It seems to me that there is a greater following ( and more respect ) of the trad bow the farther north you go. Does anyone else find this to be true? Here where I hunt the trad bow is considered a toy and gets no respect at all. Most people write me and my bow off when the see me heading to the woods like I'm some sorta nut but job who hasn't got a prayer at actually taking any big game.
When you drag out that deer, they will shake their heads. When you do it again, they may start asking questions.
I know, when I get to the top of the mountain ( Colorado) and see someone with their heavy compound ( yes, they ARE getting much lighter now), they always comment about how light that longbow looks.
ChuckC
Maybe. Up here in a town of 3500 where virtually every guy hunts there are only about a half dozen of us who shoot trad. I'm more amazed at the abundance of southern accents on the hunting TV shows!
I don't know...On the state land I've hunted for the past decade I've never run into a trad guy..not even once. Other than my friends from the range and my family they all shoot compounds or crossbows
Never gotten a disparaging remark down here, only curiosity. They usually ask what poundage my bow is and when they hear it's around 50 and that I don't use sights they're bemused and intrigued, many admit they wouldn't have the patience to practice that much, LOL.
Guess I am just an easy target lol!! Some body is always asking if I can actually kill a deer with that "thing" I guess they think I'm just out in the woods wounding animals left and right. No matter though I truly enjoy the Trad experience just wish other hunters had as much respect for my style as I do theirs. They don't know what they are missing!!
Leaning my recurve up against my truck is always a conversation starter. Especially after the smoke poles get to the woods.
Trad bowhunting isn't that big around here. Most people just don't have the patience I guess. I think there is one other guy that shoots a recurve at the range I go to. And it's a target bow.
I think its about the same wherever you go as far as people shooting trad. I think people's attitudes are more localized based on the influences in that specific.
Usually I do not get the naysayers, just the people who are curious asking questions and those who keep to themselves. If anything I have seen more disrespect to the compound hunter from trad guys than I have ever seen the other way around.
I dont care what other people think and say in regard to my equipment. I always try to be respectful and polite to everyone I meet in the woods and 3D shoots, regardless of their attitude. We are the spokespeople of Bowhunting regardless of weapon choice.
I have received a lot of comments, but I have also gotten a lot of questions. There are a lot of bow hunters here in the South, and the great majority are wheelie bow shooters. So I expect more negatives than positives. Most of the Northern bowhunters I have met have been at all traditional events, so I am not in a good position to evaluate this. Even in the midst of questions and sneers, back in the time when I went to mixed shoots, the young guys in particular would practically snatch my longbow out of my hands and run for the practice range. Several of them wound up getting trad bows of their own. I like the comments and sneers, as they often offer a chance to broaden some other archer's horizons.
You ought to try it with a selfbow. Even the trad guys think I'm nuts.
When I started hunting I shot a muzzleloader and all I heard was "go get a real gun!" When I started with a bow it was a recurve and all I heard was "go get a real bow" and now that I shoot a selfbow I hear "at least go get your glass bow".
Actually, I don't give a crap what anyone says. I shoot what I want, when I want if "they" don't like it...tough nuggies.
fellow ask me once "where do you get one of them new fangled things",i said at the "old archery stores". he seemed satisfied as I ran across him as I walked out of the deer woods carrying my longbow with quiver attached.
QuoteOriginally posted by nineworlds9:
Never gotten a disparaging remark down here, only curiosity. They usually ask what poundage my bow is and when they hear it's around 50 and that I don't use sights they're bemused and intrigued, many admit they wouldn't have the patience to practice that much, LOL.
I think if more people took the time to try shooting traditional bows, they'd find that all that practice is actually a heck of a lot of fun.
I switched to a compound for a couple years in the mid eighties, and I found amoung other things, that I didn't enjoy my practice as much. I love to shoot my longbow. Not to mention the satisfaction I get from hunting with it.
It's been a long time since I've run into another trad hunter around here. Some of the folks I've met in the woods seem interested, but most don't seem to take it seriously at the same time. I've invited a couple people to my house to try out a trad bow, but nobody's taken me up on it.
My favorites are the reactions I get from other hunters during our gun season for deer. :D
Bob
I often get the "you should try a modern compound bow, it's more efficient and accurate and once you try it you will never go back" line. I usually respond with "I tried it but it wasn't as much fun".
The only other trad guys I have seen when I am hunting is when I was elk hunting in CO. I know there are a few around but I havnt met them.
We went fishing today. My wife went into the store,to buy bait and she was wearing her Hoyt hat another lady asked her if she shot a Hoyt my wife replied yes I do. The lady replied that she shoots an Elite. My wife then said yeah I don't shoot my Hoyt very much anymore my husband switched gears on me and went totally traditionally. The lady replied Oh!!! That's a totally different ball game! So I feel there was some respect for us trad guys in in that.
It's small town bull%#€ a bunch of rednecks who like to kill things. I wouldn't worry about it but if you try to make friends you'll probably meet a few who have the same mind wether they shoot trad or not.
