Trad Gang

Well boys I was thinking of what made me do the Trad thing,and would like to know what got you into it.

 My path started from a friend who I met that hunted with a longbow.He gave me some books to read to see what it's about.First was Hunting the Hard way,and then Ishi.I read the Hill book and was getting interested fast.Then I was on YouTube and looked up Traditional Archery, Well I came across Ron La Clair giving an interview in his shop.This mountain-es Adirondack looking man had a voice that when he spoke of Traditional archery he spoke of it as if it was part of his being, that spoke to me and lured me in.Then I watched the videos of him with his grand kids telling the story of The ghost of Armstrong Creek,and I felt like I was in the woods along side of him. After that I bought a bow and was full bore and have not looked back.Thanks Vern and Ron for helping me find my way home.

  :notworthy:    :campfire:

I was always interested. Infact I have an almost complete ash self bow in Wisconsin.

The big leap was an old stick bow I found and re-glued up the handle last August or September. It was marked 30 lbs and was such a joy to shoot, I never looked back.  Once I met fellow archers, I knew this is the place I had been searching for.

I missed a real good, at least 10pt. buck with my compound last yr at about 20yds. I told myself right then I could do this with a recurve and have a lot more fun shooting. So I went back where I started 55yrs ago, to a recurve.

It's the way I started and all there was, then some time along the way it became traditional.  I never changed a thing -- I think the English language changed.

Loved those kind of bows since I was a Little kid watching Robin Hood, John Wayne and any other kind of Indian movies.

When I started bowhunting it was in 2002, 6 months after Heart Surgery. I needed more of a challenge. Like in Firearms I went from centerfire rifle to a Side-lock Muzzleloader. I went from a Wheelie bow to an Original Shrew 54" to a Self-Made-Bow I made.

All the game that I hunt only has their Smell, Sight and Hearing to help keep them alive. I became a Traditional Bowhunter to Give back More Respect to My Query.

They were the only bows when I started.  Compounds just started and they were not legal at first; which quickly changed.

Gary Paulson  :)

compound archery was my first experience . i had some fun at first than it lost its luster everywher i went it ws all about the technology and how i wasnt perfect in my accuracy because of my bow setup. ( this is what i was told ) when a very kind man handed me a recurve one day after flinging arrows out of my wheel bow . and it felt just right i had a smile on my face tha was there for the rest of the day . i had to make the change, and i soon did ive never stopped having fun synce that trad bow in my hand .

Wanted to bow hunt for quite a while, but never had the money to shell out for a fancy compound like my friends had.  A co-worker had built longbows and has a beautiful mule deer in velvet hanging on his wall.

A year or two went by and I saw some guy on TV who built his own bow and went hunting with it.  I decided then and there that I could do it, too.  Called up my buddy, borrowed some of his equipment, and made myself a laminated longbow (was a touch cheaper than a fancy compound...).  I'm still really new, but I love most everything about this.  I can make as much or little as I want and have tons of fun doing it.  No wheels that I can see in my future  :) .

Jeremy

I started with a yellow glass bow and progressed to a recurve, added a sight, then wheels and finally back to trad.

I was at the summer shoot at Whittingham about 5 years ago.  Leon Stewart had a tent there and let me shoot one of his bows.  He never got it back.

6 arrows and I was hooked.  I was as if I had been missing all the fun of archery for a long time and that magic stick brought it back.

Now I just can't shoot it enough.  Here I am on the 4th of July posting on the forum when I should be out stumping.  But one of my customers called with a critical outage and while I am waiting for some things to be resolved here I am... killing time... waiting to get out of the house.

I bought a Bear Kodiak Magnum at 50# back in the late 70s and killed my first deer with it.  I went to a compound after a couple years and the McAllister Army Ammo Depot hunt that is trad only got me back using a recurve and it was so much fun I just stayed with it.

I can't remember ever not being interested. Some of my most favorite programs in school were when they had some archer come in to do shooting demo's. That was back in the late 50's- early 60's.

God bless,Mudd

because im more efficiant at closer ranges with recurve than any other bow....

e. donnall thomas jr, longbow in the far north read his book and never looked back.

