I was wondering how everyone decided what kind of bow to shoot in the beginning.
I bought a longbow because I liked the way they look better than recurves. I went into 3 Rivers warehouse and they had a used Montana on the back wall.
They let me shoot it a little, and I got it for a great price. I shot a couple Tomahawks too, but for $150, i could not pass up the Montana.

So I have never shot a recurve yet, but am thinking about it. I may have to find me a nice used one someday soon.

Besides bow hand grip is it a big difference switching back and forth?

I shot a recurve since 1960. And shot it pretty well too. I was once asked to be on PSE's shooting team when they came out with their recurves back in the 80's.
Iwas at Dan Quillen's shop in Athens Georgia one night when Dan said you need to be shooting a Longhunter, Dan's design of a bamboo longbow. I figured he was kust trying to sell me something but I shot a few bows, shot pretty good and I really felt like I was getting more out of them than I ever did any recurve. I picked up one particular bow and put five arrows in the 5" dot from 20 yards. Hmmmmmmmm...... shot a few more and they shot ok then went back to that one bow and put 4 out of 5 in the 5" circle again. The next Tuesday night I went there again and won the Freeman round Dan used to have against some pretty darn good shooters like DeeDee Quillen, Greg Campbell.
Now I only shoot a recurve on occasion and have made some unconcious shots on game with longbows. They just seem to be more of a natural extension of me.

I look at it purely from a hunting perspective.  

I shoot best with bows under 60" and like short handy bows from which I can shoot vaned arrows from an elevated rest. This pretty much rules out longbows.

My current favorites are a 58" 55#@28" Martin Mamba, 52" 55#@28" Bear K-Mag (for ground blinds), and 60" 55#@29" Kota Prairie Swift...

I still haven't decided.  I have a number of both, and love them all equally.  I know for sure I could be a better shot if I just made up my mind and stuck with one of them.  But I just like them all too much to do that!

QuoteOriginally posted by Whip:
I still haven't decided.  I have a number of both, and love them all equally.  I know for sure I could be a better shot if I just made up my mind and stuck with one of them.  But I just like them all too much to do that!

I couldn't have said it better!!  I am the same way.

I started shooting a old bear recurve, till I found a crack in the riser that was getting bigger. I then got , after trying like 10 bows...My used Shrew 54"... been shooting it now for 2 Years. I also found I shoot a long bow better then recurves.

what Whip said

I use to shoot only long bows but a friend hurt his shoulder and I received his custom Brackenbury recurve. It shot so well that I almost quit shooting my long bows.The only problem that I had was that it didn't seem to do as well as my long bows on the awkward shots that seem to alway occur while hunting.I still can't say that I love one over the other.They both are dear to my heart.  

I'm still trying to decide. I started shooting in Feb of this year and have owned 2 longbows and 4 recurves. I have settled on two main bows(recurves) and currently think that I am a recurve man. But I like the way many of the new r/d longbows look and will certainly own one again one day. But for now, I need to settle on one or the other to work on shooting form and consistency.

I also like t/d recurves because you get a riser that is cut to or past center which for a newbie, makes arrow tuning much easier.

Mark

I've only owned and shot acouple of longbows since I started shooting in the very early 60s. My first bow was an old Pearson hickory straight bow. Since I have owned a couple more but I primarily am a recurve shooter. I couldn't really say either is "better" than the other. I've seen phenomenal shooters using each type.I think my bows picked me, they are all (13)very similar to one another.

I think IT decided.  not so much my decision.
ChuckC

I shoot whichever one suits my fancy on any given day. Started with a longbow then shot recurve for many years because there really weren't any longbows available to me up here. Things changed and now I have both again.

Can't decide, I own many of both.

Yeah, What BobCo1965 Said!!      

I blew up a borrowed vintage recurve, and said "I don't want to do that again".  Hunting partner was shooting a LB at the time and I thought it was cool. Talked to a seller who favored Lb's. I got a LB.  Later I got a recurve.  It sits on the rack gathering dust. I like the LB... recurves are just not as appealing to me for some reason.  That might change...

All comes down to liking what you have.

BobW

I grew up close to Mr. Hill and met him a few times. Watching him shoot was a big influence on me shooting longbows.

I too had the same dilemma back then,ended up with a longbow.Reason?? PURE SIMPLICITY!!!

Gil

I own both but noticed that no matter how much I switched back and forth, there was one bow, an Archery Traditions Patriot recurve, that I always shot best so it became my primary hunting bow.  I plan on retiring it when it takes its 100th animal, but don't know if I can put it down.  That will probably happen next year some time.

I own plenty of both too but now that the R/D's are getting so good the question is becoming a bit meaningless, for me anyway and switching is 'automatic'.
I'm trying hard to only shoot my ACS but every now and again I fall off the wagon and shoot a Morrison, Fedora, or an old Bear and then wonder why I did that-just an addiction I guess-12 step maybe?
Shooting only one bow and one spec of arrows has really improved my accuracy and arrow making skills.

When I first started archey again as an adult.
   A local guy I was talking to told me to get a Compound bow and to stay away from the Longbows, He said they were to hard to shoot, So I went out and got a Longbow, I like the looks of them....And I love there history....