As I sit here looking at my green nock sticking out of the dirt 40 yards away an hour and a half after the doe was standing there before my arrow whizzed over her back by two inches, I'm smiling at my fathers text. "Why do you use that stick?" Granted I had to let a nice 8 walk 4 times yesterday chasing a doe because I didnt like the shot... My dad a die hard gun hunter gives me grief for handicapping myself so much.... But his remark today got me thinking... Why do I use this stick?
Like many of you I grew up an adivd gun hunter with several deer to my name, but something started to change in my teen years. I began to feel not like a cheater, but that I had the odds stacked in my favor too much. When I was 14, I saw an interview of Fred Bear (one of his last) where he said when you see a deer with a gun the hunt is all but over, but when you see the same deer with a bow the hunt has just begun. To say I had a new hunting fire was an understatement! Fast forwards 3 years and I had that feeling of unfair odds again while using training wheels. Placing a pin on an animal and pulling a trigger became mundane. I was looking through the magazine rack one day and came across "Traditional Bowhunter" 6 months later I ordered a martin mamba recurve. Two weeks of talking at the archery shop on form, arrows, and foam targets I had a new passion. Now nearly 10 years later looking at a green nock from the 3rd animal I've missed with traditional gear in nearly a decade, on a shot I could have made blindfolded with modern gear, I smile.... not because I know I could of had her, but that I now know no greater feeling than my fingers plucking one of my stick bow's string.
Why do you do it?
It's all in the challenge for me! 1st getting stickbow close,then drawing the bow undetected and then trying to pic a spot when my heart is pounding so fast! any other weapon is no challenge to me! It is the hunt I love and not about the kill, the kill with a stikbow is the ultimate bonus!
it (trad bowhunting) just feels like the right thing to do.
For me, it's the challenge, but after seeing my first deer at 15 yards, it became.........the RUSH!
As I said, for me, there is nothing exciting about seeing a deer at 200 yards, putting the crosshairs of the scope on the deer and slowly squeezing the trigger. The thrill for me was gone.
But, taking a deer or other animal by the use of a bow....got the juices flowing. My heart rate beat faster, my breathing rate increased, etc. It seemed all my senses were heightened. I felt a rush of adrenaline which doesn't occur with a rifle. With my low poundage bows, I can see the flight of the arrow on it's way to an animal. Last, but not least, I enjoy the track of a good or even a bad blood trail. It's all GOOD for me. :thumbsup:
These are the reasons I enjoy the simplicity of trad bowhunting. :)
Because I am old and stupid... LOL
Really... Its a mind set just like yours and many others here. It does seem right as Rob said above.
I enjoy, if that is the right term, the ebb and flow of the hunt and the time in the woods...
Makes me feel alive!
Your story mirrors mine, EXCEPT for the fact that I actually STARTED out hunting with an old dual shelf Bear bow.
A couple years after my bowhunting career started, I was old enough to hunt with a firearm. (12 for archery, 14 for firearm...back then)
By the age of 18, I was an accomplished whitetail hunter. I bowhunted alone for the most part with the latest and greatest equipment, and gun hunted with family.
The use of gadgets by everyone I knew, and the pressure to fill tags had me using every new product I could find...but SOMETHING was missing.
Just like you, Fred Bear was always an inspiration for me, so the "traditional" feeling was never far away.
One summer, after carp shooting with my brothers` old Bear Grizzly, instead of putting it away, I got some some Cedars matched for that little bow and proceeded to carry on with it, until missing a huge, late season doe with it. I can STILL see those big, fat, feathers spinning perfectly as the arrow passed inches over her back.(PICK A SPOT :D )
For the first few years "everybody" kind of made a joke of my equipment, but when they realized I punched nearly as many tags as they did, the jokes stopped.
For me, it`s the "fire" you mentioned, and the fact that I can look at MY nock and smile, just as you did. "It" is a warm, relaxing feeling...kinda like sitting around a campfire. :wavey: :campfire:
Because the reward, from finally making it all happen, is like nothing else. Plus, the close range in which we work is so exciting!
My hunting "career" echos those above. My family didn't hunt at all, it was my friends family that took me under their wings. At first, it started as gun hunting. I just sat in the blind with no weapon, just to expeirence the hunt. My first bow was a Kmart wheel bow that I shot with fingers and no sights. One summer, up in Grayling, I found a copy of Fred Bear's feild notes. Wow, did that change everything for me. That same summer we found an old Indian longbow in the rafters of my buddy's grampa's garage. I was hooked at the age of 15. I really don't think of it as handicapping myself. I think it hightens the excitment level, and I just enjoy it so much more.
