Why Traditional Archery

[northener]

That's simple for me, traditional equipment is simply a better choice for hunting period.

Compound bows and all the equipment that goes with it,simply will fail far more than any shortcomings we give up with tradional bows.

[dbd870]

Originally posted by monterey:
Plus it's an excellent alibi when coming home empty handed!

[huronhunter]

Best hunting tool for me . It is that simple.

[Butch Speer]

Gotta love it!

 

Originally posted by Cyclic-Rivers:
Simply put....I like it!

Plus I can walk around acting like I am better than everyone else           :p  

[Paul/KS]

Because when I started shooting a bow "Traditional Archery" was still just Archery.
Too old to change now...    

[goingoldskool]

I shot compounds for years... lots of years. I managed to get pretty good with them and it began to be just like shooting a rifle.... just that automatic.  If I could get drawn on a deer,  it was a done deal.

That got to be no fun after a while, so the natural progression was to take up trad.  
Let me tell you,  watching an arrow rotate straight into your target at 15 yrds is more enjoyable for me than hitting a playing card at 60yrd!!!!!

This is my 2nd year of hunting with traditional archery gear and I got my first deer this fall and I WON'T be going back to the compounds any time soon.

Good luck and God bless,
Rodd

[jonsimoneau]

Micheal Arnette pretty much nailed it as far as I am concerned.  The success rates for bowhunters have skyrocketed.  I have to admit that it gets a little annoying when my non-hunting friends all ask me why I havent shot a deer yet this season when all of my compound shooting buddies have.  It is hard enough to explain the difference to a guy who hunts with a compound, let alone trying to explain it to someone who does not know the difference between each weapon.
   One thing that I find to be very sad is that most of the modern bow hunters have no idea that bowhunting pioneers had to fight tooth and nail to get bow seasons established....long before the modern bows even existed.

[Duncan]

I started with Trad about 1968 because well that's all there was to start with. Never took well to the wheel bows so I just continued on with what I knew. We have all seen the wheel sector change and evolve but our bows just stay the same. Why? Because they work fine like they are and don't need to change very much. I know I'm a dinosaur on a number of levels but that is how I like it. Today, I love that Trad is still alive and well for others to discover and enjoy.

[3arrows]

I started out when you only had longbows and recurves.Once you take game with either one it becomes way two easy with all the other stuff.

[Nick Barber]

For me traditional bowhunting and traditional hunting in general just has a certain comfort and style to it. As for bowhunting with the exception of 2 seasons I have always shot a glass recurve, glass longbow or a selfbow. I jump around between the 3 pretty regularly and have done steel, stone and even bone and antler points (zwickey Eskimos are my usual though), arrows have always been wood for me as it just doesn't feel right to me to use carbons or aluminium.  As for hunting clothes I usually stick with canvas and wool, not much for camp myself but I do have a bit and use it from time to time (even built myself a ghillie suit but I don't use it much). As for blinds and such I usually use ground Blinds out of natural materials and occasionally a bit of burlap to close things up, never cared for treestands.
The same goes for most any other hunting I do.I grouse hunt with a double 12 Guage that was built the same year WWI ended, gun hunt with a lever gun in 45 Colt or a single shot 45-70 and quite often a matchlock smoothbore. Even though it may get me rode out on a rail around here I even built a copy of a 14th century crossbow (pretty traditional to my mind) but haven't decided if I will ever hunt with it or not.
Like I said above, traditional style gear just feels comfortable for me and seems to be the right thing in the woods.

[dhermon85]

Well, I was gifted a great recurve bow. I was loosing interest in shooting, it was getting boring/easy with compound. All my harvests with a compound were 15yds and in. It's become a challenge again.

I think I got addicted. Tuning is fun, pickin a spot and stacking them in is awesome, cool how brain/muscle memory works.

And these bows are waaaayyy prettier!

[LPM]

Back in 1975 I was a 14yr old boy with a brand new Ben Person Cougar recurve that I bought with a my own hard earned money.  

I stepped out of the house and headed for the woods before light to a homemade wooden deer stand. It was a cool morning with a light frost and my breath hung in the air.

I got scared of the dark and waited in the  clover field till first light to make the journey through scary woods to my stand.

With the smell of an apple scent deer lure I bought, squirted all over my boots, I watched a fantastic sunrise from that wood platform.  I had never seen a sunrise from the woods.

As if on cue a doe approached from behind my stand.  I shook so bad that I didn't even notice the tree branch that was going to save that deer's life.

Two years later I returned to saw that limb off to save the broad head.  I felt like I should keep the results of my first ever bowshot at a deer. I still have that limb with the broad head stuck in it.

Some years went by and I bought a compound.  I never liked sights so I shot it bare bow.  I took some nice critters and never once do I think back on my compound years as being any less of a bowhunter.  

Problem was it didn't look like a bow, it was cold, and as time went on you couldn't find one that you could shoot with fingers.

When I started a career in aviation I moved to Illinois and met up with some guys shooting traditional archery gear. A few shots reminded me of my past and suddenly the touch and feel of the compound had lost its appeal.

Fate allowed me to purchase the Iowa home and property where I grew up.  That's Where my wife and I finished raising our two daughters. As a family we've enjoyed the simple pleasure of shooting the bow and arrow.  And still maintain the friendships born of traditional archery.

The story is long, and God willing it will get longer, but If I had to some it up it one sentence..................

