How did you get started in Traditional Archery?

[trad_bowhunter1965]

I can't remember when I didn't shoot or want to shoot a bow just like everyone my age or old started out with a Stickbow guys like Howard Hill and Fred Bear were my hero's. I started shooting a compound in 1984 shot one until 2008, It was 2005 when I joined Trad Gang started stalking it reading all the great posts and seeing the photos and reading the tips. I was hunting Muledeer in NV I shot a buck at a very long range I realized I was a shooter not a hunter later that year sold all my compounds I bought a Bob Lee Recurve the next drew and California Antelope Tag 2009 I thought had a stroke and a Heart attack when the Buck came in and I knew this is what hunting was about for me.

[hessian]

After a successful deer hunt with a modern bow, I felt as though I had lost "that" feeling... I didn't feel the connection I had once felt and it bothered me. I didn't feel connected to the woods or the animal. That's when I stumbled upon this site and the rest is history. Hunting/shooting with traditional gear has taught me so much more about the critters we chase, the woods in which they live and really about life in general.

[rastaman]

In the early 60's us kids in my neighborhood played a lot of cowboys and Indians.  I was always in the Indian group.  One of the kids in my group had a cheap fiberglass bow that he could hit a trashcan at 40 yards.  I was awestruck.  I started out with the same kind of cheap bow and graduated up to a bear grizzly recurve for my first "real" bow.  i shot my first deer with it when i was 17.  The doe was 35 yards away and did a complete 180 before my arrow got there.  It pinned her hips together and she fell over dead before i could knock another arrow.  Needless to say i was hooked for life after that.  Never really had a mentor in those days or knew about matching arrows and spine etc. until i went to college in Athens, Ga. at the University of Georgia in 1971.  Dan Quillian had an archery shop and a guy by the name of Garth Fuller had an archery shop out of his garage at that time.  Those two guys helped get me on the right path and i've never looked back.

[tippit]

My mom & Dad retired back to Wisconsin. My practice was just starting and a bit slow especially around November. I went out there to go muskie fishing with my dad...but all my cousins and uncle were bowhunting deer with compounds. Dad and I decided to try it the following year. When I grew up in Ohio there wasn't a deer season so this would be my first attempt to hunt deer. We both bought compounds and practiced for the following year. When I got to deer camp, my cousin brought a friend who had a longbow. I fell in love with that bow. Returning home, I purchased a longbow from a young guy named Ron LeClair. That was in 1970's and never looked back. Interesting enough I found that very bow on Ebay a few years later... One of my prized bows by Dave Johnson.   

[Appalachian Hillbilly]

Mike Treadway...

We all got bows when my grandson turned 6 . He got a cheap compound and we had so much fun, we bought one. Joined a local club and Mike is a member.  He shot a round with my grandson and he invited me to his shop.

I went and shot one of his longbows, then bought one....then another...and another and it just snowballed.

I love the beautiful wood craftsmanship of trad bows. They have a soul, so to speak where compounds are just tools. I have not shot a compound since and have started making my own bows with Mike's help. I also stay on his list because I just love his craftsmanship.

[Captain*Kirk]

I love the beautiful wood craftsmanship of trad bows. They have a soul, so to speak where compounds are just tools.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^This. Exactly.^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[smoke]

My Dad got me interested in archery as a small boy in the 60s.  I strayed a bit in high school when I bought a Bear Whitetail - which shot slower than the selfbows I shoot today. While in that phase, I read "Hunting with the Bow and Arrow" by Saxton Pope and then went back to trad gear. Pope's words really wormed into my brain and I started making and hunting with selfbows about 20 years ago . . . I'm oldish now but still love the romance of trad bows.

[LookMomNoSights]

