Trad Gang

How old were you when you started shooting traditional archery equipment? I am 28 and feel like I have been missing out for quite some time now! Anyway I have been shooting traditional for roughly 3 months and have sold all vertical and horizontal bows with training wheels!

I was around 5yrs. old when I started shooting with my Dad. I'm 66yrs. old now, but have to say that I did shoot and compete with a compound for a few years in the 1980s.

Regards,
Grouse

I was 19 when made switch to tradtional.  I am 35 now.  Years 10 - 19 I bowhunted with compounds.

I guess around seven or eight.  I have no idea why I wanted a bow since no one in the family shot a bow although they were all hunters.  I'm now 58 and enjoy the sport more with every year.

when i was 12,im 36 now and always had a trad i shot even when i shot compounds....

I was about 7 and about to turn 49 in Oct.

Maybe 10 or so can't realy remember. But always was chassing something with bows or shotgun and 22. when I was a kid. Never had a compond .

Around 5 or 6. I'm 62 now. You would think I'd be better after 56 yrs, of practice!!  :dunno:  
Gerald

I completly switched from wheels about at about age 28. That was 5yrs. ago and I feel more like I'm on a journey now than just hunting.


Rob

I guess when I was about 12 I got a Bear "Red Bear" archery set. Of course back than it wasn't "Traditional", it was just "archery"

My Grandmother and Grandfather my fathers parents always had bows in the house. I don't even remeber shooting a bow the first time. I was prob around 5 or 6. My Grandmother would actually coach me and my Grandfather showed me how to make arrows. They were wonderful Grandparents and I miss them very much. They were part of the greatest generation and just incredible people. I wish I could of learned from them longer.

I got my first recurve at ten years old from my neighbor. A Bear Stag Hunter #55 and it was way too much for me at that time but I always enjoyed flinging a few arrows with it at half draw or less. I shot coumpounds and hunted with them from age 12 until I was 25 or 26. That was when I bought my first custom recurve and started hunting with it. I did switch back to compounds for about two years but now I am back to shooting my longbows only.

I was 11 years old, I'm 55 now. Shot wheels for about 8 years but came to my senses in 1984. Trad ever since.

I believe I was 15 and am 56 now

I was 11 and am 68 now. I shot a compound (crude by today's standards) for about 15 years. Doesn't make me a bad person.   :bigsmyl:  I've never been without at least one stickbow in the house since 1955.

Roundbal,  I understand what your saying. I switched over to trad gear 7 yrs ago when I was 27 and within 1 month I had sold or given away, all my wheels.  I wish I had started out with trad gear too, but at least we discovered the joy while we're still young enough to enjoy it.

5 or 6 and I'm 43

Thanks for asking! I started this Trad Stuff when I was 45! That's Right! Loved how it looked in pictures in magazines... Seemed to be a true stalkers way of doing it... Sold all my wheelie bows and never looked back! That was 11 years ago.

By the way... Haven't put a deer down yet but have had many, many close encounters... Kinda like the thrill without the mess.

... mike ...

I started when I was 42. I had gotten so boared with shooting a compound I actually quit hunting for about 4 years.  Trad got the fire burning again.

About 3 of age. I'm 47 now. My dad and mom would take my brothers and me to the Rocky River Metro Park in Cleveland to shoot the field course that was there. My dad had a Ben Pearson long bow of Osage, my Mom had a Pearson Jet. My brothers and I had black and white bear fiberglass bows. As kids we shot everything and anything. Glad my son is smarter than me and his uncles. He would be in jail otherwise with todays rules.  My Dad's bow broke a few years back but I still have my Mom's. Never shot a compound, never will.

I started trad when I was 48, three years ago.

Right before my 32nd birthday...just over 10 years ago.

Started at 18 in 1965.  Went the wheel route in the mid to late 80's and then back by 89.  You can figure my age.  I am enjoying every day in the woods.....

I got started when I was 50 years old, that was 9 years ago!

14 the first time, no such thing as a compound back then. Went the compound route when they came out, Bear Polar II was my first one followed by a bunch more contraptions. Then eighteen years ago at 38 I went back to the stickbow.

I started shooting traditional when I was 15 and I'm 18 now. Still have my compound but haven't shot it in 2 years or so.

