Am I crazy or what guys,......I have only just finished my 3rd hunting season........ with ZERO kills in my life, other than one wandering squirrel, and I have made the switch from compound to longbow...........my wife tells me I'm nuts, having yet to harvest my own meat....and now it will be even more difficult......It's just that I have fallen in love with the idea of using the simplest form of archery.......I don't care if I remain a "virgin" bowhunter forever....I plan on totally enjoying this method for my remaining years.....(50 years young).........I read the stories from all of you traditionalist and get all fired up......this sight is awesome for novices like me....

Trab, I can relate. I started with a 30-06, went to black powder, pistol, then bow.
It teaches us to be better hunters, not just better shots.
Good luck and share the faith.
Prarrie Dog

Another "Virgin" Here! Dont give up...keep at it. I know I will, and look foward to my "first" to! It will come.........I hope  

Add another trad virgin to the list.  Rather be a virgin forever than to head back to the wheel bow just to make a kill....it'll come - have faith.

I started hunting with a compound and never got one.  A man made me a longbow and I sold my compound.  I hunted hard with it for four years and finally got my first doe last year.  Keep at it, it will happen.  Just have to learn to ignore everybody else and go your own way.  Really a great feeling of accomplishment once you've done it.  Another thing.....hunting any other way gets really boring once you're hooked.

It's the journey that you will remember!

Thanks for your post, because you have surely made my day!

Wish I had a dollar for every deer I missed when I first started hunting with Trad gear! Heck I still miss alot of em'!!! It's all just part of the great Traditional Journey. I've never hunted with a wheel bow in my life, and don't ever plan to. Stick with it and the rewards will come ten fold.
                              James

Ain't nothing like it. I've shot 'em all, wheels and sticks. But I always come home.

Amen Davey!!!

5 AM here in NY, and I checked for any responses before goin to work.....was pupmed to see them.....preciate all the positive vibes....and encouragements.....can't wait till october here in NY

Keep at it, Trab. You already know that it will be worth it when it finally happens.

Im 45 and could have wrote this post.The journey is just incredible.

Happy trails!!    

I'm with ya Trab, I had only taken a few animals with my "confound" in 8 years, a little forky, a grouse and a couple of rabbits.
Last spring I bought an old Ben Pearson recurve, lost my confidence during the season and fell back to the compound. Missed two bucks with it!     In December I sold the wheelie and bought A Mohawk longbow, I'm never going back. It's not just the challenge and enjoyment of it, but the people involved seem a whole lot nicer. Enjoy the ride, I know I am!

I've got to hand it to you guys and gals that start out with trad gear. I would think that is very rare and you should be congratulated. It will definitely make a better hunter out of you very quickly if you are aggressively trying to be successful.

When the day comes you better let us all share in your glory.

Best of luck

T.J.

Keep at it man, and it will come.  Don't forget between now and October there are lots of stumps and 3-D targets that need killed.  I've killed more of them than deer or anything else, and just about as much fun especially with several other trad guys along.

Good shooting.....mike

It's the most fun you'll ever have not killin' an animal.

You made a great decision. Keep at it.

To say Tradgang has been helpful to me as a new trad archer would be an understatement.  This place is awesome.  I began my journey into traditional archery last summer. I had only hunted with a compound for a little while as a teenager (now 37). I learned what I could for about 5 months before finally purchasing a longbow in December.  It is difficult to explain how I managed to so strongly gravitate to trad.  I am hooked. My only regret is not discovering it years earlier.

Good for you Trab. It's how you reconcile for your purpose. Definitely closer to real hunting & hunting skills than anything I've done before.

Well you might find it easier.Once you learn to get shots on animals the kind of bow part really don't matter that much.Getting in position to get shots is the hurdle every bowhunter has to get over.jmo