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Author Topic: I almost gave up archery! Did you?  (Read 1231 times)

Offline barley40

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I almost gave up archery! Did you?
« on: February 20, 2010, 02:29:00 AM »
It was back in the sixties I believe, or early seventies, I saw my first compound advertised in a magazine. I thought, this won't ever catch on. Boy, was I wrong! It wasn't long before the hunting magazines had bowhunting stories only featureing these devices. Wooden arrows disappeared. Sporting goods stores and Kmart no longer offered recurves or even strings. Bowhunting as I knew it no longer existed. Even the top archery companies were chasing the dollar. All my hunting buddies bought into the quick and easy, " instant accuracy without practice" concept. Actually I did almost quit hunting for a few of my prime years when I should really have been enjoying it the most. But now I make my own bows, strings, and arrows and am glad to see return of traditional archery to the extent it has. I hope the trend continues until when you say "bow" folks will think of a real bow.
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Offline Bowferd

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Re: I almost gave up archery! Did you?
« Reply #1 on: February 20, 2010, 03:23:00 AM »
barley40, I did leave and came back.Got into compounds for a bit more than a year upon my return.
A lot of blank spaces between 1970 and 2000.
Today, I'm fulfilled. 3 old recurves and 3 longbows, all used at an investment of $200 each or less.
I would like to replace one of those high priced ones I use to own (GN Ghost) Osage on Osage that fit me like skin on a drum.
But for now I'm good to go.
By the way, I didn't know that compounds were available back then. I don't know if I could be considered a redneck by standards, but I am from the sticks.
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Offline AALLFAB

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Re: I almost gave up archery! Did you?
« Reply #2 on: February 20, 2010, 03:48:00 AM »
It never left my blood. i started with an early browning cobra compound about and went out for 25 years ago then was trying to burn some time and went into an archery shop. i thought the new compounds were so cool like Star Trek i just had to start again and swiftly was attracted by the art of trad bows and now am bit by the bug in a whole new way. Jim
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Offline Arraflinger

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Re: I almost gave up archery! Did you?
« Reply #3 on: February 20, 2010, 07:35:00 AM »
I'll be 70 next birthday , been bowhunting about 50 of those years. I never got caught up in the compound craze, maybe that's why quitting never entered my mind , not even a little bit! Shooting and hunting with a longbow or recurve is just too much fun!!
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Offline GMMAT

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Re: I almost gave up archery! Did you?
« Reply #4 on: February 20, 2010, 07:55:00 AM »
Honestly...if you're a hunter, we're brothers.  I don't really care which weapon you carry.

Is this thread about leaving hunting?
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Offline Gray Buffalo

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Re: I almost gave up archery! Did you?
« Reply #5 on: February 20, 2010, 08:01:00 AM »
In a word NO
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Offline hayslope

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Re: I almost gave up archery! Did you?
« Reply #6 on: February 20, 2010, 08:23:00 AM »
Quote
Originally posted by GMMAT:
Honestly...if you're a hunter, we're brothers.  I don't really care which weapon you carry.

Is this thread about leaving hunting?
???????

Dayton is asking if anyone has ever considered quiting....for one reason or another.

He is describing   his  reaction to the sudden influx of technology (ie:  compound bows with cams!) into archery.

Dayton..I've never considered giving up the bow, although there have been times of what we will call "non-activity".  The military sometimes has an impact on extra-currricular activities. The desire has never left!
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Offline GMMAT

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Re: I almost gave up archery! Did you?
« Reply #7 on: February 20, 2010, 09:02:00 AM »
Hay...

I read it like that, also.  That's why I asked the question I did.
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Offline Mudd

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Re: I almost gave up archery! Did you?
« Reply #8 on: February 20, 2010, 09:07:00 AM »
I was away from archery for a time but I have an excuse..lol I started out to just go for a hunt with a (now) friend behind his dog(Elvis Presley) an OMCBA squirrel and coon dog deluxe. I ended up buying a pup named Trouble with the Truth aka Liar.

It takes more than you can imagine in time, money, travel and commitment to get to World Champion X4, Missouri State Coon and squirrel Champion X3, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota State Champion on squirrel and coon. Liar must have looked better than I thought too because he's a couple of wins away from being Super Grand on the bench.

A couple of years ago Liar took a fall out of a tree(18-20ft) and injured his back. I developed a bad back myself so we retired from the circuit. Now he's just my best buddy and has a few girl friends from time to time but his hunting days are over. I've tried(because of his desire to hunt) to allow him to hunt for short periods of time(1/2 hr) and he gets so much pain afterwards he can't get up on his couch.

Since I stopped with the dogs I got back into archery and I am so glad I did. I never realized just how much I had missed it.

My intention is to do this until I can't.

Thanks to all of Tradgang and its members for accepting me back.

