All Trad 2015

[23feetupandhappy]

Originally posted by Hummer3T:
I've been doing it for over six years, you aren't as successful on the kill front, but way more rewarding in so many other ways and when you do get an animal it is very special.

Yep, 8 years for me this year since selling my compounds and going all in BUT I disagree with the successful part....

This year I tied my previous record for deer taken in one season with a bow and that record was previously made ONLY after switching to Traditional  

[highlow]

Sitting here in the living room, watching the snow fall and reading about all you guys going traditional only for 2015. Was thinking back to how I got into this hunting style. It's a rather long journey and didn't know if anyone would really care how it came about but then decided what the heck. If someone doesn't want to read it then they don't have to read it. So here goes.
It was around '73 and I and a couple of buds were sitting around trying to think of ways to increase our hunting opportunities and one of us mentioned bow hunting. When I was younger I would shoot frogs with my old all green fiberglass bow with brown plastic grip but that activity didn't translate into my older hunting trips. Anyway, we took a trip down to Robin Hood Archery and Butts and Bows in, I think, Montclair, NJ. I bought a Robin Hood recurve and a Browning Explorer I. All three of us hunted hard that first year and I actually killed my first deer, a doe, with that Explorer, and from the ground no less. Still have both of them.
But then I got caught up in the "latest" in bow hunting, the compound. Bought an early Jennings and gradually stepped up in quality to keep pace with the increasing technology.
Stayed with the compound until I took a summer job with the local Y camp nearby. I had retired at that point and was just looking for something to do summers. One of my fellow employees at that camp happened to be a traditional archer who goes by the handle "Bamboo" on this site. I'm sure many of you know of whom I speak. As summer progressed Bamboo convinced me that I should try bow hunting with a recurve or longbow and after a while I had to agree with him. Knowing nothing about trad archery decided I wanted to start with a Howard Hill longbow, one of which I saw a friend of Bamboo's had. So I purchased an HH blank and Bamboo finished it for me. Did a really nice job by the way. Hunted with him that season and managed to kill a doe. Bought another blank and finished that one myself. Came out pretty well if I must say so myself. Took it on a pig hunt on an island in PA next spring and dropped a big old pig with that one.
For some reason that was the end of my foray into trad archery and hunting and went back to the wheels with a vengeance.

[KyStickbow]

Originally posted by Bisch:
Keep after it and it will happen!

There is just about no other feeling in the world like that when you walk up to the first critter you ever shoot with a trad bow!

Bisch

X2....I dont think I have ever been so excited walking up to a doe as I was the first one with my longbow. It might as well have been a 200 inch deer.

[highlow]

Ooops. Hit the Add Reply by mistake. On with the narrative.
Where was I? Oh, yeah, back to wheels with a vengeance. Stayed with them until last summer when I and a friend went down to True South Adventures for a hog hunt. Took my compound and my Kwyk Styk which I had bought off another friend when I went to Sawmill during my longbow stint. When we got to True South, I asked Jim how far the shots would be to the bait sites from the stands we'd be using and he said ten to fifteen yards. I thought, heck, that close, I'm going to try it with my KS. For whatever reason, the minute I carried that bow into the woods it was the end of my compound days. That bow just felt so good to carry. (I hit a hog on that trip but didn't recover.) I made a decision I made a decision at that point that I was going trad the whole way. Gave my wheels to my son last summer and haven't looked back.
Decided that if I was going to go whole "hog", no pun intended, I wanted a new custom. Finally decided on a Hummingbird Kingfisher longbow three piece. For me, an excellent choice. Have taken a pronghorn in WY in Sept. and a doe and a nice buck with it this past archery season. As an aside, I had Bamboo make me one of his R/D longbows last fall and this past week during winter bow, dropped a little five pointer, my first winter bow buck.
The only downside to this whole transition is that I have become addicted to trad bows. I've bought five or six used ones off another site's classifieds. Don't see an end to it either.
Well, I guess I've rambled on long enough. Am truly enjoying the trip and as many have said there is nothing like putting one's hands on an animal taken the way it should be, with a stick and string. The End.
b

[KyRidgeRunner]

Cool story highlow.  I will say I was a little confused until I read the second half of your post.

[Lineman72]