I was 11 years old.  By the age of 17, I strayed to the dark side for many years.  Came to my senses a couple of years ago... got bored with wheels. I'm 51 now.

I started at 21 and now I'm 62.

I was 6 or 7. First hunting bow was Dad's dual shelf Bear Alaskan when I was 12, that was 1979.

I was 8.....60 now!

I was 4 or 5.  I'm 44 now.

I was six or seven.  I'm 66 now.  Like reddogge, I flirted with mechanical arrow launchers for a couple of years in the 70s.

My Mother had me shooting a old fiberglass bear recurve at the age of 5 years old. I am 40 tears old now.

I bought my first custom bow a Bighorn T/D when I was 19.I remember it cost me a whopping $230. Now 43 years old I will never shoot anything but, traditional. Started bowhunting at 14 here in N.Y. with a compound,I always wanted to shoot a recurve but did not know how to shoot one properly. I killed 2 bucks with a compound, and the 20 other deer have been with trad. gear.

I shot a compound growing up, but I never used a release or any high-falootin' technology.  I started shooting a recurve in 2006, when I was 35 years old.   I still like my compound, I think, but for some reason it has dust all over it.  Several years' worth.

I was 4. 45 Now, blessed to grow up with it. Never owned a compound and never hunted with a gun. My dad was the first paying member of the Colorado Bowhunters Assn.

Tracy

I shot an arrow through the window of our house Christmas morning with my new bow at age 7. I'm 51 now and still remember how scared I was on the way to the barn to tell Dad.

Started out in early 50's shooting arrows with rubber stoppers on the end. Shot recurves into the mid 70's then went to compounds till two yrs ago..and now back with recurves.

Got my first bear bow at age 12

I think 10-11, bought my first recurve in 1967 hunted for 12-13 years, tried a coumpound , got serious with trad stuff about 1987, been there ever since.

I was 21, I'm now 44.  Started with the compound at 11, switched over to stick and string 10 yrs later

I built my first custom longbow using a shade stick when I was 6-7 yeas old. I will be 70 Oct4 and still shooting traditional.

Had a green fiberglass bow at age 10, used it for 2 yrs. Christmas morning 1967 got my first "real" bow, a Ben Pearson Puma.

42, I'm 46 now.
Glenn

I was about 8 years old, but it didnt get real serious for me until I was about 12. I was living in Lolo Montana at the time, and a young man named Dick Robertson owned a small archery shop there. I hung out in the shop pretty much every day, and hunted a few times with Dick. I'm sure I bugged him to death, LOL. I got my first hunting weight bow from that shop by trading my mothers coffee pot for it. Great times!

Bought a solid glass Bear for $5 when I was 15, nobody in my family bowhunted. Wish I had it back now!!

41 years back it was... WOW

I made my first bow out if a piece of maple when I was right around 12.   It broke after a few days and the neighbor gave me an old Bear bow that I strung backwards and shot that way for about a month!   I ended up with a few more recurves over the next few years.   I went over to a compound through college and back to a recurve when I got married back in 1988.  That was 25 years ago.

Started at 6, now approaching 65.  Shot an early compound for a few years, missed seeing the arrow fly, and bought a bow from Tim Meigs.  No regrets, and I love watching that feather go down range

When I was about 10 back in the early 70's - started with my dad's grizzly then got my own kmag in 74.

Its all there was when I started, as a kid. I am almost 58 now.  My first bows were solid fiberglass, which worked great for carp shooting, a favorite hobby. Miss and you can always beat the carp with the bow.

My first real bow was a new Damon Howatt Coronado. It was beautiful.  I was proud to carry that bow while deer and rabbit hunting.
ChuckC

Back in the late 60's I was 13 when my uncle gave me a sweet recurve and gave me some shooting lessons. I had that bow for about 3 years before it was stolen. Loved that bow but switched to rifle hunting after it was gone.

Flash forward about 35 years. Never lost that earlier romance for archery. One day I decided to stop by Northwest Archery in Seattle after work. Spent some time talking with Glenn St. Charles that day and even shot a longbow. That experience lead to several more visits. Eventually I decided to buy a trad bow for my 50th birthday. And since then I've never looked back.