I have taken numerous deer with a rifle....often I have had an empty feeling after the kill--"Well, another one down that never knew I was here." The other day I was standing on the ground at the edge of a field as a young spike came sauntering along the field's edge headed my way. He stopped maybe 30 yards away and stood on his back legs and chewed on a licking branch for a few seconds then proceeded my way--my heart was pounding and my breaths came in quick succession. It turned out that he veered up the rise in the field quartering away but stopped about 25 yards out and slightly up hill. I took aim and released only to see my arrow arc up and hit a small branch of a tree limb sticking out that I had been sure I would miss. The little buck bounced away not realizing how close he had come. I never get that rush with a firearm in my hands.
Like Rob said, "It just feels like the right thing to do." I couldn't agree more.
I grew up a block from Hoyt. They sold me a defective kids long bow for 75 cents and arrows for 15 cents in1955. I hunted with that bow daily. I was hooked. Graduated to an Indian recurve in college in WI, and got near but never killed a deer. When I came home from RVN I called home for my recurve to hunt Catalina but the recurve delaminated in the attic so I went to a shop in San Diego and bought a compound- shutter. I shot that that for the next 20 years, seeing it meant it was in the meat locker! I retired from the Corps and my wife gave me a
Tim Miegs DuoFlex. I have 6 real bows now and I live to shoot them. It is the challenge of stalking, positioning and taking the shot. I feel like a hunter not a shooter
I also feel the support I get from here. Thanks, Brothers and Sisters
"I feel like a hunter not a shooter" - as good a reason as any to be a trad bowhunter. :thumbsup:
It's soo much fun!
I would have to say my feelings mirror everyone's above and probably all those that will answer this post after me, we must have been from the same tribe at one time.
Happy Thanksgiving.
And out of respect for the game I hunt..
Traditional bowhunting is the ultimate sport hunting in my eyes.
I have great reverence for the whitetail deer. I put out protein in the off season and plant food plots for them that never get hunted. These areas are for the deer, to provide not only supplemental feed but a safe haven for them.
I hate to be perceived as an elitist but I am always disturbed when gun season opens and rifle fire rings through the woods. What a sad ending for such an elegant animal. My feelings only and not meant to be confrontational..
I love everything about it, from getting a set-up tuned til it drives tacks to seeing an arrow spinning towards an animal almost like it's slow motion...the beautiful lines of a simple bow, how light in the hand, the quickness of getting off a shot in some situations and just the history of these deadly handmade tools does it for me. I think a hunter with a set-up that brings confidence actually may have an advantage in the field, at least within range (which of course is the fun part)...
Roadkill! ( I'm a hunter not a shooter) well said. Maxx
Its a sickness ;) :bigsmyl:
I get bored with easy.
Rob
Just think of all that quality time we could spend with the family if we didn't practice, make arrows, chase critters. Well that's enough for me.
Just think of all that quality time we could spend with the family if we didn't practice, make arrows, chase critters. Well that's enough for me.
For me hunting with the stickbow is all about the challenge.
I hunt with trad equipment BECAUSE it is hard!!!! I know I have accomplished somethng a lot of folks will never do every time I walk up to an animal I shot with my trad bow.
Bisch
I like it!
Cyclic-Rivers said it........I still hunt with other stuff,but most of the time I carry another weapon I'm thinking about ground blind spots, shot opportunities with the bow and how I hunt the spot with a bow. The first time I took a recurve into the woods in 1968 it felt right, it felt right then and still feels right now! I also think it makes you a better hunter overall!!
I will also add I still haven't taken a deer or big game animal with my bow!!! :dunno: :confused:
For me it's more about the hunting than the killing. Getting stickbow close, on the ground and getting an arrow on it's way is very challenging. Sometimes a close encounter doesn't produce a shot opportunity but it's rewarding just the same. Maybe it's some kind of primal connection. Hard to explain. Heard someone say "if I have to explain it you wouldn't understand".
Key word is "hunting"...I love nothing more than the missed opportunities over 10 yards of distance. Back in the 80's on my way home from a Muskie fishing trip in Wisconsin i stopped at a bar for a quick beer....turned out it was Art LaHa's Bar/Lodge...and he was there! His stories were inspiring...I was committed to Traditional Bows from then on.
Because it is pure
because it is the truth of archery with no B.S.
because of the spiritual link back into time....back into history.
