Musings on recurves vs. longbows

[dnovo]

I love the clean simple lines of a nice longbow. I have 12- 15 recurves hanging on a rack but never shoot them unless I'm going bowfishing. The longbow just feels so simple and natural. I have only been shooting just a longbow for about 32 years now. Not long enough to try something new.

[straitera]

Maineac, my wife hated me rambling about my bowhunting. Said I loved bowhuting more than her. She obsessed! We still talk now & then after being divorced 35+ years. Ever so often, she mentions getting back together. That's when I start talking about bowhunting. Is this stuff fun or what?

Got 'em shoot 'em & be thankful. Glad I have both recurve & LB friends.

[Bel007]

Great thread.

I am in love with my recurves.  I am a one-piece junkie.  For me, they are what they are. One chunk of wood (laminated from various components) flowing in archs that bend gracefully and snap back home, propelling a dart through the air.  I love 'em.  Old ones, new ones, pretty ones, utilitarian (ugly) ones.

I am awe struck by the simplicity of the longbow however.  A stick.   Attach a sting and go to work. The R/D modern longbows shoot so buttery smooth I get lost in flinging arrows throughout the afternoon.  The D-style longbows have a classic look that take me back to daydreams of young boys heading off into the back 40 to find a willing target on a steamy summer day.

But those dang hill-tyle bows just jolt my head and neck so much it turns into an unpleasant chore.  Wish I could quit buying them!  But dang they are pretty.

Again, great thread.    

[ishoot4thrills]

I like the best of both worlds.

That's why I shoot a hybrid LB.

[1screagle]

Great thread Maineac, I have the same type of feelings about my curves and longbows. I've always felt a little unsettled, like I should go with one or the other to concentrate on becoming the best shooter I could become. My love for the primative nature of a longbow makes me feel I'm where I belong. I love the stealthy quietness, quickness in hand and smoothness of my longbows. The curves I have are so beautiful, smoking fast, so easy to shoot well they inspire confidence, still my mind bounces back and forth and pulls my heart right along with it. Lately, I make sense of which I choose to shoot while hunting like choosing a golf club on the course. I have a 56" 61#@28" recurve I use for most tree stand hunting and tight spots, I use my 66" 61#@28" longbow for most of my ground hunting. I've just recently  acquired a bow I sold almost 3 years ago. This is the only bow that has ever really spoke to me. As much as I love all the bows I have for different reasons, this bow seems to give me something back. This is now my go to bow, and I will choose the others based on the specific need at hand, adjusting size and power. My go to bow is 60" 55#@28" Longbow. This one seems to bring me everything I've every dreamed of when thinking about bow hunting. The curves gives me the confidence when shooting bow . When I see my 56" curve in my hand, the beauty, the performance, I feel it's almost like cheating when hunting. The longbow seems to connect me in a more primative way, maybe thats the romance part of the equation that causes the struggle deep inside. Surely not a right or wrong way, I just can't say I am one or the other.

[katman]

Started out with a D longbow many years ago. Then got on the recurve wagon followed by ILF. But then felt the pull of the longbow drawing me back. Lately been migrating to hybrids and as of now do feel they are 'the best of both worlds for me'. They can be had with any grip style and riser weight you want, many options with riser and limbs.
 
I have come to not like the aggressive early weight gain on high performance recurves, feels more like a compound, much prefer the draw cycle of the hybrid with its more moderate early bulge in the dfc. Personal thing that not everyone would agree with. I think the grip is very important to accuracy and once I changed to recurve style grips on hybrids accuracy is not a problem.

[Gen273]

Great thread!! I like them all, but I prefer a Hybrid Longbow.

[Matthew Bolton]

I agree with what you say about the stability of a bow. The wider the limb is directly related to how stable the bow is for me. The two bows I own are a Ben Pearson hunter and a zipper sxt with the longbow limbs. The Pearson is bulkier while the zipper is lighter and fits better in the hand which for me means better accuracy.

[maineac]

Kenneth you put it well.  One bow calls to me more than the others, but I love shooting them all.  I plan on reworking the grip of my checkmate.  I don't know why, it is super accurate, but fees a little squirrelly with a med high wrist.  I should probably leave well enough alone, but want match the wrist angle that make my hybrids feels so good in the hand.  some great thoughts from everyone.

Buddy, I am on my 26th year with my wife, I try to only ramble so much with her.  I get a lot of what are you thinking about when we are sitting around int eh evening.  The answer is usually "archery" or " ________ hunting (fill in the blank with what is in season or next up)".

