New to forum and Traditional Archery

[NWOMoose88]

Hello,
Im an avid bow hunter and I am new to traditional archery. I am from north of the border and have been interested in long bows for quite some time. Up north archery is popular but not nearly as popular as in the US. I have hunted with a compound for roughly ten years now and my favorite animal to hunt for is moose. I also bow hunt for whitetails and massive black bear. Traditional archery is not the norm where I come from therefore I dont really know anyone with any knowledge or experience who can help me learn or give me advice on where to start. I need to figure out which bow is right for me to learn on but the problem is that I have no idea where to even start! I was hoping to start shooting this spring and shooting daily all thru the summer with the hopes that I will be confident enough to attempt to hunt deer this upcoming september at close range with a longbow. I was planning on attending the traditional archery expo in kalamazoo at the end of this month but work is a nuissance and seems to always get in the way of bow hunting and anything related to bow hunting so I cannot make it this year. Can anyone help this rookie get started?

[JRY309]

Welcome,there is a lot of good info and help on this site.Just starting out if would be nice to shoot some bows and see what you like.Start with a bow you can draw comfortably.Starting out with a bow too heavy can lead you down the road of bad form and habits.There are plenty of good used longbows you can get at good prices starting out.Get a decent set of matched arrows for the bow you choose.There are some good books to help,I like Become the Arrow by Bryon Ferguerson and Instinctive Archery Insights by Jay Kidwell.You can also find video's on here and youtube.com about trad bows and shooting them,will give you something more visual.Have a question just ask here.

[SquareHead]

Welcome!

Welcome to the Gang, from Texas!

Bisch

[BelegStrongbow]

Hey Jan, welcome. You've come to the right place, you'll not find a better bunch of people than here. I'm rather new here myself so take what I say with a grain of salt. I think most people here will recommend that you pick up a cheap, low poundage bow to learn on first. Depending on you this may not be accurate, but the norm is 35-40 pounds at 28". You'll also need to find your draw length as it is usually different switching from wheels to a stick. The Samick Sage is the most popular. It is an ILF, meaning you can swap out for heavier limbs as you need to. By not "over bowing" yourself, you can work on form, and shoot a lot with out getting tired. Form is most important, a lot of good info in the form section.

As you get better form, you can pick up a heavier set of limbs and continue to strengthen your muscles while not sacrificing form. Once your ready to get your "dream" bow or bows you can always sell the Samick here in the classifieds. Your arrows won't be to important when you first start out, but getting the proper arrows is always fun. Especially when they fly like darts for you. Stu's calculator is a great resource for this. Google it and it will pop up.

Speaking of arrows BigJims online shop is a great place for goldtip blems. He's a great guy to do business with as are all the other sponsors here on this site. Seriously you can't go wrong with any of them.

Lastly as far as not really having anyone close to you, that's a bummer. Although there may be a few more than you think hopefully. May be one or two on this site that are close, you never know. But if not, ask your questions here, no matter how silly they may seem. Everyone starts somewhere, and that somewhere is the beginning. The members here love to help people get into the trad side of life and are very generous with their knowledge.  

Glad to have you here and hope to see more posts in the future.

[Stump73]

Welcome!

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Welcome.  Kalamazoo would be great for you.  It would give you a chance to handle a  lot of bows and talk with people who can point you straight.

As far as having no one around. That's a bummer but I think you may have more than you realize. I'll try and rehash an old thread of just Canadian tradgangers.

You are in the right place. Enjoy.

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Here you go hope you can find one close.

http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=125811;p=1

[KentuckyTJ]

Welcome from Kentucky! Great time of the year to start. You will be more than ready by the time the seasons roll around again. Good luck and enjoy!

[shreffler]

Everyone's steering you in the right direction so far! I second the suggestion of a Samick Sage. Get one in 35 or 40# at first, limbs are only about $70 with free shipping - extremely affordable when you want to move up to hunting weight.

There are a ton of good used bows here in the classifieds, if you pay the $30 fee you can access them for the whole year (the fee is to deter scammers). Lots of really awesome used bows for not a lot more than what you'd pay for a Sage.

You'll need to determine your draw length and decide on a bow poundage before you can get arrows to match, tons of different options out there. Once you get a bow and determine draw length you can post a thread asking for some suggestions or ask any members here, they should be able to give you some good suggestions.

Most importantly, enjoy the journey  :D  You're going to get frustrated at first and miss having the pinpoint accuracy of wheels, but with time you'll enjoy that challenge more and more.

Alex

[Swinestalker]

Welcome to the campfire.

[nineworlds9]

[mike g]

Welcome from California.
     

[4dogs]

At the top of this page, right under the Little Crow Bow add there is a small yellow tab that says...Trad Archery for bowhunters.... Double click on it and read all of that. Rob did a great job with this and is a good place to start..lots of info. Good luck and have a great time!!

[NWOMoose88]

Thank you for all the replies! I followed the link above and actually found someone from this site in my hometown! I will take a look thru the classifieds and see if i can pick something up to begin shooting with. I cant wait to start learning this new art!

[sheepdogreno]

Welcome! I will also say to look into the samick sage. Great shooting bow for little money!

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Glad you were able to find some people pretty close by.

I see that thread is old so I am not sure how many are still active here. Often people are considered lurkers but dont post much.

You can send them a Private message (pm) by clicking the small envelope with the 2 people shaking hands on the date line of their post.

Also the classifieds are  a great resource but in order to use them there is a small contributor fee. Worth every penny in opinion. Often you save more than that fee in the sale or purchase of an item. Plus there are give backs.

[DennyK]

Welcome Jan!      

[Sam McMichael]

Welcome to trad. Do you have any idea how addictive this can be?

[Terry Green]