Whats archery mean to you?

[Wapiti Chaser]

For me trad archery is my anti-stress drug. I get almost to the point where I can't take anymore. Then I grab my bow and head into the woods and the stress is gone. It's year round with3-D shoots,rabbit hunting,stump shooting and then deer season. I can also imerse my self into making gear arrows,strings etc and get a stress releaf.

[weezy]

Archery is the  2nd most important thing to me; right behind family. I love the solitude at times and the comraderie at other times. The memories will always be with me and I find myself many times reflecting back on archery experiences and finding peace and comfort in those memories. I've been at it 40 plus years and hope to get another 30 or so.
Happy shooting and hunting to all;
Bob

[Mike Bolin]

Next to God and family, it is what I am all about, or who I try to be.....simple, honest, straight forward and fun. Shooting my bows keeps me young, keeps my mind focused and gives me something to look forward to at the end of a bad day....or a good one!
Time in the woods with my bow helped me clear my head, gave me some time and privacy to talk with God when I learned that my then, yet  to be born grandson had been diagnosed with a heart block and that he would need a pacemaker.
My love of the bow and the woods helps me to keep myself in some kind of decent shape (round is a shape....right?). Years of playing ball and working in heavy construction has taken it's toll om my body and I have dropped down in bow weight the past few years.
Deer hunting in the fall and winter, turkey in the spring and 3D in the summer. Keeps me active and the 3D fills the gap left  from having to give up the competitve sports.
Summer before last, the doctors told me I might have to quit shooting due to some nerve damage from a broken neck years ago. Physical therapy, weights and God's grace have kept me shooting and God willing I will continue to for alot more years. Sorry for rambling on-Mike

[far rider]

Simplicity! Ethics! Freedom! Challenge!

[JGoemaat]

A picture is worth a thousand words...

[greywolf63]

I love my bow and string. I'm new to the stick and string of any kind. But I love it. My husband has been teaching me to hunt with it this bow season. I give all my thanks to him and his experances.  I have not had a shot yet. I will show restraint and wait until that moment comes and I'am able to take down my first kill. We are planing on two hunts next year, as well as regular bow season. so in hopes I will be able to get somthing to be able too share more about.

[widow sax]

Its a way of life the best way of life. Once you start shooting a trad bow you will never be the same. The change that happens is hard to describe but like in the grinch that stole christmas I think your heart grows 3 sizes that day. Tradition lives in our heart and soles when you go to a event or shoot the famlies you see there tells the story. Its a beautiful story to see all the little kids, women, and men there injoying something together as a famly. The people you meet are the best you will meet anywere. The joy of the seeing the flight of the arrow to the target will put a smile on your face. Nothing beats the feeling of watching the woods wake up in the morning with a bow in your hands. Widow

[John Kennedy]

It is about sharing and remembering good times with freinds and family, with simple things like bows and arrows.

[tawmio]

To me its the child in me that never grew old.
Back then it was fun -Now its seriously fun.

[SveinD]

To me it feels as a counterweight to a society/way of life that has, well, not quite settled in yet.
The everyday stress and tension just disappears with a bent stick and some smaller straight ones,
the forest at my feet.
Walking along, maybe with a couple of friends or my lady, shooting at stumps and such.
It just makes me very happy and content!

[misfire]

2009 has not been a good year for me. I will be glad to see it go away. Shooting my bow allows me to leave the stress of life behind entering a much simpler world.

[rxhntr]

Archery is an enrichment to my life. As said previously it is a stress reducer and has brought many new friends into my life, many I consider to be family. My father and I started a week long archery hunt 20+ years ago and we havent missed one yet, although I feel we will not have too many left. My trip last week with one of those friends was a long road trip, and never a dull moment. Even though we did not see an elk, we had a great time and created great memories.
Merry Christmas everyone!

[amicus]

It just feels good to me. I feel as if the Lord is happy for me when im out in the woods hunting or not. When I do harvest an animal I feel like my ancestors and the Lord are up there saying "good job". I did not come from a hunting family and even now my mom and brother think there is something wrong with me. My father does not understand. My wife just knows its important to me. Everytime Im out hunting before I walk to my stand or start hunting I get on my knee and praise God for this great privledge. Also when I down an animal I thank the Lord. Doing all of the above with a traditional bow makes it a little more special for me.

Merry Christmas

Gilbert

[FerretWYO]

To me archery means family. My family has always been involved with archery. As time goes on the family continues to grow. Tradgang is part of that family. My Dad and I still get together and go to 3D shoots everychance we get.

[hunterace]

archery to me is great... everything about shoot my bows, the practice, the hunting, and spending time with my brother, my dad, and my wife. hunting for me is so relaxing and i love being out in nature and seeing and learning new things each time out. i also like all the extras that go with archery, i just made some new equipment that i can use for hunting and that was very rewarding. when i hunt if God blesses me with an animal to harvest it just adds to the experience. i will always shoot my bows and hunt for as long as the Lord lets me.

[Slasher]

Well as I was taught as a youngster, "God created man to work!" I understood that the need to be challenged and have a sense of self worth, one needed to work and be challenged.

Archery in the sense of glass laminated  or even more so for primitive recurves and longbows- creates work and challenges us mentally, physically, emotionally and in the case of hunting, even spiritually.

It does not come easy, it accomplished through work and sacrifice. Yet it is more rewarding than words can accurately describe. The challenge is unlike most things we encounter in the modern world. The hunting and killing, is at first foreign and alien to us. But we soon find it as natural as breathing.

The act of shedding blood to provide food nurtures an inner part of our souls. The conflict of emotions that we go through once we harvest or kill an animal for sustenance causes us to face our own mortality and the reality of our own lives. The simple fact that death is not pretty, yet only through death is there life. That there is an interconnectivity in the circle of life. Furthermore, I am faced with with my belief in Jesus Christ and His ultimate sacrifice for me.

Archery, is a part of my life and a part of me. It has brought the reality of life and death into focus.  I carry the lessons of archery and hunting into all aspects of my life. It does not define me, but I am a better person, a better husband, a better father, a better friend,  a better employee, because of archery.

[BWD]

Loads of fun, a challenge, and far less discretionary income.

[Hit-or-Miss]

What does Archery mean to me? It is the ongoing and continuing magic of my childhood, a link to the past, as well as the future. As a boy I made green maple bows and arrows, then progressed to shooting solid fiberglass bows with my friends and hunting. Today, the magic continues as I see and experience it all over again, watching my son launch arrows along the same mystical path.

[Gray Buffalo]

Archery / Bow hunting is in my blood and has been part of my life for some 50 years. The only time I didn't shoot archery was 3 years I spent in Uncle Sam's Navy. Shooting the bow and making arrows, quivers, tabs. Shooting gloves, string keepers etc is all part of the fun. I have 2 daughters who both shoot with me and now 2 granddaughters and a grandson who shoot. My son-in-law who was a hunter is now a bow hunter.
At all most 70 my desire to kill something has diminished but I still love being out on stand watching what going on and enjoying camp life. The good Lord did a good job of putting this world together and it only right we enjoy it.

[Covey]

Claudia, aka "pinecone" said a mouth full. I could never put into words what traditional archery has done or means to me. It makes me look at life and nature in a hole new light. It is almost a spiritual connection to nature and the natural world that suround's me! Jason