I just wanted to say thanks for everyone here for being so helpful to a nobie to traditional archery. All of your insights on pointers have helped me out alot, mainly though reading your posts!!! I'm 27 and got started this last christmas shooting recurves and i ain't picked my compound up since and doubt i ever will again. I learned through reading books and listening to you all here. What i would like to know is how you all got started, be it through books, reading forums, or friends and mentors and how long you've been doing it?
thanks, Matt
I was shooting a compound for a long time. I picked up an issue of traditional bowhunter magazine and loved it, the magazine showed me just how succesful this hunting can be. I somehow found this website and These people have taught me so much. I would have given up a long time ago had I not found tradgang.
My wife is all to blame for introduction to trad archery! I have shot a compound for 15 years until last year. She bought a couple youth longbow sets from 3Rivers Archery for our boys. Well that tricky company threw in a catalog with our order as well. You can just imagine. Then while at Gander Mountain I happened upon Traditional Bowhunting. Your starting to see the picture right. Last, but not least the computer started searching for trad info and here I am. What a year!
I started trad shooting about 20yrs ago. I had been shooting several componds for close to ten years. Then all the gadgets started. Releases, peep sights,kisser buttons ect;. When my bows statred to weigh more than a rifle, I said enough is enough. I picked up a stemmler recurve cheap, learned how to shoot instinctivley, and that was that. Haven't looked back since.
I always wanted to shoot a Longbow. I hunted with a Compound for many years. I went hunting with a buddy one day, we were parked on the side of the road getting ready to go into the woods. I had my fancy new compound with all the latest gadgets and he took his Longbow out, I was blown away that this is what he hunted with. I finished out the season killing a few deer with the compound. one week after the season I went to my Archery shop and bought a Montana Longbow, I learned how to shoot it from the help of the fine folks here at tradgang. My Longbow is all I have shot for the past year and a half! Thanks folks!
My friend and hunting partner handed me a 71' Bear grizzly, 45@28, that a fellow fire fighter had left for him at the fire house and said, "why don't you take this home a play around with it". I did just that, ordered a string and made a target out of a cardboard box filled with old levis and such. Although I did not have a clue what I was doing, it set me on fire.
My father taught me how to shoot when I was young. Shot the string off of my kid bow and then he got me a real one. Taught me to draw to the nose and gap shoot. Only he didn't call it that. He called it triangulation.
Then as history shows the compound became a big deal and I went with the flow.
Three years ago I put down the wheels and went back to my roots.
I was shooting bows in the 60's. There were no, or very few books out there and no video's or CD's of hunting. We saw Fred on the one or two outdoor shows on the . . maybe three TV channels. . and that was all it took. Later I got interested in the roots of archery and learned a ton more.
You guys today are very lucky. Back then there were very few mentors, very few that knew what they were doing, absolutely no internet to read and talk and learn very quickly. It took years, and experience and TONS of mistakes.
But it was a fun ride.
ChuckC
I only shot wheels for about 2 years.In the late 70's I ran into a guy hunting with an old Bear and I was hooked. Went home ordered a Bear Take down and gave away the wheel bow.Had I not run into that hunter I am sure I would have been a full blown alcoholic by now.
My neigbor/sundyschool teacher got me started at age 8 and took me on my first deer hunt at age 10 been bowhunting ever since. I am almost 63 now.
i shot a compound for about 15 years. always like the appeal of trad bows. i was surfing the web when i found this site. somehow or another i got hooked up w/ shaun leonard, and the guys at the bunny hunt, and the rest is in the books.
i dont ever see myself shootin a compound again!!
i almost have a few buddys converted!!!
gaff
I got a longbow for Christmas when I was 9 or 10 and had a ball with it. Went to guns for a few years, and then about 1970 bought a Bear Grizzly; became one of Fred Bear's 'two season hunters'. Got a compound about 1978, and used it for a couple of years until I got tired of fiddling with it and lugging it around; went to a recurve and eventually to longbows. After some success, I became a 'camera hunter' for a few years, and now I'm back with the longbow and enjoying it more than ever.
Uh oh... picked up my old bow a few months ago now. Last time I shot it before that... a minimum of 5 years before. So a few months ago when I picked it up again, I wondered why I ever stopped. For all I know, I won't be quitting archery in the nearest future.
I use to shoot in Compound Competitions many years ago (while in highschool) and always wanted to try the "old" bows. I bought my first longbow 3 years ago and I have since sold my compound.