[Steve Clandinin]

Great thread,I honestly didn't think there were so many like me!LOL. It was the recurve for years,until this howard Hill thread popped up.Back in the early eightys I had given Hill bows a good effort,or so I thought.Just couldn't get the hang of it,back to recurves.
Since this HH thread,now with so much more info I thought I'd give her an other shot.It reminded me of learning to ride a bike.It finally just happened.I'm as accurate,or more.For some crazy reason I can pull alot more weight.My recurves now seam,heavy,cumbersome and the draw feels so weak and mushy.I guess as an archer the evolution of development just never stops.In all sincerity don't have a closed mind on any bow or shooting style.Your interests and development can and probably will change.

[1screagle]

Quote from Howard Hill.( Whenever he taught someone to shoot) "Son make up your mind right now if you want to target shoot or hunt as theres a world of differance between the two"

LOVE THAT QUOTE!

I've always looked at them as being so different.

Kenn

[straitera]

Steve, Hill bows hit a chord 35 years ago. All I've shot since. Smooth as polished boot leather & so straight handled simple even I get it. The "hunt/target" HH quote is one of my favorites!

[deaddoc4444]

Got my first  "STORE BOUGHT " bow in 1959 When I was 10 yrs Old.   Nice old Ben Pearson Lemon Wood straight/flat long bow . You'll see by my profile/signature I own NUMEROUS both recurve and long bows.    I "COULD " shoot one or the other equally well ( I THINK ) "IF"  I stuck to one or  the other.  I have really no sweat picking up either type to hunt or shoot,   BUT I need to shoot a while with the recurves  To get the group centered .  FOR some reason  every time  I pick up a recurve ( MINE or someone else's) I shoot   very nice groups but they are off center high-low-right -left   SOMEWHERE   but never center. IF I continue to shoot   several groups  my brain takes over and I begin to shoot closer to center every group till I "get there"  
   ONE EXCEPTION   My son got a wonderful Eagle Wing from Sixby   a few weeks ago    My First shot with it drilled the dead center of the target first shot! LOL! MY son laughed his butt off .
   NOW   when I pick up  my long bows REGARDLESS of the handle/riser configuration eg: I have   Hill types,A fedora with thumb rest. And a Martin Bushmaster with "dished out" straight grip, and a Beauty of a Stewart Slammer with "LOCATOR" grip. . I seem to drill the center of the target RIGHT WHERE I'M LOOKING  first shot, EVERY TIME !!!
     I USUALLY don't get as tight a grouping as I can with SOME recurves.  But AM ALWAYS centered . Even if I'm playing with arrows not of the correct spine .  
   SO   I have to say I'm more of a LONG BOW MAN   but will never get rid of my recurves

[Steve Clandinin]

Forest,You hit it on the head!They seam to hit a chord.I honestly think the longbow is the true symbol of Simplicity and pure archery.With its roots going back 25,000 years and every culture in the world having survived by this Simplicity,How can there NOT be an Allure with any kind of Primial imagination that all of us posses.

[Forrest Halley]

I have little experience hunting with bows, but when I have I have taken a long bow. I find the longbow quite like an old friend and the recurve like a good friend in a fight. I know what to expect from the longbow and it's very reliable, but it takes time to cultivate that good relationship. The recurve is much like a sighted in rifle that as long as you play with it often enough you can be reasonably consistent with it. I like the draw characteristics of the recurve more so than the long bow as the draw weight increases. In closing the longbow is definitely the way to master one's form and I believe it comes down to how hard do you want to work.

[PaddyMac]

Something else came to mind (that'll happen...). Pardon me if I'm drifting.

 They say that "archery is the art of repetition" but I'm finding that some things are good to repeat and some things not so much. Going back and forth between longbow and recurve is proving that to me. I thought it would screw me up, but it's done just the opposite. I try to focus on consistency on back tension, release, the way I draw, etc. But I mix up the targets, angles, bows, locations where I shoot and the more I mix up those things the better I seem to be on hitting things "out there."  

And I'm with Brian, I really like a one-piece bow. My plan was to gravitate to a HH D bow next, but now I'm thinking a one-piece recurve.

