Trad Gang
Main Boards => PowWow => Topic started by: KyRidgeRunner on January 22, 2015, 09:17:00 PM
-
Well, I finally committed to hunt only with a trad bow during the 2015 archery season. So since the first day of 2015 I only packed my tall tines recurve and let the compounds hang out in the safe. I learned quit a bit in the last few weeks of hunting that I'd never noticed while hunting with a compound. My biggest lesson came the last day of our 2014-15 when stalking turkeys. I was in a crep field with stubble about 8" high and my attached quiver let my arrow knocks stick down below my limb just enough to act like a rake head. If the birds had of come into range I would've had a though time getting drawn from my knees without canting the bow way over. Another day last weekend I was out and got on some turkeys and I was wearing my bacalva that I thought was the greatest thing because it was warm and I could easily slide it over and hit my anchor point, what it lacked though was a bill to keep the sun outa my eyes and I couldn't see a thing! So I didn't kill a deer or turkey the last few weeks of season but I did manage to connect on a rabbit running with my recurve. I traded off one of my compounds last week to a savannah and traded another tonight to a shot gun.... So with all that out of my way I'm looking forward to an all trad 2015! This site is awesome and the folks here have answered lots of questions Ive had over the past couple years! Thanks guys and good luck
to all of you this year!
-
Keep after it and it will happen!
There is just about no other feeling in the world like that when you walk up to the first critter you ever shoot with a trad bow!
Bisch
-
Good on ya! I commited to hunting all last season trad only. Missed a good 8 point in October and got a spike later in the season. Worth every minute! I learned a lot this season and I'm also looking forward to an all trad 2015!!!
-
Good for you...!
Patience and persistence, and it will happen.....if it were easy everybody would be hunting with a stick and string...
-
Im going to make it happen as well. The only thing that will stop me is me. My shooting needs to be pretty darn good or I won't chance injuring an animal for the sake of just saying I went all trad.
-
I did the same thing but it's been a few years now. I found a guy on craigslist and traded my compound for a .22 mag and a mossberg 12 gauge.
I haven't looked back and will never go back to the wheelies. I'd rather eat tag soup for the next 10 years and be happy doing it.
-
Never have shot a compound, let alone hunted with one. Not to say I wouldn't if I was physically unable to hunt with a recurve or longbow. My son hunts with a compound and I still love him and hunt with him. LOL.
Lots of things come into play with traditional (I refuse to call it trad) bowhunting and all of them make you a better woodsman and hunter.
What I like about traditional archery is there are fewer people who do it. I am not a joiner and this is about as congenial as I get.
Patience and persistence indeed! You are doing it. Congratulations.
-
I went total traditional last year and will do so again this year. You won't regret it
-
Going all trad was the best hunting decision I ever made. Enjoy it so much more now
-
Sounds good, stick with it as their is nothing like the thrill of taking game with a stick bow IMO. I made the switch about 14 years ago and have never looked back.....KY :archer:
-
I've been doing it for over six years, you aren't as successful on the kill front, but way more rewarding in so many other ways and when you do get an animal it is very special.
-
You kept your compound bow in a safe!? You shoulda left that sucker on your front porch. Then you would have made this fine decision sooner!! :biglaugh:
Congratulations on your journey. You won't believe you waited this long.
-
The journey may be absorbed much more fully and less distracted by the freedom from the clutter of mindful distractions.
Enjoy your endeavor!
-
Originally posted by Bisch:
Keep after it and it will happen!
There is just about no other feeling in the world like that when you walk up to the first critter you ever shoot with a trad bow!
Bisch
Yeah what Bisch said. I hope you find out this year Brother!
-
I started shooting a recurve at age 17, still hunting traditional at 60, and will be traditional until I can hunt no more.
-
Originally posted by KyRidgeRunner:
This site is awesome.......
It ain't the site, it's the bow.
:biglaugh:
homebru
-
Good to hear. I went completely traditional this year. Thats all I hunted with all year. I set out during the gun seasons. Dont have anything against any other weapon but there are no words to do traditional bowhunting justice. I made the switch a few years back. Enjoy the journey!
-
Me, Traditional Only.. But the wheel bow is staying just in case of an injury that would otherwise sideline me. I appreciate all that is Archery and hunt with guys who prefer wheels to wood.
-
Thanks for all the encouragement guys! I feel like I did when a first started bow hunting 17 years ago! I'm super excited to work on stands and ground blinds that will allow for close shots. It's going to happen this year... I can feel it in my bones!
-
Like it was said above....nothing beats walking up on your first harvest! I went 100% traditional in 2013... took my compound to the local archery shop and had it reworked to my son's dimensions. He is happy and I am giddy with being full traditional! The guys at work think I'm off my rocker, but I sure do enjoy being simple! I don't see myself ever picking a compound back up.
God bless,
Rodd
-
Originally posted by Hummer3T:
I've been doing it for over six years, you aren't as successful on the kill front, but way more rewarding in so many other ways and when you do get an animal it is very special.
Yep, 8 years for me this year since selling my compounds and going all in BUT I disagree with the successful part....
This year I tied my previous record for deer taken in one season with a bow and that record was previously made ONLY after switching to Traditional :campfire:
-
Sitting here in the living room, watching the snow fall and reading about all you guys going traditional only for 2015. Was thinking back to how I got into this hunting style. It's a rather long journey and didn't know if anyone would really care how it came about but then decided what the heck. If someone doesn't want to read it then they don't have to read it. So here goes.
It was around '73 and I and a couple of buds were sitting around trying to think of ways to increase our hunting opportunities and one of us mentioned bow hunting. When I was younger I would shoot frogs with my old all green fiberglass bow with brown plastic grip but that activity didn't translate into my older hunting trips. Anyway, we took a trip down to Robin Hood Archery and Butts and Bows in, I think, Montclair, NJ. I bought a Robin Hood recurve and a Browning Explorer I. All three of us hunted hard that first year and I actually killed my first deer, a doe, with that Explorer, and from the ground no less. Still have both of them.
But then I got caught up in the "latest" in bow hunting, the compound. Bought an early Jennings and gradually stepped up in quality to keep pace with the increasing technology.
Stayed with the compound until I took a summer job with the local Y camp nearby. I had retired at that point and was just looking for something to do summers. One of my fellow employees at that camp happened to be a traditional archer who goes by the handle "Bamboo" on this site. I'm sure many of you know of whom I speak. As summer progressed Bamboo convinced me that I should try bow hunting with a recurve or longbow and after a while I had to agree with him. Knowing nothing about trad archery decided I wanted to start with a Howard Hill longbow, one of which I saw a friend of Bamboo's had. So I purchased an HH blank and Bamboo finished it for me. Did a really nice job by the way. Hunted with him that season and managed to kill a doe. Bought another blank and finished that one myself. Came out pretty well if I must say so myself. Took it on a pig hunt on an island in PA next spring and dropped a big old pig with that one.
For some reason that was the end of my foray into trad archery and hunting and went back to the wheels with a vengeance.
-
Originally posted by Bisch:
Keep after it and it will happen!
There is just about no other feeling in the world like that when you walk up to the first critter you ever shoot with a trad bow!
Bisch
X2....I dont think I have ever been so excited walking up to a doe as I was the first one with my longbow. It might as well have been a 200 inch deer.
-
Ooops. Hit the Add Reply by mistake. On with the narrative.
Where was I? Oh, yeah, back to wheels with a vengeance. Stayed with them until last summer when I and a friend went down to True South Adventures for a hog hunt. Took my compound and my Kwyk Styk which I had bought off another friend when I went to Sawmill during my longbow stint. When we got to True South, I asked Jim how far the shots would be to the bait sites from the stands we'd be using and he said ten to fifteen yards. I thought, heck, that close, I'm going to try it with my KS. For whatever reason, the minute I carried that bow into the woods it was the end of my compound days. That bow just felt so good to carry. (I hit a hog on that trip but didn't recover.) I made a decision I made a decision at that point that I was going trad the whole way. Gave my wheels to my son last summer and haven't looked back.
Decided that if I was going to go whole "hog", no pun intended, I wanted a new custom. Finally decided on a Hummingbird Kingfisher longbow three piece. For me, an excellent choice. Have taken a pronghorn in WY in Sept. and a doe and a nice buck with it this past archery season. As an aside, I had Bamboo make me one of his R/D longbows last fall and this past week during winter bow, dropped a little five pointer, my first winter bow buck.
The only downside to this whole transition is that I have become addicted to trad bows. I've bought five or six used ones off another site's classifieds. Don't see an end to it either.
Well, I guess I've rambled on long enough. Am truly enjoying the trip and as many have said there is nothing like putting one's hands on an animal taken the way it should be, with a stick and string. The End.
b
-
Cool story highlow. I will say I was a little confused until I read the second half of your post.
-
:shaka: