Trad Gang

My question for yall is why did you choose traditional bow hunting and how did you get started?

For me, my 11 year old daughter got me interested. Sounds strange I know - she got involved in 4-H and I started working with her and got hooked myself mainly because we moved  and didn't have much land to gun hunt so the bow worked great.
The reason why I love it, is because when you shoot it, its all you. Your not dependent on sights, releases or crosshairs its all you! Also with me I love the challenge of getting close. I believe that traditional archery will make you a better hunter as well.
All in all, I have absolutely fell in love with it and wanted to hear how yall got started and why yall hunt traditional.

started to "up" the challenge


Now it aint such a challenge...just a pure, simple joy  :D

For me I was in a book store and seen a copy of Tradidional Bowhunter. Picked it up and took it home. Orderd me a longbow and been in love ever since.

I didn't start trad. Trad captured me. The first time I saw a longbow being shot at a field meet in the 70's I gave up my 4 wheel compound (a Wing Presentation...can you believe 4 Wheels on a bow) and ordered a Hill. Love at first sight I guess.

When I started it wasn't called "trad" archery, it was called archery.  I stay at it because I love it.....how else can one remain a child for so long 8^).  I started shooting a bow made from a lilac shoot in 1954  and I haven't stopped yet.
I still call it archery.

To go along with George, when I started you either bowhunted or gun hunted.  There were no compounds to consider.  I just never felt the need to do it any other way since I never had that big of a problem killing my deer with the bow I used.  I had an archery shop for awhile and I sold compounds in it so I took one season and killed deer in several states with a compound so I could speak honestly about what I sold.  I went back to my longbows and recurves after that and have never looked back.

I'm figuring George & I are the same vintage.
Pretty much followed the same path too.
My first 'real' bow was lemonwood with fifty cent arrows from the local hardware store.
It's been quite a journey from there. Before that it was privet hedge bows & fragmite arrows from around a local pond.
Now I stick with it 'cause it ain't easy, & that's the way it oughta be!!

Larry

I didn't, it chose me.

Im right there with trapperdave. I started for the challenge mostly. Initally I though that I started for the simplicity of trad vrs wheel bows. However, I have come to find out there is just as much science, and tuning involved in shooting a traditonal bow as to a wheel bow. Every day is like the first day to me. I enjoy the challenge and the arch of an arrow in flight. It has also sparked interest with my 2 sons, so now they are shooting right there beside me. I love it!

For me it is all I have ever known.  Although I am still pretty young my dad's story is along the same lines as George and Larry's.  He had always shot "traditional" archery so naturally I just followed suit and never changed.  Still to this day I have never owned anything else and never will.

actually i started trad (never used wheels) because it seemed cheaper without all this stuff, well guess i wasnt too right afterall...when i think of all those arrows...

I'm with Steve. It's a natural love affaire!!

I did start with a recurve as a child, mostly playing, with structure from my father, around in the yard.  My father went through a phase with a compound right when I was hunting age and I started shooting a compound.  I did however always have a tradbow to shoot.  I hunted for almost 15 years with a compound of one kind or another.  You know, have to have the latest and the greatest.  

In the mid to late 90's I got to shooting the tradbow more and more would even hunt from time to time with it and did take a few animals while doing so...  At the turn of the century I sat down and looked at the benefits of one style over the other.  On one hand the compound had better long range accuracy, and even more pinpoint consistent accuracy.  On the other hand the tradbow had a lot quicker point and shoot capability.  At that point the difference in accuracy out to 20 yards was very slim.  So, I weighed the odds of longer range accuracy vs. quicker point and shoot capability.  Went over the previous animals I'd taken, and was unable to take, in a hunting situation.  By and far I had more opportunities missed by not getting drawn and aimed on the animal at short range with a compound than I did from missed opportunities from having to pass shot opportunities because of effective range with the tradbow.

So, it was as true then as it is today, the tradbow is a more effective hunting weapon for me.  Plus, over the years of hunting with only trad gear I've found very small changes in my stand setup and location has made missed long range opportunities less and less.  Plus my effective range with the tradbow has gotten a bit longer even though everything needs to be perfect for longer range shots to be taken ethically for me...

simplicity. all the hype over the wheels drives me nuts cause i know most of the stuff is junk.

I'd been shooting compounds for years and killed a lot of deer with them.  Some friends were shooting stick bows and something bit me.. I bought a GN bushbow from one of my buddies 9 years ago now and have been at it ever since.  There is something about it that gets in your blood and it just becomes  part of you, at least it did for me.  At first I think it was the romance of it, then it became the challenge or a combination of the two.  It's just more personal for me between a stick bow and the game I hunt.  It's not about the killing any more, it's about experience and I owe that to traditional archery.

For me the story is a little different.  I shot compounds for many years, barebow and fingers, with alot of success.  I was at one of my friends house and he just got another longbow.  I asked if he could kill anything with that, and of course he give me the crazy look that I now give others, and said, "sure I can".  He told me to shoot it and I did.  It was all over with then.  I loved it.  It was not that big of transition in shooting style, just equipment.  I have bought many since and am just plain ate up with it.  :bigsmyl:

12 years old on the farm when a gun accident nearly bought me a ride on the Glory Train. Gun restriction thereafter. My aunt loaned me her 35# LB. God must like me a lot.

I started out with a wheel bow but fell victim to target panic. The cure, an old Bear recurve from a friend. Later a series of coincidences landed me my first longbow. That was nearly 10 years ago.  To this day I still cannot shoot a compound without flinching. I don't miss it at all.

I think it was/is the romance of the whole concept. It's simplicity and effectiveness. The challenge, I am very competitive and I sure do my best to give myself a run for my money(my only competition).

I love where it leads me.
God bless,Mudd

My grandpap found an old bear recurve in his attick and gave it to me.  My cousin shot trad and told me to come shoot with him.  I loved to watch the arrow fly, something I couldnt see out of my compound.  I still love to watch that arrow fly.

For 10,000 years indains lived by them.So I STARTED BUILDING AND HUNTING WIHT SELFBOWS.

I spent to many years worrying about timing, things working loose, site pins breaking, etc... Last year I had enough of it and decided to simplify things by going back to trad.   I had spent an entire day lugging the compound around and noticed when I drew on an elk that the sight was loose.  I let down and let that bull go on his way. What really torqued my shorts was I had just checked the site was tight an hour before.

I have had the best hunting year of my life this year and am loving every minute of it. Shooting is fun again.  Not just put the pin on it and hit it.

I've been shooting compound since I started hunting.  I'd been shooting a trad bow for about 3 years, but havent made the switch fully yet.  I'm takign it slow and shooting my recurve bow as much as I can before I fully committ.  I want to experience the hunting aspect more.

Being a simple minded person as I am. I was naturally impreesed by the simplicity of trad gear over wheelie bow gear. I just can't imagine carrying a compound in the woods anymore. My bows feel natural to shoot and extra fun to carry. I think more archer would convert as long as they start to relax and enjoy the sport for what it truly is and what it truly isn't like hitting buuleyes every time with quarter sized groups.

When I started in archery all there was were recurved, longbows and some homemade bows. This was in 1969. I shot a compound a few years but went back to what I started with. I just enjoyed it better.

About 17 years ago dad bought me a 50 dollar ben pearson brush bow at a pawn shop.He bought me some ramin wood dowel rods at the lumber yard and told me to get to building if I wanted to have something to shoot. Been in love ever since. I shot a coumpound a couple of times through the years but it never felt quite the same.

I shot compound for over 25yrs. I like challenge, and kept shooting further from the target to keep my interest. When it came to hunting, I was loosing interest. When I drew my compound back on a deer, I wasnt thinking about how excited I should be, I was already planning who to call to come help me drag it out. I got a deal on a Kmag and shot that for 1yr. It was too short for my draw length, so I bought a Montana and practiced almost daily. Took a doe with it this year. Its not easy, and thats what I like about it. Im now in the process of building a selfbow and want to make some cane arrows. There is just something addicting about "looking" where I want to hit and watching that arrow hit there. Some get it, some dont. I let my wife try my longbow and she did extremely well her first 3 shots. I asked what do you think? She replied, whats the big deal, I didnt even aim? I replied excited, I know, isnt that cool? Id also like to make/use an Atlatl some day.....

