Temp.practicing with a compound--will it hurt my development with Trad Bow?

[philos]

My reasoning for this question:   I will likely not be prepared to deer hunt with my Trad Bow this fall and want to take advantage of our early archery season.  If I can be Trad hunt ready then this is a moot point but just not sure.

I hope to be going full trad once I get to that point.  Would it be problematic to try and practice both this year?  If I did what would I need to be aware of to not cause issues with Trad Bow development?

Thanks so much!   

[pavan]

I think jumping back and forth will slow the learning.   I have had guys that did not know anything about shooting bow at all, ready to go in a month and then successfully shoot the first deer that came by with Hill longbows.  Reinventing wheels is for experts, pick a style or emulate an expert and stick to that one style until it is learned.  I like longbows and the only thing i do is follow the Schulz video and point out where new shooters vary from the Schulz video. 

[Sam McMichael]

I tend to agree with pavan that doing both may complicate the learning process. If trad is your goal, go trad. If you concentrate on form, accuracy will follow. If you can develop proper accuracy out to 15 yards, and if you have good shot discipline, you are ready to hunt. Put the work into the direction you ultimately want to go. Just my opinion, for whatever it may be worth.

[Terry Green]

Throw the compound in the garbage then you won't have to worry about this....

Going back and forth is only going to put monsters in your head

[Terry Green]

Sorry not sure how I locked this thread.... still getting used to the new format I guess.

[philos]

I thought perhaps I had made a post I shouldn't have.  I did not intend to cause any issues and hope no offense was taken by my questions.

[Macatawa]

Joe
No worries.... and I'm sure no offense was taken. 

BTW, I believe Terry really does have the answer for you in regard to your dilemma. 

IMO, you can't really move into the re-training of your mind and body to do trad efficiently
until you make the break with the compound ways. 

I believe you're gonna love the stick bows once you give them 100% of your attention!
 

[Orion]

You have almost a half year to get ready for bow season.  That should be great plenty. Think you'll be able to kill a deer at 5 yards by then, maybe 10?  That's your shot range limit then.  You're never going to have the range or accuracy of a compound with a stick bow.  Just have to know your limits and hunt within them. 

[Stumpkiller]

Doesn't hurt any more than shooting a rifle or pistol would.  Also helps about the same amount.

Take the sights off the compound and tip it a bit and shoot with a glove or tab and it won't hurt much.  You just won't help develop or hold the necessary back muscles.

Not too long ago someone offered to let me shoot a compound and that's the way I did it.  Worked OK once you get over the jerkyness of the draw.

[Charlie Lamb]

You will never reach your full potential with trad equipment unless you commit to it 100%.

[San Juan Slim]

"I will likely not be prepared to deer hunt with my Trad Bow this fall"

You certainly will never be prepared to hunt with a recurve or longbow if you keep shooting your compound.  If you really want to shoot and hunt with a bow, commit to that bow, get rid of the compound, and keep shooting your bow every day.  Limit your hunting shots to distances you feel confident with.  If you can't give up those 40, 50, or 60+ yard shots for hunting, give up on the bow and keep shooting a compound!

Mike

[ChuckC]

As the others said.... you will never shoot a deer with a trad bow if you are carrying a compound ( or a gun or any other).   I, like others, shot with a compound for a while.  I truly found that I could pick it up once a year, shoot 6 killing shots on a deer target at 50 yards, then put it away till the next year... till I gave it away.  I did not find shooting a compound difficult.  I wasn't going for Xs, just dead deer.

As Orion stated..... find what you can do well in terms of shooting.  If this year it is only 5 yards, then that is what you hunt at.  I kill deer every year, from the ground, at less than ten yards.  Last year's doe was 5 paces.  This year's was 6 paces with a newly made osage self bow.  A buck a little later was at 8 paces.   If I can do it, so can you, but you have to learn to do it differently.   I don't know how you will react, but I know I get much more out of it if the deer is close than any deer that is 30, 40, 50 or more yards away.  To me ( and maybe only to me), if it is truly close, I truly hunted it.

