How old were you when you started with trad gear?

[Bowwild]

I don't know the exact age but it was 2nd or 3rd grade when my family lived on Randolph Street in Richmond, IN. Like a lot of kids I made this first bow and and unfletched arrows. I didn't know crap about bare shaft tuning but the neighborhood Robins knew to keep an eye out when I was on the prowl.

My first real recurve was at 14 years old -- Ben Pearson Cougar. Over the next few years, until 1975 I had Bear Grizzly and a Bear B Mag. Then I switched to the Compound in 1975.

I bought my next "trad" bow, a Fox High Sierra 26 years later, a Fox High Sierra. I hunted that year with it without taking a shot. I should have shot one of the small bucks that frequented my stands but I was still stuck with my compound standards -- big buck or does. I didn't have a shot at a doe that year and passed on the basket racks (how do they know?). Went back to compounds in 2002.

Bought a Widow PSAIII in 2004 but didn't hunt with it. I tried to come back to trad hunting in 2009 but hurt the drawing arm shoulder carrying lumber -- down for 8 months.

I made the permanent switch (God willing) in 2010. Two deer with my "Strickland Stick" recurve last fall. VERY exciting since I hadn't killed with a recurve since 1974.

[centaur]

I was about 8 or 9. Man had just moved up from atlatls around that time.

[Aunty]

i started nearly 3 years ago with a roberson stykbow  im 23 now wish i started at 16 but hey at least i got there and i love it.  

[sawtoothscream]

15.  started shooting bows around age 5 then around 15 my grand pa gave me my first longbow

[Hard Times]

Started Trad @ 35yrs. old. turn 45 next week

[Carbonkiller]

started out on a wheel bow at 10 but moved to a recurve at 12. the bow was a pse raven....50#! what a mistake that was. guys at the pro shop said that was the least that i should shoot deer with!

now im 28yrs old and all my bows are 45# ...and they do a good job!

[hammer08]

I started when I was about 8 I think. I had a 33# ash selfbow made for me by my Dad's bestfriend.

[Orion]

Made bows and arrows out of shrub shoots and twine when I was about 4-6.  Got my first real bow, a lemonwood longbow that drew about 12# and 3 wood arrows (25c each as I remember, may have been 25 cents for all three), when I was 7.  That was 58 years ago. Been shooting sticks and strings ever since.

[Shawn Leonard]

I was 7 or 8 and hunted bunnies and mice, small birds, bees, everything I could shoot. When I was 12 I started shooting a Ben Pearson and hunted my first big game with a that bow. 16 I went to a compound and hunted until I was 32 with one. I went back to a recurve than and killed my first buck that year with a Howatt Hunter. I have hunted with both for the last 15 years and now have killed 33 deer with a Trad bow. Shawn

[mscampbell75]

Had a fiberglass longbow when I was 10 or 11 that i tied surveyors string to and got some arrors from the local k-mart. Just playn around having fun.  Nobody in my family had a bow at that time.

When i was 16yo i got my 1st wheelie bow just so i could get more hunting time in.  Fell in love w/ archery, and was always intriged by trad.  Wheelie's just go to easy and was looking for more of a chanllenge.  Longbows/ recurves just have a mystic about them that i am drawn to.  I cant explain it.

I was 30 when i got my 1st LB from the TG classified.  The next year gave my wheels to my brother and went full trad.  No looking back now.

[Shakes.602]

Since None of my Relatives ever shot a Bow, I was about 5 when I got my First "BigChief" Bow & Arrow Set.  

[beetlebailey1977]

I started making my own simple little bows when I was 7 or 8 but nothing serious at all, just to play with.  I started seriously with it when I was 28.  I am 34 now.  For perspective I only had a compound for about 3 years.

[cbCrow]

I got my first real bow in 1962,age 12, shot alot of homemade bows before that and did alot of pretend. I believe the bow was from Sears and was a recurve with 3 arrows.

[durp]

1962 when i was 8...just young enough to develope bad habits that took several years to break once i had some guidance...got serious when i was 12...dont remember what the bow was but it was the best thing ive ever recieved as a gift...that little bow was the start of a life long love affair even my wife cant compete with!!!

[Danny Rowan]

Around 1963/64 with a Pearson Jet, then a Pearson Ol Ben longbow, then a Pearson Cougar. Killed my first deer with that Cougar in 1966 or 67, got lucky, was eyeing a doe in the sage brush and had drawn the bow about 3/4 of the way, my friend Mike Womack wisseled and the buck stood up in front of the doe, came to full draw and released, spined him and down he went. He ducked at the release but did not duck low enough, lol.

[Green]

1968....10 years old.  Saved lawn mowing money to buy a fiberglass Shakespeare recurve.  That bow and I shot quite a few needle nose/alligator gar in the bayou's of Houston and was responsible for my first "kill" of a groundhog at 20 paces that same year while visiting relatives in Maryland. I still have that bow today.

[joe skipp]

Started with an old Bear recurve when I was 17...I'm 59 now and still shooting the "stick 'n string'.

[Night Wing]

I was 14 years old back in 1964 when I first picked up a fiberglass recurve bow. That was my start.

Two years later in 1966 when I was 16 years old, I took my first deer (doe) with a one piece Bear 60", 40# @ 28" Super Kodiak.

Even way back then; I knew what a low poundage bow, by today's standards, could do with a well placed lethal broadside lung shot.

I'm 61 years old now and still shooting low poundage bows.

[magnus]

Around 6 or 7 years old. My dad got the while family bows and we would shoot all the time. I am the only one who continued through out my life. He shot occasionally  as I was a young adult but just never had the time. Some of my best memories as a child are from those days shooting with the family and mostly my dad. Thanks dad! I miss you!

[awbowman]

49 1/2, just last year