Trad Gang
Main Boards => PowWow => Topic started by: Bowwild on September 21, 2022, 04:21:31 AM
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My son lives just 1/2 mile from me across the gulley and through the woods. He and I have been hunting together since he could walk. He's hunted with a compound since he was 13. He added a recurve to his line-up a few years ago. (Gee whiz I can't believe it was 25 years ago when he graduated High School when I gifted him a Black Widow!). He killed a deer with the recurve last season and is dabbling with it some this year too.
Yesterday we were driving to Lowes for some lumber for me to make a wedding arbor for his son, my grandson's upcoming outdoor wedding. He asked me why one uses a recurve instead of a compound. He said he doesn't buy the "pretty wood" reason. He knows I have nothing against anyone or whatever they choose to use as long as it is legal and they are competent and make good decisions.
I told him two reasons why I prefer the recurve:
1. Nostalgia. Recurves are what I started with. Hunting with recurves reminds me of those magical first hunts and my first one was indeed magical. I reminded him, because I started him with compounds and I was shooting those with him for years, he probably couldn't relate. But he said he gets the nostalgia reason.
2. I feel more involved and in tune with the shot. There is no mechanical advantage with the recurve, only the energy I put into the shot being reflected in the release.
If I'm being honest, I have to admit a deep down ego issue. I feel better when taking an animal with the recurve than the compound. I'm NOT suggesting this as a good reason and in fact consider that ego thing a fault. The ego thing, in my mind, has to do more with how others will perceive my accomplishment rather than my own satisfaction (or not).
It is difficult to remove perception value from the "story telling". In other woods, did I kill the "big buck" with a rifle, crossbow, compound, or recurve. Those methods are all fine, personal decisions, but, whether good or bad, my "value" of the accomplishment increases as one progresses through that list.
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I hunt with "traditional" just because it's what I like. If I were to use a different weapon to increase odds of filling the freezer during bow season, I'd skip the compound and go right to a crossbow. I've been tempted to do it but ONLY for the meat. It wouldn't have anything to do with having fun.
There just isn't anything about a compound that I enjoy...I don't like to look at them, carry them or shoot them. Since I don't own a compound it's easy to decide which to hunt with. LOL
I think other should hunt with what they enjoy hunting with.
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Its often been said that the more you put into something....the more you get out of it. It seems particularly true with stickbow hunting.
In the end; its simplicity is very intoxicating.
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I like the challenge of Traditional, I can shoot a compound just about as well as a crossbow, If I ever have to kill I'll use one of my firearms, thank God I don't have to, if I'm hungry I can always go to the Grocery Store. Traditional is so much more fun for me, I here people talk about it's simplicity I agree on the Bow as a weapon but not at getting proficient with it or the making of a fine Bow, that takes alot of skill, practice, and experience and is what I like most, I'm always fascinated with the different processes and challenge of it all, I never get bored with it and the Trad community is great.
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There just isn't anything about a compound that I enjoy...I don't like to look at them, carry them or shoot them. Since I don't own a compound it's easy to decide which to hunt with. LOL
mgf’s comment just about sums it up for me too.
The main reason I took up archery back in the ‘80’s was to have something new to do with my two boys. Personally, I had just finished reading “Zen in the Art of Archery,” and thought archery might help me to de-stress from my job. We started out with compound bows, and there was nothing about compounds that helped me to relax, or that I could relate to the experiences of the author of that book. I can’t imagine anyone ever writing a book called “Zen in the Art of Shooting Compound Bows”. While I am not a practitioner of Zen, shooting a traditional bow is a peaceful experience for me and helps me to keep things in perspective.
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I also shoot traditional simply because I like it. I have shot compounds but never wanted to own one. I used to use the rifle, but there was not much challenge in it since the areas I hunted were heavily wooded and long shots very rare. After getting my first longbow, I used the gun in gun season and the bow in archery season. One year as bow season drew to a close, I decided I was having so much fun I would stay with the bow into rifle season. That was over 30 years ago, and during that time I have only used the bow. Simply for the enjoyment. I haven't killed a lot of deer, but I don't care. I could wax long and eloquently about being closer to nature, feeling as one with the animals I hunt, etc. But, why bother, you guys already know about all that. As the Beach Boys might say, it's been "fun, fun, fun since I took the rifle away".
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I shot a stickbow before I ever seen a compound bow when I was 16 I bought my first compound. The reason why I switch back to my roots is I was a shooter not a hunter I shot several Muledeer at 50 plus yards and a bunch of Jackrabbits 60 plus yards I wanted more I switch to back to Trad bow fell in love with everything about it found Trad Gang and the rest is history.
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Mine started out cost…
Archery and fishing have been my hobbies my whole life. I like to hunt, haven’t in a long time with family obligations but ARCHERY is what I love.
I started with a compound, idolized the Fitzgeralds, so naturally I shot fingers with no sights. My best friends always beat me at 3D, so I put sights on and eventually a release, still LOVED shooting as much as possible.
Then went back to fingers , no sights, string eventually broke.
$120 for new string and for it to be put on.
I bought a Herters International Match hunter and 6 arrows off eBay for $35, learned to make my own strings and viola!!!! I’m Trad.
I still love bow hunter class compound , I don’t like watching Olympic recurve or long stabilizing compound but anything hunting class, bare bow style I’m in.
That’s why I shoot Trad
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About 10 years ago my brother asked me to go shotgun hunting with him. I seldom gun hunt anymore but I went. We were standing on a trail when a very nice 10 point came running our way. I let it get to about 50 yards and I shot it.
As we were standing there looking at this fine deer all that I could think of was what a great kill that would have been with my longbow. I felt absolutely no sense of pride or accomplishment having killed it with the gun. I felt the same way when I shot a deer with a compound, and that was over 30 years ago. :coffee:
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Here’s the way I reason it:
It is much harder to get and stay proficient with a trad bow with no letoff or sights than it is to be proficient with a compound with sights or a scoped rifle. For me, that difficulty makes the successes way more rewarding because of how much harder I had to work to make it happen!
Bisch
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There's no doubt that a traditional bow is more challenging, which in turn increases the satisfaction, as others have noted. That's the main reason I've been doing it this way for more than 65 years.
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I started out with a recurve, bowhunting in 1965 with a “Wonderbow”. A gift from my parents. I just love shooting traditional. I have been shifting over to the longbow side lately, but do have my old Wonderbow and a Black Widow recurve also.
One of my nephews suggested to my son that he should try a compound. My son replied “What? And get cut out of the will? He knows.😏
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I started out with a recurve before compounds. I did buy a compound in 1977 when I was 21 and impressionable. I sold it in 1980 and went to a Howard Hill longbow. I’ve been shooting a longbow ever since. Part of it is the added challenge of getting close and also shooting enough to maintain accuracy. But when you like to shoot that’s a plus. Plus the longbow and wood arrows is just so simple and easy. No reason not to.
Plus I think I look cool with a longbow and back quiver. :biglaugh: :biglaugh:
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Back in the 1970's... Fred Bear instituted a program, "Be a Two Season Hunter" to promote BowHunting.
I started bow hunting in 1976. I was the LAST of my friends, to switch to a compound.
I only bought a compound, because I couldn't find a badly needed string, for my old Bear recurve.
2 compounds later, I was tired of the "latest & greatest" buy a new bow every year mentality....
I quit bow hunting. I started again about 2000, with a used Kodiak Magnum and cedar arrows.
It was 1976 all over again!!! :archer:
That being said... I have ALWAYS been a gun hunter, and always will be...
Every year, Opening Day of rifle season, is a family tradition at our cabin at the base of the mountain.
NY's big game laws, allow all unused tags to be used as antler-less tags, during the late Muzzle-Loading season.
This, is when we fill the freezer..... A scoped In-Line, gets the job done!! :thumbsup:
Bottom line... I'm a HUNTER!!! It's all about the meat....
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All the reasons above, plus the fact that the whole time I was hunting compounds, I was shackled to 'the gear'...sights, rests, releases, pulleys, wheels, cables, sliders...what I needed was none of that. No release, off the shelf, no sights, no gapping. And I found it in a trad bow that was built in Grayling when I was in junior high. light as a feather; I could walk to my stand with the string lightly dancing across my fingertips. The warmth of wood versus a frigid cold magnesium riser on a frosty morning. Nothing to drop, lose, or break. And the power of a secret past of who knows how many hunts, how many big bucks trapped inside that bow just itching to get out.
And above all, a 50 year old bow that is as current and relevant as it was 50 years ago.
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For me, they are just a heck of a lot more fun to shoot than compounds. You can actually see your arrow in flight and if you miss, there is usually less damage to your arrow. Plus compounds became similar to having a bicycle up in the tree; too heavy, with too many gadgets. I never really wanted to shoot a compound year round, but I shoot traditional gear at least four or five days a week.
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It's personal preference. I never owned a compound. I shoot the all wooden (selfbows) that I make for me and mine. I started shooting around 1956.
My oldest daughter shoots the osage self bow I made for her...one of many. I once asked if she feels like she should shoot a store bought bow. She laughed.
My younger brother (of eternal memory) shot selfbows I made for him. I sure do miss him. We hunted and shot together.
My best archery times have been those spent with family and friends.
I shoot selfbows because I enjoy it.
Jawge
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Many of our reasons are identical to very close to the same. I'm thinking our reasons are as uncomplicated as the equipment we enjoy.
My son had heard me proclaim the joys of hunting with recurves over and over for years. When he asked this question a few days ago he wanted to know why I "like" them. I had to dig a bit deeper to figure that out and provide the answers I listed above.
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Its often been said that the more you put into something....the more you get out of it. It seems particularly true with stickbow hunting.
In the end; its simplicity is very intoxicating.
I 100% agree with this ........
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The nostalgia thing yes.
Kind of like tooling around town in a 63 Corvette convertible that you also enjoy working on verses stylin in 2022 Corvette that requires a college course just to figure out the whistles and bells and surely you can't mess with anything under the hood. But they are faster!
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There are a lot, but for me sum up this last summer, talking with a guy at a car show, he asked me this, "Why use a stickbow?" I asked him, "Why did you buy that corvette, when any car will do?" He said, "The Vette just makes me feel good". I said, "That is why, it just connects me with history, nature and fills my soul, besides cann't enjoy the flight of arrow out of a compound".
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One of my reasons was simplicity. My working life I was a machinist/toolmaker/mechanical tech , always working with tools. Sometimes setting up a compound seemed an extension of work. Looking for something simpler while at the same time more challenging.
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I’ve noticed one thing about all the people above , we’re all old farts lol. To me it is so much more than just shooting a bow ,it’s a lifestyle. I worked for years in a high tec environment and today I want nothing to do with that I don’t own a cell phone and don’t even where a watch anymore .The smell of Port orford cedar and burning turkey feathers , Latigo leather and damp wool just can’t be described. I really learned to shoot watching Fred Bear on the American Sportsman and my Dad telling me about Howard Hill, so many deep memories I’m just not ready to forget. For me plastic ,pulleys and metal just can’t replace yew, leather ,wood and feathers.
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Steve, you made me laugh. What you said is so true. Our hearts, though, are in the right place.
Time with family shooting our bows of whatever ilk (compound, trad, all wood) is precious. Jawge
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I shoot a long bow cause I can, when I can't I will shoot a compound and when I can't shoot that then I'll shoot a crossb NAAaaa I'm to darn old!!
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I tried the compound thing and found that I didn't care for it. Fast foreward a bunch of years and my oldest Grandson started shooting a longbow. When he decided to try bow hunting he got a compound to hunt with Then he bought a crossbow and used it one season> It sets in my gun room and he is hunting with a recurve because its more of a challenge.
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It’s all about the added challenge and the accomplishment when we succeed. Think of the small minority ever actually felt this. If someone doesn’t understand you really can’t force them to. Sport hunting is supposed to be sporting
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Life is way too short to spend it hunting with an ugly bow.
JMC
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I like that I can toss my bow across a slick gulley before crossing, and I don't need to worry about knocking anything out of wack. Its the same if I lean it against a tree and it falls, or if I accidentally drop it from a tree stand. As long as it doesn't hit a rock or something sharp, a quick glance is all it takes to make sure everything is good.
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Because having a stick bow in my hands feels natural.
Because it’s simple.
Because it’s as close to my ancestors as I can get (spears and atlatls aren’t legal here).
Because it’s as close to “fair chase” (being on a equal footing as the game pursued) as you can get.
Because it’s not easy, it’s a challenge, it take dedication, practice, patience and effort
Because of the sense of accomplishment
Because game taken with a stickbow taste better
Because of tradition and family history (I grew up in archery and my dad, brother, cousins, uncles, great uncles, grandfathers, etc are/were archers).
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I learned to hunt with a rifle, and did so for 20 years. I didn't get into archery hunting until 1990 at age 35.
I loved the compound bows, and did very well hunting deer and elk for about 15 years. I shot competitively with a compound bow too for about 5-6 years, and I had a lot of fun with it... I could shoot a hundred yards as well as most guys could shoot a rifle before it was all said and done.....I got a kick out of balancing and blueprinting arrow shafts for long distance accuracy. It was a hoot!
But ......something just changed in me when i shot my first long bow....Hard to explain really....After my first exposure, i was already researching the art of building my own bow, and i never looked back. I just fell in love with the whole thing. Building my own bows and arrows from scratch, and the challenge of getting proficient enough to hunt was an incredible experience..... All my hunting buddies thought i'd lost my mind, but i didn't care at all.
Then I developed a passion for designing and building different types of traditional bows, and to this day I still enjoy the bowyers trade. Kirk
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I have shot a recurve or longbow since I was 5. I am almost 60. I spent every summer as a kid near Grayling. I played "Fred Bear" in the woods chasing gophers and red squirrels.
I bought a compound the first year I was out of the Army, about 1985. I hunted with it for about a season and a 1/2. This was about the time of the Traditional Archery resurgence. G Fred Asbell caught my attention, and I immediately ordered a recurve. I never touched my compound again. They just don't do a thing for me