I've been bowhunting since 2005. I hunted that first season and took only one ill-advised shot (clean miss) on the closer, that year.
Between 2006-2008 I figured it out and took 22 big game animals with my bow. What a blast.
Now go back to 2006....and I'd just shot my first trad bow. I eneded up buying one, soon after that, and I've shot it sporadically and even taken it hunting a few times.
So to my question....
Do you remember when you took the leap to committing to hunting, exclusively with your trad tackle? To me, the manner of taking has always overshadowed the end result. So you'd think this would be an easy jump, right???
Easy leap, for you?
It was in 1994. I started bowhunting in 1983 with a compound but I had shot recurves since I was a little kid. By 1987 I had target panic so bad I totally locked up when I drew back my bow to shoot it. 6 years in the Army without touching a bow, got out in 1993 got a compound again that fall and the target panic was right there again. I tried a recurve after the 1993 hunting season out of despiration thinking that if I didn't have to hold at anchor to aim I might be able to shoot again. It worked and I have never looked back :thumbsup:
It was in 2001 when I injured my right shoulder when I drew my compound and had to let it down because I didn't have an arrow nocked that I could step out into the backyard and shoot it. It felt like the bow ripped my arm off my shoulder! As part of my therapy I started shooting a 35# recurve that was loaned to me by the owner of The Archery Shop. I then placed an order by the elderly gentleman who built the bow that was loaned to me. Now 90 bows or so later I'm still shooting recurves and longbows and love it!
Bill
PS I only own 8 of those bows at present. 3 of the 8 are not bows that I shoot, two of the shooters I have at the house, one is enroute to me from a refinish job, another will be enroute to me within the next week and the last bow is on order.
Never wanted to shoot a compound. I bought my first longbow in 1991 and I haven't looked back once. It took me to 1999 to get my first deer and then from then on I have harvested a deer every year but one, letting the little ones walk. So for me there has been no other way.
I took up bow hunting just before the 07 deer season and had a bear white tail hunter compound that I bought from a friend way back in the early 90s but never went hunting until 07. I took a nice doe with it while ground hunting that first year. I also received a 45# bear cub longbow/recurve from my father that he bought in the early 60's. I started to shoot with that last summer and never looked back so for me it was an easy jump as I had very good success early and wanted more of a challenge. I love the simplicity and beauty of traditional gear and really love to shoot them much more then my old pulley system. Bought a production 50# Samick stingray last summer as well and can't seem to put ether of them down since. I got the fever bad! :D
In the late 70's I had just won the state indoor pin sight and was tired of shooting everyday. One day a longbow caught my eye and I bought one. Shortly after that I ran into Charlie Lamb and he helped me cement my feelings for the longbow. Never turned back.
Not easy at all. I am filled with doubt about whether I can really hit a deer with a recurve, even though people I consider good shots, and good hunters, tell me I'm a good shot. I haven't gone back to hunting with compounds, since I really don't enjoy shooting them anymore, but I am constantly wondering whether the bow I'm shooting is the best bow for me, whether I need to get a longer bow for more accuracy, a shorter bow because it's handier in the woods, a lighter bow because it's easier to shoot well, but what if it's not enough weight to hunt with, etc. I've played around with going to an ILF metal handled bow, using a rest and plunger, and learning to shoot 3-under with a gapping system so that I can "really" shoot consistently well. I don't think the "manner of taking" makes one any better or worse, more or less ethical (assuming it's not poaching, tame animals in a pen, all that stuff), or anything like that. There are lots of good, ethical hunters who use compounds and rifles, and plenty of slobs who use stickbows, IMHO. I just think that for some people, using a stickbow allows the fullest enjoyment of archery, just like some people find the fullest enjoyment by going all the way to making their own primitive equipment. Anyway, it's still hard for me to commit to hunting with my recurve, although I have no urge to go back to compounds, even though I've been shooting them pretty much exclusively for several years. I guess I'm still too concerned with results or something. Paul.