If i remember right i was not happy with how much my compound bow weighed. At the time i worked with Chuck Jones who makes the Black Rhino bows and he told me i should try a recurve or longbow. He helped me with EVERYTHING imaginable. That was 25 years ago. (wish i could find another brand new Howatt Hunter recurve for $95 like i did back then!!haha)

I started out with a Jennings lightning compound about '79. I always liked the look of the recurve from reading old issues of Bowhunter, Bow and Arrow and Archery World magazines from the mid 70's. about '91,  at the general store near my house there was a really good magazine rack with every hunting magazine you could think of.  The one that caught my eye was Traditional Bowhunter Magazine. I bought it, and really got into it. I ordered a Bear TD hunter from Cabela's and started messing around with it. I was hooked ever since. I shot recurve part time for awhile. I gave up the wheel bow for good about 3 years ago.

I wanted to become a better Woodsmen to much BS with a Compound Bow rangefinders,release,sight pins,and it is so much fun now I love it.Blake

I really like the strange looks folks give you when walking to and from you truck.  I had a guy ask if I planned on hunting with "that thing" a 67#@28" Robertson as I got out of my truck for an evening hunt.  He said, "I used to shoot stuff like that when I was a kid, but now I have a real bow (as he held up a compound)."  I made sure not to load my deer in the truck until he returned from his hunt.  I never said a word, didn't have to...  :wavey:

I know what you mean, i have been asked numerous times "can that thing kill a deer", or they will ask "whats wrong, cant you afford a compound".

to impress the chicks..... you've seen them - the trad bow groupies, no?   :saywhat:

Cause it's FUN. Kind of like the people too. Good folks.

I used to shoot a compound but I got bored with it.  I don't know if it just didn't seem challenging enough or if something was just missing.  I was caught up in all the hype of shooting faster and how far can you shoot, all of that kind of stuff, bot I realized that I just wasn't truly enjoying myself.  It just seemed like I was shooting a bow and bowhunting more because of my friends than for me, so I put the compound in it's case and haven't taken it out since.  

About two years after I put the compound away (5 years ago) my uncle who is more like my brother as he's only 7 years older than me called me and asked if I would like to go to the OSTA state bow shoot.  I didn't know what the OSTA shoot was but I said I would go. (Again more for him than me.)  Then he told me it was a trad club and that a friend of ours would lend me a Bear Montana.  I started shooting the Montana two weeks befors the shoot and bought it two days after the shoot.  Let's just say that I found what was missing and now I shoot and hunt because I truly love to do it.    :thumbsup:

K.I.S.S.

still shoot compound ! completely different from real archery ! lol
both fun but seems i like my recurves best

QuoteOriginally posted by Steve H.:
I didn't, it choose me.

That about sums it up...

I found out about Dan Quillian's shop my senior year in college.  I only lived about 15 minutes away, so I would go by there several times a month and shoot whatever lefties he had in the store.

I had only been hunting with a compound for a couple of years, but was already getting turned off by all the gadgets that were being peddled-fancier sights, rests, stabilizers etc.

Sometime during the year after I graduated, I picked up my first copy of TBM and that settled it!  I decided to go "the other way", away from all the gadgets.

I bought a Patriot takedown from Dan later that year and never went back.  I still have my old compound, but I doubt I've shot it 20 times since getting the recurve.  

Shot the Patriot exclusively until a couple of years ago, then the bow buying bug bit!  I still have it, but it is now part of a growing collection!

In a 1984 issue of Sports Afield there wasan article called "Longbow Country" I think and it wasabout the comback of the longbow. Well i kept that issue and then finally wrote away to some bowyers mentioned in 1990 after paying off college and a car. First bow i ever shot was a new scorpion longbow. I was hooked from the begginning and then i found an archery club 45 minutes away that had a few traditional shooters. I have been doing it ever since.

Growing up we had a 64 inch Blackhawk longbow hanging around.

Rifle hunting I liked things simple and neat- peep sights. The bare essentials kind of approach.

