G'day from an Aussie about to get into trad hunting

[Wilderlife]

EDIT: I just uploaded this video. It's my first attempt at making a video as the other videos on my channel were produce by my dad. Thanks to everyone on here who has offered encouragement and advice.



Hi all,

I have recently started looking down the rabbit hole that is traditional bowhunting. I've always been a little bit interested in it but have been presented with a wonderful opportunity by a friend who is sending me a recurve bow to try. He says it might have a little issue but I've since spoken with some experienced trad hunters and they think they'll be able to sort it out fairly easily for me.

Speaking with these blokes has opened up some knowledge and information. I listen to podcasts almost non-stop about hunting and true crime, but I had no idea just how many good podcasts there are out there about trad hunting. I've been soaking a lot of it up over the last week or so and it's been great listening.

The bow I'm getting send is a Black Widow PCH at 60lb. I'll draw closer to 26.5 inches so I might pull around 58lb or so.

Having been a rifle hunter for a very long time and taking up compound archery last year, I don't have much trad gear at all, so here is my shopping list I'm going to slowly chip away at over the next week or so.
- Black Widow 3 fingers under tab.
- 12 to 14 brass noking points.
- Tuning kit from archery store here in Aus (nok pliers, bow square, Hoyt rest, and some more noking points. Mainly buying this to get a good price on pliers and bow square).
- 200gn Outback Broadheads head. Haven't decided between Supreme or Stealth yet.
- 200gn Saunders field points for practice.
- Carbon Express Heritage 350gn arrows that I'll likely get cut to about 28.5 inches or so.

The fallow deer rut will be kicking off within about a month but I think I'm just going to hunt with a compound or rifle, as it'll take me a while to get used to the recurve I think. Intended game for me with the bow will be deer/pigs/goats so I think the setup and gear I am looking at buying will be more than enough.

I heard about this forum on a podcast and am stoked to have found a little niche that I can scratch my trad itch, although I am on plenty of other forums but they aren't just focused on trad stuff.

I'm keen to hang around a bit and get to know a few things.

Cheers.

[SCATTERSHOT]

Welcome from Colorado. Lots of good folks and good info here. One bit of advice, if I may. See if you can find a lighter bow to get familiar with trad archery. Using that heavy a bow to start with, you will develop bad habits that you may never recover from. Don’t ask me how I know this. I’d start with 40 pounds or so, just to develop your form and get used to no letoff.

Cheers, and good hunting!

[Wilderlife]

For sure, mate. 60lb wouldn't be my first choice but the bow is essentially a gift. I'm looking at buying a small bow to practice with, too.

[Hummer3T]

Welcome, Their is lots of good information on this site in the archives and don't be scared to post questions or inquires here on powwow, some very knowledgeable people on here to help, lend advise and just give you options.

Good luck and don't forget to post picture of your first hunts and possibly your first harvests. 

[TomMcDonald]

Welcome - Where will you be deer hunting?

[Krex1010]

My advice to you is to not rush things. Don’t go into this thinking you’re going to need particular grain heads or a certain length arrow....that’s a recipe for wasting a lot of money. 60lbs is a heck of a lot of bow to learn on. By all means accept the gift but realize you likely will have issues developing good form by learning on that bow. Trust me, as someone who has made a lot of mistakes, take your time. It takes a while just to get your form down, and before you have consistent form, trying to tune arrows and set up a bow for hunting will lead to lots of frustration. I’m not trying to scare you here or anything, I’m just trying to help you avoid the common issues that make people give up on traditional archery.....I made the mistake of buying a My first trad bow in a weight I wanted to hunt with the thought that i was saving time and money by getting the hunting setup first....I was way wrong and it cost me a lot of time and wasted money.

I highly recommend getting a light weight bow to learn on, I was shooting 70# compounds easily, but honestly I struggled to learn on a 45# trad bow. It was until I basically started over with a 35# bow that I made any real strides in consistent form and accuracy. I apologize for writing a novel here. This is a great forum and traditional archery is an extremely satisfying pastime. Good luck!

[Friend]

Welcome...may your traditional journey be a most fulfilling experience.

[Charlie Lamb]

Welcome bud. You've found the right place for fun and learning.

Let me say this about peering down the rabbit hole... one bow makes you  taller and one bow makes you small and the bow that mother gives you won't do anything at all.

Sorry for the Jefferson Airplane reference. I couldn't help myself.

[katman]

Agree with Krex!  Invest in a inexpensive light weight bow about 40# to start, money well spent. Check out the used market on classifieds here and other traditional sites.

[Terry Green]

Welcome!!!

And listen to Charlie....he's been around, and a moderator of, Tradgang since day one!

I respect your decision to wait until you're proficient, that's very admirable

[Wilderlife]

Welcome - Where will you be deer hunting?

I hunt all around the New England area, mate. Inverell, Armidale, Glen Innes, Uralla, Bundarra, etc.

