Robin hood and fred bear- can't stop 54 years later.

That darn Kevin Costner Robin Hood movie.  I was already ate up with bow shooting, but did not know a single soul who shot traditional.  I bought a Bear Hunter take-down from Cabelas, and little by little the compound stuff was gone.

I got my first real bow when I was 8, in 1951. All there was then was traditional. I tried compounds for a while but ultimately decided that a recurve was a more efficient tool for hunting...so that is what I shoot.

I picked up a recurve at a garage sale in 1976. Bought a bear compound in 1980, went back to a recurve in 1985 because it was too easy with the wheels. Dont know how I ever got side tracked to begin with. Still can't get enough shooting in to satisfy my hunger for the bow and arrow

Been shooting sticks since I was seven, maybe earlier.  Got my first store bought lemonwood bow then.  I know I made a few branch bows before then.  I'm 64 now.

I didn't know there were alternatives, and when I found out wasn't interested in them.

My children were born deaf but they now have cochlear implants to help them hear. The surgeons do not support impact sports like hockey or football for implanted children. I took them out to watch some friends of ours doing archery and my son and I took to it right then. He was seven at the time and is nine now. We bowhunt together, and have now extended ourselves to include bushcraft as well. That's how it started: deafness.

I got started watching traditional shooters on winter archery league. It looked like alot of fun and a challenge. Was getting bored with compound.

I always loved the thought of shooting an arrow. When I was 12 my father, who wasnt an archer bought me a compound, that was 1982. I hunted with them, and progressed through all the high tech. Hunted all over the continent and took many fine animals with a bow. The biggest thing I hadnt done was to ever shoot anything with a single string bow. I knew I could do it and about 10 years ago started shooting a recurve. After the first animal fell to the recurve it was over. Now all I can think of is hunting with a single string and no other contraptions. So, for me it was a natural progression to true archery.

It was called archery when I started shooting. Now it's called "traditional archery". I still use the same type of bow, a recurve.

to many years ago to say but that was all there was and then those wheel things started to creep in but i love my trad bow.  

Bow Fishing

I was shooting a compound and rigged up an old recurve (that I had never shot) fro bowfishing. It was so much more fun I ordered a custom recurve then found I liked longbows better and never looked back.

My options were recurve or longbow, woods for hunting and alums for target no tree stands and your camo came from an army/navy store along with most all your hunting acc.

The challenge.....but since arriving I have to say that the "type" of people that shoot traditional bows are some of the BEST people on the planet. Between the challenge and the people I don't EVER see me turning back.

Winterhawk1960

The fact that I don't like doing things the easy way! Case in point, I'm 42 and still haven't killed a deer. Could have done it with a rifle years ago if it was just about the kill.  

I started with a compound and had a young friend who started with the recurve. I thought he was crazy. Why would you want to make things harder then they already were? One day I was spending all my practise time tinkering (which was the norm). I finally had enough and put my bow in the truck, watched my friend shoot and pouted. Guess my friend wanted to cheer me up cuz he let me shoot his bow. 30 minutes later he asked if he could maybe have his bow back! We went to see Jack Kempf the next day and I ordered my first recurve. Never looked back!!

Started with an old fiberglass recurve when I was a kid...went to compound for a few years but hte gadgets started to annoy me so I switched back almost 20 years ago...

I begged my Mom and Dad continually for a real bow as my attemps at making my own were humble . At age 7 or 8 I got up on Christmas morning to find a yellow fiberglass York Bow (15#) under the tree . Didn't even wait to see if it was for my older brother or myself , just grabbed it and ran outside in my pajamas and started shooting . I moved up to an Indian Archery " Deerslayer" which wasn't or most likely I wasn't ( a deerslayer )so when compounds first came out I tried a Bear Whitetail Hunter . Shot it maybe 5 years and killed a few deer with it , just wasn't any fun practicing anymore so I switched back and have had the best times ever since .Besides Errol Flynn and all the Indians never shot a compound .

Besides the bows I made as a kid out of tree limbs and bailing twine, the first bow I owned was an all fiberglass recurve with no shelf and a leather handle that me and my dad found in the woods when I was about 10.  

I found a plethora of goodies in the woods as a kid, hunting knives, pocket knives, fishing poles and that recurve.  I got a handfull of aluminum arrows at Kmart back when they still sold sporting goods and I shot that recurve for years and loved it.  That recurve came up missing after we moved right after I graduated high school and I lost touch with archery for about 10 years.  Then 2 years ago, I decided to take it back up and was talked into buying a compound because they are more accurate, more deadly, and more efficient, or so I was told.  

Well, 2 compounds and 2 years later, I got rid of both compounds and got my recurve in May of this year and immediately fell back in love with traditional archery.  The irony is I feel like a much more efficient predator with the simple recurve than I did with the compound.  No micro adjustments, no mechanical rests, and nothing to rely on but my brain to aim with which is way better than peep sights and sight pins.

About 8 yrs. ago I decided I would get a recurve just to shoot once in a while. A club member suggested I should check out Kevin TerMaat's bows. 3 yrs. later I sold my compound and have no intentions of going back. I do have one regret and that is not getting that recurve sooner.