When I guided elk hunting for an outfitter here in colorado back in the early 90's the clients total disregard for the game really put me off hunting for a long time. I used career and "other interests" as the reason, but really it was disillusionment.

I have a friend who shoots a compound but every time I looked at one of those bows it just left me cold. I needed another high maintainance hobby like a hole in the head.

One day last year I bought a string for that old Blackhawk and with some arrows spent a totally wonderful couple hrs missing everything I aimed at. But when I found myself back in the woods hunting elk 13 hrs a day a few months later it seemed totally natural.

I never had so much joy being in the woods.

Simple, quiet and essential. Go lite. Leave no trace. Ghost through the timber. Melt into the clouds...

Joshua

Like some of the older generation on this site, it was either archery or gun hunting when I started.  My Dad was the Kansas State archery champion when he was in his early teens (early 40's)so archery was sort of in the blood.  I picked it up when I was about 13 and I'm still working through bad form habits!  I did the compound thing for a number of years but got bored with it and found my way back.

i got started by being shamed in to it is what i thought at the time by my freind the game warden i thought he was trying to embarace me but i shot one fell in love with it now cant thank him enuff i used to think nothing of but the kill but now i think more of enjoying the experance of being out in the woods

At first i just wanted to learn how to shoot instintively but after (I got in to it) I found I had a great love for the simplisity of the stickbow and the attitude of the people involved in the sport of shooting the stick . Its more of a life style and  mind set for me than shooting compound . Im sure many of you folks agree that the Traditional comunity is more like a family than just a sporting event .

Mike

I hunted with a compound from the age of 15. I'm 48 now.  One day my hunting buddy changed to traditional.  I shot his a few times and got hooked.  It's also a lot more fun to just "shoot" with a traditional bow as opposed to a compound

Bored of the compound,too easy to kill animals,a short range rifle!This is real archery and challange bowhunting,it request dedication knowledge.With a compound everybody become an istant bowhunter

I started my love of traditional archery in 1957
when I met Fred Bear.

It's fun to shoot your bow all year round to get ready for the hunting season. Simple, lightweight, and quick to handle make it like white on rice for still hunting and stalking.

... mike ...

I have loved stick and string archery since I was a a little kid with rubber tip arrows, and made dozens of tree branch bows in my childhood. I would never consider switchig to a compound. That being said I would have a tuff time with a compound and sights because at the tender age of 55 I can no longer see well enough to use sight pins( or open sights on a rifle). Does anyone else have this "problem"? i tried wearing my bifocals to shoot but that was just exasperating to put it mildly

For me It's because I wanted to get back to the basics again.

When I was young I started with a Herters bow then graduated to a Browning recurve.
Soon after that compounds came out and I thought they were the best thing ever!

Years later I meet a gentleman by the name of Tom Holt who was a Trad shooter and we became friends and that rekindled the flame to shoot stickbow again. He moved away several years later and I lost contact with him and none of my other friends shot stickbow, so I felt out of place.
So for many years I shot my compounds and was into shooting indoor and outdoor competitions. I even joined the NFAA and PAA pro division for several years.  

My roots have always been hunting and I really haven't cared about the competition part for many years. For the last few years it just seemed as though something was missing. One of the members of my local archery club bought a used Bob Lee recurve and had been shooting at the club quite a bit, we got to talking and then I realized what was missing? I started shooting stickbow again a little over two years ago and at 55yrs old It has put the fun and challenge back into archery and bowhunting for me.

I shot a nice turkey this past Spring, killed my first archery elk and a whitetail with my longbow this fall. I can honestly say that I am having more fun now than ever and have made friends with some of the nicest people that I have ever been associated with. Trad Gang forum has helped me greatly and I have made some great friends here and through WI Trad archers, PBS and Comptons.

Now I know where I belong and where I will stay.

My nephews got into archery 20 odd years ago,hooked on the compound craze.I shot one of their bows and decided it wasn't for me,those things weighed a ton and every other week a new gimmick they just had to buy.I bought an archery magazine and saw an advertisement from a place called Archery Traditions in Atlanta,GA.I called an talked to someone named Dan Quillian,no high pressure just answered all my questions.I purchased a longbow,arrows and the basic accessories.When the bow arrived and I held it in my hand I knew this was for me.Such power from a light stick and string.I still have and hunt with that longbow.When I think of Dan I see him sitting beside that big bear "grinnin like a possum".

In the sixties, it was just plain 'ol bow & arrow.....archery.  I don't believe I was even aware of the addition of "traditional" to the front of "archery" until way later in the wheel bow days.  There is something about sliding away from the "dark side" and slipping into that old familiar comfort zone that you grew up with.

But what got me into "archery" back then.......well let's just lay "blame" on Papa Bear.  The young are always influenced by their heros (and a hunting father, of course!)

More a matter of it choosing me.  All there was back then.  Never saw any need to "modernize".

My Dad was a big gun hunter and and he bought me a Ben Pearson Jet bow one year I think I was 8yo and that's all I did was shoot.When I got to13yo I had a bear black shadow Wheelie and shot fingers,Did the wheel's for a while and met a guy who shot Trad showed me some Hill videos and lent me his books   and it consumed my imagination. I wanted to be Howard that was it. I chose to go Back and I'm not Leaving!!So you guys are stuck with me...LOL

Shot recurves as a kid.  Never really graduated to a compound back then.  I remember my buddy making fun of my "bowfishing bow...do you really think you can kill a deer with that?"  Wish I could have got an opportunity back then!  Moved on to an old Bear compound with nothing but a flipper rest and my fingers.  Killed a deer.  Went to college and forgot about bowhunting for a while.  Got back into it and have gone back and forth with the wheels for 4 or 5 years now.  Killed a couple critters but am sick of tinkering...at least with set screws and adjustments.  Anyway, just sold my compound and hopefully will resist the urge to get another.  Funny that the first time out with a longbow (scouting for turkeys day before the opener) I shot a 70lb. sow at around 20 yards then MISSED a chip shot on a mature tom the next morning with my Mathews!

About 25 winters ago, I lived in a small Iowa town and was shooting in an indoor "animal target" league. There were about 15 of us in the group. Two fellas were shooting recurves and one was shooting a longbow. One of the shooting stations was setup as a "fun shot". It was a large piece of cardboard with a shooting window cut-out about 2-3 feet from the floor. The "traditional" guys were the only ones NOT complaining about that setup. That is when it all started for me, and I haven't strayed from stickbows since.

I chased my Dad's arrow in a big field across the street when I was 4 or 5 years old, 50 years ago. His recurve was just cool and there wasn't a lot of other guys shooting bows near us. When I was in high school my Dad bought an Allen Speedster and I got his old recurve. After getting out of the service I shot my first deer with it with my very firsy shot. Then as years went by I went to the other "stuff"./ I got so damn good it wasn't fun anymore, and I wanted a challenge. That was about 20 years ago. Now, I shoot better and enjoy it more. Every shot seems to have more personal involvement then before. I do it for the challenge and the satisfaction that my shot was mine not a machines.

I use to shoot a lot of 3D at local clubs.  Went to at least 1 shoot a weekend between March and bow season each year.  It got to the point if I didn't place in the top three for fingers class I was ticked off.  Then I got caught up in the quest for speed, went to a release, and it lost it's fun.  Back around 1994 I saw a group of shooters at a local shoot with recurves and longbows.  They looked like they were having a lot more fun than me and it just looked cool.  Had to try it!

I hadn't killed what some would say is a lot of deer with a compound but enough.  So the next step for me was to use traditional equipment.  How you kill something is much more important to me than the size of the kill (a doe with a trad bow is better than a boone & crocket buck with a rifle).

I now also build my own bows and it has turned bowhunting into a year round hobby for me.  Heck, our bow season ended a month ago, and rifle season ended last weekend, but Monday evening after work I was out in the yard shooting.

I started with it when I was 8 and drifted away from it to the wheels.Still like to shoot wheels,but Trad is def for me.

