As I stumble along this traditional archery trail, I have met hundreds of folks.....all of them different.
I have met craftsmen...some are super talented bowyers, others are arrowsmiths who create a near perfect product. Amazing leather workers. Bowyers who apply science and engineering to thier craft. Most of these guys shoot thier gear well, and do it as a way to create gear to hunt with. Some of them build gear (especially bowyers) just for the sake of building a great product, and don't hunt or shoot very much.
Then there are the shooters/hunters. These guys live for the hunt (or the tournament, or both). Very often this group buys almost everything, makes very little. I'm in this group. I talk about making arrows....nonsense. Somebody else builds the shaft, spining and wieghing them so that I have a good starting point. Another person process's the feathers, builds the nock, and creates the points I will use. By time all the components are on my work bench, the process is somewhat simpler than a building a plastic model car. I couldn't build a bow to save my life. Thanks the Lord for custom bowyers. If I am ever selling a bow that is portrayed as a "custom design"....know that my input would have been something like "lets make it green". My interest is not in the mechanics and technical nature of what we do, but is out there in the woods.....why are deer on that trail? What is the wind doing? If I get stuck out here will I be ok overnight?How can I get to the end of this bloodtrail?
What truly AMAZES me, are you guys that are BOTH. I have met only a few. Guys that can make the bow (superbly), hang the deer, and do it all with ease. I have met a few guys who could probably go off the grid with a pocket knife and have a bow built and backstraps roasting within the day. Awesome.
So which are you? Craftsman? Hunter/shooter? Or the elusive All Around Traditional Archery Master?
I'd like to think a bit of both, I make arrows, quivers, made a few bows, not a bad woodsman. I will say that I know I am a long way from a master of anything!
Ron W.....your signature line says a lot for me in this regard....I try and spend a lot of time with "better" bow shooters, better woodsman. I am almost 50 and proud of my open "beginners mind". I like that....always be the beginner.
A little of both. Love to shoot 3-D and hunt. I make all of my arrows, wood, aluminum and carbon but crest and cap all of them because I like a little individuality in my arrows. I made most of my wood arrow making and maintenance tools, spine tester, broadhead spinner, arrow painting racks, etc. I made some of my hunting paraphenalia most buy these days like face mask, pull up rope, tree hooks, etc.
I wish I had the skill to make a bow but don't so shoot high tech stuff.
I try to dabble all around, but do not profess to be a master in any line. With out leaving my job, family and friends becoming a hermit and shunning the demands of modern society, I don't think I could find the time to master all. I strive to keep learning and improving in all aspects of art and craft of woodsmanship and archery. That is what keeps me so hooked, there is so much left to learn and master.
If you are involved in archery long enough, you tend to become the all around archer. I've been at it more than 50 years. Built a lot of glass laminated bows, sold a few. Also built a few self-bows. Use (ed) them a lot, but I also buy bows built by other bowyers, more the latter now. Build my own quivers, arrows, including processing my own feathers, strings, etc., even sewed some of my own clothes using down from Canada geese I killed. Have been building wood and canvas canoes for more than 25 years. Often use one of those to get into hunting areas and/or get critters out.
I attend at least 20 3-D tournaments a year; won a good share of them back in the day. Retired now so am able to spend six-eight weeks or more bow hunting every year. All my hunts, including out-of-state hunts, are DYI. Bow hunting is what I live for. The rest is part of the experience.
Oops. Forgot, did two Alaskan moose hunts that were outfitted. (Jay Massey and Ernie Holland) They provided rafts, food, tent. Flew us in and picked us up after a 14-day hunt on the river. Two of the best hunts ever.
Orion, you sound like one of the guys I shut up and listen to.... :thumbsup:
Roger: We'd probably get along because I talk alot, most folks say too much. :bigsmyl:
Roger, like you I depend on others to make my gear and am in awe of people like Greg who now has made me 3 different Shrews in 5 years (4 soon), or Brian Wessel who has made me two, or South Cox who has made me two, or Chad Holm who has made me two...ok you get the picture :)
I read Jay Massey's books recently and now want to make a self-bow to try and hunt with. I fool with arrows and such but truth be known, I got no skills :scared: I am a hunter first, but often wonder how much cooler it'd be standing over a dandy buck with gear that I have made. Someday maybe...until then, keep the new bows comin'!
Seems like I modify every piece of equipment that I use until it suits me.
My equipment is geared towards one thing, hunting.