About 7 or 8 years old, sold enough cub scout stuff one year out of the cardboard Tom Watt (spelling?) suitcase of trinkets and junk to family and friends,  that I got to pick the mother of all prizes .....  a recurve bow set that included the bow with 3 arrows,  an arm guard I think and I don't remember what for finger protection, but I do remember (and still have this!) my father taking me to a local sporting shop to get a shooting glove.  It's a tiny camo pleather type glove with suede fingers and velcro wrist strap, made by BEAR.   Most of the archery stuff in that shop was BEAR (early 80's) and I can remember thinking,  not sure who this BEAR guy is but man he's the coolest guy ever,  shooting big brown bears and whatever else....... how I'd like to do that when I grow up. I can remember seeing specifically, Razor Heads for the first time and those images will never leave my mind.  A double edge knife that goes on the tip of your arrow to shoot animals with.  There  can't be anything much cooler than that in a young boys mind,  for me at the time anyhow.  Parents kept a tight leash on the arrow slingin' for a while,  as I used to make some of my own stuff with sticks and whatever else that may have led them to believe I had a preoccupation with "dangerous" things such as bows and arrows and spears and such .......  but they eased up I'm guessing as I about wore all my archery stuff right out and was getting a new 3 pack of true flight pre-made cedar arrows regularly because of breaking them or losing them.  No concern for aiming or accuracy, form, anchor, fundamentals,  nobody I knew personally with a solid know-how foundation to teach me .......  just sending arrows at the target was good enough apparently,  til I got several years older and started to put the pieces together with the help of some old guys that knew a thing or two.  There was a time in my late teens and early 20's that I did shoot compound as well,  but the recurves where always there too.  Then I decided one day to leave the wheel bows behind and it all seems like lifetime ago now......though longbows do it for me now.
My 2 kids,  age 3 and a half and 9,  both shoot their longbows regularly.  And though they both do excellent, I'm starting to think the 3 and half year old has a gift.  He hits what he's looking at and more times than not,  he holds a form that would make some seasoned individuals envious.....

[GCook]

I started with a bear recurve in the late 80s that my wife's uncle gave me.  No lessons or mentor.  Just instinctive shooting.
Yeah I had a cheap fiberglass bow as a kid but .22s and shotguns replaced that in my teens the adult life took hold and it was all on the back burner for a few years.
I hunted some paper company land in east Texas one season with it.  Only one armadillo was unlucky as I never saw a deer close enough to shoot at.  But I could keep five arrows on a paper plate at 20 yards and that was the "test" of competency at most days leases.  I went on a rifle elk hunt with some older guys from the gun club in 89 and one of them took me under his wing.  He and I would shoot together and he would clean my clock with his compound and when I found a Bear Whitetail 2 on clearance at KMart the recurve became a bow fishing rig and I bow hunted with compounds for the next 26 years.  And that was a very conscious decision because I had hunted a lease with two fellas who were traditional shooters.  They bragged about not picking up their bows til a couple weeks before season then proceeded to wound and lose deer left and right on that lease. Now granted they were members of the archery club I was but I also knew a couple guys out there who were out there regular and could hang with the compound shooters.  So I made up my mind then I would wait until I had time in my life to get good and stay good.  I was deadly with what I was doing and since 2000 I only was bow only for deer here in Texas except the years I had shoulder surgery.  But the fall after the year I retired I made the adjustment.
That happened in 2015.  And thank goodness for the guys in Texas who were able to teach my hard headed self the basics and get me on track.  Marty Thomas (Black Widow Buff) and Bisch answering texts and private messages from a crazy man because all I could focus on was getting good enough to hunt. 
Then when I'd settled in and needed help on refining things Randy Madden, aka crittergetter, walked me through bareshaft testing and arrow selection for my needs.  I've made some great friends through this obsession and it's renewed the intensity of my archery and bowhunting focus.
Now I still own a modern bow.  But like my gas grill it sits and waits. 
Now I regret waiting so long to switch.

[gregg dudley]

Cool stories!

My mom wouldn't let me have a bow.  She thought they were dangerous, which is hilarious since I had every type of gun known to man.  I shot bows at Boy Scout Camp and loved it.  My nearest neighbor had a bow and we would shoot it when mom wasn't around.   We did all the stupid stuff that she was afraid we would do.  I finally got a compound bow when I was about 18.  In 2003 or 2004, I was invited to a shoot put on by the Traditional Bowhunters of Florida.  I didn't even shoot, but I walked part of the course with my friend and had a great time.  I went straight home and ordered a Black Widow recurve.  I killed a deer with it the next year and sold all of my compound bows except for one that my daughter had put a Sesame Street Elmo sticker on for good luck. 

