if you could do it all over again , What different?

[snag]

Originally posted by ozy clint:
start trad earlier.

Exactly! Also I would have gotten with Rod Jenkins and got on the right path first off.

[Mike Bolin]

Biggest regret has to be the bow weights that I felt like I needed to shoot. 85#-105# with wheels when they were 50% let off. Switched to trad and tried to "learn" with a 77# recurve. Finally got smart and bought a 55# recurve and I shot it instead of it shooting me. Bow arm shoulder is damaged now from the shooting and work. 50#-55# is it now and I've learned that it is plenty.

[duncan idaho]

The biggest thing I regret is passing up past hunts to work and make more money, should have taken the trips, you cannot buy back time in the field.

[South MS Bowhunter]

I started in the fall of 1989 and had no one to teach me or get advise from at least I thought so.  To do over today I would have asked a ton more questions and sought out Trad guys.  I would of got to know Ricky Welch, he only lived 20 miles from where I was located at the time and sought his advise.  But since I didn't I order my first recurve with too much poundage 60" 63#@31 and struggle to master it and in the process built up a mighty good case of TP.  And since then have fought to gain some consistency in my shooting, but I love trad to much to quit  

[Arkansaslongbow]

I am 51 years old and everyone will admit that hind-sight is 20/20; I now work for a school with over 6 weeks of time off and every weekend off; my younger years was spent chasing money and the jobs that went with it; I honestly wish that I had gotten under a true bowyer and learned how to make good, quailty bows and make my own to hunt with; the money I have spent on true junk could have been used to travel to different places to hunt; I would have never bought a computer, new automobiles, or ever bought a compound bow; I wished I never bought a treestand and learned at a young age how to hunt 100% from the ground; looking back, never would have watched the first hunting show or dvd, or even owned a stupid tv in the first place; getting where I hate television and ALL of the hunting shows; a simple cabin with running water, a bath and a bed, that's it; no computers,tv's, cable, or anything; live close to a river, big lake and a small town with NO WAL-MART!!; would make every traditional rendevou, every year; just simple if I had to do it all over again................  

[killinstuff]

Wished i'd moved out of Michigan to a more game rich land when I got divorced the first time.  Didn't have kids at the time and I was free, single and dumb for not going west.  Now have kids and have to wait 7 more years to get gone.

[mooseman76]

I wish I had never seen pictures of all of the beautifully made exotic bows. I feel like I spend more time trying to find the perfect looking bow and obsess over wood types, wood grain, fiberglass flaws, etc...  I already found two bows which shoot out of this world for me and I've bought and sold more of them than I care to remember. Some very pretty, so much that I really don't even like carrying them into the woods for fear of scratching, nicking, denting them. Oh, how I wish I could just by and be happy with a plain Jane hunting bow and get back to the reason I picked up traditional bows in the first place. To hunt deer with!!!  Twenty years ago I gave up compounds to stop obsessing over the lastest and greatest gadgets and just hunt. That has been replaced with obsessing over the prettiest, grainiest wood I can find...Mike

[akaboomer]

I other areas of life there would be things I would change, like telling my dad thanks and I love you more before he passed. In archery I wouldn't change it. I am enjoying where i am at too much to change things. Take advantage of the joys available everyday. Life's too short for small regrets.

Chris

[Butternutz]

Spot on Dan! When I switched I started with a 65# zipper custom made for me. I jumped in with both feet. Still have the bow after 15 years, now it's a conversation piece and I can only shoot about twice and I'm done. Do it all over again I would start out with a light weight bow. Don

[monk]

Walked more softly, listened more intently, and savored more frequently!

[buckeye_hunter]

I would have stayed in SE Ohio and set up a guiding business instead of leaving. Regardless of the choice in people's weapon, I enjoy hunting traditional and guiding for others.

As far as trad goes, I'm happy.... If I can't get a deer, then there are always muzzle loaders!

[Dirtybird]

I'm not to terribly old, but if I think back.  I wish I would of taken a ton more of pictures when I was growing up and all the time my brother and I would spend in the field.  My brother passed away 7 years ago and I still look at pictures from many great hunts ago.  Just wish I would of taken more of us just having fun roving together.  Those are some of my fondest memories.

[cthorsman]

Draw weight. It injured my shoulder. 40 - 45 lbs would have been plenty.

[stickandstring]

No regrets about anything. Made my own bow at age 8 and haven't changed a thing in 50 years.

[dnovo]

2 wishes. Back when I didn't think I could afford to buy any property, I wish I had done it anyway, cause land prices have tripled of more where I would like to own property. I am still behinmd the curve to afford land, as my income has gone up, land has increased more.
My other wish would be that I had known someone to caoch me on my shooting about 30 years ago. I could have avoided so many setbacks along the way.

[monterey]

Would have shot lighter bows from the get go.  Would have taken and made more time to just shoot.  Would have spent more time in the woods instead of hurrying home to take care of business.  Would never have bothered with glass, carbon or aluminum arrows and just stayed with my own woodies.

But, at age 66 I don't want that to look like a chain of regrets, cause it's not.  Just a few things I'd change but most would be exactly the same.

[LoneWolf73]

Do over..... in not having a gap in shooting Trad from teenager to about 38 years old. But riding the Trad saddle hard now.

[RC]

I would have kept a journal of my hunts like Mr. Wommack and Chris Spikes have. When asked how many deer have they killed they will not only tell you exactly how many but the dates and times as well as shot distance and how far after the shot the deer ran. I could guess how many and miss by 30 deer give or take.RC

[Goshawkin]

I wish I had started out with a Hill style longbow. I had alot of recurves and from mild to wild R/D longbows.I shot them for years.Bought my first Hill style about a year ago and that's what I'm sticking with.Sold off just about everything else.

[Don Batten]

I wish I had move to Ga in the 80's and Met Joebuck, Schuster, Marty, Biggie, Thomas, and Cory Mattson and the rest of the guys who have become good friends of mine in just the last few years.  Also wish I'd had a coach of sorts to get my shooting on track right from the start.  

Hadn't spent thousands of $ on stuff I really didn't need.  
and shot that 5x5 elk that I had at 12yards in Alberta in 92. There was a 6x7 behind him that never got close enough.