How Successful Are You With Trad Equipment?

[Steve Jr]

Every time I take my longbow out if I'm hunting practicing in the back yard or at a 3D shoot it's considered successful to me.

[rraming]

I'm not but don't blame the bow, I blame the weather!

[Arkansaslongbow]

If anyone here wants to take a look at my trophy room, they will be HIGHLY disapointed, BUT if you are hungry and open my freezer, you'll be mighty pleased; we have a very long season here in Arkansas (5 1/2 months with no breaks) and the deer are plentiful especially in South Ark; our squirrel season starts may 15th and goes plum through feb 28th the following year; that alone gives me an excuse to be in the woods nearly all year, which allows me to become a better woodsman, which allows me to be a better hunter; let me be perfectly clear, I DO NOT horn hunt as I am very happy with a dead doe; I fill my tags each and every year (6) but do not have much in the way of horns to claim; my trophy room is my kitchen; some will frown on that but I hunt to kill and I kill to eat; that includes ALL legal deer and whatever else that may include;I am alot better hunter with my longbow than I ever was with the wheels.

 

[2Blade]

Thanks all for the replies this thread really took off. Im happy to see alot of people are being successful that really is great. I plan to keep at it because I simply love the bows and like you guys I feel like the hunt is more pure with Trad Gear. I have done stuff to help myself ive improved a leafy suit so I can get close to deer and other game. Ive gone as far to 3-D my gloves so I can melt into the woods  

[modr]

Since switching to trad. gear 25 years ago, my success rate has improved, but more important is the joy of the hunt, I hunt each hunt as if it was my last one.

[MISSINGINOHIO]

Well i would say the first 4 or 5 years was my learning curve as I missed everything I shot at as of the last three years I have hit everything perfect I just learned to enjoy the hunt and not take the hunting so serious it has really focused me when  i do pull back the string.(If that makes sense)

[KentuckyTJ]

I have to sit longer than I did in my compound years but the guy who is out there the most is more successful on average. As a lot of us have said what is successful is a personal bar we set for ourselves.

[Matthew Bolton]

I figure I'm in a different category than most due to my age. I shot a compound from the time I was 12 until I was 16. In that time frame I missed 4 deer which were all my fault due to my youth and inexperience. My first season with a recurve at the age of 16 was a total flop due to the lack of scouting and caring that comes with bow hunting. the next season as a 17 year old I had matured enough as a person and hunter to learn what its going to take to kill a deer with traditional equipment and I was able to take two deer with a longbow.
 All of my problems stemmed from inexperience and not knowing how to hunt our property which isn't absolutely overflowing with deer. Like all of the others have said it is simply a matter of getting out and making it happen. Now this year I know what I'm looking for and have the confidence that I can make shots and take deer on public and private land.

[old_goat2]

I'm immensely successful, I started hunting trad gear only last year and both last year and this year I counted coup on a turkey and they ran or flew away no worse for the wear and I didn't have to carry them out or clean them and I also got to shoot not once but twice at an elk and didn't have to pack him out. Did you know you can miss an elk by 3 feet at 7 yards and that at 30 yards an elk can completely swap ends and dodge a perfectly aimed and shot arrow after you miss him at 7 yards with a not so perfectly shot arrow. Amazing  but true! I kill something absolutely every time I go afield with trad gear, usually one of the common mullen(sp?) a common weed out west here, or a tuft of grass, we don't have many rotten stumps here to kill. Sunday I'm going scouting in my new elk area I drew this year and I'm sure I'll kill some kind of vegetable matter which is fitting because since I've switched to trad gear, vegetarian seems to describe my hunting results:) but I'm a happy archer:)and soon I'm sure, some protein will come my way, maybe my gal will get something. Keep shooting and keep them sharp!
Oldgoat

[Thumper Dunker]

Theres no deer out here So deer hunting is the same . Way less coyotes than with a rifle but I still get more than lots of guys that chase them with guns.Way more rabbits ,might be that its so much more fun and im out there all the time.Need to try for a turky or a pig sometime . The problem with me deer hunting I get board and start chassing coyotes.The two deer that I did take here was less than 30 yards any way pretty easy with my 270.I love trying to put the sneek on stuff.

[toddster]

Me, I am extemely successful.  I get more full fillment from hunting with traditional tackle than I ever did with compound.  To me it is about the personal growth and feeling of legacy as well as traditon than about animal size or rack size, but thats just me.

[wollelybugger]

I always tell people who are thinking of swithcing to Trad equipment be prepared to pass up a lot of nice bucks. I can't tell you how many nice bucks  were in the thirty to thirty five yard range that I let walk, too far for me with my bows.

I don't have any regrets but I think you are fooling yourself saying you can be more successful with trad equipment. The compound shooters have the advantage. That being said I use a Osage self bow and am going to try to make some primitive arrows out of bamboo fletched with my spring gobbler feathers. I'm trying to find someone  some flint heads to use. Max distance would be about 15 yards. If filling a tag was important to me I wouldn't be using primitive equipment. Making gut piles does not make you a better hunter. Some of the best woodsmen I know seldom kill a deer, it just not that important to them anymore.

[TDHunter]

I've had years with no animals down. But I also had a year where I took a Moose, Black-tail, and stone sheep. And another year where I took White-tail, Mule deer and Mt. Goat. Even the years with nothing have all been more memorable then the years when I used to hunt with rifle or compound.

[Shedrock]

I am pretty successful because I eat, sleep, and dream about hunting with my bows everyday. I do my homework, (scouting), and spend EVERY minute I can hunting.

If there is some game on the tube on Saturday during hunting season, I am not watching the game, I am hunting.

I may be tired after work, but heck, I may have 2 hours to hunt, and so I go hunt!

[cacciatore]

I wanted to become a better hunter,traditional bowhunting teached me that.There wasn't thrill for me to hunt with a rifle or also a compound bow,at longer distances you don't need to be so super cautious and smart.

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

they say a picture is worth a 1000 words.....
 

I have not shot any thing but trad bows since 1985

[jsweka]

My success rate has gone down since switching from compound, but it has also gone down with gun and muzzleloader over the same time period so I don't blame it on equipment.  The deer herd has been reduced in PA making shot opportunities harder to come by.

[Bowwild]

Couple deer my first year "back". You notice I prefer digital plaid in stretch fabrick with boo-cou pockets and hide-a-ways!