Pretty much as the title might suggest, what made you start shooting traditional archery?
personally I opted to shoot traditional becuase to me that how archery was meant to be, the graceful curve of my longbow and knowing how much history is behind it when I shoot it makes all the "well compunds are more powerful, accurate, better for hunting etc" comments I get worth putting up with. :archer: and besides, I don't have the time, money or want to worry about cams, sights, fancy arrow rests, mechanical releases and all that jazz.
So how about the rest of you? what made you want to shoot traditional?
Started tradional as a kid. Thought the way to go as I grew up was follow technology. Well, I got sick of all the gadgets and the weight of it all. Went back to trad and there is no turning back to tech. I am having way too much fun.
My dad ! We were poor LOL!!!
It was what his dad did and it was passed down as what to use. Just like our guns, all single shot or black powder. They were, and still are, people of the "old ways". Yea, my brother and I experimented with compounds and such, but it just was'nt the same, kinda like mama's cook'n, just ain't the same. It's just a way of life. I put mine down for awhile, work and all, but I have felt the fire kindling again and it's time to stoke it some !
It was 1969 BC (Before Compound). Nothing made me. I wanted too! Sorry couldn't resist! :bigsmyl:
It was AC (After Compound) It started out as a challenge.. Then it got addictive, Been in my blood since.
I really grew tired of all the mechanical gizmos that can(and will)break or fall out of adjustment at just the wrong time. And when the compound IS working correctly, it just feels too much like a gun to me.
Not to mention the trad bows are just plain ol' fun to shoot!
Jeff
It seems the most accurate way to shoot a bow under actual hunting situations and scenario's. The compound was really heavy after lugging that around all day fully loaded, sore shoulders, and I started out that way as a boy, returned to it and have started making my own self-bows with the help of many on here and just love the simplicity.
Like JBiorn said just got tired all the complication and gadgets that compounds have. Also was tired of the constant desire to pe perfect, always adjusting the sight after each shot, just lost its appeal. Not that you don't strive to be a better shot with a longbow, but it is just different, more about the mind and form than the equipment. I can't explain it, but I know you guys know what I am talking about.
The last few years I shot a compound, I kept threatening to go trad, then had an oppertunity to trad one of my old compounds for a robetson stykbow purist. from them on, havn't looked back. Trad brought the fun and challange back into my shooting.
Good thread!
Jake
I have worked at an archery shop about 5 yrs, because of my discount, I bought a new compound every year. 2 years ago, during late season, I bought a Hoyt Trykon. 20 hours later, I killed a fat doe with it. :saywhat: This year's bows didn't seem like the improvements were worth the money, and I WHACKED two with the Hoyt. :D I had been thinking trad for a long time and just never persued it. I decided it was time since I wasn't getting a compound and recieved my Savannah 3 weeks ago :archer: It's by no means over with my Trykon, but I think I'm likin' this!!
My old man gave me a BPearson recurve when I was 8 years old. Still use it for bowfishing. Never could afford a compound, so I stuck to the recurve and longbows.
Too many bells and whistles on those compounds for me. Just means more stuff to rattle around and fall off in the woods.
Had nothin but bad luck with compounds,I dont baby my gear.I gave archery up when my 1st son was born and couldnt find the time to shoot.This past summer when I bought a recurve for my 5 year old and started shooting it myself(sorry but I couldnt help myself)I remembered how much fun I had with that old red glass bear when I was a kid.I bought a curve last summer and wish Id never put them down in the first place.
I started out in the compound world. I volunteered to handle my dog for a pheasant hunt put on by the state bow hunters organization. Since I shot a compound I didn't think I could manage to shoot a flying bird. After spending a day watching 6 guys with recurves and longbows having the time of their life I decided it was something I just had to try. I kept my compound for 3 years after purchasing my first longbow. I've never looked back since. Like many have said above, it became a way of life. And now I often combine my two passions, longbows and bird dogs.
Howard
My cousin made the jump a year or two ahead of me. We were shooting in my back yard one afternoon and I was floored by the quiet and "graceful" image of a longbow being shot. Just thought it was cool! First experience resulted in exploding an old recurve when I drew it to 31" (sorry 'bout that one Brent). Ordered a Checkmate Crusader, and I am now learning.....
I had started hunting with an old recurve in the mid 70's but a few years later I was given a compound by my moms cousin because I hadn't killed anything with my recurve.
The compound only allowed me to miss faster and after hunting with it for a few years the guy that gave me the compound started hunting with a longbow and after shooting his bow I went back.
He took me over to a little archery shop in Potterville Michigan and I bought a 68" LaClair Hunter longbow. Can't remember the fella that ran the bow shop but he looked like a big ol mountain man! ;)
My father and grand father, got me into it....in a different way. They thought bowhunting was insane wheels or not....so that meant I had to do it to prove to them I could. I gave up wheels later to impose more diffculty.
I blame my buddy Damon and his father-in-law Shawn! What a wonderful addiction they got me hooked on...
I too started out with a recurve, then thought compounds were the way to go. Im back now...and my wheelie bow is geting real dusty.
From the day I first wanted to start bowhunting/shooting a bow at age 10, I wanted to shoot trad equipment. I shot compounds for a few years, mostly cause dad bought my first bow and thought that a compound was the only way to go. But there was never a day that I shot a bow that I didn't want it to be a recurve or longbow...
I just wanted a change. My dad has always shot a recurve. For me it was time to try something harder. It was either trophy hunt or try some other way to take a critter. I have two problems with trophy hunting. One - I don't hunt where I have a good chance of seeing a trophy buck, let alone killing one. Two - I like to fling arrows too much. So I went with a recurve. I have to say, it is definately more fun to shoot.
Scott
John Lee used to live and work close by where I live now. We were both archery collectors and somehow we got together. I remember John traveled extensively in his job and looked up a number of old timers including Howard Hill as well as John Schulz (American Longbow). I also remember being over to his home and seeing his collection of Hill bows and other traditional bows and became very interested in this style of bow and traditional shooting. From those encounters, I got hooked on the Hill type longbow. John recommended that I contact John Schulz and the rest as they say is history.
John Lee used to live and work close by where I live now. We were both archery collectors and somehow we got together. I remember John traveled extensively in his job and looked up a number of old timers including Howard Hill as well as John Schulz (American Longbow). I also remember being over to his home and seeing his collection of Hill bows and other traditional bows and became very interested in this style of bow and traditional shooting. From those encounters, I got hooked on the Hill type longbow. John recommended that I contact John Schulz and the rest as they say is history.
Like alot of folks on here, I'm getting tired of lugging heavy compounds around worrying about losing something or sights getting banged on a tree.
I've shot most styles of bows, and the older I get, the more I long for a simpler bow made of beautiful, light, warm glowing wood.
I guess the same reasons that I prefer to see or build(someday) a wooden canoe or other watercraft....they're just too purdy in my books.
I like stuff that works when ya really need it!!!!!!!
Good Question...Always wanted to hunt with a recurve but "thought" a wheelie bow was the way to go...Looking at photos of Fred Bear and American Indians in my younger years kept a desire deep inside alive...
Always hunted deer on the ground, stalking and still hunting...But the compound kinda complicated things...Then after I was married a short while my wonderful wife bought me a 45# recurve and I havn't looked back!!!
... mike ... :D ...
Using a compound was too easy. If a deer was inside of 35yds it could be killed. Trad requires much more dedication and woodsmanship not to mention a deep respect for the animals we pursue, something most of the compound shooters lack.JMO
I got tired of shooting the Matthew. It was so easy to line up the pin and let her go and hit where you were aiming. It became so mechanical. I was in elk camp with a friend that was a friend of Jim Brackenbury. My friend pulls out a TD of Jim's and assembles it. He asks if I would like to shoot it. I didn't do very well but I couldn't put it down. It was like I knew that bow could do better and I wasn't doing it justice. Well about an hour later I quite. I commented on how my shoulder was a little sore. My friend just smerked and said, "It takes a real man to shoot a real bow!" Well that really did it. I went home and bought a use recurve, then a longbow, then another recurve, got another recurve on order....he really started something! Thanks Gary!
Didn't have a choice. I also started BC, before compound. In fact, when I started, it wasn't called "traditional" archery, it was just called archery. I must admit I did try compounds for a while in the mid-70s, but I came to my senses fairly quickly.
I've seen too many mechanical problems,so many things that could go wrong.I like the simplicity of a traditional bow.The rest won't break off the bow,no sight pins to come loose.Plus it is more satisfing to me.
TRADGANG !!! Believe it or not.. I watched the movie lethal flight by tim wells and decided bow hunting looked way to much fun for me not to be doing it..I was looking around about to get a switchback and I remember man I am going to have to spend a lot of money on "STUFF" to go with it..I dont remember how i stumbled onto tradgang but I thought Id see what it was about I had a few minutes to spare...many hours later I realized I was still there reading. I called and told the guy sorry but I didnt want the matthews. Then I immediately ordered a super kodiak from cabelas the next day and have been here ever since...Now that I think about it a HUGE thank you is in order for all the people here and those that designed this site for keeping me from spending all that money on wheels..THANKS A TON... :notworthy: :notworthy: :archer:
Somebody put a stupid name to what I'd been doing for 35 years.
So now I'm a traditonal archer,,,,,,,,whipdedo.
That's all there was at the time!
I was growing weary of the "mechanical" side of modern compounds. It just wasn't challenging anymore. My uncle and I jet boated down the river a few miles then we had to paddle up a small creek for about 20 minutes. After getting out of the boat I realized that I had forgotten my release in the truck. That evening I decieded that there just had to be an easier way. Trad isn't easy, but it sure is more fun.
JDS III
I started out at the age of 10 with an old longbow. hunted for over 20 years with a compound. Just got sick of all the bells and whistles i wanted to go back to were it all started for me.
A Ben Pearson longbow was my first, that's all it took.
As a kid it started out with a wooden longbow.
Grab an arrow, any arrow, look at what you wanted to hit and hit it. Shots were always close, as they are meant to be. It was simple, natural, and most of all FUN.
Everyone said I needed a compound. Then there were sights, arrow rests, releases, peeps, kissers, overdraws, cam timing, stabilizers.
I was still shooting alot because I was a bowhunter. Bowhunters MUST practice. I was shooting because I had to, not because I wanted to.
In October of 1990, I was guarding some acorns in a favorite spot. A decent buck came early to eat.
He was a ways out. I drew, put my sight a couple inches over his back and ended up dropping him in his tracks. (I`m ashamed to say how far the shot was.) Worse yet,my hands weren`t shaking. It was mechanical. It made me feel horrible.
I knew how traditional archery made me feel and I knew what to do. By late bow season of that year I was confident enough with an old Bear Grizzly that was my older brothers, to give it a go.
One COLD day just before Christmas, I had three does come crunching through the snow on the runway
I was watching. I blew the shot, by not picking a spot and shot two feet over the leaders back.
I was weak in the knees and shaking the way only fridgid temps and "buck fever" can make you shake.
I can still see those orange feathers spinning over her back.
I have never looked back. Simple, natural, and most of all FUN!
Well....about 50+ years ago, when I started, there were no "training wheels." I'm not sure if they had training wheels for bikes then.
In the mid-70's, I bought one (yea, a compound). I shot it for about 4 months until one evening at an indoor range, I realized I had developed a severe case of "peg-boarditis" (a very common disease among compound shooters.) I took the sight off the bow, walked over to the trash can and threw the sight and release in the trash, put the bow in the case with the aluminum arrows, and gave the whole mess away to some "lucky" person. Didn't even know him. He just kind of stared at me strangely as I left the range.
I went home and called Jack Howard the next day and ordered 2 Gamemaster Jets.
Haven't had a relapse yet.
And....that's the truth.
:archer:
I too started out with compounds, after guns of course. Never really got satisfied with shooting one. I was looking through a cabelas catalog and seen some recurves. This was about 3 years ago. I said to myself, "Why am I buying all the sights, stabilizers, rests, releases, expensive arrows, blah blah. When I can have a beautiful piece of art that'll fling arrows good enough for the job." So I got a 1960's Kodiak Mag off of fleabay, and that was that. I don't wan't to ever go back.
It's the simplicity. I love to fling arrows because it soothes me. I picked a compound for about two years and got real tired of tuning and tinkering all the time. It took the fun out of it and I wasn't able to just relax fling an arrow. I also realized while in the backcountry hunting, someday again soon I hope, that if something went wrong with the wheeled machine I proabably wouldn't be able fix it until after the hunt. "One stick with one string and an arrow I'll fling"
Started in 1962 with an old fiberglass longbow I bought from my uncle for 50 cents. Was before compounds. Couldn't afford a compound so just kept collecting recurves. Got lotsa recurves and lotsa compounds(don't shoot the compounds, but they make great tradin' material for recurves) I just love watching an arrow in flight and as I get older, at least I can see the arrows when shot from the 'curve.We must all enjoy that aspect of archery or we wouldn't be doing it.
