...at a local archery shop. Two young men walked in while we were packing up, looked at our longbows with expressions of surprise and said: "Wow, can you guys really hunt with those :eek: ?"
I must admit being equally surprised at their question and looks of amazement. I guess I've always expected everyone associated with archery to be well aware of traditional or old-style equipment. Oh well, go figure...
Two years ago I shot a doe in the evening and a buck in the morning(first traditional kills). My sister and brother in law can to camp to visit and look at the deer. My brother in law saw my longbow leaning against the hangin pole and said with surprise "you shot them with that!"
Years ago before I knew who Paul Schafer was I asked him if he ever actually killed anything with his recurves. He said yup I do alright. I feel a little silly every time I think of that. He must have thought what an idiot.
A buddy and I shot a couple deer at last light up in north Wisconsin. Flashlights gave out on us so we took compass headings and came back at first light. At the parking lot, there were two young couples dragging canoes off their SUVs to partake of nature. They made faces of disdain when we walked past them carrying longbows, but one of the gents said " at least you are doing it the right way ".
They weren't so pleased when we dragged two deer back up to the truck within the hour ! That was the first time I used that cart I described in another thread. Worked great
ChuckC
Speaking of unique experiences. Anybody know how to kill a unique deer ?
ChuckC
I let a buddy at work check out one of my recurves once he looked bewildered and said "where's the sights on this thing?" Another time I gave a kids bow to a buddy of mine for his son. He loves to bowhunt with a compound so it suprised me when he asked, " how do you aim this thing??" Lol I figured he would have known.
There are a lot of younger bowhunters that have never been exposed to traditional archery. These are the very people that are prompting the surge in popularity in traditional archery at this time and will coninue if we invite them to the sport, without the elitist attitute and seperatisism that I see from time to time. There are not many bowhunters that have never hunted with a compound or a crossbow in their past, so let's all just get along and enjoy the hunt
Everyone knows you............Unique up on em Chuck. :biglaugh:
and a tame deer ?
ChuckC
The tame way...of course:)
What do you call a deer who lost its eyes?
No-eye deer :biglaugh:
o m g !
CHuckC
I think a couple of you guys should send resume's to Jay Leno.
Yeah I know his time is limited but he could go out with a bang with you guys writing for him...lol
Enjoyed the laugh!!
God bless,Mudd
Those are adults who are confused. Give same child's bow to a child a few arrows and an open field and he or she will. E sailing shafts in short order!
The local archery shop tells people trad is what people shoot that are too cheap to hunt for real. They spend a lot of time trying to discourage people and spread misinformation because they don't carry a single trad item. Funny how I can still outshoot them-they're weekend warriors, and they proudly cater to people who don't practice to get good-they buy expanding broadheads to replicate how their field points fly, they sell crossbows so it's like gun season, et cetera, ad nauseam. If you don't build it here you have to order it in. People seem to be openly hostile to trad in a lot of places. They'll even go so far as to call it unethical.
I've never experienced any hostility from other archers, save for one guy who seemed to look down his nose at me (but he did that to a lot of compound shooters too that didn't have the latest greatest rig) I usually get the "I don't know how you hunt with those" or the infamous " why would you limit yourself so much with a bow?" Then they go on to tell how they can take a compound and smoke em at 50+ yards. I think most folks just don't understand the advantages of a traditional bow within the realm of an average shot 25-30 yards and under. And more over I really don't think a lot of folks want to take the time to become really proficient with the weapon. It's a shame because they don't know what they are missing out on.
I was at the range today shooting my wheelie for hunting season ( Just not good enough YET with my trad to hunt )
After about an hour of shooting I put it away and got out my trad gear and started shooting. A couple of the guys looked down their nose at me and said, why would you shoot that old thing when you have a " Real " bow
I said the first thing that came to my mind, To cleanse my soul and walked off to pull my arrows from the target.
Five minutes later they were busy changing the batteries in their holographic sights. All I could do was chuckle
QuoteOriginally posted by HighTecRedNeck:
Five minutes later they were busy changing the batteries in their holographic sights.
Holographic sights!!!! ??? Really!!!
Wow. Never knew there was such a thing..... I guess I just like the simplicity of the Trad Bow. Simple in design and function....not so "simple" to master....but isn't that the point? Never even pulled the string on a compound. Nothing against them just not that interested. Might have to go watch a few guys though with all these hi tech gadgets!!
