any archers?

[troy_mclure]

Ive hunted with crossbows and compound bows Years ago. I recently decided i wanted a recurve bow to play with. After much shopping around a buddy is giving me a bear yellow fox 35#. Im looking forward to setting it up and learning to shoot it.

[Outer Rondacker]

I did recurve for many years then moved to compound bow and enjoyed that a lot. Was just getting ready to make the move back to recurve when the big guy in the sky put a hurt down on me. Well now my health wont let me draw a bow and hold it. A crossbow has been on the list for the last few years but being on a very low income now its looking like using a bow of any kind for hunting is over. Enjoy it while ya can. You never know.

There is just a different sense one gets when using an arrow or any sorts over a bullet. Dont get me wrong there is also a nice sense to using a bullet to harvest game with a bullet one has made themselves.

[twc1964]

I started yrs ago with a compound bow. After a few yrs i bought a used bear recurve and really liked it. After many yrs of married and way to many casseroles, ive gained mucho tonnage and its really hard to climb into a tree stand. In tx, land to hunt on is scarce unless you own it. Leases here are high as heck and public land is a joke imo. Maybe one day i can find something affordable and try the old stick and string again.

[Cornbread]

I've been shooting a longbow for 32 years now. Glass backed and self bows, I have both and I hunt with both. I make my own arrows as well.

My arrows look like this:


And the bow I hunt with most looks like this:

[troy_mclure]

Twc1964, Louisiana is the same way. Im moving back north soon hopefully.

[bruce drake]

Up until this fall's neck surgery I shot a Fred Bear Kodiak recurve with a 60# draw. I started shooting in elementary school and I loved the thrill of quickly taking the nock back to my cheek and letting go a laser shot (archery speaking that is) towards a deer. Now the doctors say no more recurves due to the strain on my spine. I'm going to have to start learning to shoot a crossbow once I get off this 10lb lifting restriction.

Shooting a recurve is a matter of learning through repetition exactly how your arrow will fly when you take it back to full draw and letting go. Thankfully, your mental calculator in your skull can do the math after a while.

I have been seeing some shooters at my local club with new recurves starting to mount pin sights on their bows as they are transitioning over from compound bows where they learned on them.

So basically, now a days, you can shoot a recurve with all the modern pins and whistles or keep it simple like the Good Lord intended them to be.

[dragon813gt]

I've been using a crossbow for five years. I didn't shoot a bow growing up and don't have the time to become proficient w/ it. Which is a shame because I hate the crossbow. Don't get me wrong, it's perfect for a short walk to a tree stand. It's a heavy unwieldy beast that is not comfortable to carry for long distances. Let alone sling over your shoulder while you're dragging a deer out. It has given me a lot more time in the woods which is a good thing

[Hogtamer]

My 44th year huntin 'em the hard way, as Howard Hill called it. Hey cornbread, nice arrows but we don't allow "left wingers" in the woods in Georgia! Attachment 119357. The first, Oct '70Attachment 119362. The latest, Nov. '13. Attachment 119363. And a coupla hunnerd us these uglies. Attachment 119365

[MaryB]

Used to use a 65 pound compound bow, 2 shoulder surgeries put an end to that. I am looking at lower cost crossbows that I can add some form of crank cocking device too.

[lefty o]

if you can learn to shoot a recurve well, todays modern compounds are almost self shooting. until recently (injuries) ive shot since i was a kid. as for having pins on a stick bow, it aint nothing new. my old bear grizzly already had them on it when i got the bow used in 1982. once you get those muscles built up that you never knew you had in your back, shooting bows is very relaxing.

[RugerFan]

Its been years since I've harvested a deer with a recurve. I can tell you there's a very high satisfaction factor when you do it. I've always wanted a Black Widow recurve, but I'm getting a little long in the tooth for a stick bow these days.

[Lonegun1894]

I have been hunting with a compound for about 12 yrs now, and fishing with a recurve for 7-8 yrs. I got a long bow last year, but work has gotten in the way so I'm not good enough to hunt with it yet, but working on it slowly.

[Adam10mm]

I have a Samick Sage 40lb recurve and like it quite a bit. I shoot barebow, so no sights or other nonsense. Only nonsense I have on my bow are string silencers and the shelfpads for shooting off the shelf. I like simplicity.

[dagger dog]

I have 2 traditional bows a Bear Montana straight 45#, and a Pearson re-curve 50# both at 28".

Tried a compound and didn't like it.