My Dad started me with a recurve when I was small ( that's all there was then ). We shot them 'til compounds came out shot them for the next 30 years or so. Last year a buddy of mine picked up a recurve some where and told me he was gonna shoot a deer with it. He did. Got me fired up. So I started shooting one again. When another buddy found out he brought me some of his bows, once I started shooting a longbow , that was it . I've been hooked since. Can't wait to hunt with it this season.
Bad gun accident at 12 restricted us. Borrowed my aunt's 35# longbow & never looked back. I'm 58.
I discovered the Tradgang website a year and a half ago while trying to teach myself how to become a better hunter. The ideas of a simplified, traditional hunting style quickly took hold, and before I knew it, I had stripped down my compound and began shooting with my fingers. I bought a longbow last September, attended two events this summer, and cannot believe how much I love shooting in the backyard every night!
My neighbor got me setup for bowhunting when I was 16, but I haven't had a mentor or shooting partner in the 13 years since. The only resources I've used to teach myself are:
- G. Fred Asbell's books (Instiinctive I & II, Ground Hunter's Bible)
- Masters of the Barebow 1 & 2
- Tradgang.com
This fall will be my first time hunting with a longbow, and I'm hoping that a combination of hard work and dumb luck will allow me to get within 15 yards of a whitetail while hunting on the ground.
I hope you discover as much joy in shooting as I have!
Shot gadget bows for 8 yrs. Then in 1984 I missed a whopper of a whitetail buck straight down out of a tree. He was only ONE YARD AWAY! That was it for me. I have not shot even one arrow out of one of those things since. So much more enjoyable now, I shoot every day.
I started shooting on my own in 1967 but wasn't doing too well. I went to the American Archery Center in Clarendon Hills Ill. and the guys there taught me shooting form and how to have a good time.
42 years later I still love it.
I had a mother that was an anti-hunter; and a father who was not interested in hunting.
I am not sure where the hunting gene came from; but it was there from the time I was an infant. I didn't play with toys; I watched the insects and birds.
My first bow was one that came with an Indian headdress and suction tipped arrows. I think I always rooted for the Indians in the movies.
Go Tonto.
I made my own bows and arrows which left many people in the neighborhood wondering if there was a woodchuck loose in their bushes.
I did shoot my dads military school issue longbow when I could get at it. Then I bought a Ben Pearson recurve in the late 60s and I hunted woodchucks and squirrels with it; and chased a few whitetails.
I had a friend named Rick Berry - who was a baseball player; in 1970 or 72 he shot a really really nice buck with his recurve. Sill think about that.
In 1976; after the military thing; I met a guy at college who was into bowhunting; and I went hunting for deer- with all seriousness. As someone borrowed my Ben Pearson I used my dads longbow (circa 1936). I fell totally in love with bowhunting big game that first serious bowhunt in 1977 - when I missed a whitetail.
Yep I did a couple years with a compound because at the time it was impossible to find a recurve for sale in sporting goods stores. I recovered from that; and in 1982 I bought a Bear Takedown- and it was like a bird out of its nest for the first time; riding the wind and feeling at home.
Been bowhunting every year since with a trad bow.
Its probably just a phase though.
I am now 53 years old and have been shooting since I was 5. We lived on a farm and my brother cut a hickory sapling that I started with at that age. A little while later an uncle gave me a little fiberglass recurve and I went through several of those until at 15 my mom got me a Shakespeare Necedah recurve. I killed a lot of squirrels and groundhogs with that. At 20 years of age I had a compound for about 3 years and gave that up and have been shooting a longbow for about the last 29 years. Imagine going to a 3D shoot with 300 shooters and you and your buddy are the only 2 without a compound. Did this a lot in the early 80's. I now have 17 longbows and 15 recurves hanging on my wall and that is only because I sold three bows last spring to buy a new MOAB and a jacket. Nothing better than a stickbow.
My dad had a bow trad bow in my hand since i could hold one. I had a wheel bow for about six months and went right back to it. I got my first custom bow from herb mealnd when I was 14.
Uncle Herb had a Shakespear recurve, I was 10. Bought a Browning Nomad in 67 or 68 shot whells for a bit still do once in a while, well not in 2 years. Been doing recurves and long bows for 15 years or so. I'm now 57 and try to shoot daily.