Julian, you should plan on attending one of the traditional shoots at Tannehill Ironworks next spring. They are well attended and almost everyone there is from the southeastern part of the country.
Places like Alabama and Mississippi have such long modern firearms hunting seasons, which makes using a bow to extend your season less "necessary". Still, many folks still do it for fun. Of course many traditional bowhunters no longer gun hunt. I only deer hunt with a recurve now, just run beagles and shotgun bunnies and use a rifle on coyotes.
I think your experience is similar to elsewhere in the country. Trad bowhunters are the minority for sure.
here in Colo the compound boys out number us, I'd say, 8:1. But all I hear from them is stuff like 'beautiful bow', "wish I could hit anything with a longbow" etc. Believe me you are having more fun with your tradbow.
Interesting thought. I do think there are so many more bowhunters up north and the midwest bowhunting may get more respect generally. My experience here in the south has been favorable - 20 years ago GA was a core area for traditionals - Alabama has had a strong following since the days of Jerry Simmons - this along when the northeast - midwest - and Montana were also core areas of traditional bowhunting with visible followings. Speaking now of other hunters and people in general. Non hunters 100% respect traditional tackle and seem drawn to the beauty of our tools. Game agencies in the south and west seem to have become increasingly hostile to bowhunting over the last 20 years. On that front 'respect' has fallen a great deal.
Cory<><
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I haven't seen the stats any time lately, but it wasn't too long ago that Trad was only like 3-4% of the total archery market, right???
I could be a bit low on that...maybe it was 11%, but at this age, memory isn't that grand... :)
Still, that is a tiny market segment. Sure, it's growing and more and more folks seem to be switching up, but when it comes to field contacts, the odds are still we'll be in the gross minority.
I've had landowners tell me that they won't let us hunt as bow hunters wound too many...when I'd take time to point out I shoot simple old style sticks, at under 20 yards, they ramp up their refusal.
I asked one lady if she was so certain that those old type bows were inaccurate, would she'd let me shoot at a few of her chickens since she was so sure I'd miss!
Since she already unequivocally denied me hunting permission, I thought I could at least show some confidence...
I just smiled, thanked her and headed to my car when she refused my challenge with the same enthusiasm :rolleyes: :saywhat:
My experience has been quite the opposite. Folks have treated me with more respect then when I carried a wheel bow and compliment me on my equipment choice.
QuoteOriginally posted by Biathlonman:
My experience has been quite the opposite. Folks have treated me with more respect then when I carried a wheel bow and compliment me on my equipment choice.
I've been turned down by land owners a few times, and when I mentioned that I hunt with traditional bows, they changed their minds. they probably figured I wasn't much of a threat. :D
Bob
North more compound and cross bow areas game out in open areas for making a poking an a hopen arrow sticking with Trad very hard,
South more tree stand hunting and blind hunting great for that lucky sticking with Trad equipment,
NJ deer after 40 years have now trained their brothers and sisters to look up in the trees for hunters We get busted every time in tree stands now we use ground blinds and put a stuff person in tree stands near us when the DEER are looking at the fake man in tree stand they over look us in ground blinds ,Ak the game dumb anyone can get close up here Ak a great place for Green Horn hunters they can still impress their lower 48 friends with great kill story's,
I hardly see anyone else at the local 3d shoots with trad bows. It is funny though, remember the old movies when the guy would walk into a saloon and all the people and music stops? That's kind of how it is. But it usually leads to questions and I always offer to let them shoot it, they never do.
I lived in central NC from 1988 until 2000. A lot of serious traditional archers and bowhunters in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. That said, Michigan had a very strong traditional group during the mid-1980's when I lived there.
I'd hazard to say any broad-brush statement is prone to error for any area...
I know my experience has been I seldom saw hunters with trad sticks where I hunted, but again, we're a small percentage of the archery market...so that stands to reason...
I personally can't wrap my head around it being geographical... just that where some of us hunt we seldom see other trads... Shoot...if I see more then one or 2 other hunters period, I am inclined not to return to that location...
I've not found trad shoots here in the NE TN area yet, but they tend to occur where there are enough people to make it worthwhile...
Good luck to all this season... shoot what you want and be glad in it!
A dying breed the stick bow??? just like Ham Radio the cell phones killed ham radio now archery well you just see trad getting better with new bow makers making faster bows ...speed sells and materials improve,,
A mature (knowledgeable) compound user will respect the person who hunts with a recurve.
Of course that respect can (and should) be lost or be misplaced if the archer (no matter the equipment) is uncouth or incompetent.
Recurve sales are growing. You can tell this by product on shelves. Some in the archery industry have told me that 11% are shooting them. I know some folks in the archery industry though who don't appreciate the recurve shooter though because we buy less equipment (especially accessories).
I know several fellows who shoot recurves, longbows, and even one self-bow shooter in my area. I don't see them in the woods because we all hunt our own private spots.
A few years ago, I met 5 or 6 guys that lease some land that adjoins mine. One of them said "I can't believe you're hunting with that old bow".