I decided to brake down and buy me a new bow last July.....i bought one of the fastest bows in the world at the time....i thinks it's still in the top ten.....but i could care less....It took me a lot of tinkering to get that new bow dialed in.....and then i just got disgusted. it just wasn't fun any more....There are many other reasons too but the thing that did it was watching the Trad guys having a ball at a 3D shoot. They were flinging Flu-Flu arrows 50-60 yards in a high arch at an elk target.....I watched those arrows fly....and listened to them laugh..... I hadn't watched one of my own arrows fly in years..That just grabbed me by theheart strings watching thos woodies fly......that ripped it....I sold the new Bowtech the following week...and bought a sander and a band saw.... have just started building my first long bow....
I'm really looking forward to this guys!
sounds like the simplicity is a recurring theme, I have to agree, I i want to just shoot, not tune and tinker, if i want to do that I can tinker to my hearts content under my truuck's hood
I started with real bows as a kid. Bought a compound as an adult... and was back to real archery before the season opened. The beauty of a traditional bow's lines captivated me. A couple years later and a failed attempt to buy a custom recurve had me shooting a compound-I hunted with it and missed some deer and turkeys(Wrong Pin, misjudged yardage etc.) When the opportunity for another "real" bow came I jumped on it. Confounds are interesting mechanically but boring to shoot.
1962 BC. Only game in town. Never wanted any training wheels. Started with an old Ben Pearson fiberglass bow, then a Pearson cougar. Went to longbows for many years and now I shoot mostly recurves and a couple of three piece longbows.
Danny
Because I'm a hopeless romantic. :D
There's something beautiful and graceful about a longbow or recurve that a compound just can't match. I started with a little fibreglass recurve when I was a kid, and my grandpa bought me a compound for christmas when I was 12. Of course, I was elated, because that's what Pop Pop and my uncle shot. But I always wished I'd win one of the longbows at the raffles, and boy did I buy gobs of raffle tickets. I guess I wanted to be a female robin hood, and robin hood didn't shoot a compound. I never did win one, though, and it wasn't until I was 17 that I finally bought a stick bow. Not long after that I gave my compound away.
My uncle is a gun nut type and a walking encyclopedia of reloading information. He always had the latest greatest compound, sights, all the gadgets too. He loves machines and so on.
The other day he said, "ya know, I think I want a longbow. I just want to go out to the range, take it out of the truck, string it, and shoot."
I think he's gotten gadget fatigue. :)
"I think he's gotten gadget fatigue."
That sums it up bout right!!!!! :bigsmyl:
I'm recently converted and I decided I just needed to get wood back in my hands.
I started hunting with a bow a little "later" in life, but with wheelie bows. Then I saw two guys on various videos,(Barry Wensel and Paul Brunner)and thought, "these guys are havin way too much fun!" That was about 16 years ago...I haven't been the same since!!!LOL
I could care less about all the "traditional" thinking. I shot compounds, they work their job, but I hated the gadgets. What got me was trying out a recurve and I shot it pretty good, and just realized that pound for pound that a recurve is a much more efficient hunting weapon (provided the hunter can do his part!.) Might not have the range of a compound (least not in my hands, 25 yds top for me) but if I wanted to shoot deer past that range I will carry my 30/06. bowhunting should be a close range kill.
On the range the compound rules, in the woods recurve/longbow can't be beat. I see compound dudes with levels on their sights??? you tell me I am going to check a level before I release? yeah right, me and that person are hunting different critters I reckon.
Most of the guys I shoot/hunt with are pounders though, we have a good time ribbing each other :smileystooges: .
Later
Jason
One more thing, once you get hooked there is no cure though! be careful. I got guys shooting them and I have seen it so many times! trad-itis
It is such a debilitating disease, you only think you spent alot of money with compound junk, then you get your first off the shelf recurve, then ya want a custom. Then ya want hand made custom crested arrows. With a compound off the shelf muzzys were great! not now, not with trad-itis, NOPE you gotta try twenty different kinds of 2 blade traditional heads to find what the bow spits best.
And then it happens the fianl outcome of trad-itis, you come home from work and all of your clothes and hunting stuff/bows and arrows are in the from yard. course ya pick up your bow and arrows and leave the rest of it. :archer:
Later
J
The process actually most likely started when I quit shooting competitive 3D about 7 years ago.
I shot mostly in the Unlimited Class and was darn good, with boxes of trophies and awards in storage to prove it. But it was a constant arms race for the next best sight, release, bow, whatever, that would give a guy the point or two edge that meant the difference between first & third place. I would be disappointed if I didn't nearly clean whatever course I was shooting that weekend. Frankly, it got boring drilling 10 and 12 ring shots.
This translated over to bowhunting. I got so I viewed an animal I was drawing on as a target, and just 10 ring'ed them. I rarely, rarely, missed a kill shot.
Too make a long story short,it struck me that the compound and all it's accessories had made bowhunting too easy, after I killed the biggest buck (138+)of my life last season. After the initial elation I felt a letdown. Something was missing.
In short, I had lost the magic & essence of archery which had led me to pick up a bow when I was a kid back in the 60's. I put my compounds in the closet, got a recurve, and haven't looked back. I've fallen back in love with archery, and can't wait to shoot every day...
I was given an old bear fiberglass recurve for christmas when i was eight, about 7 years ago, got serious about trad archery two years ago, and next week I buy my first custom bow made to my specs!
allot of great answers posted, but for me it is the respect for the game I hunt is why I went to Traditional gear. Shooting a center fire firearm, wheeliebow or the new smokepoles are great but they take away from the hunt. The game only has it's senses sight,smell and hearing, with all the new blockers, cover scents, etc: the game is at a disadvantage with all that. I now use a old sidelock smokepole and a Shrew hybrid longbow ( till I can make a good shooting selfbow ) to hunt with.. I feel I'm putting the game back in to gamehunting...
I started out primitive.Just a stick and string.Blue jean patches on my jeans when we could aford them. Once I went all winter without a coat.Now you can get the picture.Poor,poor poor we were.I had to fix or make almost everything I owned.I once sold enough coke bottles to buy a Ben Pearson Filly 37# @ 28".I have still got her.Arter almost 60 years I still make and fix everything I own but no I am in a very much better financial state.I had to make a new gunstock the other day.I used some of my bocote and bloodwood.Now that thing turned some heads.To me there is something about things you make yourself that something store bought just does not have.Store bought maybe much shinnyer but its not the same.I was out shooting once with some friends and one of them was using a compound.He let me shoot it.Those things are just a piece of store bought machinery.To me they were not much fun to shoot and I just dont really under the craz that people have for them.I still make and shoot all my own bows from primitive to glass and thats where I will stay.
My very first bow, was homemade, it was,
A palmetto stem for the bow and bindertwine for the string. the arrows were made of sharpened green cane or the straightess saplings we could find, with self nocks and no fletching. My next bow was a hickory sapling. it did'nt take long for the bows to take a set. We made new ones about every other week. We also shot at everything that moved, or did'nt move.
Ahhhhhh, those were the days !!
"Gadget fatigue". Yup, sounds like the main problem for me!
Jeff
For 26 years I used the "wheels". I shot target and hunted. In that time I did everything but become a national champion, I came close,,, I got book bucks 20 some elk, and began to lose interest. Then one day I spotted an old self bow out of yew in a 2nd hand store, bought it for $5. Took it home and built a string for it, not knowing much to nothing about it I tried a shot and and promptly slapped my arm. I was a newbie again! Right now I have around 20 bows I've built and am zeroing in on a nice fast pyramid bow design using Ipe and hickory. 65# @27"draw 58"ntn. A real screamer! Yeah, I'm hooked, I'm young again, well on some level,,,;
More Challange. Every shot is fun.
I was a week out from going into the Bob Marshall on an elk hunt when my compound broke. The limb split right at the axle and I couldn't get new limbs until after the trip. So I picked up a used damon howat hunter and went to work practicing as much as I could. I didn't shoot anything on the trip but I also didn't feel bad letting cows walk at 30 yards. I knew I wasn't good enough to shoot that far so I watched as they wandered by. That was a realization that there's more to it than taking game.
Dad gave my brother and me some Ben Person longbows for Christmas in 1950 and that was a start of a long love affair. I shot a compound from 1972 to 1977 and went back to the longbow. I had to have a new compound every year through the 70's and finely realized it was expensive and no longer fun.
I just bought my first bow ever last summer... a 50# Bear Grizzly recurve... Never have and never wanted to purchase a Compound... they have no appeal to me... Recurves and Long Bows are the way a Bow should be... In My Opinion
I got bored with shooting the compound bow tho I owe it much and being the romantic guy that I am, the Longbow was it for me...
Through a member of TG - Pete Darby.
My daughter had shown some interest in archery after studying medieval history in school. Shortly after we went to a "Celtic" festival where we stumbled across Pete and his group doing a medieval archery demonstration. I talked to him for nearly an hour picking his brain.
We came home, got a couple bows, set up a target in the back yard and have been at it ever since. That was three years ago.
Thanks Pete!