I started out hunting with a recurve because my dad made me. As soon as I could afford it I bought a compound. I hunted with that for about 4 yrs before I joined the marine corps. About a year and a half ago when I finished my four years I was sick of shooting anything that has sights. I started shooting an old bear my dad had laying around and then I won a great northern longbow. I just traded that for a HH big five and I'm pretty sure that I'm in love. :)
Went to visit my sister and her family in 71 when her husband was stationed at Fort Lenard Wood.Her boys were playing with a fiberglass Ben Pearson kids longbow shooting at a cardboard box.They ask uncle Ben to shoot with them.That hooked me. Ben
Hi All,
I learned to shoot at Boy Scout camp. That was before Mr. Allen invented the compound bow .....circa 1960.
I bought a Browning recurve in the late 70's. Couldn't hit the broadside of a barn with it. Wasn't the resources available then that there is now to learn how to shoot traditionally. Hung the bow up and starting shooting compounds in 1980. Three years ago a friend made me a hickory self bow. I was ready for a change and that's all it took. I now have custom longbows and a recurve. Learned a lot from reading books, info on the internet and Tradgang forums. Having a blast!
I got started in bowhunting pretty late at age 24. When I was in grade school my brother and I had a few of the yellow fiberglass bows that I think my Dad picked up at yard sales. My Dad bowhunted with a compound since before I was born and we would shoot his old arrows out of those recurves in the back yard. I don't remember much from those days but I do remember I couldn't hit anything. I don't remember my Dad giving us much instruction and I had no aiming style. It's funny though that I distinctly remember going to Anderson Archery in Grand Ledge and picking up some all white strings for those little bows. Man was I excited!
I took hunters safety as soon as I could and did a lot of small game hunting with a single shot 20 gage and later deer hunting with a shotgun. Although I was always interested in bowhunting and my Dad bowhunted I don't remember really pressing him to buy me a bow. With school activities, sports schedules, and then college, the only hunting I did was with a gun. During college I bowfished by myself every summer with an old all fiberglass recurve of my Dad's but I never really considered using a recurve for anything else.
After I graduated from college and got settled into my full time job I got the bug to buy a compound. I bought a decked out compound that arrived at my door fully tuned and sighted in. I was drilling the bullseye from 20 yards the first day I shot it, which is pretty standard with any new compound shooter. I wondered why in the hell I waited so long. My second season bowhunting I finally got a shot opportunity at little spike from 5 yards and connected. I'll never forget the feeling I had that day.
About this time my Dad was playing around with some recurves and I was getting a lot more serious about bowfishing and started looking for an old used recurve. I couldn't understand how my Dad was even considering hunting with a recurve when I felt that a compound was a superior bow. I knew no one that hunted with a recurve. Searching the internet and browsing through all of the hunting forums I stumbled upon this site and a couple of other trad archery sites. I was amazed that so many people hunted with trad gear and even more amazed at the success people on here were having. I thought it would be so cool to shoot a deer with a recurve. I ended up buying a cheap recurve "just to play around with". I couldn't believe how light and natural it felt in my hand and the simplicity really appealed to me. I thought that shooting a recurve was going to be so much more difficult than it was. My fourth year hunting with that compound I grazed a buck that was walking by at five yards because I couldn't align my pins and peep sight as he walked through my shooting lane. That was the last straw. I was upset about that shot for a long time and I knew even with my meager ability I would have killed that buck with my recurve at that distance. The following summer I sold the compound and haven't looked back. The next fall, in my first year with the recurve, I shot my biggest buck from the same stand at 15 yards. That was two years ago and I now feel that my recurve is a far superior weapon than a compound for my style of bowhunting.
My uncle gave me a compound when I was about 11. Shot that for fun in the yard for a couple of years...NO idea what I was doing. No sights, finger release, etc.
Didn't touch a bow again until I bought my recurve a few months ago. I just decided I wanted to shoot again - needed a stress reliever but I knew I didn't want to shoot a compound. I wanted the pure experience of a recurve.
Had no intentions of hunting, met some friends, joined a league - now I'm scouting out my first hunting spot this weekend. All at 27 as well.
Most of my information has come from hanging out at the range on traditional night with my new friends. I have a couple of mentors who have really helped me out along the way. Now my Dad's into it and we are shooting together for the first time this weekend - stumping.
I joined a local club when I was around 20. Been shooting for number of years already and hunting deer (well. . I . . called it that) for about four before that.
One of the club members was a fellow named Mel Johnson, from Peoria way. Some of you guys probably recall him. . he shot the worlds record typical whitetail, way back then. with a stick bow. I got to hold his world record rack for all of about 1.5 minutes, but wow was that awesome. Not too awful long after that I hunted with the club up in northern Wisconsin, September 1977. Hunted with a fellow named Art Laha who was a guide and had a camp up there.
One of the fellows at camp during the same time was named Roy Case. Course Roy was probably in his 80's at the time, but he hunted with us each day. I'll never forget the time he was late for the bus. . In the early morning and late evening we hunted on our own, but during the day we put on drives... Art was the driver of the bus and the jump master as well. He would drive slowly and we would be ready, gear in hand and when he said "jump" out you went. Course you had to really watch him cause he got a real kick out of yelling "jump" just as he was approaching a ditch or a tree.
Roy and his son were staying at a neighboring camp and coming over each morning to hunt with us. They were late one morning and the bus was rolling down the road. next thing you know Roy bails out of his son's car and starts chasing us down the road, yelling and waving his arms. Again, he was in his 80's far as I could tell.
He was there every day. Some of you may know Roy Case. He did a lot of good things for bow hunting. He was instrumental in getting a real bow season in Wisconsin, which was the first of its kind in the country. . . he developed and made several styles of broadheads, the Kiska is the one that was used by the state of Wisconsin to set the broadhead width standard. . 7/8". Seems nearly all the other states joined in on that one.
Art Laha was a great hunter in his own right but a bit of a rougue too. Loved seeing the movie of him, hunting in Alaska, his buddies bent under packs of caribou meat and pelt, and on Art's pack was a ground squirrel skin, neatly stretched.
Hunting was often more of a group thing back then, it seems. You would get together a camp and have camp fires and comaraderie and still get up in the morning and go out. I also remember that most guys were not worried at all about huge racks and P & Y records. There were WAY fewer deer and just seeing some close enough to almost give you a shot was a real rush.
Almost seems different now.
ChuckC
AT age four I wanted to be a super hero. I couldn't fly or afford a Batmobile, but I could make a bow with a willow branch and some baling twine. I still had Batman as my favorite so I ran around as the "Dark Archer" (never could get the boxing glove to fly on an arrow)started Shotokan lessons then too. After foiling my first villain I got a good spanking with my bow converted to a switch and had my blossoming career ended. The bow was in my blood though and a Bear Red Bear soon came into my possession and squirrels soon learned to laugh hard at me as I started my small game "hunting" without concern for seasons, though I kept an eye out for the watchful warden (Mom frowned on such forays). This continued until I got my hunter safety card at age 9 and was told I couldn't hunt for deer with a bow until I could draw 45#s and could afford a "hunting bow". AT age 14 my aunt worked for a family owned sporting goods store in town and the older gentleman who owned the store asked me when I was going to buy a compound, I said I didn't want a compound I wanted a recurve or longbow. He told me no one buys those anymore but to follow him. He took me to the back storeroom and handed me a box and told me it was a loan until I could find a bow or afford the one he was loaning me. It was an original Bear Kodiak TD with 50# limbs. I loved that bow and killed a few deer with it until I bought a used Super Kodiak two years later. Sadly the Kodiak TD was lost in the fire that burned the store down so I never did buy it. SO this year will be my 40th with Traditional.
My dad bought me a compound when I was 5, a few years later I got a old bear recurve, shot both compounds and trad bows ever since!
I started by building two recurves with a custom bowyer who was really nice when I was in highschool. a 43 lb, 58 inch and a 52 lb three piece break down. I caught the wheelie bug in college and gave them to my best friend. He still hunts with them. I switched back to trad 3 months ago. I am shooting a Wes Wallace Royal 55lb at my 30.5 inch draw length. I am totally pumped for hunting season and have fallen back in love with archery. I have been shooting hard every day. I am consistently shooting 4 inch groups at 20 yards.
I got started at 14 in 1958 by a high school friend who is now dead. Thanks Tom. Hap
Like many others, I too started out with training wheels. It just got too complicated, with Chuck ----- saying that I needed this or that, and old Randy ----- telling me that I needed more speed and more stuff. Saxton Pope didnt need more stuff. Howard Hill's long bow had plenty of speed. And Fred Bear... well he was Fred Bear. Nuff said.
:wavey: My grandfather cut me a small limb bent it over and tied a piece of bailing twine to it.
Then cut me some horse weed arrows. For points he used bent over bottle caps.
Been shooting ever since that was over 55 years ago. :archer:
I started into archery in 1994. Used my dads old compound bow. Then found myself buying a new coumpound and all the new stuff not long after that. Then in 2003 I sold all my archery stuff, I think because I got tired of it. Then in Oct 2007 I told my wife I was ready to hunt again but for some reason I wanted a traditional bow. I bought the Bear grizzly recurve and on Nov 1st 2007 got my first deer with a traditional bow.
