When do you know?

[FlintNSteel]

I actually started with traditional equipment over 45 years ago.  Compounds were just getting off the ground, and I have used them as well, but traditional is where my heart is.

More to your point, my biggest switch was from recurve to longbow.  Back when I added a longbow to my arsenal, the quality was not what we have today and it took three years of hard practice before I felt confident taking that bow into the woods.  

I killed a small 5-pt buck with it that year doing a "back-breaker" shot (my back broken from twisting so far around to shoot...not the deer's) from a treestand!  Even had a reverse cant on the bow.   But I had practiced that kind of shooting over and over.

I agree with those that have said that practice from all angles, body positions, etc. is important.  "Target" practice is nice and good for building form, but stump shooting is the real test, IMO.  If you can consistently pick and hit game kill-zone sized targets stump shooting you are ready.

[Thumper Dunker]

quote:Originally posted by JEFF B:
when i picked up a Bent stick and put a string on it and shot a few other sticks with nails. i said to myself is this fun or what. and i aint looked back  since oh hang on yeah i did i picked up a sling shot. but hey its a bent stick LOL!!!    

[WESTBROOK]

Originally posted by FlintNSteel:


I agree with those that have said that practice from all angles, body positions, etc. is important.  "Target" practice is nice and good for building form, but stump shooting is the real test, IMO.  If you can consistently pick and hit game kill-zone sized targets stump shooting you are ready.

X2

Go stump shooting, terrain & cover play a huge part in how you perceive distance.

[Shadowhnter]

When you are confident at a certain distance...as simple as that. If you are confident only at 10 yards, limit your opportunities to that distance.Most progressing trad archers, grow with confidence into more and more distance. If you arent sure of yourself and fully confident at any certain distance, you are likely to miss or worse. Confidence is essential,and goes hand in hand with ability... so shoot only within those factors at game.

By far, the majority of all my deer are killed between 9-12 yards. But I have taken them out to a touch over 20 yards...but dang few. I have also taken them at 3 yards though... Learn to set up to get close,as even the most experienced archers want a close 10 yard shot because its more certain. No shame in a 10 yard shot...id take them over 20 yards any day of the season. One of the best and most rewarding things about archery hunting, is getting so close you can hear them breath, or at least see their eyelashes...

[sticks&stringz]

Originally posted by D.Sheppard:
In your heart you will know when you are ready. Listen to it !

I would shoot alot, almost every day. I shot from known distances and got comfortable with form, anchor and release. But seldom do deer come into your 20 yd marker.

To practice I would take 6 arrows, stand at my target and throw them in all directions and distances. Subtle changes in distance and angle can make or break you.

Those of you who brought the compound thing into it are not helping this young man. He needs to feel confident and comfortable shooting a traditional bow not pressured by your personal ideas.

this is exactly how i practice. this year will also be my first trad year, hunting with an ilf recurve i am in the process of building.this style of practice has really opened my mind up and let my brain take over with with guess work on gaps.i typically throw 4-5 out to ranges up to 20 yards and then walk up to my 20 yard mark and toss a few more up to 30 yards and then go right ahead and shoot the shortest distance and then the longest and then the shortest remaining and back to the longest distance. i realized that shooting from shortest to longest or longest to shortest will cause my brain to just add or subtract a little from my instinctive gaps and i almost develop a pattern.i also walk outside at an unknown distance from my target and shoot one arrow and go back inside. i do this about 5 times a day.

[Petrichor]

I was always a recurve shooter as a kid. As an adult i bought a compound sold three weeks later for my dream recurve.... Added a longbow recently. Never looked back or thought of looking back.

Like said above, only you can make the decision as to when you are ready to hit the woods with your stickbow!

Shooting these things well is HARD, and as such, much more rewarding when we are successful with them!

Bisch

[old_goat2]

When I shot a broadhead and had beautiful arrow flight and was on target from a cold shot

[Michael Arnette]

I started hunting only with traditional after I sold my compound    
I didn't shoot a deer (missed a few) for a couple years but it was a small price to pay for the learning experience I got in that time frame. I would say whatever you do don't be picky when you first begin with traditional equipment, you will need practice shooting at live animals and that means lowering your trophy standards for a little while...they will go back up after you have lots of fun getting practice

[Babbling Bob]

Good thought provoking question. Here's a long Oklahoma dog story of my experience of first getting into the woods with confidence, but I started young.

Never thought I couldn't hit whatever needed when I began hunting with my factory new '62 Kodiak Magnum at 15. Shooting with others from the OKC Archery Club (now Trosper Archery Club in OKC) no doubt helped. Caught rides with members to go deer hunting at Camp Gruber, coyote calling in Coyle, and hunted swamp rabbits in Spring Town and Arkansas the first year owning that bow. Shooting  with others at field archery events helped just like 3-D events and stump shoots with others would now. Shooting dots and my own wildlife sketches on cardboard into the steep hillsides above the railroad tracks across the street (Hefner Parkway now) was the key to familiarity with that bow.

Farm owners would laugh at the thought of us killing something with a bow but would let us hunt their land (no lease fees then). Probably thought we couldn't hit their livestock.    

Think you get out there with some tick spray when you can kill the center of those paper plates pretty good.

[Miles Bate]

Lol some of these answers sound like my own.

1. sneak out of house with my long bow when I was a kid.

2. Learning to walk again , very long story.

3. When I was ready

4.Finding coupons for bed bath and body, and handing them to wife..

5.Needing alone time

6, Having missed a opportunity on very nice buck but ,to busy messing with compound..

lots of things...

[Bowwild]

It doesn't have to be a complete break one way or the other.

I've witnessed lots of people making hunting decisions based upon the perceptions of others. In fact, I just realized as I'm trying to make an expensive turkey decision this week, that I was nearly guilty of the same thing.

What are your goals? Not your buddies or your peers.

Avoid decisions that will cause you to regard the outcome of your experience as less than "stellar" or heaven-forbid, regrettable.

On one hand I'm pretty sure I would be more thrilled to kill a turkey with my recurve than with my compound. But is the difference enough to settle for no thrill at all?

[BWallace10327]

You are ready when you believe in yourself.  Mindfulness goes along way.  You are not ready if you need people to tell you that you are ready.  My advice would be to work hard at being the best woodsman AND archer you can, then I think you are ready, but do you?  That's what counts.

[nontypical]

It took two yrs of practice,practice,and practice. I did like others said, shot from angles, sitting,stands,etc. Once I was able to put all arrows in the kill zone,I felt I was ready.