[mwosborn]

Looks like I am in the minority.  Been shooting "trad" (mostly recurves in the beginning, but longbows too) since the late 60's.  Continued shooting them when I got a compound in the late 70's.  Been shooting both since.  I do not see a reason you have to quit one to shoot the other.  I shoot and hunt with both and know several people that do also.  I have even shot deer with both in the same day.  I don't seem to have a big issue going between bows.  Good luck to you in whatever you decide!

[Steve Clandinin]

I’m with mwosborn been shooting bows since the early 60,s ive shot them all and over the years was consistent with all.can shoot multiple rifles and shotguns the same way.trad archery takes a lot more dedication yes but doesn’t mean you have to give up all else.I can shoot multiple bows the same day only takes a few arrows to get back in the grove.both my son and son-in-law can’t believe how easy it is for me ,agazillion arrows makes the difference.stick with it

[goingoldskool]

I thought that I would switch back and forth between the compound and longbow, but after shooting the longbow exclusively all winter from Jan through July, I tried to shoot my wheels....  It felt totally foreign in my hand and the let off was throwing my timing of my draw way off...  I gave it away the same day to my son and have not shot a wheelie bow since.

Good luck in whatever you choose.

Shoot straight, and God Bless,

Rodd 

[Bowwild]

Like Steve and mwosborn, I often shoot both during the same shooting session. No problem at all. Deer with one and turkey with the other.  My shooting process, except for aiming, is the same for both.  I love the recurve bow, but it isn't a lifestyle for me.  The fact that I'm a bowhunter (for 50 years now) is my lifestyle. 

On a scale of 1-10 the thrill I get from taking an animal with these two types of bows: 10 with a recurve. 8 with the other.  Missing is a "3" on that scale with both bow types and wounding with either is a "0".

To answer your question about "what should I do not to slow my recurve development"....  I have to shoot both on a regular basis. The recurve far more than the other (notice I'm trying to avoid a bothersome word)  I find two things important to develop and keep a feel for when it comes to the recurve (when shooting both bow types). 

1. Strength at anchor is far more demanding with the recurve. At 64 years of age, I can lose that pretty quick if I don't keep shooting. Interesting, with the more modern bow as I shoot it far less (don't need to shoot much to maintain accuracy), I've lost some strength to start the draw. I used to shoot 72 pounds with that one, now I'm comfortable at 60.

2. Accurate aiming without sights is far more demanding if you are trying for the same size groups at the same distance with both types of bow.  In the 50 years I've bowhunted (40 of those as a professional advocate for bowhunting) I've taken only four shots greater than 33 yards. Three of those were clean misses (whitetail, Merriams turkey, and pronghorn) the other resulted in a dead Mulie.

[Red Beastmaster]

I tried shooting both. It messed me up real good.
I've been compound free for thirty years.
I held one about five years ago, then politely gave it back to the proud owner. Geeze, I don't know how I ever shot one of those things.

[Rob DiStefano]

the bigger question is, what is your trad bow's holding weight?  this is the usual stumbling block for trad converts, as well as newbies to trad bowhunting in general. 

if reasonable, commit fully to trad and you could be lots more than ready for the coming fall deer hunts.

[Bowwild]

Good point we were overlooking Rob.

When I picked up the recurve again in 2010 the standard advice was to shoot 25% less draw weight with the recurve than what the person was shooting with the "modern" bow.  I think, for most people, especially if their form is less than ideal or if they are having mental shooting issues, the draw weight should be even less -- @ 30-50%.

[Trenton G.]

My compound actually helped me shoot better with my trad bow. When I switched, I was still more comfortable with my compound. I would spend half of my time shooting a trad bow in order to get used to it, but I used my compound to teach myself to shoot instinctively because it was really easy to hold at full draw and I could really focus on picking a spot. Later on I put down the compound pretty much for good.