Now I also have a longbow, which I shoot all the time.
When I had the wheel bow I would only practice 6 weeks before season started. But with the traditional bows I shoot year around. I enjoy archery more than ever.
I was at the Harrisburg hunting show and follwed a guy into the show with 4 recurves under his arms all the way to the Lancaster archery both. I bought a bear bow for 125$ slightly used the guy told me. Shoots great and have been hooked since! now my brother shoots that bow and own a widow. Still have wheels but realy dont ever shoot them!
Like many I started with a bent stick and was always the Indian in neighborhood games. Got a 25# red fiberglass bow in 1959 and really went to town, bullfrogs and rabbits were my first prey. Carried a bow on my trapline instead of a gun, Dad wouldn't allow that.
Killed my first deer in '65, pure dumb luck, and also the biggest WT to date. Didn't have any mentors to help bloodtrail that bruiser but late in grouse season found the skelton about 75 yds from where I had lost the trail. 10 point with matching drops-still have the rack as a reminder to never give a up until all sign is absolutely exhausted.
Service in '70, then a few years with no weapons then back to Bear bows.1984, wheels seduced me for 7 years but no sights and fingers, killing came too easy and got bored. Wife suggested using the old Tigercat I had for deer. Had a bear at 8 yds the first time out and after cleaning my drawers I haven't looked back since.Love the simplicity and the efficiency if I do my part. My 27 yr. old daughter just started to shoot with me this summer and I can't tell you how thrilled I am with her company.
Best to all of you this fall.
About 1960, I came home from school to find my dad had traded his old home made double ended duck boat for a 57# Raulf recurve with about a dozen cedar arrows, some tipped with bodkins, I believe. I was not too happy about that until he took me and a boyhood friend hunting for whitetails. I was hooked from then on. I think I was about eight years old. When I turned 12, he bought me a 40# Shakespeare recurve. I still have that bow.
I've been shootin wheels for about 25 years now but I think what got me started looking at traditional was a hunting show. I can't remember the name of it but the guy was a country singer I believe and his drummer? made the bows they used and they would shoot feral hogs, phesants and deer and I just thought that looked like more fun, which it is but a LOT more work.
I would say that the "Wally Taber"(?) sparked my interest in the late 60's. And after that it was reading Fred Bears Bible, Bow & Arrow and the Archers Digest.
I got my first "green fiberglass" bow when I was 8 years old, shooting dime store arrows. Haven't been with out one since and I'm 56 years old. Tried a wheel bow for about two years, gave it away and went back to a recurve. After all these years, I know have the sweetest bow I have ever owned, a Rose Oak King Panther. Will probably buy another one soon.
Jerry
i also got started at a very young age with a bent stick and baling twine
i shot every bow i could get ahold of leftys rightys anything i could get my dirty mitts on
i got my first store bought recurve around 1978 or so it was a bear red bear about 4 years later my uncle took pity on me and gave me an old ben pearson couger recurve 47#28 i was 11
and harvested my first deer with that bow at age 15 ( i still have the bow my 12 year old shoots it some) got bit by the compound bug around 1990
but after about 5 years it wasnt hunting anymore it was just killin so i dug out the old recurve and took a nice doe in 1995 and went back to trad hunting only this time balls out and been having a blast ever since.
this year will be my 27th year bowhunting 22 years with trad equipment.
kevin
Started out with a fiber glass bow and fiberglass arrows guess that tells my age huh? TRIED COMPOUNDS BUT, the pins on the sights dont work when you cant your bow like i learned by shooting instinctive. The guy at the bow shop had a good laugh when he saw me shoot after i complained about the sights not working.so i went back to what i knew. i still use wooden arrows even, guess it takes me back to my youth in some ways. THANKS FOR THE LESSONS DAD
I never bow hunted at all, had friends that shot compounds, crossbows. I never had a desire I gun hunted for differnt game. One day I picked up traditional bowhunter mag, thats all it took, I was hooked. Also in the TBM is how I heard about Trad Gang.
Hunted with shotguns, rifles and compounds since I was 8 or nine up in W.Va.(about 21 yrs).. Killed a HE#$ of alot of deer with all 3... Well when I turned I think 28 or 29 I shot a nice fat doe with my compound. And the only thing I can remember about it was thinking... Great now I have to drag the damn thing to the truck.. That's when I really started thinking about stopping hunting. Really wasn't any fun any more. It was just something I did .. Not really something I enjoyed anymore...