Yes really, the good ones even have a laser range finder on them.
I usually get different reactions depending on age. The older guys with compounds tell me about the bows they used to have. I get younger guys asking questions with genuine interest even if they arent looking to switch. I have had dads who were teaching their kids on a compound even say "thats a real bow" I had a volunteer at the rifle range, he must have been 70+, say "nice looking bow. Thats a respectable bow. Not like those g** awful compound things"
In return I respect shooting compounds as a shooting sport. It is just not archery.
QuoteOriginally posted by HighTecRedNeck:
Five minutes later they were busy changing the batteries in their holographic sights. All I could do was chuckle [/QB]
Now all they need is those heat-seeking arrows!!!! :biglaugh:
QuoteOriginally posted by ChuckC:
Speaking of unique experiences. Anybody know how to kill a unique deer ?
ChuckC
You "neak" up on it. :biglaugh:
It's like so many other arenas in our current society. People are lazy, plain and simple. And entitled. They go out to hunt not wanting to work for it and thinking they're entitled to their bag limit, hence all the gizmos and chaff. LoL, can you tell I've been around some doubters? Anyway, I agree 100% we must be positive friendly ambassadors of the sport. I keep my more disgruntled thoughts to myself.
I was talking to a kid Sunday after sundayschool and he was talking about how he had a bow fishing rig set up on his compound. And that he was thinking about trying his dads old long bow. During the conversation that sparked afterwards I brought up how I believe a trad bow is a more effective hunting weapon than a compound. He looked slightly bewildered but after I explained that the biggest hurtle is the period of time it takes to master a trad bow he seemed to come around with genuine interest. I told him a total novice can pick up a compound and be hitting X's regularly in a week. It takes a long time to really master a recurve or long bow. But once mastered an archer can lay accurate fire on a target in less time than with a compound. I think it was Fred Eichler that was quoting a friend of his saying "if I want to shoot an apple off your head ill use a compound. I know the range, your going to hold still, and I have time to aim. If I want to kill you ill use a recurve." I used to have a compound, and I enjoy shooting them. The Lord knows they have their place, but I believe that if more folks would invest the time to master a trad bow there would be less compound shooters.
Btw I'm not trying to say I've "mastered" anything in my last. But I am feeling comfortable enough to say I'd rather hunt with my recurve than a compound personally.
At the Colorado Bowhunters Jamboree I was shooting the 3D course alone and I came up on a group of 4 compound guys that let me shoot through. They had already shot and I stepped to the peg one af them said "It's ok if you want to sneak up" I said "na this is fine" and put my arrow in the 10 ring at 35 yards through a tangle of trees and limbs. As I was walking away I heard one of the guys say "HOW DID HE DO THAT!" Made my day
QuoteOriginally posted by joe ashton:
At the Colorado Bowhunters Jamboree I was shooting the 3D course alone and I came up on a group of 4 compound guys that let me shoot through. They had already shot and I stepped to the peg one af them said "It's ok if you want to sneak up" I said "na this is fine" and put my arrow in the 10 ring at 35 yards through a tangle of trees and limbs. As I was walking away I heard one of the guys say "HOW DID HE DO THAT!" Made my day
Haha awesome!
Ive shot with literally hundreds of compounds shooters and all Ive experienced was interest and curiosity. Never disrespect or ridicule. I think its how you conduct yourself to begin with that give people an impression of your gear. :dunno:
I too, have not experienced any hostility from any wheel guys. Mostly curiosity and amazement that I would pick what they see as a much inferior weapon to theirs. When I start showing them pics of all the stuff I have taken with a stick, and explaining to them how we do and see things differently, I usually get a lot of respect out of guys.
There is no doubt that be proficient with no sights is WAY harder than being proficient with them. I think part of the rewarding feeling we get when we are successful with trad bows is due to the fact that we know how hard we had to work to get to a point where we could be successful with our trad bows!
Bisch
I was at a shoot yesterday and a group came up from behind. One of the guys looked at my longbow and asked if I'd shot the buffalo target a few stations back. He was surprised to learn that I had. Apparently he didn't think my bow could launch an arrow 50 yards. He was was very polite, he just had no experience with a longbow.