Traditional?

[ishiwannabe]

Molson, very good point. If you are successful with trad and no one can take that away. Congrats on that brute again.

[Lenny Stankowitz]

"It does concern me when folks accept a basic challenge....like shooting a trad bow, but then do everything possible, because it's legal to do so, to make it so that they don't have to overcome it with their own abilities....does that make sense? I think that is what offends most true trad people. And those that try to "do it", without "doing it"....their attempts are so transparent, and yet they many times don't realize it."

"Traditional is about the journey, and the challenges make the journey, and the journey defines the accomplishment we seek."

With all due respect, how can you reconcile those two statements?  If "traditional" is a journey, then why would you be concerned with what particular stage someone else happens to be at within theirs?

Simply put, traditional has much more to do with what is held in the heart than what is held in the hand.

Merry Christmas.

Lenny

[Deadsmple]

For me I do not care to be labeled as traditional or otherwise. But it is among those that are called traditional archers that I feel most accepted. I personally hunt barebow because it is an instrument that requires me to practice daily to achieve a level of skill that would make me confident in the taking of the life of another animal. For me it's all about putting in the effort. The journey. Without struggle I can not grow. I don't want things that are gonna make my hunt easier. The more difficult the challenge the sweeter the reward. That is why I hunt from the ground, only public land, no agricultural fields just timber.  I have exclusive access to hundreds of acres of private farmlands and woodlands that I will not hunt. I have set a higher personal standard. What is traditional? I really don't know or care. What I do know is that in the way that the word is used today it is an indicator that helps me to find others that think similarly to me. Most that call themselves traditional, enjoy the challenge as I do. Maybe at different levels but there is still that need to challenge oneself. We respect those that came before us and the challenges they have overcome. We share that feeling of satisfaction knowing we have overcome some challenge we had set for ourselves. We put our time in. We handcraft certain things(arrows, points,bows, etc.)  to help in our pursuit of our intended quarry. And the spirit soars in us when we've done well.

[Alex.B]

to me, traditional is trying to emulate a mountain lion on a hunt, just swapping teeth and claws for a sharp 2 blade broad head arrow propulsed 100% by my muscles, without help from wheels, pop-up blinds, scentlock, electronic game callers, scents, etc... on and on and on and on....  

[3dmuzzy]

For me I needed a change,I had a bow for 3ds a bow for spots and a bow for hunting.I don't own a wheel bow anymore,Sure I have passed on a huge bear and a few nice whitetails but thats fine.I have been shooting trad for 3yrs now and have made some great friends along the way.Who am I to judge what trad is to someone else,its all good to me,It could be a metal riser bow or a site on it thats fine but for me it was to keep it as simple as I could.I just wish I never stoped shooting my recurve years ago..ED

[Molson]

Thanks Jamie.  You're well on your way to your first big game success.  Once you reach it, oh boy, you're hooked.  It's an incredible feeling to see all that hard work come together in one brief moment of perfection!  

It never goes away either.  Every day spent in the woods with a stickbow is an adventure.

[NorthShoreLB]

The only thing the bothers me is the wording, or the missuse of words.

I really don't care the choice of equipment wether is compound, metal bow,  recurve or wood bow.

It seems to me that there's a great need to label and feel part of a certain group, elite or not.

first of all I don't think compound is archery, I don't care if it propels an arrow, you can make a cannon with strings inside to propel a shaft, and that is what a compound feels to me.

Under the definition of archery to me fall the metal bows and modern recurves and longbows, why is there a need to call it traditional ?...archery is such a beautiful word on it's own.

on the other end of the spectrum are the wooden bows, tradidion has to mean more of what was going on 50 years ago, the Chet Stevensen, Pope and Young type of archery is to me more close to the meaning of the word tradition than the modern bow and certanly the metal ones with all those gadgets.

Again I've nothing against who choses that equipment.

I can even see a glass bow without the shelf cut and therefore shot like the old timers ones being incorporated into the traditional umbrella.


I mainly shoot wood bows and still never ever referred to myself as a traditional bowhunter, always as an hunting archer, as the word is used today it just feel funny to use it.


Told you I could get myself in trouble        

[Jedimaster]

OK, honest confession. Several years ago, before I even looked at the internet or traditional sites, before I read "Traditional Bowhunter" or knew anyone else shooting "traditional" equipment I picked up a recurve and started using it. Point is, I wasn't traditional. I just used what I liked.

I DO RESPECT, but don't completely understand, the whole desiring the "more challenging" way. I started using a stick bow because it was easier in it's own way. I may be the only one, but it was frustrating keeping up with my release, keeping the cams and what not tuned, keeping the robotic rest from making noise. Do you get my point? Those bows are heavy, noisy, bulky and not user friendly. I had/wanted to practice all the time anyway, so that's no different.

Nothing else changed about me or in me. It is still as challenging as ever to pattern movements, pick stand location, etc. I use treestands sometimes, ground blinds sometimes, camo all the time, scents sometimes. The game still usually wins. I'm still me, no more pure, no more defiled. Just like a simple stick and string.

I like you guys, all of you, but I think sometimes we just take a different bus to the same destination.

[Billy]

Traditions are what we were taught
and are being built with and through our kids/proteges.

Archery is what we share in common.

So to me, traditional archery is: carrying on the traditions of the learning and teaching of what it is we love to share.

