How did you come to be a ......

[LEOPARD]

I started hunting with a rifle back in Zimbabwe when I was 5 years old. (Back then, bows were not very common in Zim, and they were very expensive if you were earning Zim dollars as we were) I hunted lots with my father as a youngster and we'd wanted to start bowhunting from about 10 years ago. But with moving out of Zim to the UK and other things that have happened recently, we never got bows until about 5 years ago, and haven't looked back since!     :D  Traditional bowhunting is my life now!

[3Under]

Started with a lemonwood bow in the late '40s until it broke. Had a friend that planted a seed in my mind the '50s with his recurve.

It started to "bud" in '64 when my dad got me a Howatt Hunter for my b'day. Hit bowhunting pretty hard throuh the rest of the sixties then a archery pause until the early '80s.

 Did the compound thing up to Dec. 94 when I bought my first copy of "TBM"" and that started it over big time. Ordered my first longbow from Steve Welty of "Deathwish" (first of a bunch of bows). Been at it ever since and lovin' it!   :p  

Golly this chronology makes me feel old!

[AnointedArcher]

I started out in the 70's with a recurve, didn't even know there was such a thing as a compound.  Then in the 80's I backslide and used a wheelie bow then in the 90's went back to recurves and longbows.

[BobW]

My cousin made the switch a few years before, and was always bring a bow along whenever we got together.  One afternoon, after finishing up some work on the house, we were shooting in the back yard (me with wheels, and he had a longbow).  Something about that quiet "thump" just finally blew me away..... That was two years ago, and 3 bows.  Only opened up the wheel bow case once since then, took three shots, and put it away.  No fun anymore.  Thanks Brent!

BobW

[DRR324]

I started with an old bear way back when, hunted with compounds while growing up.  Made the switch 8-9 years ago and haven't looked back.  Got bored with punching spots and tuning this/that and everything else.......

[fyrfyter43]

I started shooting and hunting with wheelie bows in the early '80s. Sometime around '91 or '92 I started getting bored with it, and I hated the tech race with everybody at the local clubs. Then one of the guys I shot with made the switch to a longbow. We sure gave him a hard time about trying to compete with his stick and string, but I was secretly wishing I owned a bow so purty. Not to mention how quiet it was, and how much he seemed to enjoy shooting, rather than messing around with all the gadgets.

As fate would have it, a few weeks later (at the last shoot of the year), my Oneida Eagle came apart on me at full draw. The very next day I found a local shop that was a dealer for Black Widow and Jeffrey Archery. After talking with him for a couple of hours I ordered a Jeffery Timberline and a half-dozen Kustom King cedars. I still have that bow and even a few of the arrows, although now my go-to bow is my Turkey Creek.

[Pat B]

The last 2 deer I shot with a compound I don't remember the shot. I remember standing, putting tension on the string the next thing I remembered was a bloody arrow in the ground. Thats when I realized I didn't need the lighted pendulum sight, peep sight, training wheels or 10# of cold metal in my hands while hunting. That was in the mid 80's and I haven't looked back.    Pat

[the not so straight arrow]

when i was about 13 years old two of my "hunting buddies" and i decided it was time to graduate from our air rifles to something a little more lethal for hunting. We all owned .22's and actually had acess to several shotguns, but our parents were very strict on the rules about when we could use them, so we made do i guess.
Trad Bowhunting came becuase compounds looked to complicated for the average cottontail( our favortie quarry). So i purchased a 55# internature viper for $200, my friend kelly got the same bow in #45 and his brother scott got a #45 TD recurve. Many a cotton tails surrendered there tasty legs to us.
As we grew older we chased bigger game, mostly turkey. But girlfriends ruined our time together in the field, as most teenage boys can tell you lol. Now i hunt with out them, mostly alone, for deer turkey and small game.
I guess i hunt trad becuase of its simplicity and the memories it holds for me. Never picked up a compound and never will, it just doesnt feel right to me.
-cory

[Grant Young]

I got a Pearson hickory long bow for Christmas, 1960. I was six and hooked for life. Never was drawn to compounds but never knew I was "traditional" 'til later in life-I just thought I knew something some other guys didn't. Grant

[NDTerminator]

Same old story.  I started out with Trad back in the 60's when that's all there was.  Went over to compounds in the 80's.  After 20 or so years I got fed up with the technology and how it made archery so easy.  By the 90's, nearly anyone could buy a fully set up compound and with one or two afternoons of practice, be proficient enough to make kills shots at 20 yards.

Personally, by the 90's I had gotten so that I was placing in most 3D tournaments I entered, and if I drew on a critter, it was dead. My skill level with the compound had gotten to the point where any score increases came via the latest & newest sight, release, a hotter bow, ect. You better believe I was chasing those extra few points/ FPS for hunting, too.

I went back to Trad several years ago, and Lasik surgery + age related near vision issues has now placed me irrevocably in the barebow camp (can no longer see open sights or bow sight pins well enough to ethically hunt with them).

As my signature says, I'm as Trad as I wanna be.  I shoot & hunt 85% of the time with my recurves the rest with a Reflex Caribou shot barebow & fingers, but have absolutely qualms about using using elevated rests, replaceable blade broadheads, vanes, scent control clothing, ladder stands or ground blinds, ect.

[BEN]

I started hunting deer with a cross-bow,when I was a kid, even before hunting them with a gun. Then, about 5 years ago, my hunting buddy talked me into trying a compound bow. After tw0 years with it, I was bored with it and he talked me into trying trad. equiptment. I was absolutely TERRIBLE for a good 2 years but was having FUN anyway.Now, I've sold my wheel bow and have hunted with my recurve for the past 2 seasons----no deer yet, but a nice "yote...Still having fun---and that's the best part!!

[Can Hahaka]

My father made two bows the year I was born. A long time ago. In fact the LW was then drawn on cave walls. Growing up we didn't have as many distractions and we lived on the edge of town so it was natural to grab a bow and go into the woods and play pioneer/indian. I was reborn a few years back and now it is a passion.

[b.glass]

Always rooted for the Indians. Was envious of anyone that found an "arrow head". Thought it was all luck. Found one myself while cleaning sod out of a flower bed I was working on! Went to the library to find out more about it. Found out that there is a technique to finding them. Bought a book at a Pow-wow. "Bows and Arrows of the Native Americans" Jim Hamm. Thought it would tell me more about the points I was finding. It was funny, entertaining, fascinating. Had to try making a bow. I was pregnant for my youngest when I found my first projectile point in the flower bed. I've been hooked ever since. Tim turned eleven in Feb.

[Matt Fowler]

Boy Scouts and Fred Bear on the American sportsman.

[just a bit outside]

JL showed me his bows a few years back when we became friends and I said something about it looking really fun so we went out to shoot (think I shot his Marriah Thermal... which is mine now!) and I was hooked. He sold me a Jeffery Archery Mighty Mag, a tab, and some arrows and I never looked back. Now, I have the bug real bad and I can't get enough of Trad Archery.

Thanks JL!!!

Greg

[DeerSpotter]

I started when I was 10 years old, at a YMCA Camp, shot my first deer at 25 yrs old, switch to the wheels, went back to the recurve, and when I switch back to wheels, it just never did take.

Working in a wheels shop, it really gets obvious, when you hear all the guys complaining about the gizmos that don't work right, and change gizmos and still can't hit anything, and then they blame it on the gizmos.

When I purchased my custom-made "whip" Montana bows and my "Hunter" from Bob Lee archery, it was the best decision I made to sell everything that had to do with wheels.  Now the only thing to blame is "me" and it's better that way, it makes you focus.

My wife said to me " do you have Mad River yet ? "  I said I sure do !

What that means is, I've got the best of the best, no sense looking back any more, now it's time to shoot and learn, and develop habits, that develop character, and influence others to do the same.

 " If you're going to fall, fall forward " you'll learn more, and it'll stick with you.


Pastor Carl

[Diamond Paul]

I managed an archery shop at one time, and we had an indoor range.  An older gentleman, Ray Cooper, used to come by almost daily to drink coffee and shoot his recurve on the range.  One day, I eased over there to talk a bit and he asked me if I wanted to try it.  I did.  I was terrible, but it was fun.  Eventually, I bought a used Wapiti recurve and have had them ever since.  I'm still not that great with one, but it's still fun.

[joseph_valencia]

I started when I was 8 yrs old, my brother bought me a lemonwood bow. I loved that thing and as luck would have it I broke it Overdrawing it when I was 15. Well at 20 I started hunting with High caliber rifles, then at 30 went to heavy barrell varmint rifles. Got realy bored with it all, so went to Black Powder long rifles and pistols. Lots of fun target shooting, (quit hunting at 37). All this time I still had that first bow in the back of my mind. Decided I would try to build a wood bow and that did it. Uncle  Ralphie and Mike of OJAM and MOJAM fame got me going realy strong. Now have Trad archery deeply ingrained altho I still love smokepoles and BP pistols. I realy like this TradGang site. Thank you TRADGANG.

[George D. Stout]

Like Jawge I started making crude bows from hickory saplings and shot lilac stems for arrows when I was about eight years old (1954ish).

[Missouri Sherpa]

Started out with a compound bow.  It was a heavy cumbersome thing, especially after toting it up and down the mountain for 10 days on an elk hunt.  My last elk hunt with a compound bow (an Oneida aero force) I had glassed some elk in a distant meadow.  I spent three hours climbing and crawling through oak brush, sometimes on my belly getting into position for the evening hunt.  Just before dusk I crawled up the middle of the ravine in the middle of this park and I was surrounded by elk. Elk in front, back and all sides.  I was ecstatic, my plan had worked perfectly.  I scoped out a decent bull and as I lifted my bow to shoot I was horrified.  I had broken off all of my sight pins on my way getting there.  By the time I regained my composure to think about shooting without sights at the elk closest to me an elk winded me and I was in the middle of a stampede of around 60 elk getting away from me as fast as possible. I did not get to shoot.  At that moment I decided I would change to a lightweight bow that I could shoot without sights for all of my future elk hunts.  I wanted something simple and gadget proof.  I started out making self bows that winter before settling on hybrid longbows for my weapon of choice.