This from a guy about to climb into a shooting house with a high-power rifle, so he could peer out a small window overlooking a food plot.
I think there are fewer traditionalists in the southeast because we have long rifle seasons. Very few of them actually hunt, they just sit in these "shooting houses" and blast whatever comes out into the open.
well shoot at everything comes in open is a low blow could start a war here,,,
I can't speak to the percentages in the north vs the south, but it does seem like I see a lot more Northern hunters on trad sites like this one, and it seems like I hear about a lot more trad events up north. Maybe it's just that there are more people up north, which means more hunters, which means more bow hunters, which means more trad guys? I do occasionally have somebody make a wisecrack, but most people are just interested.
Matt
Last week in DE I had to get the cable guy to come out and hook up another line. He walked by the truck and spied the "Traditional Bowhunter" license plate holder and the conversation was on. He was in his late 30s and a dyed in the wool compound speed freak. I'm 71 but we had that bowhunter thing going on. We talked bowhunting until I had to invent an excuse for me to go inside so he could finish my job.
When he finished I asked him if he'd like to see my bow and maybe watch me shoot. He jumped at the chance. I'm shooting a high tech Titan III riser and BF Extreme limbs and carbon arrows I make myself. He almost didn't believe the GT blems were not woodies. My target was 25 yards away and I was lucky and put all 5 arrows in a small group around my aiming point, well within the vitals of a deer. He was immensely impressed with:
1. The quietness of the bow. He could only hear my fingers letting go of the string and the impact of arrow in the target.
2. The speed of the bow (although not the 360 fps of his bow).
3. The accuracy of the bow at 25 yards.
He wasn't a convert but was very impressed with the whole trad thing and I'm sure will talk about this with his buddies. He had never seen a traditional bow shot before and I'm sure this was the highlight of his day.
Indeed... Those with an open mind are intrigued...those with closed minds will never be!
I'm not saying this to be a smart A, but does it really matter? I always try to be inviting to the sick and string and not condemn any who shoot other weapons.
Down my way we have a good showing of trad shooters/hunters. We just don't make that big of a deal of it.
I agree about respecting other hunters regardless of their weapons. My dad is a good example. He shoots a compound, though it is from the late 90s and far from a speed demon. He started in the mid to late 80s with a compound with nothing but a rest and shooting glove and killed quite a few deer with it, and no doubt could have done just about as well with a recurve. Even now with sights and a release, he rarely shoots over 15 yards. I finally managed to convince him to take a few shots with my recurve last year. He put his first three arrows in a 3inch circle at 15 yards after almost a 20 year break from instinctive finger shooting, then handed it back and said "I think I like mine better". His wheels doesn't make him less of an archer in my eyes, and I know he is a far better hunter than I am. Come gun season, he'll hunt with a muzzleloader, a single shot rifle, a lever rifle, a revolver, and an AR 10 rifle. Pretty well runs the gambit, and he's deadly with all of them. He just isn't interested in traditional gear.
Matt
QuoteOriginally posted by tomsm44:
I agree about respecting other hunters regardless of their weapons. My dad is a good example. He shoots a compound, though it is from the late 90s and far from a speed demon. He started in the mid to late 80s with a compound with nothing but a rest and shooting glove and killed quite a few deer with it, and no doubt could have done just about as well with a recurve. Even now with sights and a release, he rarely shoots over 15 yards. I finally managed to convince him to take a few shots with my recurve last year. He put his first three arrows in a 3inch circle at 15 yards after almost a 20 year break from instinctive finger shooting, then handed it back and said "I think I like mine better". His wheels doesn't make him less of an archer in my eyes, and I know he is a far better hunter than I am. Come gun season, he'll hunt with a muzzleloader, a single shot rifle, a lever rifle, a revolver, and an AR 10 rifle. Pretty well runs the gambit, and he's deadly with all of them. He just isn't interested in traditional gear.
Matt
sounds like me and my dad...
I'm not sure one way or another. I think there is a growing yearning for the older ways of all things. Lots of folks are choosing ways (big and small) to try and re-wind the clock. I look at this "tiny house" fad thats growing and it seems like many things, the shiny world is burning folks out. Trad shooters, wherever we are, just need to be seen and be met. There's a population of disenfranchised hunters out there that is tired of the blood lust of rifles, high powered bows, cross bows, and technology. No one has ever looked down on me. My best friends are wheelie guys, they just haven't reached that burn out yet. When they do, I'll hand them a beater bow I keep around and some arrows and show them just how fun it is.
i had a guy tell me last saturday when he found out i shoot a recurve... " nah, i aint going backwards" were his words. most people say man that is cool but i just dont want to limit myself... limits are what brought to this journey, i have never felt more free with a bow in my hand
New to trad hunting, but in Georgia we have a pretty big group. We have five out of eighteen hunters in our club hunt trad. We also have a big trad bow hunt on blackbeard.......lots of fun. I carried a compound last year.......and yes it was heavy.."..ill be carrying my recurve this year and I am proud to say that. Funny thing, I never felt proud of my bow like I do the recurves I have.