[Izzy]

Tradition is about simplifying.To me it is anyway.Id say it was about doing it the hard way but thats Treds line and if you look at all of the hero pics this year it looks like someone forgot to tell us that it was so hard. But you know something?Like Jamie said there are some good people left in the world and a lot of them are TradGang members and non member trad shooters of which Ive had the pleasure of meeting and shooting with some of them.Trad makes you smell the roses (or pine needles at least.

[countrygirl]

I use the B and G rule....if it good enough...for Barry and Gene...it is good enough for me.  For those newbies...that may not know ....those are the Wensel Brothers.

[R H Clark]

I shoot a trad bow,DAS,because it requires a different level of commitment to master than my compound did.Even though it is metal with high tech limbs it takes the same degree of skill to shoot well as any other trad bow.

It isn't about the equipment to me.It's about a sense of personal accomplishment.I didn't choose trad because it is the hard way.I think chose trad because it isn't the easy way.

[ishiwannabe]

Took me a while to catch up...had to feed the boy and squeeze in some shopping. A lot of very good, valid points. I think each point speaks a bit to all of us, for all of us. Personally, I do find hunting(atleast carrying as I have had no shots yet) with my lb alot more enjoyable and even easier than all the widgets and dodads needed for my compound.
I think there is something special about the challenge of closing the distance, and making the shot. Its all on you, so to speak.
I may not know all the ins and outs yet, but I think I have started a very long trad career.

[hawgslayer]

 

 

[Santiam]

I prefer a good recurve to any other bow...My weapon of choice so to speak...Wether that makes me traditional or not I don't know and don't care...I just like my bow...  

[hawkeye n pa]

Simplicity, and can   watch the arrow in flight.  Along with all the other great comments.

[T-Mac]

I found and dusted off all of my father's old archery gear....bows, arrows, bhs even some vintage wwII camo.It is truly magical to walk the woods with these as I can no longer walk them with my father.  

Traditional, is both a state of mind and a phyical thing.

Ishiwannabe the quote above is about as trad as you can get. Going back to camo and gear that your father once used is taking his tradition a step further in time.

It reminds me of a story once told to me about a person who was dying and before he did he asked his friend or son or somebody close to walk through the world for him. "I'm not going to be their to see it, or hear it, or feel it so you are going to have to do it for me," he related. "Through you I will still be their with you."

To me that is kind of how I feel. I do it in a way that I feel others may have done it before me. I'm not sure how right I am, but I think of the many people that went before me and hope that through me some of them still go on. I's not just the bow or the arrow, but the walk with nature and through the past toward the present on into the future I hope.

This may seem strange to some, but I think of it often and hope I can instill it into my children and grandchildren.

[John 4]

For me "traditional" has become just archery without wheels.
When I started shooting we only had recurves and nobody shot longbows.
Back then I used to feel I was one of "the few" who had the skill and commitment to shoot and hunt with a bow and arrow.
Then came the compound,and over night anybody could shoot a bow.
That kind of knocked me off my high horse a bit,but I carried on shooting my recurve anyway.
For a long time I was considered by other archers to be a bit odd for staying with recurve when everybody else was using compounds,but I just prefer them more,and in my own mind at lest," I'm still one of the few.
I don't use the word traditional anywhere other than on line,because I relate traditions to culture and I don't see modern archery as being a part of any culture anywhere.
Quite frankly you can't make up a tradition,,,but that's just what traditional archery is,,,,totaly made up in the modern world to imitate an ideal that probably never was.It certainly wasn't "traditional" when I started shooting 35 years ago,so I don't see why I should call it traditional now,,,after all,,,it wasn't me that changed.

[DeerSpotter]

Originally posted by ishiwannabe:
Is it really about the equipment(save the bow) we use or is it more than that? To me traditional is pitting myself against my quarry with a stickbow, some arrows and my mind. A way of hunting, even a way of life. Now Im still a newbie by many standards, but it seems that this topic always comes up, so I figured I would start this thread for everyone to lay down their opinions on this subject.
My goal as a traditional hunter is a clean kill on whatever my quarry may be at that time. Instead of worrying about what is traditional to others I do what I need to do in order to achieve this goal.(And I admit freely...so far the animals are winning)   :D  
Since joining this site last year I have watched a thick layer of dust accumulate on my wheelie bow. I learned how to make arrows...wooden ones even.Im teaching myself to knap. I found and dusted off all of my father's old archery gear....bows, arrows, bhs even some vintage wwII camo.It is truly magical to walk the woods with these as I can no longer walk them with my father. I hunted trad only all season, and did not take a deer. Oh yeah, and I have met some of the best people I have yet to meet, and conversed with many more on here I hope to meet one day.
Eventually, I want to be out there with a self bow, hand made arrows, knapped heads...you see where Im headed. It is a journey for me, and I love every second of it. What does traditional mean to you?

Well said !  I have always thought that way.  We did all been out of shape and stuck on "the bow" but yet we hunt out of modern tree stands, modern ground blinds.

And we forget about the attitude of the hunter, and how he takes his quarry.  It's not about the equipment, it's about the attitude of how that equipment is used.

We have a generation of young people that don't even know what a longbow is !  And we get all focused on traditional equipment and we shoot a recurve, I am not saying anything against a recurve, but when you think about it, when was the recurve introduced.  You see, it's not about the equipment, it's about the attitude of the hunter and how that equipment is an extension of himself.


Pastor Carl

[ishiwannabe]

Thanks everyone. Im just trying to explain the hows ans whys for me.