Plus there's always the added bonus of being the only trad guy in the group.   :bigsmyl:  

How do you aim that thing?   :confused:  

Lots and LOTS of practice....  :biglaugh:

I started at age 10 with a Ben Person lemon wood long bow and soon the rabbits where running scared. Got another all wood longbow  35# at age 13. At age 15 I found there were girls and everything took a back seat to them. I spent 3 years in the Navy and when I got out I got another Ben Person re-curve 50#  @ 28" I shot and hunted with it for 5 years or so and bought a Bear takedown 50# @ 28" in 1971 I fell into the compound group. It was so easy with all the gadgets that I won the state pin site division 5 years later. Went back to the longbow and have been shooting one ever since.

I like the challenge, sometimes it is frustrating,but still enjoyable...

Thats what I started out with back in the early 70's. shot compound for years but no thrill to it.went back to my recurves and never looked back.

I went to a Colo Bow hunter event 19 years ago before I started bow hunting. I paid for a 3 year membership that day then a couple of weeks later bought a compound bow.  I hunted with it that year and had a ball.  BUT it was NOT  A BOW, it was an arrow launcher.  Fred Bear did not have one of those things...nor did Howard Hill, or the American Indians.. So I sold it and bought an Asbel Big horn recurve, then progressed to long bows and have never looked back.....Love them  can't get enough of them...  oh  life is good...

Never was much of a "choice" for me.  My grandpa start shooing longbows in the 30's/40's, my dad's shot recuves and longbows for 60 years and I just followed in the family tradition.  Didn't know there was any other way.  dino

Shot when I was young, then the compund came out and I strayed. Got sick of it, and just quit for a while. Then one day I picked up a popular Trad. bowhunting magazine. Hey, what's this, these guys have it going on. This is me I thought. They use the ethics I use, they love simplicity like I do, they just love the journey! I was hooked and will never go back. I don't care if a single arrow I loose ever strikes flesh and bone, I will never go back.
In reallity,I would have to say that it chose me, long ago when my conscience was still being forged, while autimation marched towards it's inevitable climax of materialism, it chose ME, It just took time for my alter self to heed the call.

f r

I guess I've always liked the idea of doin it like the indians did. I had thought about trying it for a long time and stumbled upon this site and I fell in love with the longbow. Haven't shot a compound since. Oh and its lighter to carry too.

Enjoy the simplicity of it, yet also enjoy the challenges of it. Love seeing that bent stick throw that straight arrow in the spot where your eyes burnt a hole.... pure natural high.

Started with a brand new Red Wing Hunter 36 years ago. Went to the new 4 wheeled compound. ( fingers.) Won a lot of shoots and killed a lot of game. I really hate to say it but it got just too easy. I never was a trophy hunter. Started hunting with my recurves again. Now, for the last 17 years, that is all I shoot. It is fun again!

Been shooting archery near 35 years. Have a house and shop full of bows, all kinds. Started with recurves before compounds were around, then moved onto compounds then back to recurves and longbows. I like them all, but prefer the recurves and longbows. Can't really tell ya why. All I know is I get all warm and fuzzy inside when I shoot a stickbow. Makes me happy.  :)

Makes me feel good!

I had never shot a bow until 4 years ago. I'm 43, so I guess I'm a late starter. I started with the compound because my cousin was sponsored and I got to shoot the best new one for nothing. I was at my father inlaws garage and saw a recurve stuck in the rafters. I asked him about it and he told me to take it home. It was a Darton Executive target recurve. I brought it home, refinished it and started shooting. I was hooked from the first time I MISSED the target. It was a challenge that has just kept growing. I like to build my own stuff and trad definatly lets you do this.....Roy

I started with an old pawn shop compound. I shot one arrow with a sight and release, took them off and tossed them, just didn't feel right. Got my first deer with it, a fat 8 point. Next season I had an old wooden riser compound and took two, then between seasons it blew-up during a practice session. My next bow was a Brown Recluse TD Recurve. So I reckon I was evolving towards Trad from the beginning, as if it was meant to be. I enjoy shooting too much to get bored by hitting the bull everytime due to  gadgets.
Last night I watched a video on YouTube of a guy nailing the vitals on a 3d deer, shot after shot, at "90 YARDS"!!! I'm sooooo glad I will never be able to do that with my bows.

I started out Traditional with a Bear Grizzly in the early 70's.  Then the compound craze....but about three years ago I thought that something was missing...and that's when I got rid of my compound and started shooting traditional again....only one problem, the first time around I think was alot easier than now for me....lots of arrows being flung.