I hunt from mid September through mid January missing only a few days. Then I coyote hunt the rest of the year! I am a hunter and I am blessed to be able to hunt like I do.
Heck I guess I'm the Jack of all trades but master of none, LOL.
I have made many arrows over the years, I mostly buy my good woodies from Bounty Hunter.
I have made a couple quivers, one that I'm proud of.
I have made several arm guards, there's a couple that I'm proud of.
I make my own 3 under tabs, and I prefer them to any that I've tried. The good news is Saunders is going to start making a 3 under tab next year so I will not be making them much longer.
I have made a couple bows, and I'm very proud of them. I have even took a file to a custom bow and the results were outstanding.
I shoot 3D and hunt and I love to do both.
Hunter/Shooter/hobbyist? I have made self bows and ordered mostly 'brown bows'. My woodies are 'assembled' by me. Roger you brought up some great thoughts...........and did you know that the biggest buyers of paintings are artists?
I can roll a half decent wood arrow, but after that I'm done. I feel that I am better than most in the woods.
Hap
I'm a legend in my own mind. :D
Truth is I'm not that good at any of it but love it so much I keep coming back for more. Maybe I have an above average desire.
Rob
I think most of us are very good at some part of it. I'm ok in the woods, I think I understand whitetails reasonably. I have no problem getting up early. I don't have much trouble shooting (I am lucky there...I had a bow put in my hands at a super young age, and I have stuck with it). One of the intangibles that is "in my head", is that I have a huge desire to put an arrow on a game animal, especially deer. Sometimes that works in reverse....I have shot a lot of does that a trophy hunter would have let walk, waiting for Mr Big. But dang it...when they are standing there, broadside with that foot kinda forward, and unaware....I HAVE TO see fletching blossom RIGHT THERE! I'm with you Rob W....huge desire to put game in the freezer.
Roger,
For the most part...I am a dreamer. I have fletched a few arrows, made a six longbows, killed a dozen or so Whitetails with trad equipment (mostly recurves) but am not a master at any of it.
I absolutely love this stuff!!
That's all I have to say about that.... :p
I too am a dreamer. Can barely get four fletching arrows down to a science. I was however fortunate enough to be brought up in rural northern Michigan and had what I consider a real childhood that flourished in hunting, fishing and trapping. Made the progression(if you call it that) from trad to compound then back to trad.
I was raised a hunter for the freezer and still remain that. I have worked for outfitters that cater to trophy hunters and that experience has only deepened my passion as a meat hunter.
A fine example of this would be when I passed on a large 50+ bull moose for the spike that was in the same meadow. Plenty meat and less work... :readit:
Hunters that hold SCI recognition and can't even hike to 4,000 feet just astounds me... I love the hunt, but making meat is what I do...
So if this is a poll of sorts that makes my vote a hunter that wishes he was a craftsman.
~CB
Hunter/shooter here! I could go on a hunt or to a big 3D shoot every day of my life if my finances (and my wife) could stand it.
I have built one bow and that was enough for me to know that bowyers should build bows and I should just buy the ones I like from them and help keep them in business.
Bisch
Hunter / shooter, camp cook
Hunter / shooter, camp cook
I'm a hunter/shooter minus the 3D shoots. Truly love being out. Been hunting for almost 35 years and have grown tired of the rat race that some view hunting to be. It's not all about the kill, it is about being happy with your decisions and your performance. I have a buddy who is ultra competitive during deer season. I guess I once was also, but, now, I live by the view that I am the only person that has to be happy with the small buck I shoot, the yearling, the doe, the Jake, etc.
If I can live with my decision, then, to me at least, it was a good one.
As for craftsman.....I would love to.....LOL.....but I know just how untalented I am.
Ken
Personally, I do my best to be a Bit of All 3 !! I admit that I havent had a "Kill" yet, CLOSE but that doesnt count.
I will Never BUY Another Arrow as long as I Live, thats just me. Working on a Bow now, have failed attempts several times.
Love 3Ds and Punching Paper, but dont want a steady diet of either.
So I dont know what "Type" or "Category" that puts me in, I just Know ITS ALL GOOD!!! :goldtooth:
HUNTER- shooter - and can butcher wood enough to make my own bows and arrows.
And you are right, nothin like walkin up to a critter downed with something you made to use.
Nothing wrong with being a meat Hunter Roger, in my mind. Meat Hunter here! I have found Big does to be nervous nellies, a challenge and mighty tasty. As far as Bows, arrows and the like, I depend on the masters of their art for me to use such fine tools.
I'm a hunter..I'm either in the woods or thinking about my next trip to the woods. I can't make anything but a mess...but I have fun making that mess! :wavey:
I would consider myself a hunter/shooter. Ive made a couple self bows that turned out well enough, but realized that Ill leave bow building to the pros.I really enjoy crafting and hunting with my own wood shafts, as well as doing most of my own leather crafting, it seems to add to the overall experiance for me if you put a little bit of your skills into the hunt.
Ive found that some folks are more skilled than others in the crafts and we as trad. hunters and shooters are blessed to have some very fine craftsmen among us.
Hunter/shooter here, someday i would love to build my own bows, I assemble my own arrows now but like you said that doesnt really count. At this stage in my life with 3 kids a job and wife, i just dearly love quiet times. Its good for the soul.
Lets see, I have made a self bow, wood arrows and fletched and hafted them, tagged out that year with it,killing my oldest most mature buck and have been trad ever since. I make my own knives, and craft carbon arrows also. I have taken many a compound riser and machined it and made a very good shooting, forgiving bow, with aftermarket recurve limbs. I make my own flemish and endless loop strings. I process my own deer, and waste nothing. I hunt mostly on the ground, in several natural blinds, but also use pop ups, and have had success with ghillies and nothing else between me and deer and turkeys. I could never take a turkey with a compound bow, but since going trad, have been lucky enough to take 13, along with several deer, due largely to the way I have changed my thinking and hunting with trad gear. I think I am a good tracker, have tracked deer badly hit by friends for over 500yds and recovered them with a speck of blood now and then, and mostly learned insticnt as to which way a wounded animal will go, only time spent afield will teach you this. I mostly buy others bows, too many good bowyers out there that are much more profecient than me. I excel at building accurate bolt actions, for hunting or long range target, and have built some beautiful and deadly accurate trad muzzleloaders, that have helped me win local, state and national championships, in other years. I make my own cast bullet/balls, and cast my own bullets for my centerfire pistol ammo, and load all my own centerfire rifle ammo, have never taken a deer with factory rifle ammo, all my home rolled. I have had a few magazine articles publised on the above, hunting, gunsmithing, and trad archery. I was blessed at a young age, to grow up around a old time blacksmith, and a retired Marine armorer, who shared their knowledge, patience, and a cold coke and well done from time to time, with a idiot kid who could not stop asking questions,and was over eager to do everything, and did not listen well enough. I work to pay this forward, by volunteer coaching 4H kids, now that mine are grown. As I type this, I realize how much I have been blessed and had the opportunity to do. As to being a master of trad archery, as a whole, I feel like I am just getting started after doing this off and on for over 35 years, still feel the excitement as I head across the yard to shoot, or thru the woods, still get the nimrod excitment and enthusiasm. I pray that never changes.Thanks for this thread, hope it doesnt sound like I am bragging, just reflecting a lot lately.
Dang boy, you're getting all philosophical on me. ;) I think we all have different levels that we participate on depending on means, time and 'what floats our boat'. I want to someday make my own self bow, flint tip arrow with wrapped feathers and a self nock, ect., but for now I'm like you and buy bows and assemble arrows. I've still got growing daughters in the house that are involved in other things as well as archery. Hopefully they'll take up bow hunting this year or next, but that would just be icing on the cake of watching them shoot at animal targets with their lightweight recurves.
I think 'experts' are really just well experienced individuals who are willing to share proven ideas with those who haven't traveled the same path of hard knocks they've traveled. However there's probably always an 'expert' that they can learn from as well, so never rest on your laurels.
I'm a dreamer, I guess. I fancy that at best I may be a little bit above average as a shooter, and tool around making things in my basement that I can use in the field. I build and fletch my own aluminum arrows (not much to that), but buy my bows and knives and broadheads from people that know what they're doing. I've no interest in building bows, but sure appreciate those that do.
I've never killed anything but lots of gophers and squirrels and rabbits with trad gear, and am working on my first deer this year... again. The nice thing about traditional equipment is that the journey is so enjoyable, even when you aren't especially successful in your pursuits.
Traditional bowhunting has proven to be a most excellent hobby for me.
