Anyone hunt with sight pins on their trad bows?

[John 4]

I taught a friend how to shoot about 20 years ago,he wanted to learn as fast as he could so he could come on a hunting trip I had planned about a month late.
I taped a single pin on the old browning I lent him and he was good to go at 20 yards after about a week of practice.
We went out and he got his deer from about 15 yards,,,,,,,I missed barebow at 20.
He still likes to tell that story.
Anyway,I still don't use a sight muself,but wouldn't hesitate to put one on a newbies bow.
After all,they just want to shoot,,,nothing else.

[ChuckC]

Any time you have a sight, you CAN be more accurate than with no sight.  Add a rear sight (front and rear) and you CAN be even more accurate.  add a release mechanism and you add to that. and on and on.

Do you need that stuff.   well, that is up to you.  Whatever you do, that's OK by me.

An inherent problem to sights is that they are "dead on" only at a given range.  If you are not at that range, you need to adjust.  If you don't know the range,.... you have to adjust.  

Practice enough without sights and many folks can pull off those shots without even considering the distance.  They just do it.
ChuckC

[ChuckC]

Terry,   I missed your post before I pushed   sorry, but I have to disagree.  I believe gap shooting is the very same as using a sight pin, which your arrow tip becomes.  It ain't a bad thing, it just is what it is.  If you use a single pin sight, you have to gap if the distance is not the dead on distance.  
ChuckC

[Terry Green]

Chuck...a gap shooters bow doesn't have a pin on his bow...so I still don't see how it's the same.

No biggie though.

[chesapeakeblend]

My dad was shooting sites on the bow  he gave me.  

I took them off a few summers back when I started shooting again.  Oh it is so much more enjoyable.

[Shawn Leonard]

TSP is right on. I recently shot a hoyt with foam core limbs and a sight. I got to use it for a few days. If I shot spots with it and kept my form I was very accurate. If I went out and shot at the 3D deer, well lets just say I would rather shoot my other bows that are bare. I just get a kick out of these threads though, who is anyone to say what is traditional. As long as it is not wheels and pulleys, who cares. I would much rather see people using sights and stabilizers if they are more accurate and enjoy the sport than them getting frustrated and giving it up. shoot what ya want and who cares what everyone else thinks! Shawn

[Earl E. Nov...mber]

Reading in Fred's biography, he admits to taping a match head on his bow as early as 1937.. I guess that makes sights as Trad as they need to be for me, and pre-dates all but a few of us that gather here. Personally I did use a single pin for a few years and found out I can miss a deer as well with that as I can a bow with training wheels of a bare stick. Best thing about a sight is you always have a built in excuse  (Opps I mean reason) for missing.. You can always say I picked the wrong pin..About as original as "The dog ate my homework" but hey if it works fine.

[Doug Treat]

I just love these threads that talk about what is traditional...on the COMPUTER...now is talking about traditional archery over the World Wide Web really traditional?   LOL

[Horne Shooter]

I agree with Chuck.  Gap shooting is making the tip of the arrow into a single sight.  It becomes a "pin" that the archer uses to aim.  It doesn't make him "non traditonal" or a bad guy though.

[jeff w]

I have shot with sights on a recurve, it's a little trickier than one might think if you have never shot that way before.   As to whether they are 'traditional',  to me they are since they certainly pre-date many other archery inventions that are considered traditional--shooting gloves, bowquivers and fiberglass laminated bows to name three.   I don't shoot with a sight now but if a guy wants to that's fine with me, shoot with whatever makes you happy.

[buckeye_hunter]

Doug,
It is still traditional computing if you use dial up. Keep it trad; NO CABLE MODEMS!

-Charlie

[TSP]

An interesting thread, because its a good example of where the trad vs. non-trad 'sides' are coming from.  It seems to be mostly a matter of two issues/questions:

(1.)  "When was it manufactured?" (which somehow places an invisible stamp of approval or disapproval on the item); and

(2.) "What does it do for me personally?" (which reflects our own selfish wants and expectations...i.e., not much affected by what others may think so not really debatable).

Neither of these questions seem to get at the crux of the matter, though, whether it be a bow, an arrow, bowsights, a hat, accessories, etc.  A bigger question, one with more substance and more consequences because it affects not only us but the future (our kids AND our future values/traditions), might be...

(3.)  "What will the kind of archery we generally prefer (call it trad) look like in the future if as individuals and a collective group we follow the course we are on now for choice of equipment?".

To me, question #3 is what makes my own view of 'What is traditional?' lean more towards a conservative approach.  If we each don't make some common-sense lines in the sand for where we are personally going with trad and where we WANT the sport to go, in the not-so-distant future the idea of hunting in a traditional mode may be little different than what we see in modern bowhunting or target archery supply magazines now.  And whether that equipment setup has 'wheels' or not (not having wheels has somehow become the Holy Grail of trad...not exactly sure why) won't make much difference because everything else about the setup will look like a Chuck Adams commercial.  I'd hate to see that...to see the basic identity of this aspect of archery we started with be lost because we were too obsessed on questions 1 and 2 to see the forest for the trees.  