It chose me all the way, man am I glad.

One time I drew my compound back and the peep flew out! Nice 10pt at 15 yds and I was helpless. For me it simplified my hunting,alot!!!!

Bought a compound, very quickly became proficient at it (who doesn't)? Subsequently broke my collarbone soon thereafter and partly due to that and boredom already with the compound after 6 months, and partly do to living in the big city, didn't shoot for 18 years! Became friends with one of the salesman at my new company who bowhunted. Ordered a new compound. Asked the store owner if I could try one of "those old fashion bows" just for fun. Loved it! I honestly had no idea that there were still a lot of people hunting with traditional equipment, but I knew I was going to!  :)

To paraphrase an old country song, I was 'trad' when 'trad' wasn't cool.

I used to shoot a lot of 3D with a mechanical, and hunted with one as well.
One day, it dawned on me, this isn't fun anymore.
The real challange was gone, and it was more work, than enjoyment.
Now I enjoy my work.  I guess if you enjoy it, it isn't work anymore.

I started probably because its the most fun and challenging way to hunt

My Sunday School teacher and his brother got me started. They bowhunted and drag me along with them and showed me the sport as it was back than.
Back in the late 50's it was just called archery hunting thats all we had. Nothing fancy just good old Bear or Pearson bows and wood arrows with Ace heads. No camo except surplus WWII stuff.

There was no choosing involved.  As George stated, in the beginning, it was archery and bow hunting.  Then came the beast (OK  so I am getting a bit theatrical here.)  

I started with various "stick" bows and went over because of the sales pitch,  "it is better, more accurate, more power, better for the critter," etc   and much more rubbish.  

I came back because it just feels right.  Not to prove any points, not to do it the hard way, none of those,  it was just ....me.  

Most of the folks I hunt with feel the same.  I wonder. .  is that because I turned them on to "trad" or because we just tend to hang with people with similar interests ?
ChuckC

Well for myself after I killed my first deer with my compound bow at 16 I felt that it was way too easy an my uncle had always shot a recurve an always talked about how rewarding it felt to harvest an animal an knowing that it was all you an not a trigger an sights. So I wanted to feel that so after that season I bought myself an old wilson bros an shot the hell out of it for the whole summer. An the following season I reeked the benefits
Of shooting my first trad deer an it was the best feeling ever. So I liked it so much that I sold my compound bow an stuck with the stick... Been shooting the stick now for almost 13 yeas.

I started with a Shakespeare  recurve. My main motivation was Will county Illinois did not have a firearm deer season.I was hooked but later strayed for about four years with compounds. I still shot all the time but it just wasn't the same.Some time around 1980 -1981 I went to East Side Archery in Chicago and bought another recurve. I've only shot longbows and recurves since.

Mike Lee

went to ATAR 3 years ago to see Fred Eilcher...I was so taken by the great people there, that I bought a bow from Sispy(John) and I "think" that I have found my true passion...never did get to see Fred!

We have friends in Great Falls MT that we used to go see every summer. The first year we went out(2001), we fell in love with trad shooting. Came home immediately and picked up a Bear Montana Longbow. Never owned a compound. Still have the Montana, but have since bought a custom longbow. It's defintely a way of life, as one guy here stated.

I was trad from the begining. My dad started me with a little red bear before I could even hold up. He has always been there to help and show the way as well as put me around others who think and believe in hunting the way that we do. I love tradgang for that reason. He does a lot of looking around on here to.

I injured my right shoulder about 8 years ago when I went out to the garage, took my comp#### off the hook I had it hanging on and drew it.  When I got to full draw I thought to myself "OK dummy, what are you going to do now?"  

I hadn't nocked an arrow before I drew the bow, so I had two options available to me.  1.  Dry fire the bow (Not really an option!) or 2.  Let the bow down.  I chose option 2 and when I let the bow down it felt like it ripped my right arm off at the shoulder.

Three to four months of rehab followed and the owner of The Archery Shop I frequent suggested I switch to a recurve.  He loaned me a 30# recurve while I was in rehab and I ordered my first new T/D recurve from a local bowyer.  That was my first of 100+ bows I've gone through over the past 8 years.  

