Why do I (we) love the Trad Bow so much? Seems I am losing my interest in firearms for hunting. Maybe this goes with my age of 52. Let me know what you think. Thanks. :)
... mike ... :archer: ...
After taking game with a traditional bow, I found it to be very anticlimatic to kill anything with a gun or other weapon. It just isn't the same for me. Nothing gets my heart pounding or is anywhere near the same as hunting with a stick and string. Just my two cents worth. I think your right though, we love our trad stuff!
For me, it is having to get up close and personal with our quarry. Rifles make meat across canyons; we need to get in the 'danger' zone to be successful. Plus, I really like flinging arrows. There is great enjoyment in stump shooting; just roving about shooting at various targets and watching that arrow fly. A simple pleasure, but very real.
I wanted to shoot a traditional bow since I began shooting in college about 24 years ago. It wasn't until several years later that I met some guys shooting recurves and longbows and realized you could actually buy those things. I switched to a recurve in a hurry and later to shooting mostly longbows. I don't think it has anything to do with age. It's just an enjoyable and challenging experience to hunt game and shoot arrows with such a simple mechanism. I haven't made a bow yet, but I do really like crafting arrows and flemish strings. That adds to the enjoyment of the sport for me. Plus, unlike high-powered rifles, it is really fun just to go out and shoot the bow.
Mike
Something special about hitting what you want, and being close enough to your quarry to do so. I would think it is a safe bet to say that killing our quarry is not why we all hunt...its more about the journey, the experience.
Not only that, its kinda cool the way other bow hunters look at ya.
Maybe I'm the odd man out here, but I love hunting with, working with, & shooting my rifles and shotguns every bit as much as my recurves.
I'm primarily a Trad guy but I thoroughly enjoy shooting my Reflex Caribou barebow with fingers, and even break out a compound with sights & release now & then.
About the only thing I've given up is handgun hunting due to near vision issues finally making it hard to see the sights well enough for precise shot placement. Never had much use for bellyguns anyway, other than professional carry and the Kimber 45 I tote off duty...
It's all good...
They all have a place in my soul.... but traditional archery is near the top. I still like the "kaaa-boom" of my BP guns (which I use during our gun season), my 12ga for turkeys, and cracking off rounds with a pistol at targets. The only thing I really don't miss is shooting my "C-bow". Something happened there, where it isn't fun anymore. The rest of it just gets my juices flowing (and for the record, I'm 41 - you decide if I'm "old or young" - I know what I think).
BobW
I don't think you are odd. In fact we must be alot alike. When I stated I was losing intrest in firearms for hunting it wasn't 100%. There are times that I "bow hunt" during the rifle season with an old Winchester and tell myself to keep shots at game around 20 yards or so.
True... It is all good. Glad we live in the wonderful U.S.A. Maybe with our trad bows it takes much more of what we have inside to get it right, when it comes to hunting that is.
... mike ...
I still hunt with firearms as well. It just isn't as much fun as the bow. When I hunt elk with a gun, it is with a 45-70, in black timber, with shots that rival compound bow distances.
For me it is just a lot more fun shooting trad gear no worry about sights, rests, and all the other gadgets just a piece of wood and a string and the instinctive skill that God gave us. Also it much more challenging to get closer to what you are hunting.
I have taken some small game with my trad bows, but am still trying to get my first big game kill. I have taken several big game with rifles in the past. But since I started using Trad equipment, I haven't even picked a rifle up or even really thought about it to tell you the truth. Not that I never would again, but a simple stick and string is what makes my heart sing these days.
It for me, is so much more personal in every way to hunt with traditional tackle. It forces you to become a better hunter in many ways, as well as notice many things along the way that I used to take for granted when I hunted with rifles. It is romantic as well. It is like stepping back in time and walking in the footsteps of our ancestors.A legacy if you will. It is primal as well as spiritual for me. The experience is so much less about killing an animal and alot more about being alive and alert and savoring the sights ,sounds and smells of God's creation in all it's wonder. The hunt IS what tradbow hunting makes so special.
Anyway, I could go on and on and make a short story long, but for me, it just rings a chord in the nature of who I am, and am now realizing more and more....who I want to be.
Mark
And for the record, I take nothing away from gun hunters in any way shape or form, as we are all brothers of the hunt and to each his own. Oneday I may pick up a rifle again should the urge ever arise. I am just glad I live in a country where I have the option to make that choice!
QuoteOriginally posted by NDTerminator:
Maybe I'm the odd man out here, but I love hunting with, working with, & shooting my rifles and shotguns every bit as much as my recurves.
It's all good...
