Current state of trad archery

[Terry Green]

"but I’ve been told many times that trad bows should be banned and I was even told longbows and wood arrows are not allowed at local NFAA shoots."

WOW!!! That is really sad.  It sounds like NFAA is going 'woke'. 

[trad_bowhunter1965]

"but I’ve been told many times that trad bows should be banned and I was even told longbows and wood arrows are not allowed at local NFAA shoots."

WOW!!! That is really sad.  It sounds like NFAA is going 'woke'. 

Yes Sir I think that NFAA forgot how that club was formed in 1939. As for Traditional Archery I don't if we peaked but I seen a lot of folks come and go in my 41 years of shooting a bow.

[GCook]

Honestly most folks shouldn't be hunting with trad equipment.  And it's questionable if they should with compounds.

[TSP]

Traditional archery (term) is nowhere near what it used to be and has basically become an anything you want arrangement as long as you don't shoot a compound.  That might be great for exercising personal preferences without much for constraints but it sure doesn't do much for respecting the old-school 'simple stick and string' mantra.   

It's pretty hard to thinks of todays composite arrows, sophisticated bows (in design and materials) and gap/mechanical aiming systems as 'simple' in the context of what that aspect meant to archery 70 or 80 years ago.  Not even close.  There's no set identity now, it's just an ever-moving technological machine designed to make the 'trad way' easier to hide behind and pretend we're still doing it the hard way (no compound, no problem).  Sort of the same kind of smoke-and-mirrors logic as eating a patty mix made of plants and chemicals and convincing ourselves its a 'hamburger'.  The things we do to satiate our desires to have our fake and eat it to.     

Maybe that's really the answer to the current state of trad archery...thinking of how it was back then compared to how it is now and using that as a measuring tape.  I'm not talking about whether it's better (whatever that might mean), just about whether it's different.  Same approach?  Same values?  Same mindset?  Same direction?  Definately something to ponder as we walk the trail.

[MSU]

In my small world of archery and friends there is a decline in traditional bowhunting. I believe there are plenty of guys (such as my personal friends) who own a stickbow for pleasure, but do not spend time actually hunting with traditional equipment. They enjoy traditional archery, but not traditional archery hunting.


 It is all good, but I see nothing on any scale that indicates traditional bowhunting is increasing. I do not believe that will happen. With the steady increase of crossbow use, to the newer generations the compound bow will become the new traditional. 

[TGbow]

I guess traditional can be subjective as to what you mean by traditional.
When I got into archery in 1975 a lot of archers used sights on their bows and a lot of aluminum arrows.
 Before fiberglass bows you had self bows and self nocked arrows...
Shooting off your hand.

I guess most modern longbows are a big jump from what Pope n young had to shoot.

Guess I'm not a purist. When you say traditional archery it depends on how far back you are referring to.

[Terry Green]

Yeah TGbow, Tradgang goes by no wheels or cables.  Not sure what the OP goes by.

I think the state of tradbows is alive and well. 

[David Smith]

In my area there are only a small handful of trad guys. I would love to form an all trad club in my area and promote this lifestyle, but I dont think I have the numbers here to do it.

[George Tsoukalas]

There always has been a good turn out of trad archers at "everybody" shoots, at least around here. But we are getting older. Jawge

[McDave]

My definition of a trad bow is whatever bow you could hand to one of our cavemen ancestors however many thousands of years ago that bows were invented and he would know how to use it without any further instruction.  I'm sure he would do just fine with bows and arrows made out of space age materials.  He wouldn't know how to make one like that, but he would sure know how to use it.  He might not have a shelf on the bow he made for himself, but the first time he nocked an arrow it would be obvious to him what it was for.  Whatever other gadgets came on the bow would probably leave him scratching his head.

I've been teaching classes of youngsters how to shoot at my club for more than 30 years.  We offer each participant the option of a recurve or a Genesis compound bow.  30 years ago, all the compound bows would be chosen first, and if there were more students than compound bows, the ones that were left had to use one of my own recurves that I brought to the class until they could finagle a turn with one of the compounds.  In more recent years, I’ve convinced the club to buy some recurves to supplement the compounds.  Now all the recurves fly off the rack first and the finagling is between the students who were stuck with the compounds to get a try at one of the recurves.

