I think I have a devils advocate explaination for some of what you might be seeing here.
Please don't get upset wih me, because my goal is to attempt to shed some light on Terry's first post, by explaining my own experience into trad gear.
I owned a sporting goods store in Michigan for nearly 15 years. What I have seen is that todays deer hunter, and likely any big game hunter, knows far more about the species he hunts than at any time, including native peoples.
I noticed the same with flyfishermen. Todays fly fishermen is armed with information flyfishermen 30 years ago wouldn't believe.
Between all the internet forums, magazines, DVD'd, TV shows, etc, hunters are overwhelmed with "how to, where to" info.
Adding the reams biological research available, typical hunters now know far more about what deer eat when, when they want carbs, protein, how many hours they must digest and chew cud, when the estrus cycle starts, peaks and ends, how long the cycle lasts, which vocalizations doe's in estrus use, when fawns are supposed to drop, when the fawns leave the doe, buck dispersal, deer home range, what colors deer see, identifying a 3 year old buck from a 4 year old buck by photo, antler growth in relation to deer population and on and on and on.
Compared to say 1970, typical deer hunters today know far more about, thermals, winds, scent control, deer vocalizations, not letting deer know you're there on entry and exit of stand, proper treestand setup in relation to sun, shadows, background cover, where to set up, when to set up, when to hunt what food source, which plaid or camo is open pattern instead of blobs, how to improve one's land for cover and food, and on and on and on.
When I talk to younger 20 something deer hunters, I'm stunned about how knowledgeable they are on some really fine points of all things deer hunting, compared to the guy who'd stumble around, find a stump to sit and light a cigar, 40 years ago.
Add that hunter demographics are aging, in Michigan the average hunter age is 42, and we're ending up with a larger pool of experienced hunters with many years under their belts with lots of hunting knowledge. And that's happening in every state, we getting older as a group. Hunting experience goes hand in hand with getting older.
The result is, more and more of us don't really have a whole lot of "how to hunt" questions left to ask. At least in our prefered common species we hunt.
I've been bowhunting for 31 years and never went a bow season without killing at least one deer. Some years, filling crop permits due to our extreme deer population back then, I killed fairly large multiples of deer. In the late 1980's I killed 18 deer in back to back years with a bow. 9 each year.
Even this year, I killed a buck and a doe while just hunting natural on the ground with a longbow.
The result is, I don't really have many deer "hunting" questions. I feel I could maybe write a book or give tutorials on whitetail deer hunting, but I really don't have any midwest deer "hunting" questions left.
My guess is, there's lots of guys in my same boat, in varied degree's. They know enough to where a "where to set up" question seems almost silly to ask. I think there's lots of guys who can give a good answer, but less and less who actually need to ask those questions.
Now, if I was going out west for elk, I'd have tons of questions because I'm green in that aspect.
But whitetails are still America's #1 big game animal. And more and more, the older and more experienced whitetail hunters don't have much to ask. Answer questions yes, ask questions no.
Now, compare that to tech questions about brace, limb woods, string materials, arrow spine, etc. There is no overwhelming supply of that info. There's tradgang, stickbow and TB magazine and a few other outlets.
Finally, as a former compound shooter, I think I can explain another aspect that I've yet seen mentioned anywhere.
To me, there seems to be 2 main schools of thought on trad gear.
You have the more "old school" type that have always used trad gear or have for at least 20 plus years, and they often consider themselves trad archers who bowhunt. Trad archers first.
Then you have those who've switched from compounds to trad gear over the last 10 years and they often consider themselves bowhunters who've chosen trad gear for the challenge. Bowhunters first.
See the difference? One group considers themselves trad archers first and another considers themselves bowhunters who use trad gear first.
I think I'm in the minority because I fall into the second catagory. I shot compounds for years and I'm a bowhunter who uses trad gear. I didn't make the switch for any cultural reasons, I did so because I grew bored with the ease of killing deer with a compound and that compound hunting was more machine than man. I wanted to bring some of the challenge back and went to stick and string.
So in a sense, me getting into trad archery was totally gear related. I got into it for the gear.
For me personally, deer hunting is an individual sport, even if there's friends at deer camp with me. It's me against the deer. Like how golf is you against the course. If you're playing against other people, you've missed the challenge.
For this reason, I have little interest in the social gatherings aspect of traditional archery. I have little interest in pitching a tent for a weekend of stump shooting at a rendezvous somewhere.
I do go to the K-Zoo and Compton's, but to be honest, I'm there only to shop. Again, I'm just being honest in an attempt to shed light, so don't get upset.
I go to test bows, look for cool one of a kind stuff, etc.
As this site gets bigger and bigger, I suspect the smaller group of original gung ho trad lifestyle types from when this site started are getting a little drowned out by the ever growing numbers of deer hunters who have or are just switching to trad gear coupled with the age of the internet forum.
My guess is, the majority of them have done so for reasons similar to me. Killing deer with a compound offered little challenge anymore.
So if there's questions to be asked, they will be inquiring into "how the trad bow works", what are R/D limbs, what string is quiet, can I use a 3 blade head with a 45lb bow, is a 450gr arrow too light? And on and on.
Not so much because they simply want to replace the compound with a stickbow. No, it's because they have little knowledge on the matter and are excited about a new found love of the sport and are excited about the challenge of shooting a trad bow well.
Those of you shooting trad gear for 30 years may think a question about if brace height effects spine or is there diminishing returns of a heavy slow arrow vs a lighter faster arrow may be getting too techy.
I'd maintain many guys are asking simple questions that you have known the answer to for years but they are simply just learning.
One mans "too popular mechanics" question is anothers "what am I doing wrong" question.
They already know enough "hunting" that they don't have to ask hunting questions. But trying to figure out proper brace ht, proper arrow flight, proper spine, what is tiller, why a Hill bow, which broadhead, etc, is what has them confused with their new sport and they are simply trying to get their head around what makes a trad bow work at it's peak performance.
I'm sure nobody would advocate a hunter going out with a terrible brace ht for that bow, with fishtailing arrows, dull head 3 blade heads out of a 40lb bow.
Anyway, as unpopular as this post may be, I feel it's worth posting my opinion for all to chew their cud on. Pun intended. LOL
Topic: Trad Gang is not Popular Mechanics - UPDATE page 30 (Read 26852 times)
