Like alot of others, I started with recurves but I jumped on the compound wagon in the late 70s.
About 10 or 12 years ago, I had quit bowhunting and modern gun hunting because it didn't stir my soul anymore. I used flintlocks when I did hunt.
A little over a year ago, I found my old recurve in the basement and started shooting it. I joined a bowhunting club and shot my first 3D shoot last summer.
Last November, I harvested a small whitetail buck and had the greatest feeling of accomplishment since my first bow harvest as a teen. If I hadn't come across my old recurve I'm sure I would have not hunted the last couple years.

To answer your question ... NO !!! I'm 37 and have had a bow lying around since i was 4 years old . i grew up shooting recurves , longbows and  for a while , compounds ...always coming back to longbows and curves . i competed seriously with wheels shooting FITA for about 2 years but after just one hunt with wheels they never came bush again ... only my stickbows do . That's  not a judgement on equipment , thats just how i roll !!!!! stump shooting with wheels ain't no fun !!!
Regardless of equip etc , flinging arrows is part of who i am .... to give that up would be unconscionable .

Nope...never had a thought of giving any of it up.  

When compounds came on the scene I just thought it would make things easy enough so that people who would have quickly lost interest before would last a little longer. Well, guessed right on that one but never could have predicted how the tables have since turned...or how much more difficult it would  become to teach "old school" once the new kid started redefining things.

All of my friends switched over for a while, but I never did...and they all came back, with their kids in tow. There's no way I can give this up...never has been...it's my identity. Rick.

Give up on bowhunting. It has never crossed my mind.

Still love shooting my bow and kicking around in the woods. But for some reason I've lost my desire to kill. Don't know what has come over me.  :confused:

QuoteOriginally posted by barley40:
I hope the trend continues until when you say "bow" folks will think of a real bow.

You're not alone!

Actually yes. About 1957 or 58  two of my nephews got a hold of my bow and one of them almost lost an eye. I felt really guilty for allowing that to happen so I threw the bow away and swore I would never shoot a bow again..

Probably 10 years later I realized that my hiatus was solving nothing, and I drifted back into it. (His eye is fine and he is a bow hunter too)

Since about 1968 I think I missed one year of hunting and that was because we had a new baby in the house and I flat could not afford the permit or the gas to go hunting.

QuoteI hope the trend continues until when you say "bow" folks will think of a real bow.  

I kind of eluded to this in my first post on this subject.  But, I can't help it....how the "other guy" does it means absolutely NOTHING to me (esp. if what he's doing is legal and ethical).  And, if he's hunting, he's got an ally in me whether I happen to like how he hunts......or not.  

Does it really bother some of you guys that people hunt with compounds?  I'm just trying to decide of I should be mad or not.....lol.  :D

In my mid-20's, I got married, built a house on a golf course and started learning to play golf.  My new father-in-law played every day and I tried to build a relationship with him.  I put the bow down and chased that stupid white ball for a couple of years.  

One day, I was in a fairway waiting to hit into the green when I heard something running toward me from behind.  I turned, thinking that a big dog was about to rip me a new one, and saw four does scatter all around me.  When I got back home, all I could talk about were those four deer.  I came to the realization that I was more excited seeing deer than I have ever been hitting that golf ball.  

So, I picked up the bow again and headed out to the woods.  Granted, I used compounds at that time. I just recently returned to my roots of shooting instinctively with a recurve. I can't describe the sense of accomplishment that I get from shooting traditional equipment. It is about me putting that arrow where I want it vs. buying a new gadget to screw in somewhere on that compound.  I haven't felt this way in years.  I can't wait for September to get here.

I have been lucky in the fact that archery has always been there for me. Don't get me wrong there have been times when I felt pretty lonely when friends and hunting partners drifted. There has always been ups and downs for but I think archery has saved me. If it was not for my love of this lifestyle I would have be a crack head or something even worse. I hope that I never have to face that demon as you have and my be strong enough to keep going.