[1screagle]

There must be a name for the this condition, the inability to commit to shooting just longbow or recurve. I love the differences. I have found a ton of joy in shooting different styles, weights and lengths. How would you know which is right for you without experiencing a good portion for yourself? I think I have finally found my go to bow, I made this determination by how we work together, compliment each other, my shooting style, and what a hunting bow is to me. I may not be the best shot in any given competition, but having "the one" in my hands helps give me the confidence to be all I can be. When I'm at my best that is all I need to be.

[ron w]

I go back and forth....I love the feel of a long bow in the hand, like a fine fly rod. So light and graceful. I also enjoy shooting my recurves with beautiful woods in the risers, Silvertip, Zipper, Rivers Edge. I guess it depends on my mood, throw a back quiver on and grab my Hill halfbreed or my Osprey,or my Toelke  to go stumping or pick up my Holm-Made River Runner to go hunting for the afternoon. I guess as long as your enjoying yourself .....it don't matter!!....I really should thin the herd again....lol!

[WESTBROOK]

I like them all, but have settled on shooting longbows. Like Mainac said, all the wood in a 3 piece recurve makes for a big canvas to create something beautifull.

I've made my rounds and have settled on 2 bows. My Northern Mist Hill style bows and a 60" Super Shrew.

As stated above, the Hill style bows speak timeless history and simplistic beauty and they shoot awesome. The Shrew is my go anywhere..do anything..hunting machine.

And I'm able to switch back and forth with very little re-adjustment...thats always a bonus.

Eric

[TomBow]

Like so many times before here at TradGang, I read a thread (this one) and see a real coming together of people with like interests putting their thoughts out there for others to ponder and it gets me pondering.  I can't put an exact finger on it, but it seems that trad archery folks are more welcoming than adversary-al.  When I am around wheel guys, I feel (yes, I AM about to spill my OWN personal thoughts on this subject for all the world to hear) like there's a competition going on.  Sort of an "I shoot THIS or THESE and THIS or THESE are the best and what you shoot pales in comparison".  I don't get that from the trad folks that I read about and meet. Trad folks to me love to embrace the differences as we ride the gentle waves together.  OK enough of the philisophicatin'!

Longbow or recurve to me is like picking a favorite song.  Personally, I can't do it.  To me, it's about the mood I am in, the feelings I am having, what speaks to my mind at a particular time.  Bottom line to me:  I enjoy the research that I've done and continue to do on my personal quest through traditional bowshooting.  I've only been into it for 7-8 years after my interest was tweaked at camp 35 or so years ago, shooting bows at balloons.  Later it was compounds when gun hunting just wasn't all that fun anymore.  (Neighbors seem to be adverse to shooting clays in the backyard for SOME reason, haven't had ONE person complain about me shooting my bows in the back yard....)  But since I decided that trad was for me, it has been an extreme pleasure.  To me it is the getting back to something simple and primitive within myself.  Using skills that dwell deep within my psychi that were woken up when I heard stories of those who shoot arrows with bows, then did exactly that myself.  

I started with a 58" 55# recurve with slightly twisted limbs, went through aluminum arrow sizes and spines until my head hurt from thinking about it too much, then I traded a gun for a 68" 45# recurve and a Bear Cub 1953 straight handled longbow 66" 60#.  The 58" curve was good but I knew it wouldn't be my ONLY, the 68" is nice to shoot but Huge (nice target bow but treestand??), the Cub is an arm slapper and isn't afraid to tell you that you ain't grippin' it right!!  Then I had the pleasure of visiting Toelke in MT when visiting bro-in-law who decided he had enough of MN and needed a change of pace.  MT was on the only family trip we ever took and it strummed a string in me that is still buzzing.  Fate put me there at Toelke's shooting his bows and 2 years later I ordered and received my first custom from Dan and Jared. All his bows are beautiful in form and to shoot but the longbow was the first to be shot, the first one that had the opportunity to open the idea that I NEEDED it.  A few months before visiting MT a second time, I picked up a K-Mag 58# from a fellow trad-ganger.  2 DIFFERENT bows (K-Mag Vs, Whip) but I love shooting them both.  The Whip tweaks my form and makes me shoot the curve better.  This is potato-chip scenario:  can't only have one (type of trad bow).

Which is "better"? only you can control your destiny young grasshoppah!  Me?  I am going to embrace the differences in us all and our equipment.

"Uh, mind if I shoot your bow?  I'll let you shoot mine if you want."

Weird.  I'm not much of a talker in social situations but ask me about bows and it's hard to shut me up due to my extreme enthusiasm.  Wouldn't change if I could.

Peace to you me brudders and sisters.