That's all there was when I started shooting bows and arrows.  I always have shot real bows and I'm 66 years old now   :thumbsup: .....Dave

Here's my story of how I got into traditional archery.

http://theaccuracyfactory.forumotion.net/what-s-on-your-mind-f15/giving-back-to-traditional-archery-t160.htm

I made the full circle....started with traditioal gear as a kid then as a teenager just had to go compound......did that for twenty years or so and have now been totally trad for the last 15 years.......feels real good too as both my kids (age 20 and 25)  are trad shooters....

My dad bought me a Ben Pearson solid fiberglass bow when I was nine in 1961 that I still have. I've was bitten and been in love with it ever since.

Like so many others here, I started with recurves but went to the compound after I started seeing them used. I got to where I just didn't enjoy bowhunting so I quit.

I ran across my old recurve in the basement a few years ago,started shooting it and found what I'd been missing, watching the flight of the arrow. I enjoy it as much again as I did 40 years ago.

Well I started with the old Ben Pearson double sided handle longbow some 41 years ago.  Then in the early 90's, I picked up a compound and thought I would try it.    :banghead:    I since had bought 2 more of them, and actually got bored as it just was not a challenge any longer.

Then one day, while watching several other Trad guy's shooting, it hit me that if I dedicated myself back to traditional, I can be that good again.

Several years ago, our director for the Bowhunters Education program loaned me a Bear Kodiak 45# recurve to shoot with, and begun shooting and shooting and shooting with it, and the groups shrunk and shrunk.

On March 21st of this year, I fully transitioned back to traditional, and gave my son my last and only compound.  He was shocked, as everyone else was because they knew what I had paid for that bow.  I told my son, that my eyes are not what they used to be, I can not clearly make out the fiber pin sights any longer and I don't enjoy it either... take this thing away from me PLEASE!

Since then, I have finish a 45# Selfbow, bought two other Longbows, and find myself shooting more, and enjoying it much more.

Hey man this is real therapy.

I don't plan on looking back   :archer:    :archer2:

Robin hood and fred bear- can't stop 54 years later.

That darn Kevin Costner Robin Hood movie.  I was already ate up with bow shooting, but did not know a single soul who shot traditional.  I bought a Bear Hunter take-down from Cabelas, and little by little the compound stuff was gone.

I got my first real bow when I was 8, in 1951. All there was then was traditional. I tried compounds for a while but ultimately decided that a recurve was a more efficient tool for hunting...so that is what I shoot.

I picked up a recurve at a garage sale in 1976. Bought a bear compound in 1980, went back to a recurve in 1985 because it was too easy with the wheels. Dont know how I ever got side tracked to begin with. Still can't get enough shooting in to satisfy my hunger for the bow and arrow

Been shooting sticks since I was seven, maybe earlier.  Got my first store bought lemonwood bow then.  I know I made a few branch bows before then.  I'm 64 now.

I didn't know there were alternatives, and when I found out wasn't interested in them.

My children were born deaf but they now have cochlear implants to help them hear. The surgeons do not support impact sports like hockey or football for implanted children. I took them out to watch some friends of ours doing archery and my son and I took to it right then. He was seven at the time and is nine now. We bowhunt together, and have now extended ourselves to include bushcraft as well. That's how it started: deafness.

I got started watching traditional shooters on winter archery league. It looked like alot of fun and a challenge. Was getting bored with compound.

I always loved the thought of shooting an arrow. When I was 12 my father, who wasnt an archer bought me a compound, that was 1982. I hunted with them, and progressed through all the high tech. Hunted all over the continent and took many fine animals with a bow. The biggest thing I hadnt done was to ever shoot anything with a single string bow. I knew I could do it and about 10 years ago started shooting a recurve. After the first animal fell to the recurve it was over. Now all I can think of is hunting with a single string and no other contraptions. So, for me it was a natural progression to true archery.