"When I step out of the house, feel the nip in the air, hear the roar of a distant corn dryer or catch the smell a freshly picked corn field I grip my bow tight and life's baggage is gone........I'm 14 again".

[Friend]

>>>Come to the Water<<<

Often times when the conversation has run dry, the remedial responses and posts tend to digress.

An alarming revelation is often experienced during lulls and even to be expected at any time. As humans, it should be no surprise that we may have our feathers ruffled when exposed to the diversity of human nature.  The way of the traditional is held sacred, while our openness, acceptance and tolerance are often challenged as we too strive to develop into an aggrandized complete individual.

Through the integrity, camaraderie and spiritual adhesion of The Trad Gang family,  I saw a man who was brought to life…when away, the Trad Gang presence still lingers.  For I remain captivated by the resonating light of the Traditional and staunchly refuse to be suppressed by my childhood dreams of the past. We have been sent an angel.

We have the power to choose to be angry for ‘anger’ is a natural emotion.  Being angry at the wrong time may be counterproductive.  It is also, quite easy to complacently view such comments so far out of the grey area as “how stark is the here and now”.  Alienation would be unjust as we may deny the true treasures of the traditional way. May we successfully assemble the lost sheep for life is merely a moment in space.

 Sitting on our laurels, and accepting possible hints of blasphemy is the time to heed a certain call. Being inspired to both positively and collectively educate and offer secure guidance should provide a way to the dawn of the light and passage out of the dark…such that they may have the opportunity to dip themselves in magic waters.

The glory days of the traditional are here and now!

[mgf]

I jut like recurves and longbows.

My first bow was a compound but only because I let somebody talk me into it. It wasn't long before I dumped the compound for a stick.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I'm totally amazed at this thread as i see everyone telling their story's with very little animosity towards different styles of archery equipment that has evolved over the years....

Oh sure... there's been a few folks here that expressed their feelings on not wanting to be a part of the high tech evolution of archery equipment and prefer keeping things simple. But even Fred Bear, Howard Hill, and many other icons in archery pursued the evolution of building better products.... It's human nature to build a better mouse trap....

I could fill up a full page with another story here on my introduction to traditional archery that would be similar to others here, but i'll try not to carried away here.

 I started my archery adventure later in life than a lot of guys....and I absolutely went nuts over the compound bows. These things were still looking like bows in the late 80's, and were very cool! The evolution of the compound bow in the 90's was just incredible....This was time of serious advancement in engineering for wheels, cams and wild different riser designs, and i had a ball with it..... I spent many years shooting hundreds of arrows each day. I shot leagues, I shot 3D , and i got into serious competition too.... i built my own arrows and tweaked my bows to the max, and had a lot of fun with it...

Man i just loved everything about the sport... Finally life and its complexity made me limit my competition goals, and I had to limit my shooting to 3D practice and hunting only.....

This is where my story starts sounding familiar......    I was an accomplished archer in every sense of the word, and a good hunter too. With the higher tech bows and increased performance levels, the range i could harvest big game went from 35-40 yards when i first started, clear out to 80 yards. I shot a lot of animals in the 50-70 yard range over the years.

I could go 3 months without shooting at all, and still shoot groups as big as your fist at 60 yards........ and all of a sudden... the trill was gone....

Without my competitive challenges keeping me going. my bow had become just another means of shooting something, and the fun i had keeping my edge was gone.....

Then i ran into a couple guys shooting home made long bows one day at a 3D shoot. And they were having a ball at it too.... I think i was honestly intrigued with building my own bow as much as i was with the challenge that exists shooting a bare bow instinctively....

Bottom line is that i sold my high tech compound bow and bought a band saw.....When i showed up in elk camp the next year with my first long bow, my hunting buddies thought i'd lost my marbles...

Needless to say, i never looked back..... This total leap into traditional archery has been a great adventure, and it always will be for me....

[Jerry Russell]

Why traditional? Because it's difficult.  All I have ever done.

[GreyGoose]

Even allowing for differences in design and material, going traditional connects us to
hunters a thousand years ago or more.

[Shakes.602]

I started out with a "Too Long For Me" Ben Pearson recurve, I bought at Auction for next to nothing. I was a teenager, and nobody but me shot much. So it died down for awhile, Girls, Cars, Family were the Main Concern. Then I was introduced to Compounds, my Son and I. Then the Whole Crew of mine got into Shooting and I had to Shell out for 6 Used compounds and all the goodies that went with them!! 4 Kids and 2 Adults can rack up a   LOT   of Equipment!!     We had a Great Time and it was a Family Activity that, once past the Initial Investment, was Relatively Inexpensive for   ALL   of Us to Participate in!!
   Then I bought a Cravatta Bros. Recurve. My Son was Deadly with it, and then of course Dad had to have another bow because my Son latched onto the recurve like it was Gold!    
    One thing led to another, and the compounds are collecting dust, sold or given away. My 4 Girls, counting the Ex, just lost interest. Boys and such took precedence from "Stomping Around in the Woods with Dad".
     Now I wouldn't Trade   One   of my Longbows for a Truckload of Wheelie Bows!! Its just so "simple", that Stick and String, but it takes Skill to get the Arrow where you want it. Nothing to depend on but your Instincts and Hours of Practice to get Deadly with it. I make my own arrows and leather gear, and am Still Trying to Make a Bow that will Actually work.     Now that "Traditional Archery is My Lifestyle", I couldn't be Happier!!

just.." cause its cool"...and it feels right.  

[mcgroundstalker]

For stalking and still hunting, I think it's the best...