My son-in-law has the first recurve I bought.  I gave it to him when I bought my second recurve, a Chek-Mate Firebird.  When I bought my third bow I gave the Firebird to my son, although doesn't shoot it very often.  He likes his Hoyt comp####s.

The journey has been enjoyable and thrilling.  I love shooting my recurves.

Bill

Started with archery in '59, little solid fiberglass bow that many rabbits and frogs fell victim to. Killed my first and best deer at 14-dumb luck- shot curves through '70 when I got out of service.Seduced by wheels when I lived in NM,'80-'85, but decided they were too heavy and ugly to boot. Part time with both through rest of '80's
Full time stick since '91 and loving life.

I chose it before I knew what trad hunting was

Its how I started and then found my way back. It made it fun again.

WhenI was a kid we were at a board walk arcade or something paid my quarter and first shot with a bow hit a bullseye. It was ment tobe. Shot a compound a couple of years . now if I carried a compound into the woods I would puke.

Don't know any better!!!  :wavey:

Hmmm well i was i got started by accident.  Ive been shooting bows since i was 4yrs old.  Got started on a lil recurve but moved to a compound n shot one till i was 18.  But my dad got into it n id take his bows out ever now n then n lose a few arrows, get griped at n id just quite.  But one time i was in the woods, n the deer came on in but took their time.  By the time i had a shot it was to dark to see my pins through the peep sight but still legal shootin light.  I though switchin to Trad would be easier since u dont go sights.  Yeah, i was DEAD WRONG!!!  But i was soo determined to increase(or so i thought)the time i could take a deer all the way to maximum legal shooting light.  Sooo i shot n shot n fell in love with the simplicity.  I found practice scessions, good or bad, to be almost theraputic.  Then the romance of it all got to me.  And of course....i shot a deer n was hooked.  Nothin like watchin that arrow arch the 21 yards n nail that little doe.  I felt sooo alive.  I knew id never be interested n a compound again and surely not a rifle.

I went to a Trad only shoot and thats all it took. Man I was hooked from that moment. So that fall I hunted for the first with trad gear and killed a nice doe at 7:30 the first morning and another doe and a 3 pointer the second week. I new this was the right way to hunt. A few years latter I've found that I enjoy hunting more and have become a better hunter because of my passion for the Trad way. I can't imagine doing it any other way.

Never dawned on me until i caught myself answering my brother-n-law last deer season.  "Lets shoot", and I replied "for what, to check our sights".  Then I knew, I had lost the enjoyment and feeling of what archery was to me as a kid.  Hours upon hours of shooting in the pastures because it was just plain FUN!!!  Sold the compound, picked up a recurve and haven't looked back.  Glad I did!

At one of my old jobs a friend had a black widow catalog and I would just wish. Plus at the time I was passionaltly into duck hunting. Then at least 7 yrs. later I picked up a copy of Taditional Bowhunter Magazine, and the fire was lit big time. I never even had a compound or crossbow just never had a interest.

I did not start traditional. The first bow I fell in love with was a black widow recurve I saw on the back of an archery magazine. I wanted to buy one so bad but was talked out of it. I was told for the price of a widow I could have a bow with wheels and pulley's and bells and whistles but I always had a thing for trad. That was 12 years ago. Well three years ago I made the switch and went all trad and haven't looked back.There is just something about a stick and string and the sound of your arrow flying through the air.
Oh ya my widow should be here next week.

I started in the late 60's with fiber glass bows that pulled about 25 to 35 pounds. Me and my neighbors across the street did a lot of carp shooting back then. we'd go down to the local hardware store to buy our arrows for 25 cents ea. with target tips. Behind the counter they had in a box a dozen arrows with Bear razor heads. We could only drool over those arrows cause nobody could afford em.I started deer hunting in the late 70's with a Browning bow. It's just a great feeling to carry a stick bow through the woods. There's no other way i'd do it.

what other kind of real hunting is there?

Because I love to swear.

Same reason I choose to flyfish.

Can't get enough of that deep-down, from the heart swearin.  :banghead: