just curious to know what other hunters and shooters feel that traditional archery means to them deep down inside of your soul.
traditional archery to me is a way of life,my drug of choice,my way out.i really don't know what i would do without the whisper of my arrows as they leave my bow,the feeling of power i get when i draw the string back,the anticipation of a well placed shot or the sheer joy of just being one with mother nature and father time while sitting quietly watching a deer feed its way past me.even the pesky yellowjacket brings me peace.this is to me what traditional archery is about.
traditional archery dosnt mean anything too me...or maybe i should say anything more. when i hunt or fish, be it a rifle, compound or shotgun, i am the same person i am when im carrying around a longbow. i enjoy everything outdoors, and "traditional" is really starting to mean alot less to me. i cant figure out what traditional it...is it a bow with 25 layer carbon limbs that took an engineering degree to make? its no less technical than a compound, really not any harder to shoot.....its just using technology in a different way. is it keeping things simple, and using proven methods? nope...with 80$ teflon coated super duper 6160 (or what ever) single bevel steel, and 39.5555555842% foc, things sure arent simple. is it accepting all archers and being friendly and open minded? no, there are some dog gone snobby elitist out there...is it hacking a bow out of osage orange? but then you are using modern knowledge and skills to do even that. i cant figure out what trad is, so ive decided to enjoy everything outdoors, and ya know what? its purty fun. i realize im not better than anyone, more elite, more skillfull, or challanging myself harder....i just enjoy it...whatever "traditional" may be.
good point.well done.
deermaster, a good summation, IMO. I feel much the same.
When I started shooting bows at age eight in 1954 there was no concept of "traditional archery". But now, thanks to the advent of the compound bow we have this category called "traditional". Like yourself, I love the outdoors, hunting and fishing. I fish with dry flies and powerbait, homemade plywood bows and even occasionally a wheel bow.
I also like muzzle loaders, high velocity scoped modern plastic stocked cartridge guns, black powder cartridge guns and old milsurp guns.
Makes no diff what is in my hand, it's still the same feeling of being in the field pursueing the fish or animal du jour.
It's down there in my sig....
Honestly, I've gained more appreciation for the outdoor life since getting into trad just a couple years ago.
To me, it's a simpler, yet more challenging way of hunting. I've never had so much more fun making arrows, shop tools, working with leather, knives, bowyering....I never would have found interest in these things had I stayed on the other side.
I find myself going back in time as every year passes, appreciating the simpler way that life used to be.
That being said, I still enjoy my high tech crap, but tend to leave it all at home when venturing out.
Leo,
The chiggers must eat you alive in the attire in your pic under your name. I know if I dressed like that I would have hundreds of little red bite sites all over my body and I would be absolutely miserable! And that to me is NOT traditional! :)
Bill
Going ......BACK.......to age old ways.
:campfire:
Challenges...joys....even aggravation of doing things the "hard" way. Where when you can hear teheswish of the arrow, and SEE it arch into your target, and KNOW I did that!! by not using the newest and greatest technology to do it--but by focus and practice and simple equipment.
And best yet---when you can take a bow and arrow, hand it to your wife and child and watch the excitement in their faces as they release an arrow and watch it fly and then they are always begging to go with you whenever they see you grab your bow off the wall to shoot. :archer:
Ben
Better than any psych therapy. Good for the body and the mind. I've solved a lot of problems while out shooting or hunting.
When I make an incredible shot with little thought or planning, the magic of archery is revealed. I think, " Wow! How did I do that!!?!"
The time I have spend in the woods and fields helps me to get a better perspective on this thing called life. I don't mean that in a pompous way I mean it in a humbling sort of way. I have grown to appreciate the friendships it has helped me to find. I makes me appreciate my quary and the efforts of my ancestors to survive. The beauty of this world that God created and the way things fit together in nature with all the nitches being filled with something. Ultimately it makes me appreciate the gifts from the Father. I feel sorry for those who haven't troubled to watch the sunrise from a wild place. They have no idea of how it can warm the soul.
