Why did you choose Trad. Hunting?

[ChuckC]

There was no choosing involved.  As George stated, in the beginning, it was archery and bow hunting.  Then came the beast (OK  so I am getting a bit theatrical here.)  

I started with various "stick" bows and went over because of the sales pitch,  "it is better, more accurate, more power, better for the critter," etc   and much more rubbish.  

I came back because it just feels right.  Not to prove any points, not to do it the hard way, none of those,  it was just ....me.  

Most of the folks I hunt with feel the same.  I wonder. .  is that because I turned them on to "trad" or because we just tend to hang with people with similar interests ?
ChuckC

[Wolfie2nd]

Well for myself after I killed my first deer with my compound bow at 16 I felt that it was way too easy an my uncle had always shot a recurve an always talked about how rewarding it felt to harvest an animal an knowing that it was all you an not a trigger an sights. So I wanted to feel that so after that season I bought myself an old wilson bros an shot the hell out of it for the whole summer. An the following season I reeked the benefits
Of shooting my first trad deer an it was the best feeling ever. So I liked it so much that I sold my compound bow an stuck with the stick... Been shooting the stick now for almost 13 yeas.

[Mike Lee]

I started with a Shakespeare  recurve. My main motivation was Will county Illinois did not have a firearm deer season.I was hooked but later strayed for about four years with compounds. I still shot all the time but it just wasn't the same.Some time around 1980 -1981 I went to East Side Archery in Chicago and bought another recurve. I've only shot longbows and recurves since.

Mike Lee

[bshunter]

went to ATAR 3 years ago to see Fred Eilcher...I was so taken by the great people there, that I bought a bow from Sispy(John) and I "think" that I have found my true passion...never did get to see Fred!

[LongbowGuy83]

We have friends in Great Falls MT that we used to go see every summer. The first year we went out(2001), we fell in love with trad shooting. Came home immediately and picked up a Bear Montana Longbow. Never owned a compound. Still have the Montana, but have since bought a custom longbow. It's defintely a way of life, as one guy here stated.

[FerretWYO]

I was trad from the begining. My dad started me with a little red bear before I could even hold up. He has always been there to help and show the way as well as put me around others who think and believe in hunting the way that we do. I love tradgang for that reason. He does a lot of looking around on here to.

[WildmanSC]

I injured my right shoulder about 8 years ago when I went out to the garage, took my comp#### off the hook I had it hanging on and drew it.  When I got to full draw I thought to myself "OK dummy, what are you going to do now?"  

I hadn't nocked an arrow before I drew the bow, so I had two options available to me.  1.  Dry fire the bow (Not really an option!) or 2.  Let the bow down.  I chose option 2 and when I let the bow down it felt like it ripped my right arm off at the shoulder.

Three to four months of rehab followed and the owner of The Archery Shop I frequent suggested I switch to a recurve.  He loaned me a 30# recurve while I was in rehab and I ordered my first new T/D recurve from a local bowyer.  That was my first of 100+ bows I've gone through over the past 8 years.  

My son-in-law has the first recurve I bought.  I gave it to him when I bought my second recurve, a Chek-Mate Firebird.  When I bought my third bow I gave the Firebird to my son, although doesn't shoot it very often.  He likes his Hoyt comp####s.

The journey has been enjoyable and thrilling.  I love shooting my recurves.

Bill

[Tom]

Started with archery in '59, little solid fiberglass bow that many rabbits and frogs fell victim to. Killed my first and best deer at 14-dumb luck- shot curves through '70 when I got out of service.Seduced by wheels when I lived in NM,'80-'85, but decided they were too heavy and ugly to boot. Part time with both through rest of '80's
 Full time stick since '91 and loving life.

[Broken Arrow 1]

I chose it before I knew what trad hunting was

[rp65]

Its how I started and then found my way back. It made it fun again.

[Elk whisperer]

WhenI was a kid we were at a board walk arcade or something paid my quarter and first shot with a bow hit a bullseye. It was ment tobe. Shot a compound a couple of years . now if I carried a compound into the woods I would puke.

[Wiley Coyote]

Don't know any better!!!  

[HcSmitty]

Hmmm well i was i got started by accident.  Ive been shooting bows since i was 4yrs old.  Got started on a lil recurve but moved to a compound n shot one till i was 18.  But my dad got into it n id take his bows out ever now n then n lose a few arrows, get griped at n id just quite.  But one time i was in the woods, n the deer came on in but took their time.  By the time i had a shot it was to dark to see my pins through the peep sight but still legal shootin light.  I though switchin to Trad would be easier since u dont go sights.  Yeah, i was DEAD WRONG!!!  But i was soo determined to increase(or so i thought)the time i could take a deer all the way to maximum legal shooting light.  Sooo i shot n shot n fell in love with the simplicity.  I found practice scessions, good or bad, to be almost theraputic.  Then the romance of it all got to me.  And of course....i shot a deer n was hooked.  Nothin like watchin that arrow arch the 21 yards n nail that little doe.  I felt sooo alive.  I knew id never be interested n a compound again and surely not a rifle.

[Mocsin1]

I went to a Trad only shoot and thats all it took. Man I was hooked from that moment. So that fall I hunted for the first with trad gear and killed a nice doe at 7:30 the first morning and another doe and a 3 pointer the second week. I new this was the right way to hunt. A few years latter I've found that I enjoy hunting more and have become a better hunter because of my passion for the Trad way. I can't imagine doing it any other way.

[jamed]

Never dawned on me until i caught myself answering my brother-n-law last deer season.  "Lets shoot", and I replied "for what, to check our sights".  Then I knew, I had lost the enjoyment and feeling of what archery was to me as a kid.  Hours upon hours of shooting in the pastures because it was just plain FUN!!!  Sold the compound, picked up a recurve and haven't looked back.  Glad I did!

[Day Dreamer]

At one of my old jobs a friend had a black widow catalog and I would just wish. Plus at the time I was passionaltly into duck hunting. Then at least 7 yrs. later I picked up a copy of Taditional Bowhunter Magazine, and the fire was lit big time. I never even had a compound or crossbow just never had a interest.

[split arrow]

I did not start traditional. The first bow I fell in love with was a black widow recurve I saw on the back of an archery magazine. I wanted to buy one so bad but was talked out of it. I was told for the price of a widow I could have a bow with wheels and pulley's and bells and whistles but I always had a thing for trad. That was 12 years ago. Well three years ago I made the switch and went all trad and haven't looked back.There is just something about a stick and string and the sound of your arrow flying through the air.
Oh ya my widow should be here next week.

[doubleo]

I started in the late 60's with fiber glass bows that pulled about 25 to 35 pounds. Me and my neighbors across the street did a lot of carp shooting back then. we'd go down to the local hardware store to buy our arrows for 25 cents ea. with target tips. Behind the counter they had in a box a dozen arrows with Bear razor heads. We could only drool over those arrows cause nobody could afford em.I started deer hunting in the late 70's with a Browning bow. It's just a great feeling to carry a stick bow through the woods. There's no other way i'd do it.

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

what other kind of real hunting is there?

[Bill Watts II]

Because I love to swear.

Same reason I choose to flyfish.

Can't get enough of that deep-down, from the heart swearin.