Never killed an animal with a compound shot one a couple of times.Killed my first deer in 1976 with my K-Mag.When I saw the first deer killed with a recurve by a freind (blood 4 feet on the trees)I never doubted the killing power of a stick and string.I am still in awe at the kill I made this year saw the deer go down in app. 4-5 seconds.Kip
Been Archery hunting since September 2002, This was six months after I had Heart surgery. In 2005 I turned to the Light and got my first Trad bow. It was a take down Bear Hunter. The riser cracked badly and I then got my Old 54" Shrew ( I have since Sold it to give some Mojo to another) I got the shrew in mid 2005 and by hunting season I was shoot only the shrew. I have taken about 20 deer since I started. In 2008 I made my own long bow (self bow) so far I have only gotten 1 deer, 1 coon & 10 tree rats with it. I can still see the first deer I took with stick & string, might be because I have it on tape...LOL
QuoteI don't think the "manner of taking" makes one any better or worse, more or less ethical (assuming it's not poaching, tame animals in a pen, all that stuff), or anything like that.
Don't mistake my meaning. Hunting is personal. I never said it made anyone "better". I said it Manner of Taking) was more important to ME.
You're on your own! :D
Great answers, guys.
I bought a compound back in 1983. It was when I lived in the city and I needed to travel a ways to shoot it. Didn't matter as I became bored with it about the same time I broke my collarbone and couldn't shoot anyway. My one experience with hunting was with a friend more clueless than I was. I took a nap in the woods. 18 years later a guy I worked with rekindled an interest in hunting. I needed to order a new compound and did so. I noticed in the archery shop that the owner had a few "old fashioned bows." I asked if I could try one. I never looked back. I had NO IDEA that there was this whole family of traditional bowhunters! I only knew that it "felt right" and it was fun and I was doing it! Needless to say I cancelled the order for the string rifle and have now a whole passle of trad friends I hunt everywhere with!
It was very simple for me. My dad has always shot traditional so that is all I have ever known. I got my first longbow when I was 5 or so. I shot in the backyard every chance I could with him. I got my first hunting weight bow when I was 12 and started bow hunting then. I have never owned a compound and probably never will. I love the simple side of things. I shot my first compound ever a couple summers ago. It was so funny feeling. We were at an archery shoot with traditional and compound shooters mixed. Some guys wanted me to shoot a compound so I gave it a try. I was so used to canting my bow I couldn't even hold the bow verical to keep the arrow on the rest. Everybody had a good laugh as did I but at that point I knew that compounds and me were not meant to be.
I shot my first recurve in October last year. I was hooked that day. I still have the new compound I bought a week before my first recurve shot, but its not been shot since the end of Nov. I still havent scored a kill yet trad style, but it will happen...Roy
You know my answer Jeff. ;) Good to see ya here!!
I started in 1990 and fell off the wagon in 2000 because i wanted more big deer .To many where just out of range for me.Then in 2006 i was about to give up hunting because i didnt like the gadgets ,Leatherneck said lets get rid of this **** and get some trad bows .That was the best thing we ever did ,funny how things worked out the first season leatherneck killed a 150 class buck his bigest and in my second season i took my largest 178 3/8 .We have learned a lot off of the gang and it was lots of fun,We have our kids involved in trad also.I want to get more involved, i hope my artical in north american whitetail will make more join us in july.
I shot compounds from 1982 until June 2008. Frankly I was bored with how mechanical shooting my bow had become. It wasn't fun anymore. I found Trad Gang while surfing the net and got a recurve that I had bought several years before out of mothballs and gave it a try.
I instantly started having fun shooting again and shot with it almost every day. When deer season rolled around I decided to hunt with it and nothing else.
I tagged the first deer I shot at with it at 12 yards, missed the second at 15 yards, tagged the third at 20 yards and missed again on my fourth shot at 20 yards.
The first miss was about 15 yards. I hit a small limb and deflected the arrow. The second miss was deffinately a shot I should not have taken. It was 20 yards and I felt comfortable about the distance but I had to lean way out of my stand to shoot directly behind the tree I was in.
Lesson learned for me was only take the shot that I am comfortable with. If something just doesn't feel right don't take the shot.
My first hunting trip was in 1979 with an old Shakespeare recurve and mismatched aluminum arrows and I missed a nice 8pointer with 3 different shots, one after the other. I wish deer were still that dumb.
For the next 10 years I hunted successfully with 2 different compounds but kept thinking about the recurve. I finally bought a custom recurve($300 in those days) and proceed to miss 8 in a row, all over their back. In 1999 I had Mike Treadway build me a longbow(also $300) and I took a doe with my first hunting shot.
I have been making wood bows since the late 80s but only since 2005 have I felt confident enough to hunt exclusively with them and in the last 3 years only with wood bows, hardwood shoot or cane arrows and stone or trade points. I'll have to tell you later how it feels to take an animal with my own stuff. d;^)
I was loaned a Bear Montana to go to the OSTA state shoot with my uncle and some of his friends. I shot that thing every day for about two weeks before the shoot and had a feeling that I may have found something I really liked. Then we went to the OSTA shoot and I met some of the people assosciated with this sport and that sold me..I have bought four other bows since then and have only shot the wheelie one time since then in the backyard in 06. It's been in the case waiting for a buyer. I took two whitetails in 2007 with trad gear one was a button buck and one was a mature doe. I was more excited about them than any other deer I have taken including my 140 buck I took with my smokepole. :archer:
Got my first longbow at age 7 about 55 years ago, that would be 1954. Began by hunting gophers and sparrows, an occasional woodchuck, doves at the local feed mill, etc.; deer when I was 12. Been doing it ever since, except for a few years in the 70s when I was wooed by the mechanical arrow launchers.
I think I got bit with both fangs 1983- present
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w27/kingwouldbe/1stram.jpg)
mean and lean, young and dumb
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w27/kingwouldbe/carp-1.jpg)
It was like magic
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w27/kingwouldbe/big4x4.jpg)
Everything I shot at, I killed
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w27/kingwouldbe/firstislandhunt.jpg)
It was love at first shot
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w27/kingwouldbe/134BUCK1.jpg)
It was like throwing a baseball to first base
(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w27/kingwouldbe/coyote1.jpg)
I started bow hunting before firearmshunting in the late 70,s and started off with a hand me down iron riser recurve bow, acouple months later compound craze hit everywhere, 90.00 later i purchased a compound and hunted non traditional to 1996. A funnystory of what changed me back was i always hated each year the new gadgetry in the world of compounds, that i had to try but was the fact while walking one november day with my gadgeted space age bow I went to go around a huge fern tree when on the other side was a 12 pt beauty head down looking the other way. when i say close imean a broomstick with aknife tied to the end would have worked,in the sudden excitement i drew quick my arrow fell off the forked tm rest clanked on the metal shelf and in one single bound that deer was in the thicket and gone.the following month i called bob lee archery,ordered a bow and have never looked back,i know there are days when form and mental concentration arent there and you wish for that front and rear sight but simplicity for me is still key.
i grew up hunting with a rifle, then for about 5 years i hunted with a crossbow. (and i'm not ashamed of that) exactly a year ago this month i took up hunting with a recurve. so all my 'bowhunting' has been with a trad bow. so i've basicly gone from rifle hunter to trad bowhunter....big transition. the hardest part has been learning to shoot a bow.
I started bowhunting in 1984, my father had shot his Bear 76'er for years but was going through a wheel bow phase when he introduced me to archery. So I started with a wheel bow too, but always had a recurve around to shoot. Hunted with the wheel bow almost exclusively till the mid 90's then mixed with tradbows till the turn of the century. Been with trad bows exclusively every since.
Funny thing, my father is still shooting his Bear 76'er to this day! Would have saved me a lot of $'s if I would have taken that lesson from him! ;)
To make a long story short.
I started hunting with shotgun and rifle, wanted to spend more time in the woods hunting, so I bought a compound because it was "ALL THE RAGE". I got to the point where it became boring, now, I'm not trying to brag, but I was extremly proficent with it and it just got boring. I needed something more challenging, so in 1993 I bought my Bob Lee signiture series recurve and sold all of the compound gear. I have never regretted my decision. The harvest rate has dropped off, but that is NOT the point anymore.
I stalk slowly, I try to get as close to my quary as I possibly can, I focus on a spot, I draw, I anchor, I release. That, my friends, is a challenge that will NEVER get boring.
So much for a short story. Sorry.
I started shooting a bow in early high school. It was a Bear recurve. Shot and shot and shot. Didn't hunt until a year or two later. Bought a Bear Whitetail II. Still have it!
Took that bow to mule deer country, just east of Hebo ;)
I had a blast stalking those floppy ears in that wide open Deschutes River country. Emptied a quiver full on two spikes that first year. Wow. Hooked. Of course, I never touched a hair! :o
I did connect on a forked horn blacktail in college.
Shot four bulls in the 90's with my new PSE compounds.
This last Christmas, I found my answer to the quest of getting traditional equipment. I found two custom Saxon longbows and all their accessories for a steal.
Again, I feel hooked. It feels great on each release. It's magic.
SticknString (Greg) helped a ton so far with info and inspiration! :thumbsup:
Brad
Shot sticks as a kid, but shotgunning put archery on hold. Then in college picked up a compound and enjoyed it a lot 81-87, but toward the end of that was thinking about trad bows. In '87 I was hoping to use a stick for the first season but my bow limb delaminated and I was thus still using the compound that season.
My '87 buck convinced me in several ways. First, it made P&Y which was a big goal at the time, and that having been achieved made it easier to try the trad challenge. But more so was that the buck was killed at 10 yards but I used my 20 yard pin and spined him. Lucky to get him really. That convinced me I'd have probably killed that buck with a trad bow, perhaps making an even better shot. [It should be noted that I didn't think it possible to miss a 10 yard shot with any bow; I've proved that wrong a couple times since then. :) ].
I also had a good friend and one of my brothers make the plunge at the same time, and there's really been no looking back since the '88 season. Today, in MOST whitetail situations, I feel I am better off with a stick than a compound. It is such freedom to not have to estimate distances! It is so much more fun to shoot. And it means so much more to me when I am successful using something that most can or will not do. It's really the same reason many of us came from guns to bowhunting in the first place; traditional bows just takes it another level further.
Shooting traditional felt like being a human-being. Shooting wheels felt like being a human-doing. The former felt like breathing, the latter like being on a ventilator.
I stuck with what felt good. Like that favorite shirt or pair of trousers, worn and washed so many times they feel like wind on your skin and nothing else fits as good as they do.
Easy jump for me. I hunted with a compound before i joined the Marine Corps where I shot thousands of rounds of of my machineguns and my M4. After i got out last april I didn't get a thrill out of shooting anything that had sites. i started shooting my dad's holm longbow and a kodiak hunter and I was hooked. Went to elm-hall and won a Great Northern Fireball in the raffle. I just love it to much to leave it alone for more than a couple days. I still get a warm fuzzy feeling everytime I step into the woods with it.
1991 was the year if I remember correctly. Started elk hunting with an old Bear compound device when I was 14. Than one time when I was hunting the Sandias in NM for mule deer, I looked up this ridge and saw a bowhunter carrying a recurve. Blew me away. I proclaimed to my father that someday I was going to hunt with traditional equipment. I think I was 15 or 16 at the time. The switch was very easy for me. Felt natural, like running in to an old friend and never missed a beat. I was very proud to be carrying that first recurve bow, I felt I had embraced something truly from the past. Good memories.
I started in 2006 .I was getting bored taking game with my compound so I started checking into trad shooting. I was very lucky here where I live trad shooting an hunting is very strong lots of good advice hence alot of short cuts.the frist year Igot no harvest second year I got two third year I got two .I sold or gave away everything that had anything to do with compounds. I currently own two bows and waiting for two more to be built I dont know what it is about these bows that I want so many.but if I see something I like Iam getting it in responsable fashion of corse.I only ever own one compound at a time.
