has trad bowhunting changed the way you go about life?

[ozy clint]

since i discovered trad bowhunting a bit over a year ago (i switched after being a rifle, crossbow hunter) it has changed the way i go about my everyday life. i like doing things the hard way now. need to light a fire....out comes the firesteel. i make everything i can, because everything you buy is not exactly what you want. because of the above i modify just about everything straight out of the packet to suit my needs. i have no need of gadgets in my hunting and go without some gadgets in my lifestyle. trad bowunting has become a way of life for me. still i want more challenges...guess that is what primitive archery is for.......

anyone in the same bind?

oh yeah, got to laugh when some one says you need this and that to be able to hunt whatever.
had a guy in the bear camp i'm in who had to have his fancy shooting monopod. not that there's 100's lying in the bush.  

anyway, have you got a story to share?

[caleb7mm]

I went the opposite way. I was a taxidermist for a long time and always preferred to make my own equipment when i could and just enjoyed doing things myself. Also being a life long bowhunter, when a friend bought a longbow I shot it and never looked back. It just felt like it was "me". I grew up in a NON hunting family so I was never introduced to anything of the sort. It was all me and my drive to explore the woods and harvest game.

[GMMAT]

Since I talked to Beth last week....it's made a lot lighter in the wallet.

[bigiron]

walking in the woods with longbow nice & slow makes you wonder why we hurry through life all the rest of the time.

[Orion]

Nope.  Rather the way I go about life got me into traditional bowhunting.  Of course, back then, about 50 years ago, we just called it bowhunting.

[stuckum]

It made me slow down and enjoy what I have and not what I want. I guess get back to the basic.

[WestTnMan]

Only thing I can add is shooting traditional gear has made me have more of an interest in the history of archery. Never really made time to read on where archery started, who used what and how they used it. The bow is definately a wheapon that changed history. I had never heard of Againcourt (sp?) before I took the path less traveled.

[dragon rider]

I think it's dropped my tach reading about 1500 rpm. and a lot of that remains with me out of the woods.

[Longbowz]

I've been a "trad" hunter for so long (when it was just called archery) that the couple times that I strayed to other methods made for a bigger contrast.

But I always tired of the other ways and fell back to what works for me.  Somehow I feel closer to flow of the woods and even more deadly using a traditional bow.  In fact I believe for the way I hunt it's the most effective.

On a two week hunt the transition to the woods comes easily.  The return to society afterwords does not.

[GingivitisKahn]

I tend to 'pick a spot' on just about everything now - is that weird?  :-D

[J-dog]

I dunno? I think it has made me a better all around shot. I think it has made me  amore patient hunter (age might have helped as well!).

Guess all around it has made me more aware.

really good question!

J

[illianabowhntr67]

I notice I spend a lot more on arrows since I switched from a compound.Also I spend more time on Trad.com.

[elknut1]

I'd have to say it really hasn't changed anything in my life, I enjoy hunting as much now as ever, my equipment is just a bit different!
   I will say though that it has changed how others look at me, kinda funny in a way, they feel you're kinda above them a bit, or when your successful they look at you like wow, it's not so though, I'm the same it's the equipment they're more amazed at than anything. That's about the biggest change I'd say!

  ElkNut1

[GMMAT]

I wear cooler hats.

Forgot that.

Still broke, though.

[waiting4fall]

For me personally, switching from compound to a recurve, 12 years ago, has had a permanent, lasting impression on me. When I made the switch killing took a back seat to hunting. Also, it gave a whole new richness to my experience of just being out there with simple stick & string, everyone reading this knows what I mean. This will be my first season using my longbow, and I'm seriously contemplating devoting this season to hunting exclusively from the ground as well. I just turned 40 in April, and I know I have limited hunts left. I want to squeeze every drop of meaningfulness from every second I spend in the woods hunting. I'm just at a cross roads so to speak. I just don't know if simply sitting in a tree is enough of a thrill, like it used to be. Building a natural blind, waiting in ambush, or a day long slow stalk when conditions are right, are seriously call me to step up to the challenge. I told a reporter this some years ago; "I'd rather miss 100 deer with traditional equipment than ever kill another animal with anything else ever again." That's where I'm at in my journey. Nice thread.  

[monkeyball]

Yeah,it has changed me. I like quiet, and I like light(weight).I will take a dirt road if I can,just to avoid traffic.My mountain bike is a single speed,
and when I am on the water it is in a 11'solo canoe.
 The kill isn't as important as the shot,and the shot isn't as important as the hunt.On a good day, they all blend together,and that is what makes a
memory.Yeah,it has changed me for sure.

[FerretWYO]

The kill isn't as important as the shot,and the shot isn't as important as the hunt.  

That is probably the best I have ever seen it put. Very nice.

[ozy clint]

Originally posted by waiting4fall:
 "I'd rather miss 100 deer with traditional equipment than ever kill another animal with anything else ever again." That's where I'm at in my journey.  

you took the words right out of my mouth  

[GRINCH]

Monkeyball and Ozy nailed it.

[saumensch]

when i started archery i just new i want to go the trad-way. just felt wrong to overcomplicate such a thing is beauty because of simplicity. I fi had known what troubles and complications the arrows bring.....