Well boys I was thinking of what made me do the Trad thing,and would like to know what got you into it.

 My path started from a friend who I met that hunted with a longbow.He gave me some books to read to see what it's about.First was Hunting the Hard way,and then Ishi.I read the Hill book and was getting interested fast.Then I was on YouTube and looked up Traditional Archery, Well I came across Ron La Clair giving an interview in his shop.This mountain-es Adirondack looking man had a voice that when he spoke of Traditional archery he spoke of it as if it was part of his being, that spoke to me and lured me in.Then I watched the videos of him with his grand kids telling the story of The ghost of Armstrong Creek,and I felt like I was in the woods along side of him. After that I bought a bow and was full bore and have not looked back.Thanks Vern and Ron for helping me find my way home.

     

I was always interested. Infact I have an almost complete ash self bow in Wisconsin.

The big leap was an old stick bow I found and re-glued up the handle last August or September. It was marked 30 lbs and was such a joy to shoot, I never looked back.  Once I met fellow archers, I knew this is the place I had been searching for.

I missed a real good, at least 10pt. buck with my compound last yr at about 20yds. I told myself right then I could do this with a recurve and have a lot more fun shooting. So I went back where I started 55yrs ago, to a recurve.

It's the way I started and all there was, then some time along the way it became traditional.  I never changed a thing -- I think the English language changed.

Loved those kind of bows since I was a Little kid watching Robin Hood, John Wayne and any other kind of Indian movies.

When I started bowhunting it was in 2002, 6 months after Heart Surgery. I needed more of a challenge. Like in Firearms I went from centerfire rifle to a Side-lock Muzzleloader. I went from a Wheelie bow to an Original Shrew 54" to a Self-Made-Bow I made.

All the game that I hunt only has their Smell, Sight and Hearing to help keep them alive. I became a Traditional Bowhunter to Give back More Respect to My Query.

They were the only bows when I started.  Compounds just started and they were not legal at first; which quickly changed.

Gary Paulson  

compound archery was my first experience . i had some fun at first than it lost its luster everywher i went it ws all about the technology and how i wasnt perfect in my accuracy because of my bow setup. ( this is what i was told ) when a very kind man handed me a recurve one day after flinging arrows out of my wheel bow . and it felt just right i had a smile on my face tha was there for the rest of the day . i had to make the change, and i soon did ive never stopped having fun synce that trad bow in my hand .

Wanted to bow hunt for quite a while, but never had the money to shell out for a fancy compound like my friends had.  A co-worker had built longbows and has a beautiful mule deer in velvet hanging on his wall.

A year or two went by and I saw some guy on TV who built his own bow and went hunting with it.  I decided then and there that I could do it, too.  Called up my buddy, borrowed some of his equipment, and made myself a laminated longbow (was a touch cheaper than a fancy compound...).  I'm still really new, but I love most everything about this.  I can make as much or little as I want and have tons of fun doing it.  No wheels that I can see in my future   .

Jeremy

I started with a yellow glass bow and progressed to a recurve, added a sight, then wheels and finally back to trad.

I was at the summer shoot at Whittingham about 5 years ago.  Leon Stewart had a tent there and let me shoot one of his bows.  He never got it back.

6 arrows and I was hooked.  I was as if I had been missing all the fun of archery for a long time and that magic stick brought it back.

Now I just can't shoot it enough.  Here I am on the 4th of July posting on the forum when I should be out stumping.  But one of my customers called with a critical outage and while I am waiting for some things to be resolved here I am... killing time... waiting to get out of the house.

I bought a Bear Kodiak Magnum at 50# back in the late 70s and killed my first deer with it.  I went to a compound after a couple years and the McAllister Army Ammo Depot hunt that is trad only got me back using a recurve and it was so much fun I just stayed with it.

I can't remember ever not being interested. Some of my most favorite programs in school were when they had some archer come in to do shooting demo's. That was back in the late 50's- early 60's.

God bless,Mudd

because im more efficiant at closer ranges with recurve than any other bow....

e. donnall thomas jr, longbow in the far north read his book and never looked back.

That's all there was when I started shooting bows and arrows.  I always have shot real bows and I'm 66 years old now   .....Dave

Here's my story of how I got into traditional archery.

http://theaccuracyfactory.forumotion.net/what-s-on-your-mind-f15/giving-back-to-traditional-archery-t160.htm

I made the full circle....started with traditioal gear as a kid then as a teenager just had to go compound......did that for twenty years or so and have now been totally trad for the last 15 years.......feels real good too as both my kids (age 20 and 25)  are trad shooters....

My dad bought me a Ben Pearson solid fiberglass bow when I was nine in 1961 that I still have. I've was bitten and been in love with it ever since.

Like so many others here, I started with recurves but went to the compound after I started seeing them used. I got to where I just didn't enjoy bowhunting so I quit.

I ran across my old recurve in the basement a few years ago,started shooting it and found what I'd been missing, watching the flight of the arrow. I enjoy it as much again as I did 40 years ago.

Well I started with the old Ben Pearson double sided handle longbow some 41 years ago.  Then in the early 90's, I picked up a compound and thought I would try it.        I since had bought 2 more of them, and actually got bored as it just was not a challenge any longer.

Then one day, while watching several other Trad guy's shooting, it hit me that if I dedicated myself back to traditional, I can be that good again.

Several years ago, our director for the Bowhunters Education program loaned me a Bear Kodiak 45# recurve to shoot with, and begun shooting and shooting and shooting with it, and the groups shrunk and shrunk.

On March 21st of this year, I fully transitioned back to traditional, and gave my son my last and only compound.  He was shocked, as everyone else was because they knew what I had paid for that bow.  I told my son, that my eyes are not what they used to be, I can not clearly make out the fiber pin sights any longer and I don't enjoy it either... take this thing away from me PLEASE!

Since then, I have finish a 45# Selfbow, bought two other Longbows, and find myself shooting more, and enjoying it much more.

Hey man this is real therapy.

I don't plan on looking back