I was about 10 when first introduced to archery back before the days of wheelie bows. We shot the green Indian Archery bows that were the equivalent of Bear's "Red Bear". (Boy, those were fun!). I got out of it for a number of years, and in the 70's I shot sporadically. It was the late 80's when I really got into it deep and have been heavily involved ever since. I will turn 63 in October.

Put me down for 5 or so.  It was a bamboo bow that said "Niagra Falls" and came with a rubber headed tomahawk with red and yellow feathers.

Shortly thereafter a solid fiberglass Shakespeare (possibly Indian) recurved tip, and occasionally a lemonwood self bow (still have it) that was at my Grandpa's and I used to "hunt" bunnies in the apple orchard and clumps of dirt.

47 years ago.  How time flies.

I think I was about 7. I wanted to be like my dad, I watched him shooting his Bear Kodiak Magnum. I got the bright idea to make my own bow and arrows. I found a hatchet in the shed and went to work. I used a chainsaw file to cut the string notches and bailing twine for a string. Mom came undone when she saw what was left of her lilac bushes. That was the best whooping I ever got. I slipped to the dark side for several years but returned to where I belong 8 or so years ago. I am almost 39 now.

Chris

I started around 19 or 20 I think. I actually started with a compound but only shot it on occasion until I got my first recurve

I started shooting a bow when I was big enough to pull one. From the time I was 10 until 12 I shot a compound but the fun just wasn't there. I picked back up an old recurve laying around and started having fun with it. I got my first hunting weight trad bow when I was 12 so in a sense I started really shooting trad 6 years ago and haven't looked back.

At age 8 in Mississippi,  my Daddy bought me a Ben Pearson, solid hickory bow at a local hardware store.  That bow and I wandered every patch of woods and every green field.  I'm 64 now and not so deep down I'm still that little boy with his bow and a hand full of arrows.

I was 8 years old with a yew wood bow...many others since, plus some time with the wheels....back to trditional in the 80's and I'm now 68.....loving it!!

I started bowhunting with a recurve at age 14. I arrowed my first deer harvest at 16. I'm now 62 and still shooting recurves.  :thumbsup:

made a bow out of supple jack when i was 12 in fact me and my cousin made one each and we used to hunt rabbits with em well scared em more like it. and i have had a few bows since then  7 to be  exact and i still love to fling arrows at things        :scared:    :biglaugh:

8 years old, 64 now:)

13 years old,now i'm 73 They didn't have compounds back then and I think that was a blessing in disguised !

I was 6 years old, we lived in California. We moved to Texas the following year.. I'm now 58 and still don't shoot worth a flip..

Sure are a lot of us from that time frame..

52, been at it for a year now.

I started at about 12 years old, I'm now 62 years old and still love the simple flight of the arrow.

Started when I was around 6 with a little Lemon Wood flat bow.
I'll be 74 in Dec and now shooting Predators, Morrisons and Borders.

I got my first trad deer when I was 13 years old went to c-pound for a short time and been trad ever since.

doug77

Made my first bow in 1963 out of bent limb and string. Shot arrows I made from sticks with no fletching. That was 3rd grade.

Got a Pearson Cougar at 14 years and killed the first live deer (5-point buck) I ever saw with it at age 16 in 1970 (Brown County, Indiana).

Stayed with recurves until 1975. I was very avid, with no regrets, with a variety of "different" bows until returning to traditional with the 2010 hunting season. I'm loving the recurve very much these days.

Started with a pink, (yep, pink) youth longbow when I was about 8.  Switched to a compound when I was 11.  Gave my compound away and went traditional when I was 29, and have never looked back, or ever once missed the wheelie bow.

started with a fiberglass bow at about 10,went to a compound,gave them to my nephews and haven't looked back love the simplicity of a longbow.

I shot one of those red glass bows at about age 10.
Bought a Ben Pearson in '73 (age 22) at a garage sale for $25 but never really shot it...
Then I went to a Colo Bowhunter meeting 21 years ago (age 40)and bought an Asbel Big horn.  Life has never been the same...

