When you took the leap.....Do you remember?

[GMMAT]

I've been bowhunting since 2005.  I hunted that first season and took only one ill-advised shot (clean miss) on the closer, that year.

Between 2006-2008 I figured it out and took 22 big game animals with my bow.  What a blast.

Now go back to 2006....and I'd just shot my first trad bow.  I eneded up buying one, soon after that, and I've shot it sporadically and even taken it hunting a few times.

So to my question....

Do you remember when you took the leap to committing to hunting, exclusively with your trad tackle?  To me, the manner of taking has always overshadowed the end result.  So you'd think this would be an easy jump, right???

Easy leap, for you?

[Joseph]

It was in 1994.  I started bowhunting in 1983 with a compound but I had shot recurves since I was a little kid.  By 1987 I had target panic so bad I totally locked up when I drew back my bow to shoot it.  6 years in the Army without touching a bow, got out in 1993 got a compound again that fall and the target panic was right there again.  I tried a recurve after the 1993 hunting season out of despiration thinking that if I didn't have to hold at anchor to aim I might be able to shoot again.  It worked and I have never looked back  

[WildmanSC]

It was in 2001 when I injured my right shoulder when I drew my compound and had to let it down because I didn't have an arrow nocked that I could step out into the backyard and shoot it.  It felt like the bow ripped my arm off my shoulder!  As part of my therapy I started shooting a 35# recurve that was loaned to me by the owner of The Archery Shop.  I then placed an order by the elderly gentleman who built the bow that was loaned to me.  Now 90 bows or so later I'm still shooting recurves and longbows and love it!

Bill

PS I only own 8 of those bows at present.  3 of the 8 are not bows that I shoot, two of the shooters I have at the house, one is enroute to me from a refinish job, another will be enroute to me within the next week and the last bow is on order.

[Mint]

Never wanted to shoot a compound. I bought my first longbow in 1991 and I haven't looked back once. It took me to 1999 to get my first deer and then from then on I have harvested a deer every year but one, letting the little ones walk. So for me there has been no other way.

[3blades]

I took up bow hunting just before the 07 deer season and had a bear white tail hunter compound that I bought from a friend way back in the early 90s but never went hunting until 07. I took a nice doe with it while ground hunting that first year. I also received a 45# bear cub longbow/recurve from my father that he bought in the early 60's. I started to shoot with that last summer and never looked back so for me it was an easy jump as I had very good success early and wanted more of a challenge. I love the simplicity and beauty of traditional gear and really love to shoot them much more then my old pulley system. Bought a production 50# Samick stingray last summer as well and can't seem to put ether of them down since. I got the fever bad!    :D

[Gray Buffalo]

In the late 70’s I had just won the state indoor pin sight and was tired of shooting everyday. One day a longbow caught my eye and I bought one. Shortly after that I ran into Charlie Lamb and he helped me cement my feelings for the longbow. Never turned back.

[Diamond Paul]

Not easy at all.  I am filled with doubt about whether I can really hit a deer with a recurve, even though people I consider good shots, and good hunters, tell me I'm a good shot.  I haven't gone back to hunting with compounds, since I really don't enjoy shooting them anymore, but I am constantly wondering whether the bow I'm shooting is the best bow for me, whether I need to get a longer bow for more accuracy, a shorter bow because it's handier in the woods, a lighter bow because it's easier to shoot well, but what if it's not enough weight to hunt with, etc.  I've played around with going to an ILF metal handled bow, using a rest and plunger, and learning to shoot 3-under with a gapping system so that I can "really" shoot consistently well.  I don't think the "manner of taking" makes one any better or worse, more or less ethical (assuming it's not poaching, tame animals in a pen, all that stuff), or anything like that.  There are lots of good, ethical hunters who use compounds and rifles, and plenty of slobs who use stickbows, IMHO.  I just think that for some people, using a stickbow allows the fullest enjoyment of archery, just like some people find the fullest enjoyment by going all the way to making their own primitive equipment.  Anyway, it's still hard for me to commit to hunting with my recurve, although I have no urge to go back to compounds, even though I've been shooting them pretty much exclusively for several years.  I guess I'm still too concerned with results or something.  Paul.

[Kip]

Never killed an animal with a compound shot one a couple of times.Killed my first deer in 1976 with my K-Mag.When I saw the first deer killed with a recurve by a freind (blood 4 feet on the trees)I never doubted the killing power of a stick and string.I am still in awe at the kill I made this year saw the deer go down in app. 4-5 seconds.Kip

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Been Archery hunting since September 2002, This was six months after I had Heart surgery. In 2005 I turned to the Light and got my first Trad bow. It was a take down Bear Hunter. The riser cracked badly and I then got my Old 54" Shrew ( I have since Sold it to give some Mojo to another) I got the shrew in mid 2005 and by hunting season I was shoot only the shrew. I have taken about 20 deer since I started. In 2008 I made my own long bow (self bow) so far I have only gotten 1 deer, 1 coon & 10 tree rats with it. I can still see the first deer I took with stick & string, might be because I have it on tape...LOL

[GMMAT]

I don't think the "manner of taking" makes one any better or worse, more or less ethical (assuming it's not poaching, tame animals in a pen, all that stuff), or anything like that.  