I shoot 385 grain arrow, with a fixed 3 blade cut on contact Wensel Woodsman, wood shaft. I also shoot a carbon arrows with small game heads, Judo's, and target points.

Since my teens I always shot lefty even though I was right handed, when I bought my long bow I re-trained to shoot right handed.

Shooting a longbow seems natural, but the re-curve IMO needs training, the straight wrist is foreign to me and takes practice .

I can see why the longbow served the English !

If you have followed the history, the draw weight of the English longbow found in the Mary Rose was over 100#.

The bones of the archers found within the sunken ship were defined from the others by the long bones of the left arm, those bones were 1/3 extra size of the same bones found within the ship. That fact came from the hours of practice that placed the stress on that arm holding the pressure of the draw weight, years at the butts holding that type of pressure caused extra bone growth from repetitive stress.

If starting a new traditional bow I would recommend the re-curve, it's a lot easier going from the re-curve to longbow than the opposite, and don't fall for the heavier draw weight, 40-50 # draw will shoot a fixed cut on contact broad head shaft through a whitetail deer at reasonable 20-30 yd shots.

It's all in the stalking, taking your first kill with traditional equipment requires getting close, don't shoot at the deer, pick out and focus on that small patch of turned over hair, or bald spot that's within the kill zone, put the arrow there. If the arrow hits where you aimed all you will have to do is retrieve your arrow and follow the blood trail.

[Dhammer]

I live for Archery hunting. I used a compound for a lot of years. After I got hurt, I switched to an xbow.

I need to call AZ game and fish tomorrow and see if the letter from doc, will suffice for xbow permit here. We recently moved to the southwest. I didn't draw tags this year here sadly. It doesn't look like I can make it back to Midwest before the gun season either. So no Archery until Dec when I get resident status. Its driving me nuts!!!! Of course that's when they scheduled my next surgery in regards to my spine injury and its 4-6 weeks of down time.

I never missed an opening day of Archery or pheasant hunting for that matter other then mil service. Then the year I got hurt. State wouldn't issue xbow permit, since injury wasn't classified as permanent at that point. I never got that concept of denying a person their only option to hunt because hey, after season is over you might be able to use a compound again. I missed a few years of bird hunting sadly after I got hurt. It didn't help my dogs either going from 5 days a week of hunting entire pheasant season since they were pups to none at all. Couch potaoes now. I cannot figure out where to bird hunt here either so missing that too. this year.

My 7yr old recently got his first compound. He loves it. His younger sister has already made it clear for Xmas she wants a bow too and will forgo other presents to get it. My guess is she will smoke her brother pretty quickly. She's the more determined one and very competive with him.

I love the fact my kids want to do it and we can practice right in yard at new house..

[dragon813gt]

I don't understand the crossbow regulations in a lot of states. PA opened them to everyone years ago. I can tell you that cocking one w/ a rope cocker isn't the easiest thing in the world. They have a lot of drawbacks compared to traditional bows. Just more useless legislation in my eyes.

[dakotashooter2]

I'd love to go back to a recurve but I just don't have the shoulder strength any more. I do shoot a "stripped" compound bow. 53#s, No sights, no stabilizers, no fancy arrow rests and no release. Those things just get i the way. I don't have the pinpoint accuracy some guys have with all the bells and whistles but I can take any arrow out of my quiver, no mater what size, length or tip and put it into a baseball size target out to 40 yards.

I remember shooting a 3D tourney many years back. The club set one deer target so its back was visible behind a fallen log .Most of the shooters hit the target high in the back. Because I was shooting a lower draw weight and had more trajectory I was able (and knew I could)to drop an arrow into the vitals. Some of the newer bows shoot so flat there is no possible way they could make that kind of shot. I have used that aspect to my advantage in the field over the years.

[shooter2]

A few lifetimes ago I shot target archery. Both longbows and recurves and, honestly, liked them both.

I've never shot, or even seen, a "Stickbow, but what I've read puts them near the top of the list.

[dualsport]

I hunted many seasons with a Bear Whitetail II. The cool thing about it (still got) is it has a decent shelf. Remove elevated rest, remove sights. Bingo.-compound bow benefits shooting off the shelf instinctively. Oh, remove quiver too.

[dagger dog]

It's amazing, that the human brain can place the arrow where the practiced archers eyes sees !

True instinctive shooting requires hours with your bow and tackle, no sights, no mechanical releases, rests or shelves, just practice.