A bunch of us neighborhood kids started making bows out of bamboo, saplings (alive or dead), or most anything else we thought would work about 1957 (I was 6).  My grandfather gave me a "real" bow-lemonwood longbow when I was 10.  My longbow became a 3 piece while I was shooting it one day, I was about 12, so I got his custom recurve from '47 or '48 for Christmas that year.  I shot a compound for about 2 years in the mid 80's.  I agree with GRS!!!

My dad made my first bow when I was 6 years old. The bow has been my passion for my entire life since then...70 years behind the bow

I shot a compound bow one time about 30 years ago...I didn't like it and I've never owned one or shot one since.

I started about 20 years ago after reading a copy of Traditional Bowhunter magazine. I'm 63 now.

A boy's dream, A man's life"

The bow and arrow spoke to me when I was five years old
It said, come play with me young lad if you should be so bold

The singing string and whispering shaft was music to my soul
I knew it was a part of me when I was twelve years old

The bow was small for a lad so tall as I grew so long and lean
A new bow I sought, and finely bought, when I turned sixteen

The years they flew and at twenty two, a bow for the bride I took
Together we hunted for whitetail deer from our camp by a babbling brook

Soon a little bow hung along side the bows of mom and dad
Then another,.. and still another,.. three little bowmen we finely had

As time went by the children grew, then Grand children came along
Once again, the longbow sang, it's captivating song

This new generation was soon to learn the wonders of stick and string
They watched as Grandpa showed them, the joys the bow could bring

No one can count the arrows this old man has sent to flight
Someday I'll shoot my very last shaft into the murky night

Now there's a great grand child to teach, the joy of these wonderful sticks
This old man, still loves his bow, at the age of seventy six.

TO BE CONTINUED

2nd grade,60 yesterday and still at it.That was a beautiful poem Ron.
   Pappy

I was about 28 when I started gun hunting and shortly after that I got an old Shakespear recurve that I hunted with my first year. It was maybe 6 to 8 years after that(after compounds) that I started in earnest. I'm 62 now so you do the math and you'll see you still have plenty of time to get your fill. d;^)

Began shooting solid fiberglass bows just before high school, so around 1959 - 1960. Bought my first laminated bow (Pearson Cougar) around 1961 - 1962. Bought my first real hunting bow (Pearson/Locksley Wildcat) in 1964 or 1965. Been shooting recurves and longbows all my life.

Mike

I was 15 and now I'm 62

I was 22 when I started.  But I was 25 when I quit using the compound.

About 11 yrs old, started hunting with a recurve at 18. went to wheels for awhile then started shooting a long bow 5 yrs ago and can't see myself shooting anything else- love it, every thing about it. Make and shoot   :archer:   strickly wood.

Oh yea, forgot Im 53 { you dont have to be old to forget}

i was 31 when i put the compound down for good. I'm 41 now..... I wish i'd made the transition so much sooner. hindsight............

Just picked up trad about 9 months ago. 27 years old and love this new challenge. Do still shoot the compound though.

Around 10yrs old and I'm 48, there was about a 4yr stretch during Highschool that I moved to the "Darkside" but I wised up. The most modern compound I ever owned was a Bear Whitetail II.

Steve

I guess I could have give some more background. It started for me as a kid when I can remember my father attempting to shoot an old Jennings compound bow and the release and string getting caught in his beard and the bow flying one way and the release the other followed by several four letter words  :banghead:  That was the end of his archery days.  He has tought me to be a great hunter he just is not an archer. Anyway he lost interest but I did not so he would make me bows and arrows from limbs off the tree's in our back yard and I had a blast. As I got old enough to hunt it was all guns until around the age of 15 I bought my first compound because I knew in a year I could drive myself out hunting during archery season.  I used a compound for 5-6 years hunting and competion and just got bored with it. So then I got wrapped up up in the crossbow super accuracy long range bull@#$% up until the end of this past hunting season and I told my wife I was going back to the compound because there was just no challenge using the crossbow.  Then in July I bought a cheap PSE recurve and I knew immediatly what I had been missing my whole hunting/shooting life. I guess it fits me anyway because when I do use a gun I only use flintlock or percussion muzzleloaders so as technology advances forward I am walking in reverse I guess but I love it. Something about drawing that bow and to feel it release and watch the arrow strike its mark (when I'm lucky   ;)  ) no wheels no sights. Just a natural feeling...a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction.

just started this year,WOW,for 42 years I have been missing out.I remeber as a kid my uncles recurves hanging on the wall.Now I have come full circle and love more everyday.