It was called archery when I started shooting. Now it's called "traditional archery". I still use the same type of bow, a recurve.

to many years ago to say but that was all there was and then those wheel things started to creep in but i love my trad bow.  :archer2:

Bow Fishing

I was shooting a compound and rigged up an old recurve (that I had never shot) fro bowfishing. It was so much more fun I ordered a custom recurve then found I liked longbows better and never looked back.

My options were recurve or longbow, woods for hunting and alums for target no tree stands and your camo came from an army/navy store along with most all your hunting acc.

The challenge.....but since arriving I have to say that the "type" of people that shoot traditional bows are some of the BEST people on the planet. Between the challenge and the people I don't EVER see me turning back.

Winterhawk1960

The fact that I don't like doing things the easy way! Case in point, I'm 42 and still haven't killed a deer. Could have done it with a rifle years ago if it was just about the kill.   :thumbsup:

I started with a compound and had a young friend who started with the recurve. I thought he was crazy. Why would you want to make things harder then they already were? One day I was spending all my practise time tinkering (which was the norm). I finally had enough and put my bow in the truck, watched my friend shoot and pouted. Guess my friend wanted to cheer me up cuz he let me shoot his bow. 30 minutes later he asked if he could maybe have his bow back! We went to see Jack Kempf the next day and I ordered my first recurve. Never looked back!!

Started with an old fiberglass recurve when I was a kid...went to compound for a few years but hte gadgets started to annoy me so I switched back almost 20 years ago...

I begged my Mom and Dad continually for a real bow as my attemps at making my own were humble . At age 7 or 8 I got up on Christmas morning to find a yellow fiberglass York Bow (15#) under the tree . Didn't even wait to see if it was for my older brother or myself , just grabbed it and ran outside in my pajamas and started shooting . I moved up to an Indian Archery " Deerslayer" which wasn't or most likely I wasn't ( a deerslayer )so when compounds first came out I tried a Bear Whitetail Hunter . Shot it maybe 5 years and killed a few deer with it , just wasn't any fun practicing anymore so I switched back and have had the best times ever since .Besides Errol Flynn and all the Indians never shot a compound .

Besides the bows I made as a kid out of tree limbs and bailing twine, the first bow I owned was an all fiberglass recurve with no shelf and a leather handle that me and my dad found in the woods when I was about 10.  

I found a plethora of goodies in the woods as a kid, hunting knives, pocket knives, fishing poles and that recurve.  I got a handfull of aluminum arrows at Kmart back when they still sold sporting goods and I shot that recurve for years and loved it.  That recurve came up missing after we moved right after I graduated high school and I lost touch with archery for about 10 years.  Then 2 years ago, I decided to take it back up and was talked into buying a compound because they are more accurate, more deadly, and more efficient, or so I was told.  

Well, 2 compounds and 2 years later, I got rid of both compounds and got my recurve in May of this year and immediately fell back in love with traditional archery.  The irony is I feel like a much more efficient predator with the simple recurve than I did with the compound.  No micro adjustments, no mechanical rests, and nothing to rely on but my brain to aim with which is way better than peep sights and sight pins.

About 8 yrs. ago I decided I would get a recurve just to shoot once in a while. A club member suggested I should check out Kevin TerMaat's bows. 3 yrs. later I sold my compound and have no intentions of going back. I do have one regret and that is not getting that recurve sooner.

My dad was my big influence.

We just don't shoot compounds.  Ever. I have shot one arrow throw a compound bow and hated every second of it.  It was a foriegn concept.  Why was there a sight? i could see the target, i could pick my own spot.

A few years ago i was shooting with some friends who used compounds.  it was not the good natured practice i thought it would be.  Everything was about what this gizzmo did or who's set up was the best (expensive).  I was standing there with my thunderstick quietly firing away arrow after arrow. They wanted to move to 40 yards to get sighted in (and show off who had the best pin set up).  My first arrow went over, my second arrow went under, and my third arrow stuck in the vitals of the 3d deer so neatly everyone paused. I was sighted in.

This is all I've ever shot.  I had a green Paul Bunyan solid glass straight bow for several years and bought my first recurve, a new 55" Shakespeare Necedah, in my early teens.  I still have it.

After killing 8 years in a row a 130 class buck or better.I needed a challenge.And traditional archery brought the challenge back with my largest buck and with traditional equipment,  took my largest buck scoring 178 3/8 .I don't think there is a more rewarding way to hunt, stick and string.I cant wait for september i have a date with a south carolina hog.

I did it becuase everyone I know said it was too diffcult. I'm just a smarta$$ that way

I had hunted with compounds for years. Some of my friends that I trained how to shoot talked me into having a local bowyer make us some longbows. After shooting them off and on for a couple of years I put my longbow down for what I thought would be for good. Never shot it very well and I was lethal with a compound. Then One day after a successful bow hunt I came to realise that hunting with my compound was a lot like gun hunting. I see my prey, I line my sights up and shoot. Hunt over with. I'm not saying I'm a great shot or anything like that. I do my work and learn how to shoot my weapons and shoot a lot. I decided that day it's not getting there that was fun but how I get there. I learned CORRECTION I'm learning every time I shoot my longbow. The past three years have been good for me with several deer down. No matter how good I shoot today tomorrow brings new challenges with it. I love the sport and have used nothing else to hunt with for the past couple of years.

It was my next step in hunting.  Shotgun, muzzleloader, compound, tradbow.  Eventually I will probably make my own selfbow.  It's all good stuff!

I grew up in Wilsonville Alabama birthplace of Howard Hill. I hung around people like Jerry Hill and Richard (Sylvester) Shaw who both were from Wilsonville. I also met Mr. Hill a couple of times and his words gave me much inspiration.
I also used to shoot a slingshot when I was a kid. Not much difference than instinctive shooting. I would shoot my slingshot every day and not braggin but I was deadly with it. So the longbow was an obvious choice. It extended my deer hunting and was a great challenge.

A long time ago a buddy had a Black Widow catalog, and I would just day dream, that would put a spark in my heart. Then 6 yrs ago I picked up a TBM mag at Gander Mtn, and it lit a fire. Trough TBM is how I found out about TG, through TG is how I found about AlOT of good info. including Vince and my Mowhawk LB.

Definitely the simplicity and the challenge.

A friend offered to glue me up a reflex/deflex longbow after I had been shooting a used compound for a couple of years. I jumped at the opportunity because I thought it would be fun to finish out the bow...I enjoy doing things myself. So, I made the bow, started shooting it, and was having a blast. Then I moved out to East Texas where I visited Rob at Bob Lee Bows in Jacksonville, purchased my first recurve and I was hooked. I have been plucking away ever since.

Also, I grew up shooting a 20# fiberglass recurve my mom found lying on the curb coming home from work one day. I must have put thousands of shots through that little bow before I ever turned eleven.

Matthew

Tonto.

I was a born and bred rifle hunter but wanted to switch to archery hunting.  Had my dads old Shakespeare recurve in the closet, twisted limbs and all, dusted it off and got a proper string and arrows for it.  One shot with it and I was hooked!  Never really had any interest in compounds, never owned one, never will.  That bow still has the best grip for me of any bow I've owned or shot.

QuoteOriginally posted by twostrings:


Also, I grew up shooting a 20# fiberglass recurve my mom found lying on the curb coming home from work one day. I must have put thousands of shots through that little bow before I ever turned eleven.

Matthew

That made me laugh out loud. I love that kind of luck. What a great mom to pick up something like that for her son. Not many moms would do that today.

I enjoyed stump shooting with my bear Pronghorn Hunter compound in the 80s and one day realized it weighed as much as my Ruger M77 270 Win.

Picked up an inexpensiv takedown and I was off to the races.

Simplicity, ease of use, challenging and just more fun.

Simplicity...Relying on "me" to make the shot. I feel closer to nature when I go afield with Traditional tackle. When you do finally connect, the sense of accomplishment is overwhelming.

You don't need the "latest and greatest" to harvest animals. All you need is concentration, and you believing that you can make the shot.

Being flat broke got me into it, LOL! I couldn't afford to replace all the gadgets and tuning on my wheels.  
It's comforting to know when I miss, it doesn't anything to do with my bow.   :jumper:

I started out shooting a Bear Grizzly in 79 & stuck with it till about 86 when my uncle gave me a Ben Pearson Model 250 compound bow & from there I would just toy around with my recurve but not keep up my abilities like I had.

Last year I was shooting my 32 A-A Hoyt Trykon at the Fredericksburg Expo when my release broke & was upset because I couldn't shoot it, I had already started to loose the fun in shooting with my compound but that made me realize I needed a change & decided to retrain myself with a recurve again.

Now since I've been shooting my different recurves, I've regained the fun that I had lost & even though I'm not the best shot around I'm very happy with my progress & look forward to each day of what my abilities may show me on my next outing.

Simplicity.

I got into it by accident really. I had bought a new Bowtech in the summer of 06 and practiced until I could hit bullseyes from 40yds in. Hunted that fall and shot a buck @ 18yds. Never saw the arrow pass through him. Decided I needed to keep my skills up over the winter so I decided to join a league. Come to find out the only one I could get into was trad. So I finally decided to join just I would go and shoot figuring I would shoot the compound after. One of the guys had a LH recurve I could borrow so There I was the first night not knowing anyone or anything about trad bows. It took about two shots to realize I sucked and was hooked. Bought a used recurve three weeks later and killed a bear that fall in 07. Took my first turkey the last day of spring this year. My two biggest tropies by far because they were with trad gear. I will not say I would never go back. Only 43 and had to have reconstructive surgery on my left shoulder in 08. Maybe someday I will have to let wheelies keep me in the game but NOT until I can no longer shoot trad. I would like to thank Ed, Tom & Tony from that league. You all have helped me so much to not only get better but be a better person.

It's all there was in 1958. Hap

I killed 3 bucks and 8 does during the 2008 season and watched all but 1 fall.

Most of the shots were 12yds or less except for one so i made my mind up the last deer i killed that i wanted to try something that would be fun practicing with and hunting with.

2 months after the season ended i ordered a ACS and now i own 4 custom bows with 4 others
comming.

I love this sport and i really love the craftmanship that goes into these custom bows.

I made sapling bows as a kid. Didn't get my first production bow until I was like 8. First firearm at 6. Farm boys that's how it goes. I don't even know what kind of bow it was but it didn't have a string. Dad put a piece of rope on it and I have been shooting since. I went to compounds when he got me one at twelve and shot often. I just got back into trad about 6 years ago. I'm going to be 26 July 18. I just wanted all of the native americans to win in the movies. The bow was a much more interesting weapon to me. For my 21'st b day a buddy had a curve for sale. I got it. Since then it has been trad. It is just more fun.

What did it for me was having to go and have a dealer put a string on my bow AND they came out with Kevlar arrows - enough for me

Started out shooting longbows and recurves 50 years ago at age 5.
Have shot them ever since, never owned or shot a cable gun.

I got started as a kid at the base archery range  At Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi, where my dad was stationed at the time. I was about 10, and we used green fiberglass recurves from Indian Archery (I think) with the grip that could be used by either a leftie or a rightie. (It might have been referred to as Farbenglass rather than fiberglass, but I don't remember exactly).

This pre-dated compounds. After dad was transferred, I no longer had access to archery but held on to the enjoyment.

Later, as a teenager, I bought a Ben Pearson recurve and shot sporadically, but got all caught up in the boom of the big caliber rifles. After killing a number of deer, it just seemed too easy. After all, most of my shots were under 40 yards, hardly a challenge with a scoped rifle. However, the first deer I ever killed was with this bow - a nice 10 point buck.

Finally, around 1990, I read a magazine article about Dan Quillian. It interested me a lot, so I called Dan. That same day I drove over to Athens to his house and bought a Bamboo Longhubter. I have been shooting the longbow regularly since then.