Anyway, thats why my own opinion leans heavily towards recognizing that the term 'traditional' does have real value and limiting choice of gear within the trad arena makes sense.  In an archery /environmental sense you might say its like "going green", or in an archery / sports sense its something like staying off steroids.  That sort of thing.

I know, you disagree.  Well thats a surprise...  

[Bob Macioch]

"I would much rather see people using sights and stabilizers if they are more accurate and enjoy the sport than them getting frustrated and giving it up. shoot what ya want and who cares what everyone else thinks!" Shawn

I could'nt put it better myself.

Best
Bob

[knobby]

Words of wisdom from Shawn. Having been at this stickbow thing for a long time, and tried many different shooting styles with it(target panic giganticus!),Shawn hit the nail on the head with "who cares what anyone else thinks". In this battle, I've even been criticized for holding at full draw (rather than snap-shooting) and shooting three fingers under (rather than split-finger). It used to bother me a bit, but I've gotten past that now. This is MY archery, not someone elses.
   A close friend of mine is an exceptional shot with his recurve. Does well on animals and targets alike. I'm envious of the control he's got on every arrow he shoots. It is odd that HE can hold at full draw, and not get criticized. People enjoy watching him shoot.
   I love longbows and recurves. Traditional Bowhunter is the only magazine that I get. This web-site is fantastic. People that know me know these things about me.
   But next season, I WILL be using a single pin on my bow. I just don't do a good job of picking a spot on animals, and I'm no beginner at this. Call me a "choker" or whatever, but I also have a resposibility to the animals I hunt. I keep a journal every year, and can tell you that the shooting numbers aren't pretty.
   For ME, it's time for a pin. Will this be a fix-all? Of course not. Will it help? I sure hope so...
   To those that don't need the help, I'm happy for you. Envious, too. Enjoy every arrow that you shoot, 'cause this is what we do and who we are.
   Happy Holidays, friends!

[Mr.Chuck]

Sights on a bow does not detemind whether you are "traditional" or not.  To each their own! That is a personal preference and need!    Mr.Chuck

[mike g]

Legolas....
Who started this thread ask a simple question, who here usees a sight Pin.
    I don't recall him asking weather are not it was Traditional or not....
    I have noticed on a few occasions where a post drifts from the main topic it was startd with....
    Legolas, I do not use a sight Pin, butt your post has made me think of a single Pin....

[denny]

Where I hunt you could spent the rest of our life hunting for another guy who hunts with a stickbow, I'd like to hope if I ever see one I won't think less of him if there's a toothpick taped on his riser.

[vermonster13]

A single pin can be very effective and is an excellent teaching tool also. My objective is to be the best I can be with the equipment I choose personally.

These discussions always make me laugh. Guys will hammer on someone over a sight, elevated rest, vanes, etc. Yet they will use a game cam, ATV, GPS, treestand, synthetic pop-up blind, food plot, bait pile, etc and still say they are traditional because they shoot bare bow. Shoot and use what you like that makes your hunting fulfilling. When someone else starts buying your equipment then they can write a definition of traditional for you until then do for yourself.

[Molson]

Originally posted by ChuckC:
Terry,   I missed your post before I pushed   sorry, but I have to disagree.  I believe gap shooting is the very same as using a sight pin, which your arrow tip becomes.  It ain't a bad thing, it just is what it is.  If you use a single pin sight, you have to gap if the distance is not the dead on distance.  
ChuckC

Nope, that would be Point of Aim.  In Gap shooting, your focus is on the spot you want to hit, not of the tip of the arrow.  The arrow is just a reference.  Shooting with a sight, your focus is on the sight, not the target. There is no gap with a sight.  You hold on, hold high, or hold low. You're focus is still the sight. Big difference between the two.  

That is the very reason sights are good for pinpoint accuracy on targets and not so good for high speed encounters or unusual shooting positions in the woods.

As for whether they're traditional or not, I said this on another post and I'll say it here.  "Traditional Archery/Bowhunting" is a modern term used to describe a way of doing things- today.  It has little to do with what did or did not exist before the compound.

You're hard pressed to say sights are traditional when they are not permitted in nearly every traditional shoot.  Most traditional archery clubs do not allow them and the IBO does not allow them in their "Traditional" class.  Even the modern archery guys know that when you put a sight on your bow, it's not "traditional" anymore.  Heck, they even describe shooting a compound without sights as "shooting it the 'traditional' way".

I doubt you guys really want to see a bunch of sights, release aids, peeps, range finders, etc... thrown out as being traditional. All these things were here and in use pre-compound.  If that happens, then it will be "just archery" again and there won't really be much of a reason for somebody to choose a recurve or longbow over the compound. After all, that is exactly what happened before.

Now, as far as using a pin when your hunting... That's up to you.  You owe the game you hunt your very best.

So much for holding back my opinion.......  

[Shaun]

Was just discussing this with Charlie Lam a couple days ago. I have not used a sight pin, but am considering trying one an old recurve to see what it does for me. I am planning to try a single pin, a Das style loop and maybe even a gun style front and rear sight set up. I am curious about what effect if any it will have on my cross eye dominance issues. I have a feeling that it could be handy to reasure myself about form and eye view as confidence in form and sight picture is important and never 100% positive in us eye dominance challenged archers.