I know we are supposed to be experts at gap shooting and instinctive. BUT, how many of you do use sights (for hunting) on your bow? What kind? Why? :bigsmyl:
I went to the trad bow to get away from all the fancy gadgets. I see no need for sights on a trad bow. Just stick and string and good times. People get too analytical when they start putting sights on a bow and they start trying to come up with all this fancy algebra for each shot presented. Who has time for all that? I sure dont. Just have fun
I took a few shots with a fellows three piece takedown from Three Rivers that had the shaped peep style on it. I hate to admit it, but that set up works.
Sights on traditional bows have been around for a long long while... longer than most of the naysayers... do a search (Google) and a few will pop up. Don't let other beliefs deter you.
I started out shooting Barebow when I was a Wee Lad, then the "Wheelie Gremlin" :scared: got me..... as it has most of us at one time or another. :saywhat:
I agree with eric, too many gadgets & doo-dads that can get knocked outta' whack by looking at them wrong, or so it seems. :rolleyes: :wavey: I wont Dog you about it, just isnt in the cards for me! :deadhorse:
I joined an archery club in 1970, there were two classes back then. Bare bow and sights. Sights have been on stick bows for years. Seems like the newer generation of trad guys think sights don't belong on stick bows. I don't use sights on my bows, but you can shoot your bows however you want.
My first sight pin was a toothpick superglued to the bottom of my upper limb. It worked, but now I shoot instinctive.
There was this Jack Howard guy who used a sight on his hunting bows... stir on that tidbit of info for a while should you start to think that pursuing the use of a sight may not be worth the while... Mr.Lamb states a "zero" loss from wounding record for Mr.Jack Howard who also built one helluva nice looking bow to boot.
Never understood why someone would want to shoot traditional and then put a sight or other gadgets on it. Instinctive here!!
Being an "old guy" I have to say that back when there were no compounds, most guys in my area used sights. Many used releases! I do not understand why anyone says sights are not "trad". We have accepted new string materials, aluminum and carbon arrows but sights are not "trad".......I guess it is how you grew up in archery and maybe it is an "age thing".
Sights or no sights....doesn't matter to me. Go for it if you think it'll help. However, the most important thing is to have good form to shoot well regardless of your aiming system.
Double post
Right on Scout. Old guy here too:) Back when you and I started shooting bows, there was no traditional term, it was just archery. Traditional came about after the wheel bows hit the scene. I would say in the 1970's it was about 50/50 barebow and sights. And in the 70's I seen more than one perfect score on a 300 round.
Yep, I've been shooting sticks for more than 50 years. Back in the day, sights were fairly common. I don't use sights, but there's little doubt they can improve accuracy at known distances. Shoot what you can hit with. BTW, gap shooting is sight shooting. The archer is just using the tip of the arrow as a sight rather than a sight pin.
I first learned archery with a Bear Cub and a single brass pin sight. You had to still go through all the form development to make it work just like with barebow.
It is not a crutch to use a sight as Howard Hill thought. Sometimes barebow can be too much of a challenge for someone who does not possess Howard Hill's amazing skill. Using a sight is simply another method of delivering an arrow accurately. Pure gap shooting uses the arrow as a sight more or less. Some call it a reference point. Depends on how you look at it really. Pure gap shooting will only work when distance is known just the same when using sights.
I think to keep things simple, it would be nice to mount a sight to Kwikee Kwiver inserts in the riser of the bow if your bow has them. This makes it reversible without permanently altereing the bow.
The SRF sight from 3 Rivers claims it incorporates instinctive shooting into the use of the sight itself. That seems counterintuitive to me but upon reading up about it, the sight does more accurately resemble the process of learning gap shooting. Which makes more sense to me.
Sights are just fine.
I used to use one on my Black Widow recurve. I started gap shooting when I got my longbow about 2 years ago, and now went completely to gap shooting on all my bows. For some reason, it just fits me better to gap shoot.
But if using a sight makes you a more responsible trad shooter when releasing an arrow at an animal, then use it.
After all, shooting with a "gap" mentality is just a different type of sighting technique.
Gap shooting IS shooting with a sight -- the tip of the arrow. Nothing wrong with that. Or with string walking. I shoot instinctively, but that's not for everyone. I admire anyone who takes to the woods armed with only a trad bow and arrows. It's tough enough no matter how you take aim.