My advice to you is to not rush things. Don’t go into this thinking you’re going to need particular grain heads or a certain length arrow....that’s a recipe for wasting a lot of money. 60lbs is a heck of a lot of bow to learn on. By all means accept the gift but realize you likely will have issues developing good form by learning on that bow. Trust me, as someone who has made a lot of mistakes, take your time. It takes a while just to get your form down, and before you have consistent form, trying to tune arrows and set up a bow for hunting will lead to lots of frustration. I’m not trying to scare you here or anything, I’m just trying to help you avoid the common issues that make people give up on traditional archery.....I made the mistake of buying a My first trad bow in a weight I wanted to hunt with the thought that i was saving time and money by getting the hunting setup first....I was way wrong and it cost me a lot of time and wasted money.

I highly recommend getting a light weight bow to learn on, I was shooting 70# compounds easily, but honestly I struggled to learn on a 45# trad bow. It was until I basically started over with a 35# bow that I made any real strides in consistent form and accuracy. I apologize for writing a novel here. This is a great forum and traditional archery is an extremely satisfying pastime. Good luck!

For sure, mate. The amount of information is daunting but I'm not in a rush. The suggestions of gear I'm after are based on a lot of research but mainly talking to the bloke who is giving me the bow as he's familiar with it. I'll definitely commit to a certain broadhead though as I'm keen to support Australian-made stuff.

Agree with Krex!  Invest in a inexpensive light weight bow about 40# to start, money well spent. Check out the used market on classifieds here and other traditional sites.

I don't have many places close to me to check out bows but I've been looking at the Samick takedown stuff online. It seems like that may be a good way to get into things.

I had an accident/mishap with my compound bow this morning and accidentally dry fired it!  I'm furious with myself. If I can't get it sorted for the rut I'll probably take my .30-30 out with iron sights in order to get the whole experience of getting in close. I doubt I'll be good enough with a recurve within a month to hunt with it. That's too big of an ask.

[Pointer]

Welcome to the gang!

[ozy clint]

Welcome to tradgang. Krex divulged some sound wisdom.

[Wilderlife]

Thanks, fellas.

I'll pick up my recurve from the post office this afternoon. It has an issue that will either be fixed with a new string, or a more serious issue that is to do with the limbs being warped. Hopefully it's the string, and I know of a few people who can help me check it out.

Compound is definitely out of action so the recurve will be the only bow I have to shoot for the next little while yet, so that should be good fun to practice. Considering a cheaper bow as well for some easier practice. I'll see how things develop with the repairs I need on both bows.

[Hummer3T]

Sages are good options, I have one as secondary bow, works and shoot good.  another one to try for a starter is a black hunter from mandarin duck or as suggested a good clean used bow in your range.

[Amberjack]

Welcome to the madness!

You're going to love that PCH once you get it sorted out.
I had Toby build me one back in 2015 and I've never regretted it.  Such a feeling of confidence and power.

I agree with the fellas above, go slow and enjoy the ride.  A lighter bow will let you practice those fundamentals without wearing yourself out.  Old Bears or Pearsons are good choices for this as there are many many out there in the 40# range....that is assuming that they made it down your way.

Best of luck and let us know how it goes,
Jack

[azhunter]

You can also order some lighter weight limbs for the PCH. If at a later date you want to sell the limbs you will get almost what you paid for them.

[Wilderlife]

Got the bow this afternoon. Oh my goodness; it's an absolute work of art. Can't tell if the limbs are warped yet but will have a look at how things go in a couple of days when I get to shoot it.

I know what a lot of you mean about 60lb being heavy, now. I wasn't assuming it'd be easy but I exercise and lift weights regularly and consider myself fairly strong, but pulling this thing back takes some doing. 

If I need new limbs because these ones are buggered I'll get something a bit lighter. In the meantime, I'll mess around with it and maybe buy a Samick Sage in a lighter weight for messing about with.

[Steelhead]

The PCH Widows are nice bows.I had a 60 incher and liked it.If you draw 26.5 I would think the bow is more like 55-56#s at your draw.Thats if its marked 60# at 28 inches?

Anyway if your younger and stronger and in shape you may handle that bow just fine.Maybe not.You can get lighter weight limbs from Widow if that set just seems too heavy and your fighting it too much.

I would typically recommend around 40# for a starter bow and get good info on good shooting form to get off to a good start.But you may be strong enough and we are not all created equal in regard to bow weight.

My 1st bow was 63#s at my draw.I could handle it though and got used to it fairly quickly.It seemed heavy at 1st.But I was young and in very good shape.

Make sure you get to full draw and handle that bow and its not handling you.You don't want to start snap shooting or underdrawing or your gonna have serious issues potentially.Believe me.

You can exorcise with that bow without shooting an arrow to get stronger.

The 350 arrows seem a bit stiff for that bow and your draw length.But you can still fling em.

Good day to ya mate!

[Wilderlife]

Part of it is going to obviously be practice but it's fairly heavy to draw back. I can do it OK but don't seem to hold very steady, but I'll work on form over the next few weeks and see what happens.

If these limbs are busted and I need new ones, I'll go a bit lighter anyway I believe. Don't need 60lb to kill the stuff I want to kill with it.

The bloke I bought the bow off told me he used to use 350 arrows so that's why I wrote that. Not sure what to check out in that regard yet but I have some 350 or 340 arrows I was shooting out of my compound before I broke it. I may fling them tomorrow just to get a feel for things.

May have a lead on some good used compound bows as well so I may not be entirely out of the bow equation this rut, so we'll see what happens.