Question for all you long time shooters

[SaskBushMan]

Well there seems to be alot of folks here that have been shooting Trad for 20+years, Personally I have only stepped into the light maybe a year ago(and love it)I am only 26yrs old and my question is what differences and changes have you seen and gone through Good and bad in the trad archery industry in the past 10,20,30+ years.

[Dan Worden]

The good,
the changes in materials that are now available that enhance the product in one shape or another.  There are very few truly new ideas just refinements to the old.

The resurgence of trad style bows.


The bad,
the people that think trad is "X." Most of the time these people say you can't use this or that, yet this and that were very common back when there was no trad archery just archery.

[John57]

The biggist change I've seen,"and it,s for the worst"
Is people trying to define "Traditonal".
Other than that,the biggest changes have been in arrows.The virtual death of fiberglass,Better Alloys,Carbons and Graphites.
After arrows it would be limbs,Carbon fiber and new designs like RD limbs on hybrid bows.
Heck, hybrid bows themselves.
Hybrids didn't exist,you had recurves or if you couldn't afford a proper bow,you might of shot a longbow,and I don't remember anybody shooting a longbow.
Metal risered bows were considered the elite and were only owned by the very best shooters.

An Traditonal archery didn't exist.

[John D]

SaskBushMan, take heed in what Dan said, truer words have never been spoken.

[Orion]

Mostly changes in materials.  Fiberglass arrows used to be big in the 60s, then aluminum.  Now, of course it's carbon.  Carbon is also replacing fiberglass in bow backing/facing.  Low-stretch strings replacing dacron.  I agree with Dan re design.  Nothing terrible new, but lots of tweeking/refinements going on.  Not a lot of difference between some of the early Bear Alaskans and some of today's hybrids.  The three-piece takedown has also been around for quite a while, for example Wing's Presentation II.  Just because it's available, doesn't mean that everyone is adopting it, however.  I shoot mostly moderately reflex/deflex longbows bows, some straight longbows and selfbows, dacron strings and wood arrows.  Have for more than 30 years. Before that, I shot mostly recurves.

Not equipment related, but I also think hunters' shot selection might have improved a little over time.  I don't think as many traditional archers today take the long shots that most who carried a bow took 40-50 years ago.

Of course, we didn't have tree stands 20-40 years ago.  They weren't even legal in some states.  Clothing and camo patterns have also mushroomed.  Hard to improve on plain wool, though.

[Rick McGowan]

INFORMATION, there was a time when there was no internet, no tradgang and not even any trad magazines! Of course there was a huge disadvantage to that, but there was an upside, we actually had to figure things out for ourselves and learn in the process.

[aromakr]

Rick McGowan:
"we actually had to figure things out for ourselves and learn in the process".
Amen to that brother!
Bob

[Archer 1]

One of the biggest change's is, you didn't see bait piles all over the place. You scouted, got a pattern down, built a brush blind, and hoped you got it all right. Or, you still hunted, and tried to spot the critter first, and then make a stalk. And, as Orion said, there was no tree stands, at least in this part of the country.

[Longbowz]

The Good.......

Better information through the internet, books videos and the like.
More reasons to get together and shoot.  It's easier to learn when you can see and talk to other like minded folks.

Materials that were unheard of years back in bows, strings and arrows.  Much better quality control of these items too.

A few bow builders are picking up where we left off when the compound bow became popular.  It's taken along time but there is an exciting new trend using some old ideas for building bows coming out right now.  Just look at some of the new metal risered, elevated rest bows hitting the market.  This is the logical progression that should have occurred 40 years ago.
 

The Bad.......

People trying to define what traditional is and turning their noses up at those who don't fit their definition.   Traditional is a new term.  It used to be called simply archery.  I listen with much amusement to people who think only a wooden arrow, off the shelf of a wood bow and aimed instinctively is the only way to enlightenment.  Of course even some of these folks are now switching over to carbon shafts cleverly painted to "look" like wood.

Even though the proliferation of information is good, it has a downside.  A few of the hunting video's out right now are pretty bad.  The people who made them deserve everything we can do to run them out of town.  This is our sport which means we will be the ones to pay the price for idiots like this.  They will just go on to rip somebody else off with their junk.