Allan
I don't use them .....but sights are more traditional than compounds. :readit:
I was thinking of the sight that 3Rivers sells. My collection has 5 recurves and my intent was for one of them......Thanks for all the input, you guys are great!
If it works for you go for it. I'm not sure that a sight on a recurve or longbow is all that helpfull. In my opinion it is not the sight pins on the compound that are the advantage. It is all the other things that take the human element out. But then again I have not shot an arrow from a compound in nearly twenty years so I can't really say I know what I'm talking about.
I use a single pin set into the sight window of my BW MAII. It is dead on at 20 yards and I am good from 10 to 30 yards with it at those distances. It requires a slight elevatiobn to hit dead on at 40 yards. Works good for me no matter what all the "force be with you" naysayers say.
QuoteOriginally posted by nomansland4404:
Never understood why someone would want to shoot traditional and then put a sight or other gadgets on it. Instinctive here!!
I never understood how some people are so closed minded!!!
I switched to trad 5 or 6 years ago, and after shooting many 3D shoots, my biggest dissappointment has been with the level of accuracy that most "trad" archers have.
So I say, if you want to shoot with sights, and it makes you a better archer, go for it! Its still "trad" as far as I am concerned.
I personally don't like sights as they complicate things too much for me, but if it makes you a better shot or you feel more comfortable with them I say use em.
I usually gap shoot but my bow also has a sight on it. I like the sight for aiming at smaller targets. Using it really doesn't curb my enjoyment of shooting, it just gives me more utility.
Shooting instinctive is cool but I would rather see someone shoot accurately with sight pins than go around wounding animals because they can't shoot well instinctively.
Correction shooting traditional is "cool". Hunting is cool, being outside is cool. Understanding where your food comes from is cool. Taking part in the cycle of life is cool. Resurrecting our connection and dependence on the land is cool.
Shooting with a sight holds no relevance.
I go back and forth between the two. On a good day I can shoot just as good without one as with. On a poor day my shooting is just short of sucky. With a sight I'm more consistent day to day, if I'm going hunting I want consistency.
I start bow hunting back in 1976 when I was 16. First bow was a Bear Grizzly I bought for $74 new. Also bought a Cobra sight with brass pins, some fiberglass arrows, Bear greenie broad heads and a spring arm quiver.Pretty much standard equipment back then. So for me, sights are traditional. Oh yeah, and a pair if WWII camo limb socks.
I do remember seeing Straight Pins being held on with Masking Tape on several Old Recurves....
QuoteOriginally posted by PSUBowhunter:
QuoteOriginally posted by nomansland4404:
Never understood why someone would want to shoot traditional and then put a sight or other gadgets on it. Instinctive here!!
I never understood how some people are so closed minded!!!
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Close minded? My take on his statement is he has chosen to not use sights, and does not understand why anyone would use them.
I don't see anything wrong with someone standing up and saying "I don't understand why..."
I was drawn to trad hunting because most DON'T use sights. I respect those who don't use them when they are proficient, for the skill and dedication shooting well without them implies.
Joshua
I used sights on all my bows for many years, and it becomes more of a yardage estimating challenge than anything else. using sight pins also requires the bow remains vertical or it effects your windage.
i think if you wanted to increase your effective killing range, and have the ability to shoot consistently better at further distances, using sight pins can, and will help you do that. But it requires the same dedication to practice and keeping your bow tuned as any set up does.
For me I've chosen to get this instinctive shooting down to well...."Being instinctive" and keep my yardages short and sweet. being able to cant the bow 90 degrees and shoot from my knees through the tips of the ferns is very cool stuff.
For me it has nothing to do with tradition or earning others respect...
A sight is simply something else to go wrong. My equipment tends to get dropped, rubbed up against bushes and trees, etc. Simplicity means reliability.
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Doesn't matter to me what one does. But i will do it with a simple stick and string.
I shoot both without on my longbows and with on a few of my 'curves ...
It was pretty common back in the dat to have hunting pins on your bow . I think it would be great help to many archers I know to actually give them a try at least as a training aid ...
It ain't easy , its still hard but it just adds a different dimension to my archery ... my first recurve had three hunting pins on it and it was 25 years old when I got it ... and i got it in 1981 or thereabouts ...
I started with tape on the front of the riser.I'd just line up the tape (10 20 30 yards pieces) and use it that way much like a sight pin.
These days I am pure instinctive,but the tape method helped me get the arrow there accurately.
If you guys want to use a sight on your bow go for it.Don't let the trad police tell you not to. :thumbsup: