What Is Wrong With Mechanical Release Aids

[sweet old bill]

it sure sems we have to many of the trad police . I can think back in the 1960's and there were several release being used, lots of bows also had some type of sights. I think Bear top of the line bow even had built in sight at that time. To me use whatever you can use to make you a better shot. So if a release is keeping you in the game, I am in support of your use. Most of the trad shoots are fun type shoots,  so have fun. If they say you have to use specific equipment then go to another class that lets you use the release or sight and then like a lot do just do not turn in your shore card.

[Rob DiStefano]

sweet old bill ...

not at all 'trad police' - it's just a common collective belief amongst the predominant body of world archers to consider mech devices and trad archery as oil and water for physically/mentally able archers.  if you think differently, hey that's fine, no problemo, to each their own and life will go on despite such thinking.

[Kevin Dill]

I understand exactly what a release is and how it works. It demands the brain to think and make decisions. It demands the fingers to follow commands and activate the mechanism. As sequencing goes, the same demands exists for a fingers release. The physical mechanics are different of course, but both require mental discipline in order to achieve a good result. Snapping a release into place isn't the instant remedy some imagine. I don't use one, but....

I'd prefer a guy to use a release and be accurate on game, vs thinking he's got to use fingers-only on that traditional bow and his fingers results are much less accurate. There are very legit reasons to shoot a release with traditional equipment.

The mechanical release pre-dates carbon arrows, teflon coatings, fast-flight strings, the compound bow, and many other innovations.

[Rob DiStefano]

kevin, the only problem with such thinking is that there are a few (thankfully) bowhunters who will do anything to make their 'traditional archery' task easier, rather than put in the time to do it they way the majority of archers do it, and do it well.  the fast food society gotta-have-it-now syndrome.    

where does going the mech route with archery tackle suddenly become 'trad archery'?  is there a line drawn at wheel bows? or mech broadheads? or mech release aids? how 'bout that insane draw aid device that turned any stickbow into a crossbow?

there's enuf controversy already between selfbows and 3pc metal risered, springy button elevated rest, scope sighted, carbon foam limbed 'trad' recurve bows with carbon fiber arrows.

physical/mental handicaps always get a 'bye' - but for my thinking, the rest of the physically/mentally able archer bowhunters need to man up and become proficient at what's internationally considered 'traditional archery/bowhunting'.  else, it just ain't 'trad bowhunting'.  that's a slippery slope for sure.   better off going the the whole hog whiz bang wheel archery route ...

[Kevin Dill]

Rob,

I think controversy only exists where it is created. A guy alone in the woods with his metal B Bear and his Hot Shot release from 1973 creates no controversy until someone sees him doing it and decides it ain't trad enough for him...and it's somehow wrong. It's different, but it's not 'wrong'. Being different is just that...and there are more than a few who are different. They just keep their mouths shut and keep hunting they way they desire. I know more than a few trad guys who get their noses wrinkled at the sight of a good carbon shaft and $25 broadhead. Not traditional in the slightest, but accepted by many. It's more about preference and perception than reality.

The mechanical release isn't accepted as traditional, but its roots go far back and beyond many later advents which we embrace today as okay for traditional bowhunters. Fingers are more trad than triggers, but triggers have been around since you and I went through high school.  

[Rob DiStefano]

kevin, i agree.  yer essentially sayin' what i'm sayin'.  it's all good, one way or another.

[ChuckC]

Right on. . . . on the other hand, when you are a member of a red Mustang club, and you show up driving a blue Corvette,  well.......


ChuckC

[Jerry Russell]

This post is aimed at the views expressed in this particular thread and not the fact that the this site limits certain discussion of equipment generally thought to be more modern. I agree with that position. This is Tradgang's site and I fully understand and agree with the rules established here.            

I have shot traditional archery equipment my entire life ( more than 40 years)and I have never used any other type of bow. I can remember walking into archery shops 25 years ago and hearing the snickers from the guys with their compounds.  I was different from them and it never one time bothered me for a single moment and at no time did I ever feel the need to justify my equipment to anyone. I hunt the way I hunt for me.

This entire thread is unsettling to say the least. As trad archers we are all "different" from the norm. If you use a bow that is bent with a single string, you are a traditional archer. To debate what is "traditional" is futile. Traditional is a mindset and is opinion based on the desires of every individual. To some it is wearing buckskin and shooting a self bow. To others it is goretex and a new Black Widow. To argue that most in the traditional community disagree with a particular type of equipment (in this case a release) could always be met with the argument that we all, and I mean ALL use equipment and other things that enhance our chances to bag game that were not used 30-40 years ago. Words like wool, razorheads, natural ground blind, leather and paper maps have been replaced with GPS, google earth, phenolic, carbon, gortex, trail cameras, and tree stands. Does this make us less of a traditional archer?
In this particular case,(mechanical release) they have been around long, long before most all of the materials that are used in modern traditional archery so to debate them while using any single material (carbon, gortex, etc.) gadgets (tree stands, gps, range finder, cell phones for weather, trailcams) or aids such as 4 wheelers and such, seems to be a double standard.

I have shot a release on and off for a few years for both medical (shoulders) and to battle TP that has haunted me for 30+ years. I have never thought it made my shooting easier. Actually it makes it more difficult but at times it makes shooting for me both physically possible and ethical from an accuracy point of view while hunting. I HATE shooting a release. I long for the simplicity of my tab but I have a responsibility to the animals I hunt. I don't say this as justification. I don't need an OK from anyone to hunt the way I want to hunt and neither should anyone else. When I go back and forth to fingers, I do it because I want to. I sat in my stand this morning and thought to myself that unless your bow is made of a single piece of wood, your string is animal part based, your arrows wood and your broadhead stone, you really have no place telling others what is acceptable regardless of what the opinion of the masses might be. As I thought more of it, however, I think that even if you hunt in a loin cloth and chunk a spear you still have to respect that this is a HIGHLY individualized sport. We have to do what makes us ethical hunters and we have to do what our heart tells us is right and makes us happy. We also need to let others do the same. Again, this is not aimed at what is allowed on the site but this particular thread of discussion.

I normally steer well clear from the rare controversial topics on this site and I certainly don't mean to be controversial with this post. It is nothing more than my opinion and I also respect that you all have opinions too. This one just got to me. This entire thread has been disturbing and disappointing. It reminds me of watching my best friends in a hurtful fight when neither one is right and no good can come from it.

Live and let live.

[DesertDude]

Why is this post still active?  Let's move on...

[Jerry Russell]

Originally posted by DesertDude:
Why is this post still active?  Let's move on...

Agreed.