I also agree with your summary Elkherder. You said it well for me.
pine nut
Independence to choose the road less traveled. Exchange myself from noise, crowds, & technology for deep in the woods where I enjoy hunting just as I have always. Never gets old. Simple is better.
Peace!
Traditional to me is hoping to pass the love of just being out in God's backyard, from seeing the first glint of a new dawn, and picking out the first shapes you can make out, to frost covered leaves startling your senses alive by a critter, and you wondering at first is it a squirrel or a deer. First cast on a spring morning hoping for "Ole Mossy Back" to come up and swallow the plug. Or a hot September afternoon busting some doves on a Georgia field, passing it on to my Kid's , then to my Grandchildren Lord willing so they can have that genuine love that was given to me from my Dad, God rest his soul. Traditional to me is just pure substance, just like shaking a good friend's hand... solid !!. It really isn't all about what your'e holding in your hand, it's what your'e carrying in your heart...
Froggy
its when I feel alive.
OK Here goes. I love to go hunting. Not so much for what I bag but the companions over the years I go with, which includes both my children, brother, and friends. I love to go sailing for the same reasons. Not that I don't enjoy the sport itself, but it would not be the same alone, although sometimes, I enjoy the time alone. Now why trad?
Why a sailboat rather than a powerboat? the challenge, the quiet, etc. Why a flintlock rather than a scoped bolt action 30-06? The sheer simplicity and challenge. And why a trad bow rather then a sighted wheel bow. same
I feel that by using the less technological tools, I get back closer to the sport, and in terms of hunting, I feel that I give the critters a certain respect they deserve, these great creatures with physical ability far beyond anything we will ever have. It's the tool and the intellect only that can challenge them. The hi powered rifle or even the modern wheel bow or cross bow is a no game situation. The only way to miss is to blow the shot.
With trad gear, no matter how hi tech it becomes, (btw I'm a wood arrow guy and I like the old classic bows), it's putting my skill with this tool, and a lot of the equation is me, up against their instincts, stamina and physical gifts and seeing how I measure up to nature.
OK now one more thing. Shoot a dozen arrows, and you can always do better. It's the constant challenge of perfecting that shot. There's an inexplicable joy of watching that arrow fly time after time and getting closer to that mark each time that never ceases to attract and amaze me.
OK someone else's turn. :archer: :jumper:
I made a thread similar on another forum.
My mind amazes me how with no reference point,I can hit a 3" area from 20 yards time after time (When I'm not tired or unfocused).
I guess trad to me means learning to use the sight between my ears. ;)
Traditional is a term that some embrace and others apparently scorn. Let's be truthful in the fact that todays recurves and longbows (we might add arrows to that list as well) are techno wonders compared to the past....yet; have we did anything to the sport that would fail a lithmus test of the past in terms of increased range or style? I don't think so. We have made trad equipment out of better materials and therefore... made equipment more durable.
Often I think the terms of primitive and traditional get interchanged when in reality they are two seperate things. Certainly the mid -70's recurves (20 years after the space age began)and arrows of fiberglass/aluminum are anything but hacked from a tree. That's as 'traditional' as anything else from the label's standpoint. However, It's not primitive. I'm a traditional archer, not a primitive archer. The fact that something is not primitive doesn't render the term traditional as invalid.
That being said, I love being a tradtionalist. I love the self limitation that it creates. I fail to see the thrill in other forms of hunting that create an upper hand for the hunter...seems a little unfair to the game in my way of thinking. I may be an elitest in my own thoughts, but I temper my thoughts to others to promote a tolerence of respect. Yet.. my way is my own and I hold no one less accountable than myself. I think to do otherwise is less than a genuine position. I just don't say it as a matter of individual respect.
It is a way of life for me and a good one. It is archery pure and simple... let the other guys find a name for what they do. WE WERE HERE FIRST!!
