Define Traditional...

[-Achilles-]

what van said...or you could say...if its got wheels cables or letoff then its not "trad" or a bow for that matter

[HATCHCHASER]

Do what you like...like what you do.

[WidowEater]

its all personal, or philosophical, or ethical, or.............traditional

[Brian Krebs]

Its about I feel as a person when I think of what kind of person Fred Bear was; and how I feel as a person after watching the Wensels.
 Its about how I feel about myself when I walked in the wild.
  And how I hopefully will feel: on my last walk in the wild...

[Benny Nganabbarru]

I always enjoy listening to Tevye talk and sing about "TRADITION!" in "Fiddler on the Roof."  

[TonyW]

Gregory Bowen said it best:
 More importantly, traditional archery involves the passing down of archery skills, crafts, history, and values (traditions) to family and friends, and the use of archery as non-competitive recreation and fellowship."

(In twenty years, the compound shooters will be having the same discussion about the evolution of "traditional" wheels and cams. My "stickbows" make good use of traditional fiberglass, epoxy, dacron and nylon, as well as wood, after all.)

[eagle24]

No wheels or cams....no wait...no carbon or aluminum arrows....no wait.......no fiberglass or carbon limbs.....no no hang on......no laminated bows.......no no....no modern string material....no thats not it.....no steel broadheads.......no arrow shelf.....no plastic nocks?????

Heck, I dunno????  I got friends that shoot all that stuff

[ddauler]

The word tradition comes from the Latin traditionem, acc. of traditio which means "a giving up, delivering up, surrendering"

In my opinion it is synonymous with simple or without all the gadgets to make it EASY!

[George D. Stout]

So as you well see, there really is no definition that is adequate for everyone.  I'm heading for the woods, and that is traditional 8^).

[MI_Bowhunter]

/ MI_Bowhunter runs screaming while thread history repeats itself.    

[TomMcDonald]

The problem I face with using 'traditional' equipment is that it isn't traditional at all to me.

I see tradition as something that has been passed down directly to me. Something that's been in my family or directly used by the society I live in.

The bow and arrow hasn't been.

I don't call it traditional anyway, for this very reason.

In 50 years, a father may pass the art of archery down to his child using a compound bow. To me that's tradition.

[goodtrail]

Alot of this confusion would disappear if people stated a relation to place and time concerning "Traditional Archery". Like it or not archery is evolving all over the world like everything else.I was once befriended by this 10 year old boy as I organized my fishing tackle on the island of Roatan. Before long we had built abow and arrow from bamboo and cane fletched with chicken feathers.Watching that kid run up and down the beach shooting and chasing that arrow for hours made me realize that I had just handed down a tradition that I value. That tradition was part tackle and part feeling.

[joebuck]

Would we call this sport Traditional Bowhunting if "Traditional Bowhunter Magazine" never existed?........uummmhhhh

[**DONOTDELETE**]

It's the bow. Nothing else.

[The Whittler]

Something old something new, something borrowed something blue.

[TomMcDonald]

Originally posted by Roger Norris II:
It's the bow. Nothing else.

When will compound bows become traditional?

[bigsow]

Traditional= BC (before compound)

[Teacher_of_the_Arcane]

What is Traditional.....well.....whatever isn't contemporary!!   :D    Yeah, I know....wiseguy!!

I shoot wood arrows, and have gone to turkey feathers, and self-nocks.  I got some goose feathers from my brother after last years goose season.  I'll be using them on my next batch of arrows.   However, I'm still using a steel broadhead.  My best buddy and I have been trying to get to a knap-in and learn to knap stone points for a couple of years.  Seems one or the other of us is tied up at the wrong time.  One of these days.

For more than twenty years I shot a Bear Kodiak Magnum.  All glass and sass!!  I really enjoyed shooting it, and was really bummed out when it got damaged and I had to retire it.  Now I'm shooting a Tomahawk reflex-deflex longbow.  Same weight and same draw as the Kodiak, only ten inches longer.  I've got a lot more wood in this bow, but still have glass and resin.  One day I might actually have a genuine laminated horn Mongol horsebow, or a reproduction of one of the oldest selfbows that go back a thousand years.  At that point, I might be Truly Trad, or I might have gone past Trad to Retro-Trad.

The older I get, the more I enjoy the elegance of simplicity.    

[jimmerc]

It's  the bow but along with that comes the mind set of a time past and less poisened by modern day, when you could leave your doors unlocked ,when your harvest ment food for your family! you judged not,and were not judged! when you respected the game you sought and felt balence with nature! a step back to a better way, a cleaner way! this all I believe is what we seek when we pick up the stick and string!  just my 2 cents! Jim

[Dave2old]

Doing more with less.