I like to shoot stuff with fur on it...feathers too. I have built a dozen or so bows. Most were butt ugly but functional and I have taken game with some of them. I also like to shoot 3d but have not in years. I take my vacation time with Family first then a week or so for a hunt. I am blessed to be able to walk from home and hunt and have thousands of acres of public land within 15 minutes. Most of all I have a Wife that loves me and does not mind if I hunt...or maybe she wants me out of the house more...either way we are both happy.RC
I have three talents, one is I can shoot pretty good ( at least in my mind ) two is, I have a talent for hunting ( or i'm just lucky in that department ) , and three, I can boil an egg !
If'n I ever become a master I'll just quit.
In the mean time I'll keep making bows and arras and breaking rock and learning the skills, dreaming of a better time in an era long gone when you could step outside the tepe and concrete was non existant nor a power line to be seen. A feller had to know his skills to survive and feed his family.
He could go to the woods for days on end and never see another soul.
I can boil an egg,well maybe :biglaugh:
I guess I'm more a hunter/tinkerer. I've been doing traditional archery since 1980. Started later in age at 34 but fell in love with longbows. I seem to be like Pat B in I'll modify or make my gear to what feels right to me...even if that means re-grinding a custom bow, knife, etc.
I love to hunt! Hunting with items I make is just more enjoyable for me! So again more a tinkerer than craftsman...tippit
Tippit, your knives are much more than those of a tinkerer, they are made by a craftsman!
I do it all. I've made my own arrows. Some primative and some from bought shafts. Also made my own Quiver and hunting knife. I'm always trying to learn how to make or better my gear. I love to hunt and you can't get me out of the woods. I've got a 18 yd shot in the basement so I shoot all year. I just can't get enough Trad.
I'm the craftsman. I can shoot and hunt, but those are mostly just things I do, but not really where my talent lies. Plus I find making bows more enjoyable than hunting. Hunting is hard work in reality.
I'm a hunter first and foremost, but like to make my own stuff. Bows are about the only thing I've haven't tried. Do my own taxidermy, build my flintlocks, tie flies, reload,...etc. Maybe there's a selfbow and good knife in my future.
I am , I guess , a shooter/hunter. I have my arrows fletched now though I used to do it myself. I set my bows up myself to shoot where I look but buy most all of my stuff. Shoot 3-d and love to hunt. Shoot 4 to 5 days a week all year round.
I guess I am a shooter, tinker. I make arrows, wood alum., or carbon. I make my own quivers but buy arm guards and gloves/tabs. I like to shoot 3d every week. I like to hunt but have not been able to for a couple of years due to a bad hip. Now hip is new and hoping to get out this fall.
I know how it feels to be one that likes to make something rather than use it. I make bamboo fly rods but can not fish to save my life. I like to cast but cannot fool those fish yet. I just visited Black Widow yesterday. My hat is off to all the bow makers. I think a bow would be beon my talents.
Hunter. I have made bows, knives and a few shafts. Tan my own hides, do my own taxidermy and have been afield everywhere but the globe's ends, Australia, and Africa. Desert in Arabia to winter in Norway. I have been blessed. Having said i that, i have been exposed to much, i do nothing well! I say "wow" to some bow, string, fletcher, leather crafter or knife crafter every time i come on this site.
I learn something about myself, mostly i have no hope to rise to those levels, every day here. I stand in awe and thank each of you for enriching my life
I would say Im as close to a master woodsman as there can be in this age. My job for a few years for the military demanded it of me so I kind of jumped feet first into that one.
However, because of life changes, I no longer hunt at all. I miss it, but I still shoot regularly so it is bearable.
Im a very competent woodworker but I will leave building bows to others.
I use aluminum arrows. I assemble the shaft to a shootable form. I am by no means an arrow craftsman.
That is a very nice post. As a newbie I would say that I love to stalk deer to photograph them. My aim is to get within my shooting ability as if I was with a bow. We cannot hunt with the bow here in the UK so I do the shooting on stumps and targets in the field. I also climb trees and judge the wind. So basically I do all the hunting but the kill which is a bit silly but there is nothing more I can do here in the UK. I also love to work with different camouflages. I made some woodies form scratch which shot like wonky drunken spaghetti pasta and have also broken 5 self bows. Not much of bowyer, not much of a arrow builder but I definitely love to be in the bush!
I suppose I'm both, build my own bows and process my own deer, game. Fairly good with a compass and hunt 4 to 5 days a week during hunting season. Shoot a few 3d'S And shoot a inddor league in the winter and a out door one in the summer when I can fit it in with friends.