1972 on my tenth birthday  my grandfather bought me my first bow a Shakespeare  .then around 1978 he surprised me with a Bear Kodiak hunter.Thats when I started going to some 3-d shoots .Back then you were just called a bowhunter  .Next bow was a Black Widow M.B  from 1983-89. Then Traditional bow hunter magazine came out .and I ordered  my first custom bow from Jim Brackenbury ,and now that I just turned fifty I lost track of all the bows I've bought and sold .I guess I've been a Traditional bowhunter  all this time but I still just call myself a bowhunter.

I was 8 or 9,56 now.

Fell in Love with Traditional Archery after American Sportsman,with Curt Gowdy aired the show of Fred Bear taking the Bear on the Beach,while hiding behind the Boulder with Mr Bilderback.I believe that I was 9 at the time,58 now, but had a break in between.

I shot a little when I was a kid up until about 12 or so, did not shoot again until after college and used compounds. Picked up traditional in 2005, I was forty then.

Let's just say I've been doing it for 67 years.

49, I was a late bloomer!     :bigsmyl:

Started at age 5 and still shooting stick bows at 60.

Allan

It wasn't traditional back in the late 50's. I'm 60 now.

About 6 years old and Iam 60 now. Several years with wheelie but back to trad for good.

I was about 40 years old, I'm 42 now    :eek:

Lovin every minute of it    :archer:

i was was 20 when i got my first recurve an now i'm 27

5 years old and I am now 63.

I was 5 yrs. old, shooting woodchucks on the farm. Now I am 62 (%$#@&%) and still shoot 60-65# bows. Had a compound for a week, never saw the use for it.

18

Trad only for the last 25 years.

We all (6 of us) each started when we turned 5. I did the same with my kids.

Started at 12, I'm now 56.

9 or 10  but I strayed to the dark side for about 10 years.Picked up a recurve at a bow shoot in WV and never looked back.

I was 15 when I made the switch. 19 Now so this will be my fourth year hunting trad.

I started when my dad bought me a solid glass bear age 10 now 52 and I got my son a compound at 9 he used it for a year then I had mike at mad dog build a long bow for his 10 birthday  and it's all he shots now

Started bowhunting at 17, grandpa gave me his old recurve last year. I am not sure why everybody refers to compounds as the "dark side" I have just as much fun shooting that as I do my trad bow. It is all bowhunting any way you look at it. Still trying to figure out how to shoot this dang thing, but having fun trying. It is important I believe to welcome all hunters, be they compounders muzzleloaders crossbow hunters or what have you. Hunting is hunting, regardless of how it is done. Its the PETA people we need to band together against, all this "I'm better and more ethical than you because I shoot a ....." chest bumping stuff has to quit for the better of all ARCHERS imo.

I was 6 yrs old, still have the yellow/white fiberglass bow. that was in 1961 and I harassed all the birds and squirrels for many hours a day.
Pleasant memories for sure.

I was 20. 19 years ago. My first longbow was a cari-bow featherhorn. And have been a dedicated cari-bow owner from day one.

I was 19 and am now 26...It was something I though would be a challenge and it has kind of taken over as a way of life.

14, am now pushing 62.

Started deer hunting at 19, bow hunting at 21 and trad. bow hunting at 25.  I am now 40.  My first trad bow was a Wing Hunter that I picked up for $40 at a bow shop.  Still have it and shoot it.

Me, about 7, I am now 50.  My son is really good at 3 yrs  of age   :)  

Kris

My twin brother and I were 14 for Xmas when we each got 35lbs fiberglass Ben Person bows.  Harvested my first doe with that bow the next season, round the corner of the barn.  Went to training wheels for about 15 years and came back to the traditional bows in the 90's.  I am know 55.  I have 5 old girls (bows) and hope that they will last me for the rest of my life.

I was ten. I'm 61 now. It sure has been a ball. (nut)  :bigsmyl:

I've always had a stick n string around although there have been time when I relied upon training wheels for months and years.  I started shooting my Dad's old Bear K-Mag when I was 12.

