I am getting frustrated with the hunting distances compound hunters can get veres my longbow distances. To the point that I have considered changing to a compound. Have there been any good threads regarding ttrue shhotind distances or any current comments?

I believe Howard Hill took an elk at 185yards with his longbow!

Ibeleive the reason I chose to shoot traditional equipment was to improve my hunting skills and not rely on modern equipment to get the job done

heck...wait until rifle season and you can take them from 300 yds ....... i like 20 yds max .... although i did have a buck at 15 feet the other day that i couldnt draw on....

The distance i was getting with my compound vs my longbow is the exact reason i no longer own a compound...

Good luck with your season and i hope you get one closer  

back in the day of the big name archers long before wheels 100 yds. was'nt unheard of. thats the kind of thing made them famous. not now a day though we would be slobs.

Wait a minute. We talkin' about hunting or shooting?  

QuoteOriginally posted by mb.legolas:
I am getting frustrated with the hunting distances compound hunters can get veres my longbow distances. To the point that I have considered changing to a compound. Have there been any good threads regarding ttrue shhotind distances or any current comments?

Well, I guess if killing a deer is that important to you......

Screw what the compound boys can do. Hell, I can take an animal at 600yds with a good rifle, but I choose not to. Traditional bowhunting is an up-close & personal thing.

If you constantly compare what you can do to what others can do, you'll only ever be dissappointed. What other folks can do isn't important. Do whatever you want to do

I switched from a compound to trad for the same reason huntingwolf did, I like it up close and personal.
If you just want take game and need to expand your range then go for it I guess but you will be back to a stick and string before it's over.
As far as shooting distance I can hit a golf ball out to 40 or so yards with a longbow or recurve. I don't see many guys getting a shot out that far even with a compound and if they are taking shots out to 40 or 50 I say there's to much that can happen in the deer woods in that amount of time. Even when I hunted compounds most all the deer I took where inside 25 yards. Like I said I like it up close and personal. If a guy wants range he needs to hunt with a gun and hang up his bow.
JMO Kris

I have to agree with the idea that if you want range then shoot a gun.  There are a lot of compound hunters that will take ridiculous shots that they can make in the shop, or at the range and could never make in the woods on an animal.  I have cleaned enough animals that already had a broadhead in them to know that it is far better to keep it close and personal.  I keep it to 25 yards and under.  I know I can put it in the kill zone at those ranges.

I've yet to kill any big game animals with traditional bows. Did the wheel bow thing,then trad,then wheel bows now back to trad and NONE of the animals I've killed with a wheel bow have been past 25 yards not to build  myself up but I've killed my fair share with a bow. I beleive that idea of hunting with a bow is to see how close you can get to the animal in the first place not how far you can shoot/kill one.

A article in TB was talking about a old archery season, 2000 shots and 19 deer killed. A lot of those shots were 100 yards. The 19 deer were killed from 30 to 60 yards. Times have sure changed. I am using a self bow this year and can do pretty good out to 20 yards.

It is not how far. It's how close!

Unless your hunting out west you can't for the most part take really long shots. There's twigs or brush or what have you most every direction when hunting. Really your only going to be able to shoot to 25-30yds max. Set your stands at hub points that put the deer at close range, it's much more intense. The true difference betwean the C bow and the S bow is arrow clearance. That is where you can put the arrows through holes in brush. Believe me I've had monsters that a compound could have easily taken, I know you pain!!

Up close and personal is THE reason to hunt with traditional equipment. The way I shoot, there is still a lot of hunting to be done when the quarry is 40 yards away. That, and the feel of a beautiful traditional bow in your hands, somehow putting you in touch with a simpler time. If those things don't turn your crank, then there are compounds, crossbows, handguns, muzzleloaders, and/or centerfire rifles that are all legal hunting weapons. Just depends on how you see your place in the hunting world, I guess. BTW, I have a pristine Winchester pre 64 model 70 for sale that has not been fired in many years. You can reach out and touch them from hundreds of yards away with that!

It's not about how far you can shoot them rather how close you can get..

Yesterday I passed on a shot I felt confident in. (Buck was around 60 yard head down feeding and had not a clue I was around.) I have shot smaller targets at greater distance while stumping and felt I could make the shot.(I had that lump in my gut that says "You can do it" and that lump never lies.)


I opted to see how close I could get and at 30 yards, the dreaded wind at my back was felt, and the game was over.. But hey,, that's why they call it hunting, and I have another memory I will cherish.. (although I know I would have made that shot)

I understand what you're saying mb. I have taken a few with my trad gear and even more with the other bow, but until you take one with trad it may be hard to grasp how much more it means.
For example...last wed, evening I took my CB bow to a ladder stand I have at the edge of a field.
  I always see deer at longer ranges there, plus no trees kinda throws my "how far is that" outta whack.
  In front of me is a green hay field, my stand is in a ditch that runs 3/4 out into it starting from the base of a mountain. Behind me is a 3 acre honeysuckle/briar thicket.
  Low and behold three good bucks appear 15yds behind me in the thicket. My first thoughts were how perfcet this would have been with my recurve.
And it would have been too, as I killed the 9pt out of the bunch at 6 steps.
 Don't get me wrong, I love to kill when I hunt, and I am very happy with my buck, but that hunt was much less memorable than it should have been. I'm still kicking myself for not bringing my recurve.
 Hang in there...you'll know what I'm talking about when you get a few under your belt.
  It's well worth the time, effort and passed deer along the way. Good things will start to happen.
 Good luck.
Robert

Oh..as far as true shooting range.
I took an eightteen in. 8pt. last year at 35yds. and a hog at a steep uphill 40yds. the year before that.
Most of them have come around 15yds. though.
Here's a tip...hunt the thick stuff where you can't get a shot past 25yds or so.  You'll likely see more deer there anyway.

Do your scouting and set your stands where you can't shoot past your effective range. Set them in thick cover you won't see deer too far off. Then you won't be wishing you had a compound. I just switched last year. Almost every deer I have seen this year I'm fairly sure I could have killed. I have killed 3 does this year so far. LCH

the fun/challenge is getting close,
i like to see the white of the eyes

I took up trad archery a couple of years ago to make it more of a challenge, so I wouldn't worry to much about what the compound shooters can do.  I doubt, however, that I'll ever be as good as some of the others on this site.  I would just be lucky if I was hitting a golf ball at 40 yards regularly and I definitely don't feel confident out to 60 yards with a stickbow.  At least I guess I have goals to shoot for.