Don't mistake my meaning.  Hunting is personal.  I never said it made anyone "better".  I said it Manner of Taking) was more important to ME.
 
You're on your own!  :D  

Great answers, guys.

[Curveman]

I bought a compound back in 1983. It was when I lived in the city and I needed to travel a ways to shoot it. Didn't matter as I became bored with it about the same time I broke my collarbone and couldn't shoot anyway. My one experience with hunting was with a friend more clueless than I was. I took a nap in the woods. 18 years later a guy I worked with rekindled an interest in hunting. I needed to order a new compound and did so. I noticed in the archery shop that the owner had a few "old fashioned bows." I asked if I could try one. I never looked back. I had NO IDEA that there was this whole family of traditional bowhunters! I only knew that it "felt right" and it was fun and I was doing it! Needless to say I cancelled the order for the string rifle and have now a whole passle of trad friends I hunt everywhere with!

[Tim Fishell]

It was very simple for me.  My dad has always shot traditional so that is all I have ever known.  I got my first longbow when I was 5 or so.  I shot in the backyard every chance I could with him.  I got my first hunting weight bow when I was 12 and started bow hunting then.  I have never owned a compound and probably never will.  I love the simple side of things.  I shot my first compound ever a couple summers ago.  It was so funny feeling.  We were at an archery shoot with traditional and compound shooters mixed.  Some guys wanted me to shoot a compound so I gave it a try.  I was so used to canting my bow I couldn't even hold the bow verical to keep the arrow on the rest.  Everybody had a good laugh as did I but at that point I knew that compounds and me were not meant to be.

[blind one]

I shot my first recurve in October last year. I was hooked that day. I still have the new compound I bought a week before my first recurve shot, but its not been shot since the end of Nov. I still havent scored a kill yet trad style, but it will happen...Roy

[Schultzy]

You know my answer Jeff.      Good to see ya here!!

[longbowben]

I started in 1990 and fell off the wagon in 2000 because i wanted more big deer .To many where just out of range for me.Then in 2006 i was about to give up hunting because i didnt like the gadgets ,Leatherneck said lets get rid of this **** and get some trad bows .That was the best thing we ever did ,funny how things worked out the first season leatherneck killed a 150 class buck his bigest and in my second season i took my largest 178 3/8 .We have learned a lot off of the gang and it was lots of fun,We have our kids involved in trad also.I want to get more involved, i hope my artical in north american whitetail will make more join us in july.

[Friends call me Pac]

I shot compounds from 1982 until June 2008.  Frankly I was bored with how mechanical shooting my bow had become.  It wasn't fun anymore. I found Trad Gang while surfing the net and got a recurve that I had bought several years before out of mothballs and gave it a try.

I instantly started having fun shooting again and shot with it almost every day.  When deer season rolled around I decided to hunt with it and nothing else.

I tagged the first deer I shot at with it at 12 yards, missed the second at 15 yards, tagged the third at 20 yards and missed again on my fourth shot at 20 yards.

The first miss was about 15 yards. I hit a small limb and deflected the arrow.  The second miss was deffinately a shot I should not have taken.  It was 20 yards and I felt comfortable about the distance but I had to lean way out of my stand to shoot directly behind the tree I was in.

Lesson learned for me was only take the shot that I am comfortable with.  If something just doesn't feel right don't take the shot.

[Pat B]

My first hunting trip was in 1979 with an old Shakespeare recurve and mismatched aluminum arrows and I missed a nice 8pointer with 3 different shots, one after the other. I wish deer were still that dumb.
  For the next 10 years I hunted successfully with 2 different compounds but kept thinking about the recurve. I finally bought a custom recurve($300 in those days) and proceed to miss 8 in a row, all over their back. In 1999 I had Mike Treadway build me a longbow(also $300) and I took a doe with my first hunting shot.
   I have been making wood bows since the late 80s but only since 2005 have I felt confident enough to hunt exclusively with them and in the last 3 years only with wood bows, hardwood shoot or cane arrows and stone or trade points. I'll have to tell you later how it feels to take an animal with my own stuff.   d;^)

[Buckeye Trad Hunter]

I was loaned a Bear Montana to go to the OSTA state shoot with my uncle and some of his friends.  I shot that thing every day for about two weeks before the shoot and had a feeling that I may have found something I really liked.  Then we went to the OSTA shoot and I met some of the people assosciated with this sport and that sold me..I have bought four other bows since then and have only shot the wheelie one time since then in the backyard in 06.  It's been in the case waiting for a buyer.  I took two whitetails in 2007 with trad gear one was a button buck and one was a mature doe.  I was more excited about them than any other deer I have taken including my 140 buck I took with my smokepole.    

[Orion]

Got my first longbow at age 7 about 55 years ago, that would be 1954.  Began by hunting gophers and sparrows, an occasional woodchuck, doves at the local feed mill, etc.; deer when I was 12.  Been doing it ever since, except for a few years in the 70s when I was wooed by the mechanical arrow launchers.

[Kingwouldbe]

I think I got bit with both fangs 1983- present

 

mean and lean, young and dumb

 

It was like magic


 

Everything I shot at, I killed


 

It was love at first shot

 

It was like throwing a baseball to first base