quality was not what we have today and it took three years of hard practice before I felt confident taking that bow into the woods.
I killed a small 5-pt buck with it that year doing a "back-breaker" shot (my back broken from twisting so far around to shoot...not the deer's) from a treestand! Even had a reverse cant on the bow. But I had practiced that kind of shooting over and over.
I agree with those that have said that practice from all angles, body positions, etc. is important. "Target" practice is nice and good for building form, but stump shooting is the real test, IMO. If you can consistently pick and hit game kill-zone sized targets stump shooting you are ready.
quote:
Originally posted by JEFF B:
when i picked up a Bent stick and put a string on it and shot a few other sticks with nails. i said to myself is this fun or what. and i aint looked back since oh hang on yeah i did i picked up a sling shot. but hey its a bent stick LOL!!! :thumbsup:
QuoteOriginally posted by FlintNSteel:
I agree with those that have said that practice from all angles, body positions, etc. is important. "Target" practice is nice and good for building form, but stump shooting is the real test, IMO. If you can consistently pick and hit game kill-zone sized targets stump shooting you are ready.
X2
Go stump shooting, terrain & cover play a huge part in how you perceive distance.
When you are confident at a certain distance...as simple as that. If you are confident only at 10 yards, limit your opportunities to that distance.Most progressing trad archers, grow with confidence into more and more distance. If you arent sure of yourself and fully confident at any certain distance, you are likely to miss or worse. Confidence is essential,and goes hand in hand with ability... so shoot only within those factors at game.
By far, the majority of all my deer are killed between 9-12 yards. But I have taken them out to a touch over 20 yards...but dang few. I have also taken them at 3 yards though... Learn to set up to get close,as even the most experienced archers want a close 10 yard shot because its more certain. No shame in a 10 yard shot...id take them over 20 yards any day of the season. One of the best and most rewarding things about archery hunting, is getting so close you can hear them breath, or at least see their eyelashes...
QuoteOriginally posted by D.Sheppard:
In your heart you will know when you are ready. Listen to it !
I would shoot alot, almost every day. I shot from known distances and got comfortable with form, anchor and release. But seldom do deer come into your 20 yd marker.
To practice I would take 6 arrows, stand at my target and throw them in all directions and distances. Subtle changes in distance and angle can make or break you.
Those of you who brought the compound thing into it are not helping this young man. He needs to feel confident and comfortable shooting a traditional bow not pressured by your personal ideas.
this is exactly how i practice. this year will also be my first trad year, hunting with an ilf recurve i am in the process of building.this style of practice has really opened my mind up and let my brain take over with with guess work on gaps.i typically throw 4-5 out to ranges up to 20 yards and then walk up to my 20 yard mark and toss a few more up to 30 yards and then go right ahead and shoot the shortest distance and then the longest and then the shortest remaining and back to the longest distance. i realized that shooting from shortest to longest or longest to shortest will cause my brain to just add or subtract a little from my instinctive gaps and i almost develop a pattern.i also walk outside at an unknown distance from my target and shoot one arrow and go back inside. i do this about 5 times a day.
I was always a recurve shooter as a kid. As an adult i bought a compound sold three weeks later for my dream recurve.... Added a longbow recently. Never looked back or thought of looking back.
Like said above, only you can make the decision as to when you are ready to hit the woods with your stickbow!
Shooting these things well is HARD, and as such, much more rewarding when we are successful with them!
Bisch
When I shot a broadhead and had beautiful arrow flight and was on target from a cold shot
I started hunting only with traditional after I sold my compound :bigsmyl:
I didn't shoot a deer (missed a few) for a couple years but it was a small price to pay for the learning experience I got in that time frame. I would say whatever you do don't be picky when you first begin with traditional equipment, you will need practice shooting at live animals and that means lowering your trophy standards for a little while...they will go back up after you have lots of fun getting practice
Good thought provoking question. Here's a long Oklahoma dog story of my experience of first getting into the woods with confidence, but I started young.
Never thought I couldn't hit whatever needed when I began hunting with my factory new '62 Kodiak Magnum at 15. Shooting with others from the OKC Archery Club (now Trosper Archery Club in OKC) no doubt helped. Caught rides with members to go deer hunting at Camp Gruber, coyote calling in Coyle, and hunted swamp rabbits in Spring Town and Arkansas the first year owning that bow. Shooting with others at field archery events helped just like 3-D events and stump shoots with others would now. Shooting dots and my own wildlife sketches on cardboard into the steep hillsides above the railroad tracks across the street (Hefner Parkway now) was the key to familiarity with that bow.
Farm owners would laugh at the thought of us killing something with a bow but would let us hunt their land (no lease fees then). Probably thought we couldn't hit their livestock.
Think you get out there with some tick spray when you can kill the center of those paper plates pretty good.
Lol some of these answers sound like my own.
1. sneak out of house with my long bow when I was a kid.
2. Learning to walk again , very long story.
3. When I was ready
4.Finding coupons for bed bath and body, and handing them to wife..
5.Needing alone time
6, Having missed a opportunity on very nice buck but ,to busy messing with compound..
lots of things...
It doesn't have to be a complete break one way or the other.
I've witnessed lots of people making hunting decisions based upon the perceptions of others. In fact, I just realized as I'm trying to make an expensive turkey decision this week, that I was nearly guilty of the same thing.
What are your goals? Not your buddies or your peers.
Avoid decisions that will cause you to regard the outcome of your experience as less than "stellar" or heaven-forbid, regrettable.
On one hand I'm pretty sure I would be more thrilled to kill a turkey with my recurve than with my compound. But is the difference enough to settle for no thrill at all?
You are ready when you believe in yourself. Mindfulness goes along way. You are not ready if you need people to tell you that you are ready. My advice would be to work hard at being the best woodsman AND archer you can, then I think you are ready, but do you? That's what counts.
It took two yrs of practice,practice,and practice. I did like others said, shot from angles, sitting,stands,etc. Once I was able to put all arrows in the kill zone,I felt I was ready.