what is traditional to you?

[Grizzzly]

No wheels !!!

[C.W.]

I guess to me it has to do with no wheels or sights.Just bending some type of limb with a string and placing and arrow where you want it with your own God given and practised ability.

I used to shoot takedowns with metal handles Bear and Black widow, the widow was very fast.  I put goop on the grip so it would not be so cold, it became traditional when it stopped freezing my hand.

[HOWITZER]

No let off when you reach full draw, that's traditional to me.

[Wolfie2nd]

Wow this is funny. this thread is going on forever. Have fun

[MercilessMing]

On the other hand I am thinking of what would be consider as non-traditional archery?  Would it be shooting wooden recurve/longbow from a moving chariot or somthing?  Or when shooting arrows while walking or running?

I just purchased from two different sources a half dozen unused large size Pearson Deadheads.  To me they scream traditional.  i can still see that big Deadhead floating through the air after it passed through the first large buck I ever shot many years ago.  Should I use them or should I collect them?  I wonder with my 52 pound at 26 robertson longbow, will it be enough for the big heads.  It would in a way be a journey back through time for me.  Is that enough of a traditional situation to justify sharpening them?

[TNstickn]

Something you do that someone meaningful to you, did before you. Archery is the tradition, not the objects you use to associate with it. I was schooled in the line of thought that if it wasnt a selfbow made of wood, then it wasnt traditional. I no longer feel that way and I have alot more fun. But hey thats just me. Never followed directions well, much less the rules.  :rolleyes:

[Buckeye Trad Hunter]

Originally posted by vermonster13:
I'm an archer who hunts with what works for me. I'll leave the definitions to those who think they need them.

Hit it right on the head Dave.  If it's traditional to you then that's all that matters.  After all aren't we all hunting because we enjoy it.  Nobody is hunting for someone elses enjoyment, don't worry about what anyone else thinks.  

[larryh]

i have been shooting a bow since the mid fifties. i believe it's a tradition on the internet to argue and the term "traditional bow" lets you do that.
mr. chessman made deflex/reflex t.d. longbow limbs for his extruded aluminum riser in the early fifties. he was also a champion target shooter at distances much longer than 20 yards.
poor guy just didn't know how untraditional that was.

[bartcanoe]

I always thought "traditional" was shorthand for anything that isn't a compound.

When I meet another bowhunter who shoots a compound and he asks what I shoot I either say Recurve or Traditional, and don't bother with the details.  Why would I?  He has no idea about the various type of "traditional" bows.  Matter of fact, until I started reading this forum, I didn't either.

[Arrow4Christ]

Who cares who thinks it is or isn't traditional? If you want to shoot one, shoot it and enjoy it...if it bothers you or you just enjoy other types of bows more, then don't shoot them.

[J-dog]

Do what you want to do - you can take trad to so many levels of hard!! I really admire those folks that build their own stuff, stone points and all - but I also know thta is not me - love my curves too much - fiberglass and all.

Everyone limits themselves the way they wish, whatever makes it fun to you!!

J

[el_kirk]

I think that for me "traditional" is largely a philosophy.

1) Shooting arrows is fun.

2) Ethical kills are the first consideration when hunting.

I have never made a bow and I've shot POC, laminated birch, hexpine, aluminum and carbon fiber arrows.  All my bows right now have some fiberglass in them.  I still own the compound I was given for my 14th birthday in 1986.  I also own two longbows that I shoot often.  The compound hasn't made it out of the case for a long time.  

I never understood what traditional referred to, regarding equipment.  Just how old is the "tradition" of carbon fiber and fiberglass, anyway?  You can always move to older equipment, but does that make you a better archer?

For me, Traditional means what's in my head when I'm shooting.

Good friends having fun shooting.

Hunting and having to get REALLY CLOSE!

Accepting that I could always improve my shooting by falling back on some more technology and (for me) resisting the urge to do so.  (But would that make you a better archer?)

Fun question.  Thanks for posing it.

Kirk Billings

[Gumby]

Shoot what you want and what works for you. It shouldn't matter what you shoot... just enjoy.  

[Robhood23]

If it is trad to you then that is all that matters.

[Benny Nganabbarru]

What is "traditional" to me?

A whole lot of fun, and pure class!

[Ray Borbon]

To me - Traditional archery means no sights, wood in a majority of the working part of the limbs, shooting off the shelf or off the hand.

Get the bow you like. Not the bow everyone else likes.

[legends1]

non-compond period.....Its not the riser that makes the diffrence,it the limbs.
You bet,if you like it go for it.But for me i like wood.

[Rooselk]

Originally posted by craig1955:
No wheels, it's traditional

That pretty much sums it up nicely for me as well.