[Roy from Pa]

Around my area of SW Pa, and all of Pa for that matter, there are a ton of trad shooters and several trad only shoots. We have trad only shoots where 60 to 70 shooters show up.  And clubs that permit trad and compound to shoot together. And everyone gets along great. I don't worry about what a guy shoots, I just worry about Roy:)

[Mark R]

I'm in north east Il. South east Wi. we have a lot of archery clubs within an hour and a half drive and 3d shoots through out the year, there's plenty of trad people around here, most trad only shoots are well attended. Go to ETAR or Compton, I don't know of a Compound Rendezvous any where in the states that's attended like the Trad Rendezvous are all over this country. We might keep a low profile by our self until we all get together.

[trad_bowhunter1965]

In my area eastside the Sierra Nevada Mountain and Reno NV I there's maybe 8 people that I know and shoot 3D's with Traditional bow with. I know there a lot over the on the westside of the Sierra Nevada Mountain. 

[Paul/KS]

Come to the Tenn Classic outside of Nashville at the end of April next year. You will see 600 to 700 trad shooters there. Only trad and primitive allowed there.

Yep, there were a lot of people shooting a wide variety of traditional bows plus a bunch of vendors. Great fun and an amazing range(s). Here in NE Ks./W Mo. there are a couple traditional clubs and there is still MOJAM and OJAM for the primitive archery enthusiasts to attend.

[buckeyebowhunter]

Honestly most folks shouldn't be hunting with trad equipment.  And it's questionable if they should with compounds.

Then what should they be hunting with?

Hunting is not a risk free sport no matter what equipment one is using. People wound, miss, lose and cripple deer with shotguns, rifles and crossbows every year.

I think the current state of traditional archery is in a weird stage. You have two sets of people in the sport and neither are right or wrong. You have old timers that are doing it the same way it's been since the 70s with wooden bows etc. Then you have guys that are into the extreme curves and metal risers/ilf rigs etc, about as close to a compound as you can get with a single string. I really don't care either way, as long as one is happy with what they do.

I used to frown on people for equipment choices and so on. But honestly who cares, I'm just glad we are still able to hunt in the current world we live in.

[Terry Green]

"there are a couple traditional clubs and there is still MOJAM and OJAM for the primitive archery enthusiasts to attend."

Good to hear Paul!!!

No one has posted that here in years.

[Roy from Pa]

Paul that is awesome that many trad clubs.

This is my idea of trad archery.

Just now I glued up a BBO trilam with a purple heart core lam.

Believe it or not, there are a few trad guys out there that would turn their nose up at me because it's not considered a real selfbow.

I just smile.

Life is too short to nick pick on others.

Oh and I shoot glass recurves and had my compound converted into an ILF Bow and my favorite bow is  a Bear Victor Viking take down I bought new I. 1971.

[Paul/KS]

There's also a Trad only shoot south of Topeka every year. The T.H.E archery club has been hosting it for years.

[flntknp17]

"but I’ve been told many times that trad bows should be banned and I was even told longbows and wood arrows are not allowed at local NFAA shoots."

WOW!!! That is really sad.  It sounds like NFAA is going 'woke'. 

This is simply untrue.  The NFAA is honestly about the least "woke" of all the national organizations.  They have a traditional class that is separate from barebow and you surely can use any arrow material you like for it. I bet the folks you heard that from were talking about the NAA and not the NFAA....NAA is definitely more progressive and aimed at a different type of archer.  I am a member of both.

My own traditional archery journey started in the late 80s and I actually see more traditional shooters shooting more types of traditional bows nowadays that at any time since then.  I used to be the oddball because I was the only guy who would show up to a shoot with a traditional bow....now there will be a bunch at my local shoots.  It is still 90/10 of 95/5 around here compound/trad, but its far better than the 99/1 that it used to be.

Matt

[Pat B]

Terry, you should come to the Tenn. Classic next spring and see how just alive traditional archery is. As soon as Pappy lets me know their 2023 schedule I will post it here on TG.    It's usually around the end of April and the first of May.