It is the sound of the gobble in the morning, waiting for the bird to come in closer, he would of already been a goner if I would of been using a shotgun. Watching a ten point go because he was twenty five yards out, a chip shot for a compound, but too far for a ethical shot.
The best part of Archery for me was the peace it gave me. I worked in a prison and the pressure was amazing some days, I needed a outlet to relax and enjoy. Archery was almost Zen like for me.
I guess i'm alittle more traditional for reasons I chose than most.I like to take the road less traveled alittle harder to stay out of the rutts.Through the years i've perrty much taken the same route others have taken ahead of me to get where i'm at.And through the years i've slowed down and just keept on geting slower.But we only slow to the point we want.Oh we still load the bad boy on the trailer stop at sheets get coffie and lunch on the way to our hunting area.Ride the bad boy to the logy.Pull the bow up made from the latest kit.Wait my cells ringing.Just my friend wanting to know if I got his fire hose.@%#*# I droped my best 4 blade carbon arrow.Oh well I guess you can still call me a traditionalest as log as you keep this to yourself.You payed how much for that selfbow and cain arrows.I got that road kill cut up and put in the freezer last week.
I wrote this some time ago, But holds true with Archery. More so with Traditional Bows, Because They are all I use now. Hell I started off with a Marlin .30-.30. A few years of center fire arms to my T/C .54 cal Side Lock. Since my Heart surgery in 2002, I've been Archery only, Then came 2005 when I turned Trad :archer:
QuoteLive to Hunt ... Hunt to Live
It seems like only yesterday I started hunting, but it's been over 20 years. When I started I didn't have anyone to teach me what to do or how to do it. I just learned on my own. I had started hunting during the "Bad years" of my life; Drinking, drugs and not really caring what I did or who I hurt.
Hunting started to mean something to me slowly. More and more the spirit of nature got to me. The drugs eventually stopped and hunting became a larger part of my life. I never felt the peace that I get when I'm in the woods, mountains, or plains. Hunting has become a way of life. I learned to be a part of something more then shooting a gun or a bow, more than just going out and killing a beautiful animal. I gained more respect of the game I hunted and in return I was giving the game the respect it deserves. Most non-hunters don't understand this and some just don't want to. Ask someone why he/she hunts and you will get many different answers. The only answer I can give is that hunting gives me peace, and nowadays it gives me life.
You may ask Why is that? Well, hunting saved me...It saved me from going to jail and from death. BY hunting and stopping the drinking and drugs it added more life to me. I was born with a defective heart valve. The thrill of the hunt is a thrill that no drug or booze can give me. I have been saying Live to hunt...Hunt to Live for the past 10 years. Five years before I had found out about my heart. Hunting keeps me alive and being alive is what makes me hunt. Hunters give back more than they take out of hunting. We as hunters give back to nature what others can only think of giving. Why is it so hard for the so-called animal rights people to see how we as hunters are the ones that help to take care of nature. They feel that hunting is not humane? Well take them to a cattle ranch and then a slaughter house and then see humanity.
Not that I'm downing the cattle ranchers or the people that work in the slaughter houses. But look at it this way, a calf is born a male, 99 percent of which is fixed, and become food for us and we'll also look to see how they are killed. Hunters have the power to bring back what we have taken, like the buffalo, turkey, elk, and rocky mountain sheep to name a few. I can see that these days everyone hunts in one way or another. We hunt for work, a mate, a car, a house, a way of life. A way of life to live free, happy and at peace with God and ourselves.
FOR THIS IS THE LIFE I HUNT FOR AND
I LIVE TO HUNT AND HUNT TO LIVE.
Stick bows.... No metal, no sights, no wheels.
JDS III
As far as equipment definitions:
No wheels, no releases, no sights...and no rests
I DO NOT WANT EVERYONE TO AGREE WITH ME ON THAT! ...but that's what it means to "me". I've got no problems going hunting with a laser-guided-techno-dart-launcher armed buddy, let alone a rest, release or sights. (I'd rather go hunting with the guy above knowing he can make a humane kill than go with someone who "might" hit the vitals without his laser-guided-techno-dart-launcher.)
As far as what "it means" to me...
A quiet, simple, almost romantic, connection back to a day and mindset that I envy. That, and good challenge!!! Which is probably the biggest draw for me to hunting.
My interpretation of traditional is using lightweight and not complicated equipment mostly of natural origin. I'll gladly sacrifice the high tech advantage for the simplicity of a real wood bow.
I shoot both traditional and primitive, but shooting primitive is when the spirit is most alive. That's when you are connected with the ancient archers and hunters of the past.
The ultimate thrill for me is to build the bow of osage, or locust, or hickory, or hop hornbeam, or sassafras. Then to make arrows from rivercane, arrow bamboo, dogwood, or even dog fennel. I have done these things but haven't yet hunted with them. I'm 65 yrs old now so I'd better start planning for that before time runs out and I've joined the ancients with no story to tell.
Simplicity!!
I like the oneness of being that comes with eliminating sights and wheels, and relying solely on my own skill & that of the bowyer.
I'm not a purist or elitist. I use a wheelie when I want meat on the table or in the freezer right now. I shoot aluminum and carbon and wood; depends on which way I feel like hunting.
But the feeling I get when it's just me, two sticks, and a string, AND I make the shot...total buzz. And if I miss, it's an honest miss; I've only myself to blame.
To me, traditional is as real as you can get. That instant of zen I get on the release is indescribable. There I am...felt hat, woolen serape, leather boots, denim trousers, flannel shirt, all Gods' glory. Nothing else but two sticks, a string, and the eyes, nose, & ears I was born with.
I feel more alive at that one instant than I do at any other time, or anyplace else. It's something worth living for. Truly.
A closer balence with nature!!! I now can feel the heart beat of mother earth!!!
I like knowing that I am in control . If I miss it was me not some equipment malfunction. I like the feel of a stickbow in my hand when it sends an arrow. The beaty of an arrow going slow enough that I see the beauty of the yellow feathers I shoot going through the spot where I`m looking. The feeling of "I`ve done something special" I get when I put my hands on a critter I`ve just killed with a traditional bow.
The closeness to God I feel when wandering the swamps with a bow in hand and also the very special campfire time with fellow tradbow hunters that all share the same feeling about what we do.
One thing that I really like is that on hunts with my stickbow friends its the hunt that matters...the time spent afield with friends is very special and the kill is icing on the cake but not a must.The hunt will still be succesful with a dead animal.RC
We offen talk about how we have to get closer to our game but traditional archery brings the entire experence closer to our soul. I belive the sport it self changes us as people. I know I think alot more about the hunt, I know I shoot a lot more an the funny thing is if I need something I will try to make it before I will buy it.If you have always shot trad. you may not understand the change I am talking about.If you switch from a compound you probally understand.The trad. guys had it all along.
The whole thing about bowhunting that fascinates me, is...
1. Perfection requires practice.
2. Nothing is given to you for free, you have to work hard for every single bit of it.
3. Peace. A silent whistle in your ear before your arrow finds your target.
Furthermore... hunting - for me - is about respect. I take the lives of living creatures, and where i feel fascination, i also feel sadness. There are so many true emotions involved. If you don't realize how lucky you are, to have the priviledge of taking the life of another creature, knowing that this is not wrong nor right, but in a strange way necessary, you are not as thankful as you should be, and you are not paying life the respect it deserves.
cool
tantalizin thread, for me it's just whenever, however, and whatever it takes to get out into the peace of the temple... Nature, or whatever you want to call it.... where there is nothing louder than a rare arrow flyin and the sounds of scurrying underbrush... I'll do my best to get there. With my choice of all that's out there, engineering or not, I'll take a stick and string. I doubt I'll see ya there.
RC,
Your post fit my way of explaining this to those who ask perfectly. Well, put, my friend, well put!
Daryl
RC could not have said it better,good friends and a stick bow is what it's all about.