I have shot a compound a few times but just did not like them. I have never wanted to own one. No, I don't kill a lot of deer, but at least I am truly HUNTING in the manner that feel is most rewarding.

the love of the out doors, and a good frind. abought 4 years ago a frind sold me a bow for $10. a older bow a ben berson and the truth the love was born  :bigsmyl:

My school teacher shot archery and showed me how to shoot a bow and arrow.Went to Kmart got a Bear bow for 39.95.Learned everthing the hard way,still at it 45 years later. Still having fun doing it.Like to help the new bowhunters,guess to pay back the ones who helped me along the way.Still learning as i go.

all the hot women!!!

I started out when compounds were just getting going, but my first hunting weight bow was what turned out to be a Wilson Brothers recurve that had been through a house fire. It came out ok, but smelled like smoke.

I had an absolute blast shooting that bow. Looking back, I was dang good with it too. Ended up following instead of leading, and by the time I was fifteen, I was shooting a compound. everyone said I "needed" one. Along with it, came all the gadgets.

Before long I was shooting throughout the summer, because it is what bowhunters are supposed to do. The fun was fading.

One summer day, my older brother gave me his mid seventies Bear Grizzly. Oh happy day!

Fred Bear was always a figure larger than life to me, and a recurve bow with it`s simplicity, the decision was a natural one.

as someone has already said.... ze women!

Never shot a compound...
My grandpa gave me his Wing Thunderbird and said I've taken a lot of deer with that thing.
...That was enough for me

Been shooting bows since I was 6 or so, starting out tying a piece of string to a length of bamboo, then getting my grandfathers lemonwood bow, and then his custom recurve built in the mid-40's.  Been shooting bows for over 50 years now and had never seen or heard of a compound until I was about 25.  Tried it for a couple of years-"Hated it!!"  Haven't shot one in 30 years now.

I started hunting with recurves about 20 years ago, I had a friend that shot traditional at the time share with me the thought that with my compound if I was off in my estimation of yardage by as little as 2 or 3 yards on a 25 yard shot combined with a slight hold error on top of that I would easily miss or wound an animal, he showed me how he could shoot instinctivly out to 25 yards and be every bit as accurate if not more so than what I was using my pin sites, after alot of daily practice, and be closer to the sport and have alot more fun doing it. I was hooked shortly afterward when I purchased my first traditionl bow and havn't looked back since!

A freind and I were squirrel hunting with 22's back in the 1970's. The land owner's relative showed up with a recurve! Said he was there to scout around for the deer season! I asked if I could shoot it and he said, Go ahead! While he and my buddy stood around and talked I was having an affair with his Bear recurve! That was the first time that I really felt in tune with nature. I felt as though I was on an adventure! Soon I found myself on the back side of the property and had been gone for about an hour and a half when I heard a honk from the truck horn! When I returned the guy that owned the recurve gave me a strange look as I handed him back his bow!
A couple of years later I ordered a new Custom Bighorn from Asbell!

Lots of Great memories!

I had the great good fortune of being introduced to a kind old gentlemen/archer when i was 6. He felt sorry for the kid with the cheap little wood bow and sucker tiped arrows and took me under his wing and into the clan of archers.

His name was karl Palmatier,  we shot and hunted together many times on his farm here in sothern Michigan. He taught me consevation, he taught me to build archery tackle, he taught me the life lessions that our sport can teach.

Some 45 years  i  am still at it. Thats how i got started.  :coffee:  
Thanks Karl

I got started cause of hunting low light situations and not being able to see sight pins, not have to worry about yardages, nothing to get knocked loose and affect accuracy.  Seemed to be the best bowhunting bow and iv been hooked ever sense.

buddy of mine has a bear polar i loved it went looking and a week later had a recurve of my own put the wheel bow away and havent shot it since the trad way is by far the best way
p.s. the compound is for sale if anyones interested lol

I had a dream about it one night. I went out the next day and bought a Martin Hunter (still have it), a dozen arrows, quiver, and all the reast of the gear.

I got tired of the constant tuning and everyone competing to have the latest - fastest - most expensive - etc....  I just got really tired of compounds. I love archery now and look forward to every shooting opportunity.

It is just so simple! String, stick, and arrow. You can make your own adjustments and get it all going.

It's a popy pourri of
*going hunting with my dad and him making me a bow in the back yard when i was about 6 yrs old ...
* watching Errol Flynn in Robin Hood
* Reading Lord of the Rings
* seeing pictures of Bob Swinehart in one of Dads  hunting books
* living just down the road from the best archery shop in Australia..the smell of Port Orford Cedar will never leave me ... the pictures sights and stories from that shop hold with me still
And i know that in moments of weakness i ponder that perhaps , at my very best,  that there is just a touch of ol' Mr Hood in my veins ...

My 13 year old daughter. She got into archery through reading fantasy fiction and took to it playing around in gym class. I bought her a Samick and some arrows and when I shot her bow brought back how much fun this is! It was 15 years since I last used a bow. We have been having a great time stump shooting up in my place in Pennsylvania.

It was the ONLY way when I started.
ChuckC

I think it was the Robin Hood movie with Errol Flynn that I watched as a kid. Then in 1984 in a Sports Afield issue there was an article called " The Comeback of the Longbow" I believe. I read that artilce a hundred times and then 6 years later sent a letter to Frank San Marco who was listed asa bowyer in the book. He got back to me about 4 months later and told me he hada six year waiting list. He told me about Traditional Bowhunter Magazine that had just came out and about an add in Bowhunter Magazine for "The Traditoal Bowhunters Bible" by Dan Bertalen and Frank said all the bowyers in the book were top notch. So I called up Dan, got the book and picked up a Scorpion Longbow and have been a fanatic for close to 20 years. It has made my life much better and has led me to have great friends to share my life with.

I mostly started shooting traditional bows because they were simpler(no gagets) and looked "cooler" to me.

Simpler(without gagets) made TONS of sense for me because I break things. Some people are fixers and some are breakers.

I am the kind of guy that keeps others guys in business! I can do the small stuff, but beyond that...... well ... have you ever heard of a bull in a china shop? That's me.   :help:    

Now, traditional bow hunting means way more than just a bow I can't break so easily. I reaffirmed that when shooting a shotgun the other day. A trad bow is so much less intrusive to the tranquility of the woods when hunting... almost like you and the bow are part of the woods yourself. Also, a bow doesn't leave a bruise on your shoulder!    :thumbsup:

I'm sorry--is there another way to shoot??????

QuoteOriginally posted by huntryx:
I'm sorry--is there another way to shoot??????

That's what I was thinking, only way to shoot and only way I've ever shot.

I started shooting a traditional bow as a kid. Have never owned a compound and enjoy the simplicity and its just plain fun. One note to is the terrain we hunt here in AZ is hard on equipment and I learned this the hard way a few years ago. While helping a friend on an antelope hunt he missed several shots at various distances(compound shooter) and we had to strip everything off his bow and re-sight it in during the hunt. Wasted time and caused lots of frustration. If i fall, roll down a hill, drop (yes it has happened) or ding my bow, I can pick it up and keep shooting and hunting. Also there is no feeling like getting close enough to an animal and be able to cleanly havest him with a stick ans string. There is no other way to archery hunt in my opinion. Now bring on elk season. Good luck to eveyone this fall.

The simplicity of it!!! I got tired of toting 10# of hardware in to the woods when I went hunting and generally on piece of the contraption or another didn't work or didn't work properly when I needed it. Now all I tote in the woods is a selfbow and a few arrows(maybe a pound total). Nothing to blame but myself if a problem arises.

I killed 9 deer with my compound 2 yrs ago and all but 1 was less than 15 yds so i decided to try something different. I sure am glad i made the switch, i shoot almost everyday and love holding these wooden bows in my hand.

Well, in 1949 when I first started shooting, there wasn't anything else. Wouldn't have shot anything else anyway as I was completely enamoured with the Indian culture! We (my brothers nd I) ran around the farm in breech cloths! (I was 10.)

I found my Dad's old recurves when I bought his house from him. Started researching it, found this website, and now I'm hooked. It's not something I ever even thought about doing. I was all wheelie bows until I started looking at trad stuff... Now I don't even look at wheelie stuff anymore. I still love shooting my wheelie bow but the trad stuff is so much more fun. And it seems like the people involved are just more pleasant...

years ago my uncle had a bear black panther hunter my aunt bought him in 1970 something.he then switched to a compound when they became popular.he was having a garage sale one day and was selling the bear.i was 8 years old then and asked him if i could buy the bear.i only had 8 dollars.in my pocket.he felt sorry for me and sold me the bow for 8 dollars.thats all it took.the rest is history.

When I started shooting it was about 1969 or 1970.  That's all there was.  When Bear introduced the Whitetail compound I switched.  This was around 1980 or so.  I stopped shooting around 1986 and didn't pick up a bow for almost 20 years.

When I did, it was a new PSE with wheels.  Shot it for a year.  Took me about 1 afternoon to get proficient with it and I took some critters that season.

My nephew took an interest so I bought him a recurve and took him to the Appalachian Bowmen's trad shoot the following April.  Since I had only a compound I was just going to watch him shoot.  Then I stumbled across Leon Stewart's tent.  He let me try one of his bows and I bought it on the spot.

You could say that Leon got me back into traditional gear.

Last year I had tendonitis and couldn't shoot my longbow so I did break out the wheels.  My tendonitis was in my drawing arm but it didn't hurt me when I used a release.  So rather than give up the whole archery season, I regressed to compound shooting.

My injury is healed now and I have no problems shooting my longbow so the compound is back on the hook.

As others have said, I was burned out on the compound thing, basically no challenge, and had even given up hunting altogehter.  Then my uncle who was actually more like my brother talked me into trying a Bear Montana that a mutual friend of ours had.  We went to a 3-D shoot that our trad archery club had and I was hooked.  I ended up buying the Montana and 6 years and 6 bows later4 of which I still have) I'm still hooked and still love it just as much as day one.

That's all there was...     :archer2:  

That and I've always been obsessed with Native American culture and crafts.

todd

The Barry Wensel movie that had him shooting the schafer bow at running WTs - that one a couple of those older vids. Not that I wanted to shoot a running deer but the looks and simplicity of the curve. Looked like a better hunting weapon than the wheels - I was right.

J

Started with a recurve as a kid. As my brothers transitioned to compounds it always seemed they were spending more time dinking with the things then shooting them. Besides a good looking compound is still an ugly machine.

I walked into the Black Widow shop one day,(just to look). So I thought! Well it's been all down hill from there, in a good way!

When I started it wasn't called Trad. There was nothing else . . .

Larry

oooo   oooo  100

i started trad because of an old woman and a dang bear.best thing that ever happened to me besides my son being born.

Bowhunting October Whitetails and the smell of a archery shop that is no longer open. Plus being fed up with those "contraptions".    :jumper:    

Took a button buck while still hunting for my first traditional bow harvest. The same season I shot my first buck with measurable antlers,LOL!
If it hadn't been for that shop I'm not sure if I'd be doing this.

first, I am 63, I have come full circle and did it quite some time back. Memories made me a trad shooter. I got into competitive shooting and shot unlimited pro class for years. I got to the top of the game and suddenly realized it wasn't fun anymore. I lost my mojo. I kept remembering how much fun it was to stump shoot,. How good I was with a longbow and recurve and how much fun it was. That year I took an old Bear Griz that I had traded for that was in my shop. Left my compound on the rack and went elk hunting. Early one morning I was looking at a really nice bull elk from 20 feet away that I had bugled in and instead of being ice cold I had the fever back. I watched an arrow bury to the fletch and I have been die hard trad since that time. I do not even own a compound now. Pleanty of those in my elk camp though but when the target practice is going on I hardly get to shoot my bow. Several of those guys have already switched. My son who was my team shooting partner and said I was crazy now hunts with a longbow I built him.

It was the only way I shoot where I want my arrow...
And I started after the discovery and reading of a book (written by a french bow builder and shooting teacher, Jean-Marie Coche).

Simple Answer: Shooting a wheelie bow felt like "work". Shooting a Trad Bow is just plain fun!

... mike ...

All of the great information on the various traditional techniques.