I was 9 (versus 52 now).  At a Cub Scout meeting our Den Mother's husband made an arrow - including carving a head of wood - and shoot it from a very simple self bow he'd made from hickory sapling.  I was hooked, and in my mind, quit the cowboys for the Indians that very afternoon.

I was 25 gave my wheels away and have not worried about much ever since.

25 in 1994.........never looked back!

I was 26 when I switched over from wheels, 31 now.

I think I was 5 or 6. I'm 59 now, and I never did use training wheels.

Do recall shooting a feathered critter at the age of nine with self made bow and arrows from tree limbs.

Was gifted my 1st production bow(Little Bear) at age eleven(1969).

I got my first dogwood self bow at eleven and am now 63.  Didn't shoot for quite a few years but am having more fun now than ever.  Hoping to shoot for the next twenty years :-)

I was 20 and now 28, best 8 years of my archery years!

I don't remember the first time I shot a bow, I'd imagine I was around 3.  My grampa had an old longbow, and it was so long I had to stand on a stool to shoot it, but it was just something I did at his house, I don't remember the first time, I just tell people archery is something I've just always done.

I believe around 2. Now 18 its beens 16 years all ready:-)

Schafer

I was ten years old or so, when my grandfather's next door neigbor gave me a Bear Alaskan (the orange and black one) 45# recurve.  It was all covered with brownish black crayon to help it blend in with the woods.  I spent days stripping that stuff off.  That bow was my constant companion for years until I left for Active Duty service in the Marine Corps at 19.  That was 21 years ago or so and just last year my Brother in Law handed me my Alaskan back with ireperable cracks in the working part of the limb (I was enraged, bu ton ly on the inside).  I recently found an Identical one for sale locally and, of course bought it.

Tom

I shot without wheels until 13, hunted entirely with a wheeled arrow-launching machine till 22, when I discovered the degenerative wicked traditions of my forefathers which I was then embroiled in, and have been 100% All-Natural ever since.  I am 32 now and not suffering any withdrawals.  :-)

I'm impressed with the amount of gray-hairs here who never succumbed!  I reverance your name in bringing us through the dark days.

Ron, may your poem never end!

I was about 9.. Had a red fiberglass bow  for a while then Dad won a 40# bear recurve at a 3d shoot and give it to me.
I shot wheels for a while when dad quit bowhunting . I sold
the wheel bow in 2004 and have been shooting longbows ever since. I am 32

Im 38. I started with a longbow, and compounds were forbidden. So you know, my Father was a commander in the Fedora and Flannel brigade. After I left home, and joined the Navy I bought a compound bow and shot those exclusively for about three years. Then had a spell where I messed with crossbows. When my father died, and my family squabbled over his money, I made off with all the bows and knives. That was in 97. I have been shooting trad exclusively for about two years and I am just now getting where I want to be with it.

I don't recall how old I was when I first shot the fiberglass kids bow that introduced me to the flight of an arrow. My first hunting season was in 1972 at age twelve using a recurve. It has been recurves and longbows only for the entire journey.

I'm 40 now, so probably 8 years ago. I must say, I have not regretted it one bit!

Jason

30 or 31. Went right from guns to traditional tackle. Glad I did.

I shot little longbows as a kid. My dad brought me home a used Martin Warthog magnum compound one day. I shot that bow for years (fingers and no sights)until it blew up on me,I was just a couple years out of High school.I was looking through a magazine for ideas on a new bow and saw a Black Widow ad. Remember the one with the Graybark MA leaning against the tree in the snow? That was it,I had to have one. Saved up some cash and ordered one.Nothing but recurves and longbows since then. I'm 42 now.

I was 6 years old. Now I'm 54. I did try a compound for about 6 months and thats all it took to get that nonsense out of my system. I quit shooting for about 10 years while persueing a fishing career. i will shoot traditional till my old fingers can't hold the string anymore..

Great GranPa built me a little longbow and some cedar arrows in the summer of '65 when I was 9 years old. I got my first store bought bow a couple of years later, a 35# maple riser Indian w/ orange glass.  At 16 my Dad gave me a new Howatt Coronado for a muley hunt in NW Colorado and I still have that bow.