Well, The next year I spent 2 hours driving to my parking spot at the bottem of a mountain and another 2 climbing straight up to the top of one of the tallest mountains in W.Va.
After getting all set up in a tree I've killed 3-4 nice deer out of I went to put my arrow on the bow and WAMMMM!! cut the string in two. Never did find the bottem limb. But I decided right there I was done with hunting.
So, after missing 1-2 seasons I was fartin around on **** and just happened up on recurve bows. I decided to buy it for I think $85-90.. And ain't looked back since.
I have dozens of squirrels,a few possumes 1 beaver and 7-8 frogs under my belt since I think it was 1999 when I started Trad. And my greatest deer of all time.. A little doe I shot at 8 yrds while she was jumping a log.. I'm more proud of her then any big buck I've ever taken...
Started with traditional archery? I used sompound for years and one year I had a doe out at 40 yards watching her while I sat in my tree stand, she was feeding on twigs and stuff for, what felt like 10 minutes, I used my range finder and sat and sat and sat, every time I moved she looked my way, finally I drew back, while sitting mind you, and shot her, she dropped dead in 20 yards. I didn't care for that type of hunting and felt as though it was "cheating" just my opinion - felt as though with a bow they should have to be closer - I have never been able to let thing just walk by, except for first year stuff. So three years ago I switched to traditional only and sold all my compound stuff (I think now I have more equipment than I did back then - who new). Shot fiberglass bows as a kid (my fathers stuff) and started bow hunting around 1987 with compounds.
QuoteOriginally posted by Mo. Huntin:
I was shooting a compound for a long time. I picked up an issue of traditional bowhunter magazine and loved it, the magazine showed me just how succesful this hunting can be. I somehow found this website and These people have taught me so much. I would have given up a long time ago had I not found tradgang.
Same here.
I originally started shooting a bow in 1992 when because of my profession, I knew I needed a hobby and not caring for golf, decided to buy a used compound at a pawn shop and started shooting as a stress relief from work.
Since I didn't know jack diddly about archery, I started buying magazines like Bowhunter and also Traditional bowhunter. I learned volumes from these magazines and realized people could and do kill animals cleanly and effeciently with them.
But reading the Trad. Bowhunter mags always amazed me and at the time, it was out of my league to think I could shoot a trad bow, even though I did as a child. It wasn't until 4 years later, that the drive to shoot a trad bow became too much and I bought a Dick Boss longbow.
I have been thru several bows since that first Boss longbow, but they have always been trad bows and I haven't looked back since I stopped shooting my compound!
My only regret is waiting those four years that I didn't think I could shoot a trad bow.
Trad bows, for me, are so much more fun to shoot, and now I get to have adventures like the ones I used to read about authors like Don Thomas going on!
I gun hunted for 15 years with the same friends but I did not like how they hunted. We had to be back for dinner by 6pm and Sundays we would be back to the room by noon to watch the Broncos. Also we did a lot of just driving around. They are good friends but...
So I decided to switch bow hunting I know they would not and I would get out of hunting with them with out screwing up friendships.
Well thats 17 years ago now and I have never picked up a gun since. I have killed way more big game with my long bow than with a 7mm.
Joe
i was about to buy a compound and while surfing the net trying to work out which one, i came across a picture of a bloke, standing on a ridge, with nothing but a leather back quiver, bow made from wood and wooden arrows... i laughed to myself, and asked if people actually hunted with these bow. intregue got me and my interest grew from there.
i will never buy a compound!!!
Compound hunted about 5years.Bought a kodiak hunter from a freind a couple years ago just to plink with not actually hunt.Since then I have bought 2 longbows and another recurve.Only hunted with trad bows a couple times last season.I plan on doing most of my bowhunting with my longbow this year.
I am going to fess up to being a cross-shooter. I still like my compounds as well as recurves. :bigsmyl:
I got going in archery in the middle 70's because my next door neighbors did it. They also did alot of rabbit hunting with a beagle. They opened my eyes to a whole new world. If you know the Hendershots in Northern NJ, say thanks for me. :thumbsup:
Used to shoot compound, started getting frustrated more than having fun. Out stumpshooting one day and a coworker of mine was shooting a longbow and stated that he had an extra one in his pickup. Shot it for about 10 minutes then he and I played a game of F R E D B E A R, and I dang near beat him. That was 3 and a half years ago, been hooked ever since, sold my compound before my first longbow ever arrived to my house.
House