God bless,Mudd
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Offline xtrema312

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Re: I almost gave up archery! Did you?
« Reply #9 on: February 20, 2010, 09:39:00 AM »
I had to back way off for 5 years in collage because I was going to school in a city, but I still shot when home.  Other than that no.  I will not even think of giving it up until my body fails me.  I will hunt us along as I can drag my self into the woods even when I can't pull a bow anymore.
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Offline trapperDave

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Re: I almost gave up archery! Did you?
« Reply #10 on: February 20, 2010, 09:47:00 AM »
Nope. Addicted since the age of 5 when I got my first fiberglass bow with them suction tip arrows. I actually thumped a cottotail in the butt with bow once....game on since then  :D
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Offline reddogge

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Re: I almost gave up archery! Did you?
« Reply #11 on: February 20, 2010, 10:24:00 AM »
Not really but I was sidetracked during the compound years like others and then other hobbies moved into the forefront.  Archery has always been there in one form or another but not my main interest throughout my entire life.  It still shares my time with a couple of other passions and it will for the rest of my life.
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Offline kill shot

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Re: I almost gave up archery! Did you?
« Reply #12 on: February 20, 2010, 11:01:00 AM »
I stopped bow hunting for about 5 years back in the 80's.Trad stuff was scarce in my neck of the woods.Something magical was missing from hunting and I realized it was archery.Got back into it with trad gear.Didn't get much support from other hunters,in fact some said I had no business being in the woods with such equipment.Read in a magazine where a popular bowhunter said instinctive archery was a hap-hazard way to shoot.Stuck with it though because I realized archery is not what I did,it's who I am.
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Offline Zipperhead

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Re: I almost gave up archery! Did you?
« Reply #13 on: February 20, 2010, 11:29:00 AM »
Never had the urge to quit.  Bowhunted every year since I was 14(I'm 46 now).  Since I got rid of my training wheels and switched to trad. I love it more than I ever have.  God willing, my two boys will find the same happiness that I have.  They're trad. all the way.  So far so good.
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Offline SteveB

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Re: I almost gave up archery! Did you?
« Reply #14 on: February 20, 2010, 03:31:00 PM »
No - what equipment others hunt with has no bearing on what I choose.
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Offline George D. Stout

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Re: I almost gave up archery! Did you?
« Reply #15 on: February 20, 2010, 03:50:00 PM »
To answer your question,  no. I actually shot compounds from 1976 through 1979...they were really primitive compared to what they have now.  There were plenty of times I questioned why anyone would want to shoot 29" long bows with trigger releases, but I guess they get something out of it.  

Frankly I wouldn't give you a nickle for a dozen of those machines, other than to resell them 8^).
Nowadays there is plenty of traditional equipment to choose from.  I tend to like the old stuff best anyhoo.  Smoke em' if you got em'.
  :p
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Offline Archer Fanatic

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Re: I almost gave up archery! Did you?
« Reply #16 on: February 20, 2010, 04:25:00 PM »
No. If you went to Kalamazoo and didn't see all the new technology in building recurves and longbows then a person had their eyes closed.
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Offline George D. Stout

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Re: I almost gave up archery! Did you?
« Reply #17 on: February 20, 2010, 04:43:00 PM »
It's not "new technology",  it's what they do with the new technology.  It can be used many ways that don't cheapen ones experience in the woods.
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Offline zip

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Re: I almost gave up archery! Did you?
« Reply #18 on: February 20, 2010, 05:05:00 PM »
The only time I almost gave it up was because I had target panic so bad I wouldn't go hunting. I
finally got it under control, and I've been back in the woods with a bow in my hands ever since.
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Online David Mitchell

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Re: I almost gave up archery! Did you?
« Reply #19 on: February 20, 2010, 05:22:00 PM »
Barley40, I remember thinking the exact same thing back in the 70s when I started seeing compound devices in shops--"those things will never catch on." I guess we're alike in our prophetic skills, huh?  I did try the compound route for a while as all of my buddies were into them but never left my recurves--just added a compound which I never liked.  I seriously worried that archery as I had known it most of my life (I'm 66 now) was going to be a thing of the past so I would pick up recurves at sporting goods stores or bow shops that had them to save them up for when there weren't going to be any more.  :eek:  Most shop owners were delighted to get rid of them for whatever they could get. I recall seeing Bear Kodiak Hunters and Browning Wasp bows for sale for $10-15 brand new. Then I started seeing ads in Bowhunter magazine by a guy named Asbell who was actually making them to sell--and asking $150.  Didn't see how on earth he was going to make it since almost nobody seemed to want the old style stuff any more.  Thanks to Fred and some others who swam against the current we now have a thriving and exciting world of real archery again.  But during those dark ages I never considered giving it up--just getting enough bows to last me as long as I was hoping to need them.
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