Aesthetics.

Lots of very nice recurves and longbows out there.
And the challenge and the fun.

1) I love the heritage and simplicity of a stick and string.

2) Fred Bear beat my great grandpa to the punch in developing the first fiberglass bows.(by a few months)

3) When I meet those compound carrying hunters in the elk woods they often look at me, then my bow, then back to me, with this strange face and say "you gotta be s*#%ing me!"

the simplistic difficulty. The challenge of trying to become a better shot.

As a kid I made simple bows from limbs, graduated to a bear recurve when I got out of the army in 69. When wheels came out I switched to them for a bunch of years but got tired of the tuning and parts failures. A limb that split while I was drawing on my best buck ever at 7yds sealed my compounds fate. This was in 89, never shot a wheeled contraption again except for a shot or two out of someone else's just to be polite. One shot is all it takes to remind me what a piece of junk a wheel bow is.

i love the diy (do it yourself) aspect of trad hunting and equipment, and also the opened mindness of the trad world. theres no one certain setup thats the best just you and your design. IMO  

It wasn't "traditional archery" when I started, it was just "archery".  I never saw, or really heard of, a compound until the mid 70's, I'd been shooting over 15 years by then.

I like wood.

i felt terrible when i missed one with a wheelie HAVING SIGHTS.. still bothers me when i miss one with recurve , but hey, i dont have any sights !

I can't tell the rest of the story, as we were hunting with compound bows and I want to ensure that I stay within the posting regulations.

:-P It ended well however.

Simple. That's all there was when I took up archery. Later, I never was attractrd to wheels.

No wheels when I was a kid . And always thought componds were too ugly to owen. Just plain fun.The bows were forgoten about for a real long time then I seen  Tred Barta on tv and I thought hey I have some bows and stuff some place in this place.

Traditional bows are a more effective hunting weapon for me, that's why I use them.

Explanation if you want to take the time to read...

When I started hunting with a bow at 14, my father was shooting a Bear 76'er that was spray painted camo.  But, he bought me a "C-bow".  He thought he was doing the right thing for me...  Now don't get me wrong, I loved shooting, and took many, many critters with various "C-bows" over the years.  But, I always had a recurve that I shot for "fun" from time to time.  Well, over the years hunting for one reason or another I'd miss opportunities with the "C-bow"... more often then not it was because I couldn't get drawn and lined up with the peep and sights in time to get the shot off.  

So, I kept track of those instances along with shot distance of successful shots.  Got to shooting the recurve more and more and was getting proficient.  In '99 I bought myself a used Black Widow SA III (which I named "The Light") because it literally was like a light switch got turned on.  I wasn't as accurate at longer distances as I was with the "C-bow" but could get shots off a lot quicker and accurately.  I took 4 deer that year, and three of them were with the Widow... Two of them were short, quick draw and shoot shots that hit their mark.  I think there would have only been two deer in the freezer if I hadn't been shooting the Widow that year.  

So, I went back to my log and figured the number of shots over 20 - 25 yards vs. the number of shots I was unable to take due to the drawbacks of the "C-bow".  Low and behold there were far more instances where I could have gotten off an accurate shot quickly with the recurve vs. missing out on longer shots.  So, in my thinking the traditional bow would give me more successful shot opportunities then the "C-bow".  So at the turn of the century I sold my "C-bow" and haven't looked back.

Bowhunter4life   your so right. The varmints I hunt some times theres only seconds to shoot no time to think too much. A trad bow is a better weapon for fast shots than a compond.

Three reasons ...
A childhood affinity with all things Robin Hood that still , albeit geekily , resounds with me today
Bob Swinehart ... the most dashing of hunting archers ...
And I look better in plaid ........

The challenge (brought me to wheel bows) but then simplicity and tradition!  I was tired with fighting peep sights twisting, missing a shot realizing that when I pulled my bow up in the dark I banged the sight out of place or broke the fiber optics and couldnt take a shot in low light!  Bringing so much crap like I was going on a week long elk hunt in reality was for a afternoon hunt in a woodlot off a soy bean field! Always been interested archers from the medievel English longbowmen to Fanasty Lord of the Rings or Rangers apprentice from my son's books (NERD ALERT but wish I could shoot like Legolas or Halt, an excuse for more practice)!

2 arrows at once huh. :-P

Perfect example yesterday. I was sneaking around the back of my shed with my bow at half draw. I was preparing for what I thought would be a 8-10 yeard shot on a groundhog in back of the shed. Instead, he popped out of a hole on the side of my shed about 2-3 yards away. I finished my draw and shot him through the neck into the off shoulder. I never would have got him with a c-bow.

Unfortunately he slipped back under the shed and broke my arrow in half getting in his hole. I was going to make him into dinner, but no luck.    

It is just plain old fun.How many compound shooters on their out of the woods.Would look at a old stump or a leaf along side of the trail and pull out a blunt point and take a shoot ?    They would say no I may break arrow or lose it.  

Aside from fiberglass recurves in gym class & Boy Scouts, as a child of the suburbs I have no "tradition" of archery or hunting. I came to it later in life, first with an entry level compound, then a recurve. Having a friend and a co-worker who are experienced recurve hunters supported my interest. The recurve, on the surface, seemed simpler, more graceful, less "tech". Compound bows, with all the choices, cams, rests, sights, releases, stabilizers, seemed overwhelming to a newb.

Culturally the trad-bow guys seemed more relaxed, enjoying the experience and the art, compared to the obnoxious "Team this" and "Deer Murder Mafia" that mentality.

However, the "trad only" attitude doesn't work for me. I've learned that archery is archery, and the bow is just a tool- and certain jobs call for different tools.