[toddster]

Guess my story little different than most, vast majority of my family did not hunt, those that did was just gun hunters.  I recall seeing Fred Bear hunt a bear on a TV show, then I was given a bow from a yard sale, that someone made for a youth, and played around with it some, nothing serious.  I had seen some guys shooting wheel bows on base
in the Marines, but no spark.
It was after I left the service and a buddy talked me into going squirrel hunting, afterward we stopped by an archery shop so he could check on his
bow.  I sat drinking coffee watching the guys/gals shoot and looking and I said that would be a challenge.  At the time I was suffering from P.T.S.D.,
but was stupid enough not to get treatment, thank god I found this or would not be here.
Long story shorter, after bowhunting with wheels for few years, and being very successful, I said "there has to be more of a challenge".  It was then
that I remembered my youth of shooting that stick/string.
Pre internet, I went to the library and they had two great books on the shelf, "hunting the hard way" and "Archers Bible".  I got them and reading them
was in living room, my uncle stopped by seen them and said, "You know your grandfather has one of those old bows".  I reached out to my grandfather
and after stopping by, he gave me a Bear Kodiak Magnum 45#, he said "We (meaning all the family who hunted) tried it back in the early 70's but was
just to much time and hard.  Why use it when have gun?"  Now with a bow and some knowledge, I got some arrows.  Two months of shooting brought
me opening day.  The first week, I missed 3 deer cleanly, and it became apparent that this was much harder.  I bore down and worked harder at
my woodsmanship skills, and the week before the rut a mature Doe, lay with my arrow in her.  I was so in awe of the flight of the arrow and the ease
of using simple tackle to accomplish this, the fire took off.  From then on, I never looked back, not thought of it.
The silence of the string slipping from my fingers, the slight thump of the bow pushing the arrow, the flight of the shaft, landing on target.  God blessed us, the time to enjoy and cherish this magic time in the field.  There will come the day I shoot my last arrow, but I plan on many until then.

[Mark R]

I Gun hunted Deer in Wi. a few yrs then one time I was sitting on a field ridge opening morning had 2 does come by at 30yrds looked around to see 4 orange figures surrounding me with in a hundred yards or so herd a few shots got the hell outa there and bought a compound bow from a guy that taught me how to shoot it and set it up in about 2 weeks and took a Deer with it every yr for 10 years. Met some guys at the local Archery Range that where shooting Trad bows and haven alot more fun than I. Found an old but in perfect condition K Mag at a flee market for Ten bucks, and went from learning to shoot it from a little help from my new friends to making my own bows and been having a blast at hunting and 3d shoots ever since, also meeting some of the best people I know

[stik&string]

I started bow hunting at 12 with a compound and had plenty of success with it. My dad was also a compound shooter but every year he would talk about putting the compound away and breaking out his “old” bow, a Bear recurve. This sentiment planted a seed in my head but as a kid/young man I was sucked in by technology.

Fast forward a bunch of years and I found myself working in a sporting goods store, mainly setting up compounds. It got to the point that the challenge I once found in archery was missing as I could take a bow off the rack and hit bullseyes out to 60 yards without much effort. I also found that my connection to woodsmanship, and being a hunter was eroding as the technology allowed me to kill deer without much effort.

After my dad passed I was cleaning out his hunting closet and came across that recurve. Feeling nostalgic a bought a new string for the bow, found this site, and began the steep learning curve of getting back to “basics”. I went from killing bucks every year with the compound to a dry run of 3 years, BUT I was having more fun than I had in years. That was 2005 and I haven’t went back! My dad’s recurve broke before I took a deer with it but it hangs in my “man cave” to this day.

[Toxophilite]

When I was about 9 (1949) there was a Robin Hood movie that came to town. I was hooked. Saved enough to buy an archery kit from the Sears Roebuck catalog. The package included a 20# lemonwood longbow, 6 wooden arrows, tab, arm guard and a paper target. Being a farm boy, I figured out how to get pretty good with that setup to the point my brother-in-law took me rabbit hunting. He was openly skeptical.  But I actually bagged a cottontail! Man was I hooked!
Over the years, my archery equipment has been upgraded many times and to this day, the sport is still very rewarding and enjoyable.
Now, with me being almost 83, the rabbits are now "safe". The 3D animals are not...

[Otto]

Somewhere around 1995 or so, I shot a doe with my compound.   35 yds between 2 big oaks, a heart shot and she dropped right there without ever being aware that she'd been shot.   On my part, it was an absolutely emotionless kill.   I mean I felt nothing.   No joy, no excitement....nothing.   it was at that instant that I knew I had to try something different.   So that winter, I sold every compound bow that I owned....about 6 of them if I recall.    Then I went and bought a 55# Martin Hunter.   And that was that.   Took me 2 yrs to kill my first deer....a doe...but man....what a rush.   Been at it ever since.

