How you got started

[string bean]

I've been shootin wheels for about 25 years now but I think what got me started looking at traditional was a hunting show.  I can't remember the name of it but the guy was a country singer I believe and his drummer? made the bows they used and they would shoot feral hogs, phesants and deer and I just thought that looked like more fun, which it is but a LOT more work.

[hawkeye n pa]

I would say that the "Wally Taber"(?) sparked my interest in the late 60's.  And after that it was reading Fred Bears Bible, Bow & Arrow and the Archers Digest.

[barredfeather]

I got my first "green fiberglass" bow when I was 8 years old, shooting dime store arrows.  Haven't been with out one since and I'm 56 years old.  Tried a wheel bow for about two years, gave it away and went back to a recurve.  After all these years, I know have the sweetest bow I have ever owned, a Rose Oak King Panther.  Will probably buy another one soon.

Jerry

[KHALVERSON]

i also got started at a very young age  with a bent stick and baling twine
i shot every bow i could get ahold of  leftys rightys  anything i could get my dirty mitts on
i got my first store bought recurve around 1978 or so it was a bear red bear  about 4 years later my uncle took pity on me and gave me an old ben pearson couger  recurve 47#28 i was 11
and harvested my first deer with that bow at age 15 ( i still have the bow  my 12 year old shoots it some) got bit by the compound bug around 1990
but after about 5 years  it wasnt hunting anymore it was just killin so i dug out the old recurve  and took a nice doe in 1995 and went back to trad hunting  only this time balls out and been having a blast ever since.
this year will be my 27th year bowhunting 22 years with trad equipment.
kevin

[cavscout]

Started out with a fiber glass bow and fiberglass arrows guess that tells my age huh? TRIED COMPOUNDS BUT, the pins on the sights dont work when you cant your bow like i learned by shooting instinctive. The guy at the bow shop had a good laugh when he saw me shoot after i complained about the sights not working.so i went back to what i knew. i still use wooden arrows even, guess it takes me back to my youth in some ways. THANKS FOR THE LESSONS DAD

[Day Dreamer]

I never bow hunted at all, had friends that shot compounds, crossbows. I never had a desire I gun hunted for differnt game. One day I picked up traditional bowhunter mag, thats all it took, I was hooked. Also in the TBM is how I heard about Trad Gang.

[String Cutter]

Hunted with shotguns, rifles and compounds since I was 8 or nine up in W.Va.(about 21 yrs).. Killed a HE#$ of alot of deer with all 3... Well when I turned I think 28 or 29 I shot a nice fat doe with my compound. And the only thing I can remember about it was thinking... Great now I have to drag the damn thing to the truck.. That's when I really started thinking about stopping hunting. Really wasn't any fun any more. It was just something I did .. Not really something I enjoyed anymore...
 Well, The next year I spent 2 hours driving to my parking spot at the bottem of a mountain and another 2 climbing straight up to the top of one of the tallest mountains in W.Va.
After getting all set up in a tree I've killed 3-4 nice deer out of I went to put my arrow on the bow and WAMMMM!! cut the string in two. Never did find the bottem limb. But I decided right there I was done with hunting.
So, after missing  1-2 seasons I was fartin around on **** and just happened up on recurve bows. I decided to buy it for I think $85-90.. And ain't looked back since.
I have dozens of squirrels,a few possumes 1 beaver and 7-8 frogs under my belt since I think it was 1999 when I started Trad. And my greatest deer of all time.. A little doe I shot at 8 yrds while she was jumping a log.. I'm more proud of her then any big buck I've ever taken...

[rraming]

Started with traditional archery? I used sompound for years and one year I had a doe out at 40 yards watching her while I sat in my tree stand, she was feeding on twigs and stuff for, what felt like 10 minutes, I used my range finder and sat and sat and sat, every time I moved she looked my way, finally I drew back, while sitting mind you, and shot her, she dropped dead in 20 yards. I didn't care for that type of hunting and felt as though it was "cheating" just my opinion - felt as though with a bow they should have to be closer - I have never been able to let thing just walk by, except for first year stuff. So three years ago I switched to traditional only and sold all my compound stuff (I think now I have more equipment than I did back then - who new). Shot fiberglass bows as a kid (my fathers stuff) and started bow hunting around 1987 with compounds.

[Smallwood]

Originally posted by Mo. Huntin:
I was shooting a compound for a long time.  I picked up an issue of traditional bowhunter magazine and loved it, the magazine showed me just how succesful this hunting can be.  I somehow found this website and These people have taught me so much.  I would have given up a long time ago had I not found tradgang.

Same here.
I originally started shooting a bow in 1992 when because of my profession, I knew I needed a hobby and not caring for golf, decided to buy a used compound at a pawn shop and started shooting as a stress relief from work.
Since I didn't know jack diddly about archery, I started buying magazines like Bowhunter and also Traditional bowhunter. I learned volumes from these magazines and realized people could and do kill animals cleanly and effeciently with them.
But reading the Trad. Bowhunter mags always amazed me and at the time, it was out of my league to think I could shoot a trad bow, even though I did as a child. It wasn't until 4 years later, that the drive to shoot a trad bow became too much and I bought a Dick Boss longbow.
 I have been thru several bows since that first Boss longbow, but they have always been trad bows and I haven't looked back since I stopped shooting my compound!
My only regret is waiting those four years that I didn't think I could shoot a trad bow.
 
Trad bows, for me, are so much more fun to shoot, and now I get to have adventures like the ones I used to read about authors like Don Thomas going on!

[joe ashton]

I gun hunted for 15 years with the same friends but I did not like how they hunted.  We had to be back for dinner by 6pm and Sundays we would be back to the room by noon to watch the Broncos.  Also we did a lot of just driving around.  They are good friends but...  
So I decided to switch bow hunting I know they would not and I would get out of hunting with them with out screwing up friendships.
Well thats 17 years ago now and I have never picked up a gun since. I have killed way more big game with my long bow than with a 7mm.

Joe

[otis.drum]

i was about to buy a compound and while surfing the net trying to work out which one, i came across a picture of a bloke, standing on a ridge, with nothing but a leather back quiver, bow made from wood and wooden arrows... i laughed to myself, and asked if people actually hunted with these bow. intregue got me and my interest grew from there.

i will never buy a compound!!!

[illianabowhntr67]

Compound hunted about 5years.Bought a kodiak hunter from a freind a couple years ago just to plink with not actually hunt.Since then I have bought 2 longbows and another recurve.Only hunted with trad bows a couple times last season.I plan on doing most of my bowhunting with my longbow this year.

[red44]

I am going to fess up to being a cross-shooter. I still like my compounds as well as recurves.    
I got going in archery in the middle 70's because my next door neighbors did it. They also did alot of rabbit hunting with a beagle. They opened my eyes to a whole new world. If you know the Hendershots in Northern NJ, say thanks for me.  

[House]

Used to shoot compound, started getting frustrated more than having fun.  Out stumpshooting one day and a coworker of mine was shooting a longbow and stated that he had an extra one in his pickup.  Shot it for about 10 minutes then he and I played a game of F R E D B E A R, and I dang near beat him.  That was 3 and a half years ago, been hooked ever since, sold my compound before my first longbow ever arrived to my house.

House