Because the legends did it this way....great hunters, great men. :thumbsup:
Because it's the most fun you can have with your clothes on lol. With stick bow in hand and friends and family, it don't get any better.
well put Pat B. :clapper:
It's just plain more fun to me, I love trying to pick the best tree or hiding spot on the property to get close. Also just plain love flinging arrows with stickbows. There's been plenty of days I've cut the hunt short just to get down and stump shoot.
I started hunting in 1989 with a Bear Compound and moved up to a Hoyt compound a few years later. With my Hoyt, I can take the bow down and hit anything I aim at out to about 35 yards with little problem. It's literally point and shoot. Problem is, there are a lot of things to go wrong between the rest, knock set, sight, overdraw, etc. Not to mention it weighs a ton compared to my recurve. The recurve feels good in my hand (wood riser vs. aluminum) and presents a little more challange. I love shooting the recurve.
Just the pure simplicity of it all, the whole "stick n string" thing. The fact that I have to rely almost totally on my physical and mental ability to direct the arrow to its target.
Plus its just a hell of alot more fun!
Eric
My dad rides me for the same thing! My hunting crew are all dyed in the wool powder burners and I'm the only trad guy I know.
My reasons are as follows:
There's more to hunting than a 300 yard pot shot. or even a 50 yard one at that.
The rush of getting close.
The sound and sight of a feathered shaft in flight.
Mastering a simple skill - master of self and not of technology.
Because it's fun.
QuoteOriginally posted by Bisch:
I hunt with trad equipment BECAUSE it is hard!!!! I know I have accomplished somethng a lot of folks will never do every time I walk up to an animal I shot with my trad bow.
Bisch
Ditto. Still love my varmit rifles but what I can do at 400-500 yards some times farther out with no problem ,with the stick and string is way more ? its just way more.
In a world where I can pick up a pound of burger for 2 bucks and a box of hamburger helper for a dollar at the local grocery store. I have decided that it is not neccessary for me to kill a deer to survive. this makes it very important to me how I go about doing it.
I like getting ready for the hunt ,making bows ,arrows ,quivers and other things. I like the scouting to find the just right spot and having the animal standing just where you wanted it. It is somthing that can that you can be involved in year round. Practice is so much fun . Trad gang is so much fun.
"Why do you do it?"
Because I can, Thank you to all those that protect those rights for me!!!
Steve
Because I have conciously decided to acknowledge that which resides deep within the human pyche, the desire to hunt primitively and to eat wild meat and not to repress it as most of my fellow countrymen have chosen to do. It is there in every one of us that lives!
I started with a recurve then got into the high speed game in my early 20's... then came back..
I still gun hunt too... but as for the stick and string its my LB or recurve... Its just so much fun... :archer:
Why?....
Cuz the way I see it, traditional (as we like to call it today) IS bowhunting. Compounds, crossbows and all the BS that goes along with them isnt.
Simple enough
Eric
Good topic, and fodder for thought. I've hunted with, and killed deer with pretty much everything. I bowhunted for many years with wheels, and contrary to what many want to believe, its not automatic, although it is a far cry easier than with a trad bow. I killed plenty of groceries with one, but eventually the intrigue, the challenge, and the simplicity drew me to traditional ways. I tired of constantly tinkering, tuning, adjusting,switching out parts, the whole routine. ANd more than that, I wanted more challenge.
Once I made the switch, I was hooked. Shooting was mor efun, I could actually see my arrow in flight. But one thing that stands out to me is this- a compound bow has no soul. Its a cold, hard machined piece of metal and cables. A stickbow is crafted from the earth- different kinds of woods,a variety of artistic features crafted by skilled bowyers and woodworkers. When you knock an arrow, and wrap your fist around the grip, it becomes part of you, rather than a contraption you feel like you have to tame.
Hunting with one requires mor skill, more patience, and a good dose of humility at times.
I much prefer the process of preparation- the ability to laugh at ones self during practice, hand sharpening my broadheads rather than opening a package, building my own arrows instead of unboxing them.
Shooting a stickbow accurately is a challenge with yourself. Much like golf, its all you. Your shooting, like swinging a golf club, is controlled only by your own hand eye coordination.
I've missed, or had to pass shots many times that may have been executed with a wheel bow. Maybe. Sometimes for sure, although plenty of deer are missed with those too.
I don't expect others to understand my "Why I do this"- and I dont feel a need to justify it to anyone who may question it or ridicule it. I'm not in any way better than those who choose otherwise. Its simply what I love to do, and I readily accept any shortcoming or limitations as a result of my choice.
I still hunt firearm season with a firearm, the past several years I shoot an inline muzzleloader. I enjoy it, although my first passion is, and always will be the archery season. I've got 5 unpunched elk tags hanging around that pretty much prove that. If I just wanted to kill an elk, Id rifle hunt. But while I do want to kill an elk, its either with my longbow or nothing. I can live with that choice.
Trad bowhunting is passsion. Plain and simple.
But man is it fun.
Because it's a lot easier to clean than a muzzle loader :-)
I kinda felt like hunting with a gun was "more like killing than hunting".
Then after a couple of years of compound bow hunting it began to feel "more like killing than hunting".
I don't believe this will ever be anything BUT hunting, and that's why I do this....I love the thrill of hunting, not killing. :archer:
QuoteOriginally posted by Rob DiStefano:
it (trad bowhunting) just feels like the right thing to do.
Amen to that. My whole family is a bunch of gun fanatics and I am the only bowhunter in our family let alone traditional. My Grandfather always thinks I am crazy to shoot deer with a bow at 20 yds. when he can close the deal @ 300 yds.
1 - Nothing like the flight of an arrow out of a trad bow.
2 - Love getting into the safety zone of my prey.
3 - Love being in the woods.
its hard for me to explain. but when you compile all the close encounters , with gettin busted by buck or doe, the missed shots of bein oh so close to sealing the deal, and then in that one moment when everything slows down, you draw the string , you have picked a spot and release, watching the arrow in slow motion penetrate your target. and then it hits you, the elation that you feel when all the hard work and preparation all comes together.there is nothing like hunting and shooting with traditional gear. love it. rv
Why do I do it?
this is a fantastic thread, I began hunting when I was 10 years old, with a Green Glass Kodiak Hunter my dad gave me. Really enjoyed carrying that in the woods, able to hunt all fall and hone my skills. In my teens switched to wheels had some success, then 20 years ago ordered my first custom bow, a Rocky mountain recurve. I had grown tired of constantly tuning, adjusting, those old heavy compounds. Carrying a two pound stick just felt right. The satisfaction of getting real close and the challenges of the perfect shot angle etc.. is what drives me to this day. Another aspect is the satisfaction I get from getting to know personally, the bowyer who made the bow I carry in the woods. Sure can't do that with most other gear. The pure enjoyment of practicing and shooting is another factor in shooting a traditional bow. To me regardless of weapon of choice, understanding the responsibility and satisfaction of "truely hunting" is the lessons I have learned from hunting with stick and string. having the good fortune to harvest a white tail with a stickbow never vaporizes from my memory.
I have to Jump on Rob's band wagon.
Although lots of reasons come to mind, they are not WHY I do it but rather they are outcomes of what I do.
I do it because it is what I am. I can't help grabbing a bow as often as I can, even to just carry it with me as I walk the property.
It is just what I do. Is there a "longbow gene" in our DNA ?
ChuckC
I was drawn to bowhunting (pun intended) nearly 50 years ago. I made that first bow when I was 7 or 8. I'm sure if I could have made a gun I would have. I just copied the Indians on TV and started stalking birds.
My Dad wasn't a bowhunter. He often asked me, when I came home without a deer or elk if I could have killed one with a rifle had I chosen to use one on the hunt.
My answer to Dad was always ...maybe, but that wasn't the point. I want to get as much out of the experience of hunting as I can. I want a reasonable chance of killing game (thus I've never quail hunted with a bow). The bow gives me a reasonable chance. For the record, I support hunter choices of all equipment types. I don't support all hunter behavior or choices though. Surely some folks get as much excitement from killing with their chosen gear as I do with mine?
By the way its not just killing the animal with a bow, it also matters A LOT to me how I hunt and kill that animal. For instance, I'll never know what a "lucky" shot feels like because I won't attempt a shot that requires "luck".
I have however experienced "unlucky" shots -- perfectly fine opportunities that resulted in a miss...or worse. Sometimes these "unlucky shots" were actually the result of my faulty reasoning or observation before I took the shot.
In the end, what matters to me is how I feel about my choices and my performance. This has changed over time and I suppose, as I age and my circumstances change it may change again.
These days I'm more reluctant to say never, than ever before.
It's just all about reaping the most satisfaction out of every minute of every day and out of every endeavor we undertake.
It's the length of the journey and the obsticles overcome that make the end results so SWEET!
The easier it is......the less satisfaction there is to reap, IMHO.
Sadly, I have failed often in passing that down to others.
God Bless
Plain and simply, just because and why not.
You feel more attached to the living land with a stickbow in your hand than some mechanical contraption.