I am 54 and we always had bows as far back as I remember. Mom had a strong rule against BB guns so we had slingshots (Whammo) and bows.We had a hickory bow my uncle made for a scout project and a glass bow of 10 to 15 lbs.My brothers had a howatt hunter and a bear panda. My Dad had a bear cub longbow.Us kids could buy four arrows for a buck at the coast to coast store. Shot them till they were gone at anything and everything till they were gone. Aerial shot them as we walked to the grand parents home a mile away.Bought a Howatt Hi-speed when I turned 14 and hunted with it till I was 20 when i tryed a compound for 3 years. Bought a Shafer Silvertip when I turned 25. Started building bows in 1986 and still shoot 68" straight ed locust bows and a 64" osage self bow. Still have the Hunter of my brothers, my Hi-Speed and my Dad's cub.

I started off shooting a recurve when I was a kid. Got in to hunting when I was 16 had a bear recurve. Switched to a compound shot it bare bow until I was 21. I'm 36 now and have started to shoot the recurve again

Around 10ys but took some years off and got back at it around 1.5 years ago.

My dad made me my first bow when I was 6 years old. When I was 9 years old. I got a hickory bow and arrow set from the Sears/Robuck catalog. I won my 1st archery award in 1947 when I was 11 and I've never owned a compound bow. At 76 years old I've been shooting a traditional bow for 70 years. Started bow hunting deer in 1955.


   (http://www.shrewbows.com/rons_linkpics/First%20Archery%20award.jpg)

That's cool, Ron!

I got introduced into archery at age 27 (wheels). I had several friends that shot sticks and after a couple years of the wheels I finally got my first recurve. It was a Bear Kodiak Hunter. I played with it while still shooting my wheelie bow. One day I went to a 3D shoot with my recurve and a quiver full of arrows. I had to borrow an arrow on the last target because every one I had brought was either lost, bent, or broken. That day I learned how hard trad was. It became a challenge to me and I swore I was going to learn how to do it. I put up the wheels and have pretty much only shot the trad bows since that day. So, I guess I was 29 or 30 when I started trad archery.

That was just over 20 years ago and I am still learning and striving to get better today!

Bisch

I shot my first recurve when I was 10. Bought a wing Thunderbird recurve at 14, and my first compound, a bear polar LTD at 19. Been shooting both ever since, at 55 I still manage to take a few deer with each during the season.

I was 10 years old ,Started at a YMCA summer camp.  I got Fred Bear long bow and shared it with my Cousins. it was a Fred Bear green fiberglass bow. don't know what ever happened to it. but I've always had a stick bow since then. got my first deer in 1973. took me a long time to connect ,but every step in the woods was worth it .


Carl

I am 52 and started around 8 years old.  Only switched to the 'Dark Side' for about 4 years, then came back.

I started with an old Blackhawk recurve when I was 5. It still hangs on my bow rack to this day. I am now 32 and just switched over to longbows from recurves about two years ago. I still have a compound and shoot it every now and then.

I think I was 5 or 6 when my Dad gave me a bow an indian made for him when he was a kid. I still have that bow on the rack. It has not even had a string for years to keep the grandkids from pulling it. I don't think eighty year old hickory would be up to much work these days.

5 years old. 52 now. still feel like a kid when I have a bow in my hands.

I was 28 when I made the switch to stick and
string ...been 4 yrs got 4does and 3 spring gobblers LOVIN EVERY MINUTE of it!!!!!!

8 and now 58...enjoy the ride.

3

Ron was shooting good before i was born.Used to make my own bows out of tree limbs and would buy arrow at hardware store for 25 cents.50 something now 64.

Early 20's

19, hung up the compound. About to turn 45.

27

20

14  Year 1964.  Hung up my compound ... Oh, wait!  no.  Getting senile....  Didn't have no compound.

If you got one hunting with wheels, it meant the front grill of the car was busted in.  So, yea, I got one with wheels way back too....

4 years old. It was just archery then.

Ummm...thirty something.  But I've been shooting bows since I could make my own.  Compounds until my early twenties and after I missed a couple of deer, I layed the stick bow down for awhile.  Picked it back up about four years ago and haven't looked back.

Started shooting at around 7 or 8. But started hunting with a Ben Pearson at 13. I'm now 57 I shot my sons compound after I retired from the Navy but soon went back to my recurve. Never been sorry.

3 or 4

I was 3.  I have a picture of me with my little plastic longbow shooting in he back yard.  Even blunted a squirrel on the butt when I was three or four with that bow.  Of course the squirrel was fine and finished running up the tree.  I remember it like it was yesterday even though it was 31 years ago.  Good times.

I was 5.....now 40 years young.

Around 5 years old in the mid-'60's shooting with my dad in the backyard at a haybale.

Probably just old enough to pull back a bear longbow, toy as it was, but that was my first experience.  

Then as a teenager a fellow farm hand loaned me his recurve to shoot some carp and gar with in the river that was close to the farm.

After starting a family and getting into archery with a compound I found I was missing the fun in archery until I rediscovered it in my 40's.  Now at 45 just this season I was blessed to harvest my first white tail with a long bow!

K.C.  <><

about the age of 30, shoot compound for awhile before that but they never excited me. oh and i'm 35 now.

My dad got me started when I was 5, that was 1951. Still shooting and going strong at 65.

Since July, 2012... I'm a newbie to and loving it

21 and Im now 28.

I was 35 when I started with the arrow launchers, and 38 when I started with traditional archery.  I've been addicted since 2006, and now my kids are too.

I was 22 never shot a compound now I'm 50. My son is 17 he started at 2? with a little plastic bow and has been going strong every since. He shot several deer with a youth compound now recurve.

Nine, with homemade (truly primitive) gear. For my 10th birthday received a Bear starter set.  Trad hiatus from age 18 to 51, 53 now.  Glad I got back to it!

32, now 39.  Will love it until I die, never returning back to where I came from.

All of the kids in our family started when we turned 5. We all couldn't wait for that birthday! That makes 45 years of arra flingin'.

My dad got me a lemonwood longbow on my eight birthday. That was in 1953.

I started shooting bows my dad (Hackbow) would make for me out of rose bushes and bailing twine when i was 2.  I actually have memories of those times.  I shoot both traditional and compound now but ill always remember those thorn bush bows and arrows. pretty sure i was beatin him then too!   :archer:

I was 10 when I started shooting a Bear Grizzly that belonged to my best friends Grandfather. Went to black powder rifles and wheelie bows through high school but returned to a Recurve in 1990. Been shooting Trad ever since.

63 years old and have been shooting trad since age 14.  There was no other way to shoot back then. Played with the compound on and off for a few years in the 80's but never really like them and found I spent most of my time with the traditonal stuff so I just stuck with the recurve and longbows.  I shoot almost daily as long as the weather permits, and prefer draw weights of 50 to 55#

Maybe 7 maybe less; don't really know for sure.   :archer2:

Not sure, maybe 10 or 11 when I shot my first real bow, 64 now...PR

I was 16, went to stick when I was 18. I'm now 24 I've only hunted with a compound about 3 or 4 times.

50 years ago, seems like I should be a better shot by now...

I got the bug at 18, after doing some tinkering with training wheels. Although i have considered going back since I haven't had as much time to give to it lately.

QuoteOriginally posted by Jack Ripper:
My Grandmother and Grandfather my fathers parents always had bows in the house. I don't even remember shooting a bow the first time. I was prob around 5 or 6. My Grandmother would actually coach me and my Grandfather showed me how to make arrows. They were wonderful Grandparents and I miss them very much. They were part of the greatest generation and just incredible people. I wish I could of learned from them longer.

Excellent post!!! Respect.

At 3 years old my dad got me a little longbow. Shot a bunch of them (mostly recurves as I got older) till dad bought me a compound at 11 years old to deer hunt with. I used a compound for 9 years. I'm 38 now but at 21 years old I made the switch to a recurve. 17 years straight now I've been hunting souly with a recurve, the same recurve actually. Haven't owned a compound since. I've recently gotten tendinitis In my bow arm very bad. My traditional days are numbered. It sucks but It Is what It Is. The bad thing Is 6 months ago I ordered a Schafer Silvertip TD recurve. Not sure how long I'm going to get to enjoy shooting that bow. Some day I'll have to buy a compound again. It will be shot with fingers and no range finder for this guy. Can't stand releases and range finders. Not bow hunting enough to me.