Here in Iowa they say it's rut. I haven't seen much activity besides watching a small 6 pt chase two does this morning from my ground blind. While watching the deer, I started to think.
Since I started shooting the trad bow full time, I found myself carrying the bow with an arrow on the rest to and from the stand. I never did that before. Instead, I find myself looking for opportunities at small game and perhaps I'll sneak up on a deer.
I find the trad bow quicker on target, quieter, lighter. I love watching the arrow fly. There are a few disadvantages, but these can easily be turned into strengths.
What else do you all find appealing about the trad bow?
Lighter to carry, beautiful to look at, launches relatively cheap arrows I can fashion myself, quiet and deadly. What's not to like?
I had no success with a compound and blew several situations where a traditional bow would have done well. I don't move with a nocked arrow for safety's sake, but keep one ready in a single-arrow bow quiver and several more in a side quiver (relatively fast to access with an opening along the side). I get in when it's dark and leave when it's dark, but during the day anytime I'm moving I'm hunting.
Be warned, though. I popped a bunny in a brush-lot beside the house and when I stooped to fish him out from under a thorn bush a deer bolted from a few yards away! D'oh!
quote from altiman94:
(What else do you all find appealing about the trad bow?)
I just look so dam sexy with my longbow it drives the wife wild I tell ya!!!
Everything you stated and to me it's just a great challenge.It gives everything from the set-up to the harvest meaning for me.Keep the spirit alive!!!
I like the fact that I can make every piece of equipment that I use. I make my own bows, harvest wood for arrows, feathers for fletching. I have even hunted with home made steel trade points or knapped flint. I do use manufactured broadheads when hunting most of the time. I made my own hunting knife and even make my own tree stands. My entire trad "kit" is hand made by me or people who are considered friends. When I kill something I share the experience and everybody involved shares in the success. I have built bows for many and each hunt that they make I get to share in a special way. One of my greatest days of hunting was this past spring when my brother got his first trad kill. It was with a bow that I had made for him. The thing that was really neat is that I killed a nice pig that same afternoon.
Every time I look at the pictures it brings back a flood of memory.
I guess I have to say that it is the fact that I make my stuff that makes it so special to me. it is more personal I guess.
pete
Traditional bows have a soul.......they are beautiful to look at, feel so good in your hand and if you miss......it isn't anyone's fault but your own.
There is just something in a traditional bow that speaks to you.......if you listen.
Winterhawk1960
A longbow is just made to point at tracks and rubs and deerpoop and stuff! :bigsmyl:
Most wheeliebow hunters I know aren't very in touch with the spirit of archery, the land, or the animals. The ones I know love to kill, period. They scoff at my Black Widow collection and my 25 yds or less rule. The ones I know can't believe what I spent on my favorite PLX and that I have only taken one animal, and before, no animals. Longbows and trad archery are the culmination of 34 years of hunting with guns. I guess I'm finally worthy of the stick and the string.
One thing I forgot to mention that I enjoy: is the look on the face of compounder(s) at the range when they see I can actually hit the deer target in the vitals from 20-25 yards without any sights. I'm guessing that if you took the sights off their bows (i was the same way when i shot compound) that they could not hit the broadside of the barn, let alone their target.
It's not really archery any longer when you are shooting a rig like that. It's more lining up a peep with a pin with the target. As long as your pin is sighted in, you won't miss. It takes a lot of skill out that is needed with the trad bow.
The trad bow also forces me to slow down and take in more of my surroundings. I have to conceal myself better for closer shots, but that gives me more of a rush being within 15 yards of game.
I always hunt the late muzzleloader season here. So, I like my bow hunting season to be a challenge.
That is spot on Josh,
So many of the wheelie men will say "you could've had that bull/buck if you just had a compound"
True, and I could have for sure taken the '08 bull if I only had my 30-06, and the '07 bull would be mine if i had a 50. cal.
Point is guns and bows are bigger faster and stronger than ever before.
The big ticket is that I have made this choice to use this weapon here and now and I'm happy with it,and they may never get why...
I like the fact that it has so many disadvantages, but is still beautiful, fun and deadly; it is also humbling.
The advantage is that it performs well without complication. It cannot become obsolete. Phil
ALL OF THE ABOVE ..........I couldn't have said it any better ...
I agree with the Wensels...trad bows are much more efficient hunting tools than compounds. Started with recurves, then compounds then back to recurves. Compounds are just too high maintenance and not as quick to shoot when you need to. Lots of deer I have killed probably would not have been shot with a compound due to the circumstances I was in when the shot presented itself. I never uses a peep, sight or release and just can't fathom having to deal with all of that "stuff" when my attention should be on the shot and what else is going on around me.
They are beautiful. I doubt my wife would ever say "Your bows look great and ad to the beauty of our house" about a compound device. They are light to carry all day in the woods, and they blend into the woods. They are quiet and deadly efficient when I do my part. What's not to like about them??
For me it's all about the challenge. It's archery in the purist form available today. Besides that simpler is better in any complicated situation. Hunting is not easy, so the less I need to worry about the better.
trad bows have 'life'. they are quiet. This year I shoot a buck standing next to another deer the dead deer jumped and ran 20 yards and dropped. the other one just watched. quiet. light. you need no allen wrenches. lively, and they are deadly.
I used to kill a lot of game with a rifle, but I had never "hunted" till I picked up my longbow. Bob
Well said, Bob.
Longbows & recurves swim against the current.
It's our link to the past......
Only shot a compound 4 years and got tired of missed shots and opportunities caused by the bow. Traded back to a recurve in 92 as with a stickbow if I miss or dont get the shot its me and my lack of hunting skills that day. Not the bow or the arrow. I feel more in touch with the hunt with my trad equipment.
How challenging would it be if a football field was shorten by 50 yds, or basket ball hoop widened by a foot? After 20 years of shooting a compound the appeal of this kind of archery just left me. I knew it was time for something more basic, less mechanical. That made me rely on my own strength and skill.
The physicallity of shooting traditional archery and compound shooting is completely different. There is no link. The two are diametrically opposed. The only commonality is the arrow.
Therefore, I refuse to compare the two. The performance and charecteristics of shooting a Mathews Z7 is no more relevant to what I do than that of a .300 Win. Mag. I could give a crap about how a bow compares to a compound device because quite simply they are incomparable.
Because of that there is no esoteric link. I don't expect nor particularly desire to feel a kinship with "modern archery". Be it in the realm of nature, hunting, or my historical past as an archer.
That's not elitist. I am no better or worse. I am just profoundly different.
I take nothing away from gun or compound hunters. I have done both and it takes both skill and patience to hunt with any weapon. There's nothing wrong with it, I just choose to use one string during the archery season.
I do love shooting guns, especially my 1911, muzzleloader and my AR-15. I shoot all 3 of these very frequently and enjoy the rush of it.
But you won't an AR-15 above my fireplace. You will, however, find an old hawken muzzle loader and my trad bow.
Have you ever recieved acknowledgment for an achievement that you were merley a small contributor?
Have you failed to receive acknowledgement for an achievement that you were a major contributor?
With trad you are the major contibutor and need no acknowledement since you have the chance to fully experience the reward.
For me it's just the simplicity. Stick, string, and arrow, and a commitment to develop the personal skill to use them effectively.
QuoteOriginally posted by Winterhawk1960:
Traditional bows have a soul.......they are beautiful to look at, feel so good in your hand and if you miss......it isn't anyone's fault but your own.
There is just something in a traditional bow that speaks to you.......if you listen.
Winterhawk1960
Yep, that about says it all.
Craig
for me I am with Don Stokes the simplcity is what I like most. I've shot recurves and now a longbow for 48 years and never found any disavantages for hunting I actaully think they are an advantage over a compound while hunting.
IMO the only advantage of a compound is you can shoot a lot more arrow accurately because you dont need to concentrate with sights.
WHen bowhunting why add a lot of complexity and possible things that could go wrong? I did shoot a compound for a few years ( old bear alaskan) it was fast and accurate and I killed a lot of deer with it, but I found it boring to shoot. Gave it to a friend and he still uses it.
I think its a shame how so many kids today have bought into the marketing Hype and think they need all the gadgetry to be successful. How many times have you talked to a compounds Peep sight shooter that tells you how he missed a 12 yard shot yet he can put arrow after arrow into a target bullseye. You would think they would see that.
Gee I guess I should get off my soapbox!
Bob
Lots of well put thoughts but I would echo CB that I feel like a real "hunter" with my Bear in my hand.
I love the romance of Trad equipment. the simplicity, the deadly effectiveness.
I love the quiet of the shot, that sensation you get when you loose, how you know it is on target the instant you let go.
I love to be with other bowhunters and watch their eyes when they ask to see this beautiful piece of wood and a string.
I am constantly amazed of the connection that is instant in their eyes when they pick it up and hold it in their hands. They are transformed to the world of Man, ancient to present, hunter gatherer's.
It is simple, yet in reality very complex and different for everyone.
I think there is advantage to the trad bows at very close game. Quicker to get a shot off when up close and personal.
Whhile Ihunted many years with wheels, the constant adjusting, fixing and tuning just got old. Hunting with the longbow, I have the added challenges of trad hunting. I killed plenty of deer with wheels, and wanted more of a challenge.
In the process,I fell in love with archery all over again. It matters not to me what someone else hunts with, whats more important to me is their ethics and conduct afield.
Knowing the limitations of thier gear, taking responsible shots, and proper follow up of those shots is what matters. Unfortunately, as some have said, the wheel crowd so often are fixated on only the kill. It is the sole measure of the hunt to them. Which is sad.
I know plenty of wheelie bow hunters whos ethics are top notch, and their love of the hunt is right there too. But for me, the quiet simplicity and romance of a longbow and a wood arrow, tipped with a broadhead I sharpen myself is what I prefer.
Although I love and study our archery history, I don't get too hung up on the romance part. To me, its just so darned obvious that a recurve or longbow is a better hunting weapon than a heavy compound with a bunch of stuff bolted on.
A bow shouldn't have wheels or a gunstock.
Pennsyltuckey makes my bows and we hunt together
(http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii45/heilakka/2010/DSCN1184.jpg)
Traditional gear has changed my way of thinking, it has made me more intune with nature, and has made me enjoy more of what GOD has created. I would say the simplicity of it is what attracts me the most. I feel I never hunted until I picked up the recurve. I would not have it any other way!! Jason
"Here we have a weapon of beauty and romance. He who shoots with a bow , puts his life's energy into it. The force behind the flying shaft must be placed there by the archer. He must approach within striking distance. And when he speeds his low whispering shaft and strikes his game ,he has won by strength of arm and nerve. It is a noble sport".
Saxton Pope