[Bowwild]

I imagine watching westerns on TV as child got me interested in archery?  I remember making my first bow from a bent limb and some twine. My arrow (1) was the straightest light stick I could fine with a notch cut in the front for the string. No fletching. I probably shot that bow for a day before losing the arrow.  I was in the 2nd or 3rd grade.

When I was around 12 I asked my parents for a "real" bow as Christmas neared.  Mom got me a wooden bow with suction cup arrows. She bought dad a "kit" by Ben Pearson that contained a Pearson Cougar with, I recall three arrows with deadhead, 2-blade broadheads. Probably had some field or target pointed arrows too?

Dad shot one arrow out of that bow and then handed it to me.  I started out shooting a giant refrigerator box in my backyard.  I started at less than 10 yards and only moved back a step or two as I hit the box with every shot.  I hunted chipmunks with that bow until when I turned 16 I went on my first deer hunt even though I had never even seen a live deer, which was a magic all its own.

[George Tsoukalas]

I started a long time ago ... right around 1954.  Traditional archery was unknown. It was just archery.

I grew  up on a farm in a small MA town called Chelmsford but we never pronounced it like that...it's Chemsfid.

Anyway, a strung small sapling and small shoots fletched  with chicken feathers and pointed with nails made for great play time.

I left out a lot. I've had  rich experiences in archery. The best times are when I shared them with friends and family.

I still make bows of wood and arrows from shoots. Some things never change.

Jawge

[mj seratt]

I remember my Paternal Grandmother making bows and arrows for me when I was about 4 years old.  She used limbs from a cherry tree on our farm for both.  She would let me shoot at the chickens, because she knew I couldn't do much damage, and if somehow I did, we would have chicken for supper.  I've had a love for archery ever since.

Murray

[J. Cook]

I grew up in a hunting and fishing family in rural WV - as a kid living out in the boonies surrounded by farms, I had no shortage of outdoor opportunity.  I was shooting a compound bow when I was 8 or 9 years old competing with my dad in a local winter indoor league, and 3D courses in the summer.  I began hunting with that bow when I was 11 so shooting a bow has been a part of most of my life as I can remember. 

When I was 14 my Dad bought a Browning Fire Drake for me to have from a friend of his that had been in a bad accident and could no longer pull a bow.  It was fun to play with and shoot but I knew nothing of it really and just played with it when the mood struck me.  My dad had an old Clan Gordon recurve that he had bought in the late 1960's and I always marveled at that bow and the old photos of his kills with it. 

I became a BowTech shop tech in college and did that for all 6 years of undergrad and grad school so I was fully submersed in the compound world - but always with the fascination of the "Stick and string."  Fast forward some years and in 2009 I remember I developed target panic so bad with the compound that it became a real burden to shoot.  I wasn't enjoying it due to the stress.  I decided to string up the Fire Drake and just shoot.  I was instantly hooked.  Within weeks of internet searching I had found this site and the ***********, joined both and began learning.  I came across an older gentleman that told me he had an old recurve in his shed if I wanted it... it was dusty and dirty, but cleaned up to look brand new.  It was a Bear Grizzly at 52#.  I worked to tune it and the Fire Drake up, get proper arrows (arrow building was always my specialty in the Compound Shop so I welcomed this).  That's where it began for me.  Strangely enough shooting the recurves made my target panic wane with the compound and I continued to hunt with the compound, while enjoying shooting recurves as well.  In 2013 I decided to hunt with the Grizzly.  I was able to kill a small buck while hunting with my dad, and the deer wheeled and ran towards the spot my father was hunting an died right in front of my dad.  He let out a big "Whoohooooooo" which was hysterical. 

Little by little the compound got carried less and less and I've been exclusively traditional for the last 4 years.  Most years after that first deer prior to going all trad, I'd kill one or 2 with the compound and 1 with my recurves. 

Like most of us, I'm constantly buying, selling, tuning, tweaking, and tinkering looking for that traditional "Holy Grail."  Now my 14 year old son is shooting one of recurves and has told me, "this season Dad, I'm going all recurve."   He's done well already with his compound in the woods but seems ready to make the switch.  He got his first black rhino long bow when he was 4 and has shot a "stickbow" ever since.  At young ages, the modern compounds give them hunting efficiency and the opportunity to learn woodsmanship and bowhunting.  Now he's a strong young man and is shooting his 48# Browning Nomad really well.  I'm excited to see what happens for him.  My avatar pic is from his first time going hunting with me when he was little. 

What a fun ride this has been, and continues to be. 

[Pine]

Wow, this thread has turned into a neat book with a bunch of short stories.
Love it.