I, too still own and shoot many firearms. I even hunt with them during the late season cow hunts we have in Colorado. I especially like chasing quail around the desert in Arizona. Anyone who would try using a bow for that is definitely crazy. But, I certainly can spend much more time and enjoy that time more shooting my longbow than I do shooting my 30-06 or 7mm mag. Now I do enjoy breaking clays with my O/U 20 ga. and my S/S 28 ga--so much that it makes my shoulder sore. But again, I could shoot my longbow all day long and not even have to buy or reload shells.
Mike
For me it has just become part of who I am, I love the simplicity, the challenge and all that goes with traditional archery. Along with that it is just plain fun, I love to watch the flight of the arrow, whether it is a 20 yard shot or 70 yard shot at a clump of grass in an open field. I haven't hunted with a gun since 1990, which is my own personal choice, and one I am very happy with.
David
I think the original bow and arrow was a gift from God to his creation. He put into the minds of mankind to come up with a tool that would improve our quality of life. It is an age old thing of beauty to watch a good arrow in flight. Whether it is your own or that of fellow archer. And when it is one of your on making, it is breath taking.
I killed my first deer with a gun when I was a kid,never cared for it much.I just love to hunt! Hunted with a compound for years switched over to good ol trad gear 3 or 4 years ago and I love it would not have it any other way.It is just the way it ought to be,for me anyway. Jason
They are aesthetically more pleasing than compounds, which now look more like laser guns than bows. They are each unique, individual creations, as opposed to mass-produced compounds. They are more challenging, and therefore we get more satisfaction out of hitting things with them. They do not require rigid, orthodox shooting positions and form in order to shoot them effectively, which makes them more enjoyable to shoot than compounds. All the peripheral things that go with them are enjoyable: building arrows, strings, unique quivers, etc. Mainly, the people who shoot them are good people, who aren't concerned with who wins, just having a good time shooting.
Thank You one and all for your input. Bona, what you stated was, well... Beautiful. :thumbsup:
... mike ... :archer: ...
I'm the same way Mike, I could really care less if I gun hunt anymore. For me the challenge lies in close contact with the game I'm after and the game I'm not after also. I also love the time frame that our archery season is, I don't need to go into detail about how wonderful the fall is and what it means to any bowhunter. I had pretty much given up hunting small game till I started hunting with trad, now I would rather do that than hunt big game some times, it's a blast. The whole experience is just more peaceful with out the big bang in the end.
Coming from France and no hunter in the family , used to shoot recurve for fun . Coming in your country i tried hunting with a riffle but i never been excited about it but with our bows and arrows what a great feeling and rushes !...
I just got a turkey and a squirrel and waiting for my first deer but still excited and roaming the woods and flying arrows at stumps that's cool and so quiet , and my dog hates gun shoots !
Love my recurve
Eric .
QuoteOriginally posted by mcgroundstalker:
Why do I (we) love the Trad Bow so much? Seems I am losing my interest in firearms for hunting. Maybe this goes with my age of 52. Let me know what you think. Thanks. :)
... mike ... :archer: ...
I know what you mean, but age has nothing to do with it. I bought a Longbow 2 years ago, when I was 41, went out and shot it about 50 times, went in and put wheel bow and accesories on e**y and sold it all. At same time put my hunting guns for sale, and hunt strictly with my Longbow. Duane
I take the killing of another living creature very personally, although i am very good at self defense, it is also very much against my nature to be violent. If I don't feel that I have really earned the right to shoot something to eat, I can not help feeling that i have cheated. the roar of a gun is not music to my ears, the sweep of graceful bow limbs and the sound of an arrow in flight is much more in keeping to the rhythm and sounds of the natural world.
For me its the challenge
Flight of the arrow
Simplicity
Most of all its fun!
It is the flight of the arrow. We can see it fly.
It is because the sport is so quiet, almost all natural sounds.
I enjoy all types of hunting, but with a bow the most and the Flintlock a close second! I really like seeing that cloud of smoke billowing thru the air and the thump of the patched round ball! You still have to get them in close! I look at it the same way as the bow hunting, 1 shot....1 kill, with just a tad bit more range!
My first deer kill was with a compound bow. I had been shooting recurves prior but had a compound in my hands that day. My second was with a longbow and my third with a rifle.
Traditional equipment has ruined hunting for me. I've found that I cannot remain on stand very long or still hunt without resorting to stump shooting. I have discovered that I enjoyed the preparation for hunting more than the actual hunt. Trad gear is so much fun I cannot possibly resist. I am content to stay in camp and practice so as to not disturb anyone else.
Talk about a complete transition. Don't misunderstand me, I still believe in hunting, have helped several others get started, I simply cannot hold a traditional bow in my hand and resist the urge to shoot an arrow. I've got it bad. Man! Isn't it wonderful!
It's funny how things change, over a decade ago a friend and I were talking when he said: "Now that I have a family and responsibilities my hunting time is limited. I'm going to use it the most effective way I can." We both agreed that we would give up bow season to maximize our time during rifle season.
That lasted for two years. Yes, we were able to fill the freezers and take a few trophies but all the fun was gone. Now our lives have come full circle and are if anything more hectic but I don't know how many times we've agreed "I only have a limited amount of time to hunt this year and I'm gonna do it the way I enjoy most." For me and my friends this means stick and string. We still like to get a turkey or two with the shotgun or an evening shooting clays but most get-togethers are much more informal, and enjoyable just out stumping.
You are not 52 yet, grasshopper.
I hunt with everything. My love of bowhunting does not mean that I will give up the smugly sneaky pleasure of becoming one with a blowdown or stillhunting with a firearm. Most of my gun kills are within twenty yards, and were done while stillhunting or laying in wait on some frozen hillside. I spent a lot of years learning about and shooting all kinds of guns. I like them. I like deep rust bluing, the smell of black powder, color case hardening and the myriad of action types.
There is a certain relief at the end of a session at the range when, at last, I remove the hearing protection. Aaaahhhh! The archery range is much more pleasant because of the lack of noise. The thump of a bow and the arc of the arrow have a beauty found nowhere else. The most beautiful gun stocks have nothing over the risers of Blacktails or Morrisons. I spend more time at the archery range than I do at the firearms range. Mostly because I need to practice the bow more. The bow takes a lifetime of striving. Hmm. So does making targets with one-hole groups.
I have phased out of being rabid about guns to being rabid about bows. The bows have always been there, but I had to leave home before I could even own a BB gun. Now, I have done most of my groundwork in firearms, and shoot with friends for fun.
I love horses. I love dogs. I love salamanders and fringed polygalas. I love my digital point-and-shoot, and my Canon SLR loaded with Kodachrome 200. They are all different, and not mutually exclusive.
I am older than you.
And taller than you, Mikey!
Killdeer :wavey: :campfire: :archer: :biglaugh:
For me it has been a 2 step process. First, I fell in love with bowhunting. The time of year, length of season and the fact that you can hunt during the peak of the rut all had something to do with it in the beginning. But, as I bow hunted more, I also discovered that it made me a better hunter in general. You need to get closer to the deer, and so you end up watching deer that are out of range a lot more. Deer that would have been dead within 10 seconds if I had my rifle, I now had to watch for minutes ~often many minutes~ and most of them just walked away. But watching all those deer and how they reacted to different sounds, or movements, and what they did when they caught my scent really made me understand them, and how to hunt them, a lot better than I ever had before.
Then last archery season, as I was carrying a treestand and a bow that weighs about 5 pounds, I thought "this is stupid". Now, I love hunting from a treestand, because it forces me to stay still, and I see all sorts of things from one that I rarely would see from the ground. But sometimes, I would like to still hunt with my bow, but I never felt like I could get a good shot with my wheelie from the ground. It would just take too long and require too much movement.
So I decided I was going to get a new bow in the next year or so, and if I could get good enough with a trad bow that I was being respectful of the animals I was hunting, that I would go that direction. After all the cost of a new compound is about the same as the price of a good trad bow, and they just kinda suit my style better. (I just like old style stuff, fish with bamboo flyrods, etc).
Now I've been shooting my Dads old Pearson Cougar most of the winter and it is going pretty well, but that is just in the basement at about 8 yards. If I can keep the groups tight out to about 20 or so, my decision will be made for me and I will never look back.
I bugged my parents for a couple years for a bow till one Christmas , I think I was about 9 or 10 I looked under the tree and saw a bow .I have 2 brothers but I knew that bow was mine . Went right outside in the snow with a coat over my pjs and shot till I was forced to come back in to open the rest of my presents . Always had fun shooting bows until compounds came out . I bought a Bear Whitetail hunter and quickly got good with it ., after a few years I stopped practicing because it wasn't any more fun . Went back to a recurve and haven't looked back . Just seems like the way things were meant to be , I still get as excited as a kid when I shoot , Fred
Mike, My "little" Friend.....I just PM'd My Brother adkmountainken last weekend a short note about prefering "simple things" as I grow older.
I like "simple" bows.....a stick and a string.....that shoots a feathered stick.....and then using that simple bow and arrow to "make meat" the "old way".
I like old guns.....My 16ga.Ithica Deerslayer,My Dad's old .300 Savage model 99,or my old iron sighted Western Field .30-.30 and using that old rifle to track and then shoot a "basket racked" mountain buck at 20-30 yards.
A "simple" fly rod.....and using that rod to cast a fly into a clear cold mountain stream pool and catch a beautiful wild Brook Trout. I have had so many problems with "modern" spinning gear over the years,(bent,broken bails/springs,twisted lines.....)I just find myself grabbing my fly rod more and more.....
Your not getting "old" My Friend.....You're just getting "simple" as you grow older.
Nice thoughts wrong idea, because we can, it's because of choices, and those choices are simple. Most of all it's to see what God created. The deer in the meat are just His blessings
Carl
I've hunted for many years, most with a gun (my family only gun hunted). But I haven't taken a deer with a gun for a number of years now. The bow has been good to me, in more ways than just providing meat.
I've wondered why I've taken so much to stickbows over the last 25 years and came up with two basic reasons. First, I just plain like the silence they provide in a world of silence when hunting, even as game is very close, even as the shot is taken, and even in the aftermath of locating the animal...or the errant arrow. Just having that opportunity is a genuine pleasure. Its an amazing feeling thats hard to explain. And second, I like the idea of giving the animal the best chance of beating me, of outwitting me, of surviving and continuing. These are things largely absent with a gun, where amidst the noise and deadly efficiency of powder and bullet death can be delivered from hundreds of yards away. Productive, but "impersonal". Not at all a satisfying experience anymore. I guess I've been spoiled.
Whether for hunting or just backyard recreational shooting, the stickbow and its simplicity get into your blood. If I ever feel I NEED to kill game (perish the thought) the gun will be there. But until then my bows are my real interest, like gifts that keep giving every time I pick up, handle, tune, tinker or head for the woods with them.
Point & shoot with gun or cmpnd w/sights is way anticlimactic especially after you've taken a sufficient amount of game. Trad equipment requires a great deal of concentration, skill, & expertise which is exactly the rush we're after. That's not to say a rifle hunter isn't entitled nor experiences a dissimilar rush, just obviously in a different way. IMO we're much luckier to have the experience (that brought us here), physical ability, & mental fortitude to hunt/shoot trad. I'm much thankful for that.
Tyke, for a first post, that was a wowser! Glad to have you among us!
Killdeer :campfire:
I have found that, when it comes to deer hunting, I dont even think about my rifle just my taking my curve.
Killdeer,
Thank you. When I decided to give trad a try last fall, I checked out several sites to try and learn whatever I could. I found this site and your "Killdeer in the wood" thread kept me coming back. I am very glad I did. I am a member of several message boards for a variety of interests, and this is by far the best I have ever seen regardless of subject. I have been reading this site a lot, but being out of my depth with regard to all this, have not posted til now. But I did want to get started and never cared for the "Hi- my name is... " threads.
Mike, sorry to hijack your thread. I think you will find as many different answers as you have trad shooters. Things like this have some common threads, but everyone seems to get there from a different direction.
For me the use of a firearm is such a precision tool that the real skill of hunting is not needed. I enjoy my guns yet, but seldom use them hunting. I did shoot a coyote last week with one. Distance was just under 600 yards. That's not hunting. Was a nice shot though.
I am one of three 4H volunteers, who teach archery at a local range every tuesday and wednesday night. Including my three, we have about fifty kids between the two nights. It`s a ton of fun. For those who don`t have equipment, we have some very nice recurves, and feather fletched arrows available for use.
One young fella who kinda keeps to himself, has been shooting a compound for three years with us.
He is quite good. He draws, settles to anchor, and squeezes the trigger on his release.
He had a few questions about the recurves, and I helped him get started. That is all it took.
The last few nights, I have noticed, he gets his bow out of the case, and puts it in the rack. That is where it spends the rest of the evening.
We have one 62" curve, that draws thirty five pounds, and he spends the evening with that simple bow, learning something he THOUGHT he already knew.
Suddenly, the quiet one, is FULL of questions. Wood arrows? How much draw weight does it take to kill a deer? How much does a recurve cost? Why are feathers better?
I asked him why his decked out compound was sitting in the rack. "Cause this bow is so much more fun!" was his reply. I think I found a home for an old 38lb Shakespear recurve I have.
I think his answer, is our answer. :thumbsup:
Remember hearing or reading somewhere that traditional archery celebrates the human condition. Think G.Fred Asbell said it. Times when I make a great shot stump shooting or on the 3D range I can't help but feel closer to The Creator.
... mike ...
Jeez, what I see of the human condition isn't all that heartwarming! What I see of traditional archers cheers the heart immensely, however. Being among others who are willing to go the extra mile, and do things the hard way for the added joy and pride in accomplishment is inspiring and ennobling. The easy path is full of easy people.
Thanks, Tyke for the kind words. I passed them on to my husband, Mockingbird, who started that thread.
Killdeer :campfire:
for me its just being in the woods im there to enjoy gods creation and to get closer to him ,if i see a deer thats a good hunt in my book.gods blessed me ,ive seen animals in their habitat and hawks grabbing tree rats ,from red foxes to birds comeing into my blind , and alot more just dont have room to type.