I started hunting with a recurve in 1967 (Shakespeare Yukon). There were no compounds back then. I never did gun hunt for anything but birds. I took some time off from hunting during a major portion of my Navy career although I hunted with a compound off and on from 1981 until 1998. I started seriously with the compound about 1999 and gave that up 2 years ago when it just wasn't challenging any more. I picked up a recurve my father had made for me about 35 years ago and refinished it last winter. I took my first whitetail with it this past November. Dad is still around and was really pleased.
easy for me,,JB
Taking up trad was easy for me. After a very successful but trying rifle season in 1997, I decided to hunt with my dads old Shakespeare recurve. Been trad ever since, I've never even shot a string rifle! The journey has had many ups, getting really close to game and spending time with friends and family in the woods, and downs, a deer and a coyote shot and not recovered and as of yet, nothing but tag soup, but I'll never put down my bow. Maybe this year will be my year to notch a tag!
As a kid in the 50's I was always "crafting" my own bows and arrows. A bent oak branch, strung and with a finish nail for a rest, hand split songbird feathers applied some "straight" twig any way I could( read really primitive) and I was shooting.
I hunted with an old Hoyt in the late 60's. Bought a Carroll compound about 73. By 76 I didn't want to hunt deer with anything but my bow, I knew this was hunting to me. I always have shot with my fingers as I just believe it is the right way to shoot a bow.
A lot of whitetails and other species fell to my arrows. Raising my daughter as a single parent took me away from hunting for about 5 years and when I looked to get back in I needed to make a choice, Trad for fingers or put up with a d**n release. The choice really was stated earlier, bows should be shot with fingers IMO.
Foolishly I thought I would have one bow and be intimate with it. 6 recurves and 3 longbows into this I may begin to realize that watching arrows fly and mastering a bow is just a sickness that needs to be fed.
I have not hunted with powder since 76, switched to Trad last year. Although I haven't taken a whitetail since switching it really doesn't matter. I have great company as my 2 sons, daughter-in-law, granddaughter and girlfriend all have taken up Trad and we all shoot together almos every Sunday.
I watched a monster 8-point whitetail walk in behind me while hunting my in-laws farm.....he slowly made his way toward me.....I burned a hole into his side where I wanted the arrow to go....released at 6 yards and watched the arrow sail just over his back....I never looked at the sights on my compound bow, only looking where I wanted to shoot. Decided then and there that I did not need sights and if I didn't need sights, I didn't need a heavy bow tapped for sights.....that was 1989 and I sold that bow a year later....I bought a nice recurve and haven't looked back....that was 1994.
homebru
Easy jump for me. I bowhunted with an Oneida Eagle for a couple of years. Put that down and just rifle hunted for a number of years after that. When I decided to bowhunt again I had always wanted to shoot a recurve or a longbow so that was an easy decision.
I hunted with a cross-bow since I was a kid in school until about 2003---about 15 years.Never bothered trying anything else. I am a lefty and had had shoulder surgery and just left well enough alone. Then, a buddy talked me into trying a compound bow---hunted for 2 years with it and harvested 2 deer with it.. Then, same sadistic buddy :D talked me into trying a Trad bow in early 2005---LOVED it!!! :bigsmyl:
No going back!!!
Ben
Have to say thats good shooten,hunting.It took me 23 years kill 39 bucks,6 with a recurve and 33 bucks,18 years with my selfbows.Need a new hunting buddy.
i started with a wheelei bow like alot of others here in tg. think it was in 96 or 97. any how i missed dear at dusk due to i couldnt see the sight pin even though icould see the deer. on one hunt i slipped and started to fall and drooped the bow ... bent the hell outa the sight arpeture. well i gave up and sold it. gun hunted the rest of that season. then the following summer was watching american shooter on tnn... saw byron ferguson for the first time shooting cardbourd disks outa the air and i quote " thats what i want!" then i went to the second annual cta in hickory nc .... ive been shootin trad ever since
In 1980 I went to a 3D shoot in Eldora, Iowa. Had a great time shooting my Jennings Arrowstar compound. I had at this point taken 3 deer with the compound. For the fun of it I went around the 3D course again. This time I carried my inexpensive Bear Minuteman takedown bow. I ended up shooting within 5 points of my earlier compound score, and had a whole lot more fun doing it!! I have been shooting recurves and longbows ever since!!!