GOING TRAD

[Florida bowhunter]

Lovebthe simplicity of my recurve, it is such a relief to get away from all the technology, i fill like a foreigner in a bow shop all the technology, everything is geared toward the compound guy,no one caters to the recurve guy..i  gonna learn to tune, and set up my own stuff, got to get a arrow saw, and a tuneing set..

[Sam McMichael]

I never have been any thing else. When I got started in archery, there was no such thing as a compound bow. I left archery for a number of years when I got old enough to handle firearms. When I came back to it, compound never crossed my mind. I am a bit like Graps in that I was working in the computer field and preferred to go low tech when I went out to play. Besides, once you develop a passion for the longbow, not much else interests you.

[Trux Turning]

Awilse was trad....

[Gdpolk]

I enjoy the hunt more. I have guns for harvesting meat quickly and easily and I look forward to the 2-day permit hunt in the area I bowhunt each year. However I can truly say I prefer the experience with a bow better.

[hightop_hunter]

Some thing that I am not sure has been shared on this feed so far.

I started out with a trad bow when i was a kid. My dad would rig up a bent stick and some binder twin at the cabin. I would be of chasing pop cans and frogs for days until the thing broke. when i turned 14 I decided that i wanted to learn how to make a real bow (hunting bow). The first one I made was a hickory board bow. looking at it in the basement now I think the thing should be fire wood, with limbs tillered that badly no arrow should have ever flown. But they did and I got pretty good shooting the thing.

Some thing about making my own equipment and shooting it gave me a deeper appreciation for the sport and the beauty of the weapon. fast forward a few year and now I hunt with a beautiful Shrew Recurve. I had the option many times to switch to compound bows or even rifles but there really is nothing in this world like firing an arrow out to 30 yards and knowing its going to hit the target before the arrow ever touches paper.

[SheltonCreeker]

Its pretty much been covered. But I had reached a point with other weapons compounds and guns alike that I felt like something was missing. I believe the single string brought me back to something primal that lives in me from millennia ago. It brought me back to what hunting truly is. I had become a great killer with other weapons but I have become a better hunter thru single string archery. I haven't graduated from carbon arrows or laminated bows yet but I look forward to going even further down this traditional path by building my own equipment.

[pdk25]

I was living in NJ, in a pretty stressful situation.  Bought a new compound bow to take the edge off.  Shot around 300 arrows a day for several months.  Got so proficient that it became boring.  I needed something to make practice more interesting. Pretty much a simple as that.  That compound bow has spent a lot of time gathering dust.

[89redtruck]

I started before compounds existed.  I bought one as soon as I could and hunted 2 years with it.  I lost interest in bow hunting and just gun hunted for years.  My son-in-law talked me into going back to traditional bow and fell in love with bow hunting again.  I didn't realize that it was a compound that took the fun away.  I could easily kill deer with a compound, all I had to do was aim and shoot, just like a rifle.  But a real bow requires investing yourself and I love it!

[Doug_K]

I've been shooting recurves since I was old enough to hold the bow up, started out short-drawing my dads 50lb Grizzly around 4. Shot targets off and on growing up, but when I hit legal hunting age I used a bare compound. Evolved from there, and a couple years ago I broke out my old K-Mag & a back quiver just to play around with some targets in the back yard. As I was shooting, I realized how much I enjoyed the simplicity, simply knock an arrow, draw, release.

With the newer compounds theres a release aid, drop away rest to engage every shot, make sure the bow is perfectly vertical, use the correct sight pin for the range, peep sight..

I just felt it's gotten way too complicated.

Added on top of that, my deer seasons were way too often cut short by an early kill, even limiting myself to trophy (in my mind) animals.

[hitman]

It's a hoot. No other feeling when you do what you set out to do.

[BRITTMAN]

The simplisity of it , heritage of days past .

[Shakes.602]

I second BRITTMAN, Simplicity.

[Bobaru]

Don't know about the rest of you, but I like "HI TEC."

The fact that my recurves are backed with fiberglass was "modern" when I started and a great improvement.

There is magic in human innovation, so I'm in awe of the compound bow. It's amazing what comes from the minds of men. But, personally, I can't hunt with it because I'm not a spectator to life.  I'm a participant.  

From a young age, I found magic in athletic accomplishment - The down hill skier going through slalom gates; Mike Jordan sinking a three pointer; Sandy Koufax's pitch hitting the lower inside corner of the stike zone for the third strike; Tom Brady threading the needle for a touchdown pass.  All these things are magic.  

Hunting with a recurve is magic in the same way.

[sheepdogreno]

Archery with a wheel bow was no longer enjoyable to me...I never wanted to shoot my compound and it always felt like a chore to do before the season. I started shooting a curve three years ago at fish and began to play around with shooting it at targets too and it became fun to me. Sold the wheels and I'm not looking back! Way more fun without wheels! Rewarding as hell too to take an animal with one!

[German Dog]

About 12 yeras ago i booked a backpack mountain goat hunt in B.C. and thought how cool it would be to have a takedown bow to be able to carry in my pack.

[J-dog]

Better hunting weapon - where bows are concerned. My opinion only. You can't always be perfect stance ranged yardage, vertical bow and all. Course you have to be more dedicated to shooting regularly to keep your eye and mind tuned in. But I like to shoot bows whether hunting or not I shoot all the time year round.

Yeah it is more fun. But then some crowd like to tinker with the bells and whistles of the compounds - no worries each his own.

[David lozzano]

Other then Tom Hoffman all my heros are traditional bowhunters!

[Tajue17]

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[Altiman94]

I remember how I got started but maybe not why.  I saw a couple guys shooting trad bows in my local shop and they were drilling targets out to 40yards.  Both guys were life long trad shooters.  One of them sold me a used bow and I got set up with arrows and started on my own.  About 2009 I found this forum and got the courage to dedicate a season to it.  That season went unfulfilled (no meat) and I reverted back to wheels for 4 seasons.  This year I had a fellow forum member/friend mentally push me over the edge and made my first harvest.  Now that I've proven to myself that I can do it, I plan to stick with it.

I enjoy shooting more now and don't have to rely on a range finder (even though my shot distance is really 15y or less).  I have to alter my set ups to make sure I am closer, but I enjoy the whole process more now.  There's a bigger sense of accomplishment with the traditional equipment.

[KyRidgeRunner]

I started shooting trad because I lked the idea of shooting with out sights, rest, range finders, etc., etc... I will say I've not completly given up on my modern archery equipment yet, but I'm getting closer each passing day.  I've always been the one who said well what if the deer doesn't come closer than 40 yards what will I do.  So I looked back on all the deer I've ever taken with an arrow and 25yards is the longest shot I've taken... Yep getting closer each passing day! My goal is by next September to be relying completely on my tall tines and to have traded all my compounds, crossbows, and accessories to firearms.