A FEW YEARS AGO I LOST A LITTLE BUCK THAT I KNOW WAS MORTALLY WOUNDED BUT RAIN WASHED AWAY THE BLOOD TRAIL. TOOK A LONG TIME FOR ME TO WANT TO HUNT AGAIN. I PASSED ON SEVERAL EASY SHOTS IN FOLLOWING YEARS JUST DUE TO LACK OF CONFIDENCE. I CAN'T IMAGINE LIVING THROUGH THE AUTUMN WITHOUT BEING IN THE WOODS WITH A BOW BUT THAT LITTLE BUCK STILL HAUNTS EVERY HUNT.

No.

Quitting something I love because other people don't want to do it doesn't make much sense to me.

It's either in your blood or it isn't. If it is,there's no quitting because of external forces.

when they pull my cold dead fingers from around my three piece Bear take down.bowdoc

i quit hunting for 8 years...just started up again two years ago...

my reasons for quitting stemmed from the fact that to me, hunting was a spiritual endeavor...my dad brought me up to respect nature and all Her glory...and that the joy wasn't in the kill, but the journey/experience...

i loved hunting...it was my only thing...then i moved to Alaska and began a path to become a guide... worked for four seasons doing mostly Moose, Brown/Grizzly Bears, Dall Sheep...for several different guide services...during that time, i witnessed/experienced/served some of the most mind-numbing individuals i could ever imagine existing...too many details to divulge here...
suffice it to say that if your hunting buddies care more about the integrity of a hunt than inches measured, cherish it...
i believe trad bowhunters are (mostly) that sort, and i will say that my soul seemed to be on walk-about for that eight years(and that i am REALLY glad to be back)...but i still get sick to my stomach when i walk into most stores (Gadget Mountain) these days.

QuoteOriginally posted by Ray Hammond:
No.

Quitting something I love because other people don't want to do it doesn't make much sense to me.

It's either in your blood or it isn't. If it is,there's no quitting because of external forces.

not so in my case...blanket statements might cover a majority of circumstances, but life has too many variables for that mentality...

I shot a compound for 20+ years and almost gave up due to boredom 3 years ago until a couple of buddies let me shoot their longbow and recurves.  Now, I am refreshed and wouldn't think of quitting. Beav

Don,

I think a better response to guiding bad hunters would have been to quit guiding-

sometimes we don't analyze situations we are heavily engaged in well enough to make the proper choices.

By that line of reasoning we should all give up driving cars because some people drink before driving and cause accidents.

That's one heck of an object, maker!!

Started young with a fibreglass recurve. Then compounds as I grew up. The compound technology just kept passing me up until I decided to stop buying them. My compound could drive tacks it was so acurate, however it became dull and boring. Even lugging it around to go bowfishing was a non event. I stopped pulling a bow for a stretch and went to the gun range often. At that point archery was over because it was no longer fun. Then at a gun show I came across this Bear Grizzly. It was soo much lighter than my compound and all I could think about was putting a reel on it and being able to carry it all day and fish up and down the river or coast. I fell deep in love and the skill neccesary to shoot acurately with it became a worthy challange. I found it so nostolgic and brought back memories of my youth. I still don't know the ins & outs of everything but it is no longer blurry it is clear this is me.

Sometimes I think about giving up on archery since I don't have any private land to hunt any more. Public land hunting has been driving me crazy lately with all the poaching and illegal stuff I see going on. I should be thankful to have any place to hunt I guess.

It goes in cycles for me. I will decide to give up and then I keep looking at my bow and before you know it I pick it up again. Then I am back out hunting and get frustrated and put the bow down. I then repeat the cycle above......

Can't seem to REALLY give up on it, even if some issues relating to hunting do frustrate me.


-Charlie

Charlie-

You can't stop being a hunter because others twist the sport into something it isn't.

Think about it- that's like all olympians giving up their dreams because somebody else takes performance enhancing drugs.

What others do is out of your control- what YOU do is all you can deal with.

Think outside the box- get some private land. Start an urban hunting group- travel to other places and hunt something else- giving up on what you care about because someone else perverts it for themselves is just plain wrong.