Trad Gang
Main Boards => PowWow => Topic started by: savagelh on August 22, 2016, 06:55:00 PM
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I'm sure this thread has been done but it's something I wanted to bring up again. I'm sure many of you started with traditional equipment and stuck with it but I'm sure a lot of us like myself started with other equipment and gradually drifted to stickbows. Personally I started hunting with rifle then muzzleloader then compounds and this will be my first fall going after deer with a recurve. For me it's the challenge and the fact that I like to watch the arrow fly. What drove you to trad?
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It was more fun.
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It put the "hunt" back into hunting!
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Well I started over 50 years ago and never liked the looks of them shootin' contraptions .
I stick with traditional because of the simplicity of the device .
Not much can go wrong .
Break a string in the field and you go "DANG " and just put on another one .
Try that with one of the machines .
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There wasn't any other way back in 1958.
Jack
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Old black and white photos of my Dad hunting and taking deer with longbow and recurve lit the fire in me .
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Exactly what everyone else said, I've been a bowhunter since I was 12 years old, killed a deer that year with my Bear Whitetail hunter, I have always shot with fingers, a flipper rest and one pin, my bow blew up in the late summer of 87, I could not find a bow to fit a finger shooter, so I ordered a Brackenbury Legend and never looked back.
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Outside of the very few years in my early 20's, I've always shot a recurve or a longbow. Its archery in its truest sense to me... something I believe is born inside us that do it, and is a type of gift. Not everyone CAN do it, not everyone WANTS to do it, only those who are meant to do it have both qualities. Modern weapons bow industrys , put bows in anyone's hands, and anyone can come to shoot a bow with one because they are definitively mechanical, like math, 1+1=2. Not so with trad bows, it takes something more that comes from within.
I do it, because thats what im bred to do...I dont know anything else but this.
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For me compounds lost their challenge... it just got too easy and it wasn't fun for me anymore... I've had more fun the last few years with my longbow than I did the last 10-15 years with my wheelie bows. I'm full trad now and don't see myself getting back on the technology wagon anytime soon!
Good luck, shoot straight and God Bless,
Rodd
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I got a bad case of target panic after shooting compound many years. Figured if I was dumping the sights I might as well shoot a pretty bow. I'm glad it happened that way or I may still be shooting a compound.
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for me bowhunting is not about using sights and gadgets on it to make me shoot good with bad form, i like the challenge and the flight of the arrow and the pleasure it has when hitting the mark, i will never go back to a wheel bow, something magical about trad gear and more satisfying to me.i believe its more where we came from our ancestors
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I was hunting on a ranch where a guy there was using a trad bow. He was an older man, very friendly and could shoot that thing GOOD. He talked on and on about it but I guess I didn't really understand at the time. I thought it was cool though as I had no idea anybody hunted like that really. This was probably 3 years ago. I had it stuck in my mind from that day that it was something I'd like to get into but of course life happens and I never took the time to look into it any further.
Then last year somebody posted a Clay Hayes video on another bow hunting forum. I watched that video and remember thinking how cool it would be to just simplify things, but at the same time work a little harder and put a little more effort into what I already love to do, which is bowhunting. I decided I was going to try it.
So then I asked for advice on that forum about what bow to buy to get started. Lots of people recommended different bows, but then the classifieds on this site came up as a place to look for one. I ended up coming over, and of course couldn't cruise the classifieds without signing in so I did.
Then I spent a day or two cruising this forum, reading all the stories, looking at the pics, and I was hooked. I got that first recurve and from the first arrow I shot, which missed the target completely I might add...I was hooked!!
I've shot a few squirrels with trad gear, but didn't start shooting until December so this will be my first year to deer hunt. To say I'm fired up would be an understatement. I've shot thousands of arrows, through sore shoulders and fingers and in the heat and cold and everything else and just can't stop. I've got a couple compound bows I have completely 100% lost interest in. I may not kill a deer with my longbow this year, but if I don't it won't be for lack of trying!!
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I started trad, although it wasn't called that then. Compounds are killing machines, no doubt, and I gave em hell. I decided they were not me and I came back. I became a better hunter after doing so, in my opinion.
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I too started with a rifle. Then switched to a compound. A friend of mine shot instinctive with his compound and kept telling me that for hunting it was the way to go. So I gave it a shot stripped all the gadgets off my bow except a flipper rest. Even dropped the release. I shot a few deer that way and loved the way instinctive shooting felt but something was off. Shooting the way many of us do (just looking at the spot we want to hit and nothing else) really lends its self to one steady fluid movement, at least to me anyway. I came to realize I could never have that with a compound so I put it down, shot a couple trad bows at archery shops and never looked back. The abrupt movements and long pauses that a compound almost requires kinda goes against what I think archery really is.
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Because I like it the best. I no longer own a compound. I do own and hunt with firearms as well, but I refer to that as "grocery shopping." and bow hunting with my longbow as "hunting."
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It's all there was.
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My first year was spent with a 58 Bear Alaskan that my dad bought new. He got me a compound the next year. A couple of years later I started hunting with my granddad a lot and he was a recurve shooter, it just struck a cord with me.
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I started out at the age of 10 with a compound and once in my 20's I saw a recurve that my friend had and I bought me one it was a bear 65#, I put one pin on hit and hunted with it from 87 til 91 killed several deer with it, then a friend of mine was shooting a longbow so I ordered a Big Horn longbow and started shooting without sights. Ive always been fascinated with trad gear..
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First kind of shooting I wasn't naturally good at. Beautiful woods and the pure connection to nature.
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When I started shooting a bow, trad was the only archery there was.
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I really just got bored with bow hunting. I was just going thru the steps and killing like a machine. Shot Trad in the early/mid 90's and had 1 really bad day and decided to quit and go wheels. Picked my old curve up 3-4 years ago and killed a deer with it on the first day I hunted with it and got plumb ate up with it again. Now I have a whole room full of trad bows and shoot religiously every day. You've got to love the flight of a perfect Port Orford viewed from the sight window of your bow.
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Shot Bear recurves when I was a teen (early/mid 70's) and got out of it for a while when I went off to college; when I jumped back in I thought I should try those slick wheel bows. About 4 years ago I found myself loosing interest. 3 years ago I decided something had to change and I picked up an early 70's Grizzly and I remembered why I used to shoot almost every day after school. The compound has no soul and I would say I enjoyed my rifles and handguns more than it. Now if I'm going to walk out the door and shoot it's almost always a recurve.
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It just feels right. And inside my 20 yard max range, I feel a trad bow is superior as a hunting tool.
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simplicity. and lets be honest, it looks way more badass than a compound.
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I enjoy it more. I learned on a trad bow as a kid and tried compound for a couple of years in my teens but went back to trad after the arrow rest on my compound broke. Just more fun to shoot trad bows for me.
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Started with a compound at age 15 in the late 70's because I thought bowhunting would be really cool.Missed 3 deer that season but man was that exciting.I found out my high school metal shop teacher was a big time bowhunter.He took me under his wing and the next season I killed two deer with his help.At the age of 17 I went to a local 3D shoot and there where a couple guys there shooting HH type longbows.I was so interested in their bows and wood arrows that I had to shoot with them and see what these longbows where about.One target had a 10' ladder stand you shot from,after one of the longbow guys took his shot he just pitched his bow down into a bush.That was it for me!Had to have one,the rest is history been shooting longbows and recurves ever since.
Msturm you are correct,I have been asked many times "You hunt with that" and I say sure do.Their reply is almost always That's Badass! :thumbsup:
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When I was shooting a compound practice just seemed like practice. No enjoyment just a necessary act.
Practicing with my recurve and longbow are pure enjoyment every shot.
Not to mention the fun in making your own wooden arrows.
And best of all, you just seem to meet a nicer brand of people when shooting trad!
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It was a challenge at first. Then once I started shooting, I started to realize how much fun it is, then once I shot my first trad critter I realized how much more rewarding trad is because it is soooooooooo much harder to get good at!
Bisch
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When I was a kid I had an old Ben Pearson solid fiberglass recurve and "barrel arrows" and shot everything that held still. Then in college I shot a target recurve (single-pin sight . . . you know how college age kids experiment with bad things).
Then I got married and decided venison would be nice, and I listened to the local experts and got a compound (a Martin Cougar II). Shot arrows like lazer beams! But they were destroyed on anything but straw targets. And it sounded like a violin followed by a M-80 in a garbage can. I made more mistakes and spooked more deer, picked the wrong pins, just a disaster. I sold it after two years and gun hunted.
After a few years I tried a longbow. Now this was fun again! I could shoot stumps and reuse the arrows! Wood arrows even! Still, I missed several nice deer. Harumph. I tried and tried (still-hunting) and had five years of soooooo close. Then I saw an ad. for a Martin Dreamcatcher that was just introduced and bought one of the first. Wow! And I killed a deer! (See my Avatar). Have been a recurve bowhunter since. For whatever reason I shoot a recurve better than a Hill style longbow - though the reflex/deflex "longbows" with recurve style grips I shoot just as well.
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I started with a stick and string when I was ten. Shot compounds for a while in the late 70s and 80s. Fifty years later, went back to trad forever......more fun, cheaper and more challenge......keeping the tradition alive.
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I'm kind of a history nut and I think I just wanted to hunt more like the Indians did.
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I started as a kid with a Pearson green glass Super Jet and shot it clear through high school. Taught my kids to shoot with it. Then, in the '90s got caught up in the wheelie hype, went from round wheels and fingers to a single cam with release. I saw how it was going in the bowhunting mags...every couple years you 'had to' upgrade or you were behind the times. I got sick of the race. I watched Fred Bear in a You Tube video nail a grizzly with a recurve, and that lit the fire again. I haven't shot either of my compounds in several years now. No urge to. I love a simple recurve and not being shackled to a set of sight pins, release, and all that other garbage like pair of leg irons. Trad to me, well...to quote William Wallace; "FREEDOM!"
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Trad was a challenge and really made me re-think stand placement. You get more out of hunting with a stickbow. You become a better hunter and woodsman. It is just the way to hunt now. I love the journey that traditional bowhunting has provided me!
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Because I always had the desire... I used to think, "how cool would it be to harvest a deer with a recurve?"
Once I realized it was a completely realistic objective, I was hooked.
I enjoy the shooting way more too! With my compound I practiced to get better... with my trad bows, I practice because it's fun to shoot!
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Started with stick bow in 1957. But at that time it filled a need when I could not use a gun. Then in 71 I decided to bow hunt. Got my Bear SK in 72. Wheel bows were just starting to show up. But being young and wanting to be like the big guys I entered my wheel bow era. That was about 8 years and three bows lus all the stuff. One day I realized I really did not shoot that much better with the wheel bow. I went back to my SK until a deal came up on a brand new BW MA greybark. Never looked back, those wheel bows are hanging in the work room. That was in early 80's.
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I started off with firearms in the UK as bow hunting is still ileagal, then when I moved to France I took up archery, dabbled on the dark side but found no challenge. Traditional bow hunting with a recurve gives me a real sense of achievement and belonging to a passionate group of friends. Not the same with other forms of hunting.
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My brother and I shot the 3-D at Blanford IN several times back in the 80s. I'd see a few, very few guys with trad gear and always thought "Some day". I got away from bow hunting for a while then started thinking about it again with help from John McCreary. I picked up a Timberhawk at Cloverdale a while back and never looked back.
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They started making drop away arrow rests and wheelie bows so short finger shooting was almost impossible. I never have used a release, nothing against them just like finger shooting.
The compounds just got way too technical.
Saw a man on video named Barry Wensel shooting a Schafer silvertip and thought THAT looked really cool! I had remembered such bows from when I was a kid starting out. Bought a Schafer silvertip recurve and havent looked back - way more fun.
J
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I was hunting pigs at True South Adventures a few years ago with Jim and Irv. Was going to use my wheels but just in case brought my KwykStyk as a backup. I had dabbled in trad a couple of years earlier but didn't continue as, I now realize, I was way overbowed. Had two HHs but way too heavy and had bought the Kempf from a fellow trad shooter at Sawmill. It too was a little heavy for me so back to the wheels. Anyway, when I found out how far the shots would be at the pigs from the stands, decided to take the KS instead of the wheels. For some reason, just the feel of that bow was all I needed. Vowed then and there to keep at trad for good. Haven't shot a wheel bow since and don't intend to. For me, it's the need to practice to stay sharp that I find so addictive. Plus, having to get really close to whatever I might be hunting at any given time. There are other factors involved but those are the core elements. Love to watch an arrow fly and hit where it's supposed to.
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I had never even seen a compound bow when I "built" my first longbow out of a white ash board that used to be part of my bed as a kid. After that I didn't even consider looking for one either. I wouldn't even know how to shoot anything other than recurves or longbows and I'm fine with that :biglaugh:
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Originally posted by Cyclic-Rivers:
It was more fun.
Yep!
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I got tired of hauling a heavy (5LB) compound in the woods, forgetting my release, and finding my range finder batteries dead.
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I hated the "machines". I could shoot one ok, but never enjoyed it, it was a chore. The first time I shot a recurve for real it was just so much more fun and I knew immediately that this is what I want to hunt with. I was smiling from ear to ear with that bow in hand, and still do....for the most part.
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I got bored with the compound
Switched and glad that I did. I have met so many great people from going to shoots :)
It has brought back the fire for hunting and made it hard again
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Had two choices recurve or longbow, crossbows were not allowed back then.
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I stared out with a compound in the mid seventies . Later I got envolved in the IBO thing for a short time . I found myself always adjusting and repairing the darn things . One day while on stand a medium size buck came in .when I went to place my release aid to the string it bumped my riser making a metallic ping ! As the dear vacated to the next county I looked at what and how I was hunting ( not having fun ) and at that point I sold all of the compound gear and took a recurve off the rack . I've been hunting with trad gear now for 32 years and never looked back !
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The works of the spirit within the freedom for excellence.
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Some might not agree with my realm of thinking, but I'll be completely honest.
My fire first got lit in the 12' season. It was a rough season as far as mature bucks go. I wasn't seeing any on stand or even getting any trail cam pics of big bucks. I had been shooting an old York recurve casually, but not real serious, I was still a training wheel guy.
I had set up a feeder. Yes I use feeders. What can I say, I love watching deer and it increases the number of deer I see. So I started getting pics of a decent buck towards the end of December. Within a couple weeks I felt comfortable at 10-15yds with the York and the buck was showing up in pics during daylight. Long story short. That corn fed buck was tasty and I had my first trad kill.
The next two years I shot with and without training wheels. Mostly toting the curve in the winter when we had snow and I would go for long spot and stalk walks. I was successful again in 14' with a shed out buck(thought it was a doe) shot in his bed at a distance of 10 FEET. Not sure who was more surprised at my getting that close, him or me.
With two trad kills under my belt, I decided to go all in. Last year I made the commitment to trad hunt the entire season. I purchased a new to me Darton recurve and practiced hard. I extended my range to 20yds and was ready to hunt. My first shot at a very nice buck came in late October last year and ended with my lower limb slipping perfectly into my pants pocket and the arrow landing at the Bucks feet(bend at the waist, don't lower the bow arm). Luckily I didn't lose faith and continued to carry the recurve. I ended up scoring on my largest buck to date in early January.
Needless to say......I'm hooked and have no intention of using training wheels again.
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I switch back and forth myself. I had got so fed up with compounds and all the strange things that were happening to affect arrow flight, string stretch, cam timing, rest timing, limbs splintering etc...
I remember one of the old guys in our deer camp talking about how he could hit real good when he was strong enough to shoot a recurve, but couldn't hit squat with a wheel bow. I liked the idea. About the same time (2003 or 4) I found and signed up here under a diff name, and really got interested in trad hunting.
The biggest thing I like about trad hunting is the breaking away from the terrible commercialization and "bubba" mindset that has become the hunting industry.
Hunting trad to me is all about the personal discipline, the yardage limitation, the practice, tuning, respect for the game. It takes your focus off the gear so much and puts it back into the hunt.
Funny thing is that I can have that same mentality when I carry my evil crossgun. But I feel more true to hunting and true to myself when I have a tradbow in the woods. A trad kill is a very rich experience.
Regards,
BB
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I just never switched to compound. Never liked the lack of string feel with the letoff. I also enjoy of challenge of shooting instinctive. I'll let technology improve my shooting when I've improved to the point that I can't get any better without adding sights, cables, wheels, etc. I've got a feeling that'll never happpen!
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Originally posted by Bow Bum:
snip
I remember one of the old guys in our deer camp talking about how he could hit real good when he was strong enough to shoot a recurve, but couldn't hit squat with a wheel bow.
BB
Interesting you posted that; I shot with a guy last weekend at a 3D shoot who shot the first half with a Hoyt compound and release. He was not shooting very well and put the wheel bow up and got out his Black Widow recurve - he shot the second half of the course better than the first. He was 71.
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After years of killing ALOT of deer with a high-tech 4-figured cost rig....I did the math, and my average kill shot was less than 15yds with a max kill shot of 25yds...I was very good with a compound out to 100yds in practice but when all is said and done for hunting...I scouted and set my stand sites to get close to deer. Figured I'd simplify my approach, have discovered that inside 20yds my longbow is a much more efficient tool.
Also I switched for the bragging rights, not gonna lie on that one.
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I like shooting traditional more. Way more.
And I like that they are slower and seeing the flight of the arrow ESP with big bananas or flu flu.
As far as hunting. I don't hunt as much with trad because the hunting around here is tough. And I like to take game. When I go to hunt I go to take game.
Sometimes I only get 1 shot a whole season. So it needs to count. And I don't have the confidence in trad gear.
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Simplicity and the joy of it
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I was interested in the level of performance with the level of simplicity with a trad bow.
I just wanted to learn an "old skill" and become proficient with it. I wanted to know how to make a bow/ arrow shoot well (tuning).
It's been worth it.
I also get to "plink" in my back yard quietly. Can't do that with my 30-06. Neighbors don't mind the archery.
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When I started hunting there were two choices, recurves or long bows. I did play around with compounds for a few years, and still own one. But, nothing, for me, will ever replace the history and simplicity of a recurve.
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When I started there was no "trad". It was simply archery. As a kid and young man I hunted with recurves. A Shakespeare Necedah was my first good bow. After a few years I got a Howard Hill longbow and have been shooting a longbow for the last 36 years.
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Simply because that was the ONLY way to bow hunt back then.
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For the challenge. That and the fact that I always admired the commitment that trad hunters make.
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One year I tried a heavy target bow setup, the next year I tried a short recurve three under, the next year I tried compounds, the first one broke opening day, the second one needed fixing every week, I finished that season off with a dead buck shot with an autographed Bear take down, the next year I went back to Hill longbows and a long string of filled deer tags and small game taken, that was 1972. I didn't do it for the challenge, I eat meat.
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I came from a "primitive" background. Lived in the woods for 6 months 100% off grid. Plus I use "ultralight gear" when traveling/backpacking. After realizing that I can stalk up to goats within 5 ft on open plains I thought "why not just shoot them with a stick bow?". Before that I was snaring with paracord to get goats and pigs. Now I realize how effective and fun a simple bow can be. I can just walk around and shoot stuff of all sizes. AND EAT IT that day. No checking empty snares. BORING.
My girl teased me for saying "trad" as an abbreviation. I told her its 4 syllables to one. Save much more energy. Its not like when people use abbreviations that don't save any syllables just to sound "IN". You know who I mean.
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I'm not trad yet. I got rid of my kodiak mad after shoulder issues.i didn't need the money I just needed it out of the house as it tormented me not being able to draw it. After 7 several urs I picked up a 45 pounder and was able to comfortable shoot it. That was 2 weeks ago and it's all I can think sbout.
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I wanted to be a bowhunter.
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I like Walt's answer....best yet.
I did it because I was 15 years old and Marylu Mills...my 15 year old neighbor...liked to watch from her back porch while I shot my recurve. I thank her every year.
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I was at a local outdoor shootthat was open to all (compound&traditional) . At the time I was shooting a compound in the bare bow division. Later that afternoon they had a one arrow novelty shoot on a running coyote. After all the eliminations there was two people left , myself and a fella with a longbow. After probably6 more arrows each we finally broke tne tie. He had a perfect heart shot and won. It looked like he was having more fun than I was and I was hooked on trying a longbow, I found a good used one and never looked back. That was in the mid 80's. I'm 76 now and try to shoot everyday. I am still no Robin Hood but I love it.
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Was all there was if you wanted to bow hunt.
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Just like swamper early 70's compounds were still on the drawing board.When they came out tried one for a week sold it and never looked back.Kip
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Started when I was a kid, hunted with a Compound from mid 70's to maybe early 80's. Saw a Bear Kodiak Hunter in a gun shop for 40 bucks and never looked back more or less. Just the purest form of hunting for me. The closeness the silence and spending time in the woods is just more satisfying with a recurve or longbow in my hand. Even stumping puts a smile on my face.
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Had a Barnett Sidewinder many years ago, but never liked it. Traded it in for a Harrington & Richardson single barrel shotgun, and bought a recurve. This was over 25 years ago, and when the lower limb of my old recurve blew up two years ago I bought my Cayuga. Never looked back. I have outgrown my training wheels a long time ago. The beauty of a well build longbow beats any of those mechanical monstrosities they call bows these days. Easy choice.
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Nostalgia.
A sentimental affection for the past .... my roots back in the 60's and early 70's.
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Never had a choice. Recurves were the only bows sold. They were the latest and greatest. Only difference now is I own a bunch of'em instead of a short heavy hunting bow and a heavy risered target bow. Like the rosewood and bubinga risers on mine.
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How many of you saw "Deliverance" as a kid and couldn't shake the image of Lewis (Burt Reynolds) with that recurve?
(https://c8.staticflickr.com/9/8169/29341240135_a89cc2215c_z.jpg)
Image from Google Images
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Cool picture, I remember it well. I received my first bow in '69'. My grandparents bought it for me it was the one that came with the suction cup arrows. I was 3 yrs old then and from that point on I can't remember a time that I haven't had a bow! When I was 13 I bought a Recurve bow of hunting weight from a friend. It had a metal riser with all glass limbs that slid into pockets. I hunted with that and missed my first deer with that bow. Then somehow the limb tip got broken. In '83' I bought my first wheel bow and shot those until '91' they just never felt right and I never killed anything with them. I finally sold the wheels and and bought a Howatt hunter then a Abbott longbow. I shot my first deer with that Abbott and I have never looked back! There is something so romantic and natural just carrying a stick bow through the wilderness. Reliability and simplicity= AWESOME :thumbsup: :archer2:
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Started with recurve, my dad and uncle both shot recurves. When I went into Army in 1972, then got married, had kids, my bowhunting fell by the wayside. When I had time to start again, everybody around me shot compounds so I tried it too for a year.
It was OK until I started shooting my little Bear Super Mag one day. I realized how much I missed traditional bows.
So I shoot trad because it is way more fun and fulfills something inside me.
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Seemed easier to hunt with.
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All there was when I started
Terry
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All there was and stuck with it because it was what i thought archery was.
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all there was when I started. 50 years ago. Never cared to even try a compound.
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After 22 yrs with a compound, It got too easy (2-3 per year). I wanted a challenge...and boy did I get one. I've only shot 4 deer with my recurve...and missed a few, and a longbow turkey...and missed a lot, since 2008. But so much more fun to shoot.
Gave my no longer used compound away a couple years ago.
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As I get older, I like to challenge myself more and I also like things to be simple. With my compound I didn't really enjoy shooting it much anymore, and I had always been fascinated with recurves and longbows. I was intimidated as well, but eventually I just decided to go for it and I'm loving it so far. I sold my compound and I'm super excited to start my first season with a recurve. There's just something about the history, beauty, and simplicity of it all that draws me to it that I really enjoy.
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Simplicity
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Like it has been said many times in this post I wanted to Bowhunt not just shoot. Sorry if I upset anyone. The only things more important to me God my Wife and dogs.
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For the simplicity of it....nothing but a stick and a string.
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Watching Fred Bear hunting films is what got my attention and interest.
But it wasn't until I saw an early film of Barry Wensel hunting with his recurve that made me go totally traditional.
I never looked back!
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When the compounds came out I was all excited about the speed and let-off. I bought one and soon got bored with it. I went into an archery shop and saw a Damon Howatt High Speed someone ordered and stuck the shop owner with it. He said if I wanted it I could have it for cost. It was love at first sight. Recurve or longbow it doesn't matter Instinctive shooting is like magic. I never get tired or bored with it. Stump shooting is my favorite past time.
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Simple, minimal, more challenging, and easier to be self-reliant.
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Hahahah very easy !
I was looking in compounds , about 2 month's . And make one conclusion , to complicate for my taste . End off story
Buy trad bow and joy in life
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I started with recurve in the B.C. era. I first resisted the compound and stayed with recurve for about 5 or 6 years. I then went to compound so I could halfway compete in local archery shoots (they didn't have a traditional class at that time). I got bored with compound after 3 years and went to the longbow. I've only shot longbows since.
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Compound bows were unreliable and heavy. Longbows don't screw up, and if they do it is the nut behind em. :D
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Because I'm the only one out of 14 crossbow hunters on my road. I have better success than they do
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My grandfather made me a "self bow" in the late 70's. Many a robin and chipmunk succumbed to it. I don't have the words to describe how I'm taken back to those days when I hold my recurve now.