Me and the longbow are not getting it done

[reddogdan]

26 pigs under the feeder and i shot high. Missed a coyote and bobcat last year. I keep thinking about my wheels i left at home.

[Phillip Fields]

Hang in there, you'll get it done.

[MeatEater]

Confidence is the key. Hang in there you will get it done.

[LeanMachine]

If you just want to kill something then take the wheels. If you want the pride of doing it the hard way, have patience, practice practice practice, and pick a spot. My success rate plummeted when i took the leap to trad, amd im ok with that because the how i kill is more important to me than what i kill.

[M.E.B.]

26 pigs under the feeder and i shot high. Missed a coyote and bobcat last year. I keep thinking about my wheels i left at home.

I have killed a boat load of deer and hogs with trad equipment. I have never had a shot at a bobcat or coyote. Go figure.

[kd8jgu]

This morning had a deer at 30 yards I release and hit a branch

[El Paisano]

Practice stump shooting with judos. Shoot a lot when you are in the woods. Have fun.

[stykshooter]

If you just want to kill something then take the wheels. If you want the pride of doing it the hard way, have patience, practice practice practice, and pick a spot. My success rate plummeted when i took the leap to trad, amd im ok with that because the how i kill is more important to me than what i kill.

Well stated, Sir

[killerbee]

If you just want to kill something then take the wheels. If you want the pride of doing it the hard way, have patience, practice practice practice, and pick a spot. My success rate plummeted when i took the leap to trad, amd im ok with that because the how i kill is more important to me than what i kill.

Well said

[Limbwalker]

Don't.

You put enough arrows through that traditional bow, and it will become the most lethal bow you can hunt with. Believe me, I'm there now and my success rate for traditional bows far exceeds mine with a compound.

The only thing you are lacking is faith. If you find your faith in traditional gear, you will find your success.

John

[ShaBow]

26 pigs under the feeder and i shot high. Missed a coyote and bobcat last year. I keep thinking about my wheels i left at home.

I have a little different opinion than most others on the Trad section. I say if you want to take your compound out and hunt with it then do it and I can assure you there ain't many guys that shoot more arrows out of a Trad bow than I do each year. I hunt with both and love them both. Sometimes I have both hanging in the tree with me and have shot animals with both in the same sitting. There is no guarantee with any bow and anyone who has bowhunted for any length of time knows that. I see lots of bowhunters get frustrated and disappointed from blown shots with either bow every year.

[M.E.B.]

Both bows have advantages and disadvantages.

At the target range the compound will win hands down. We are talking the difference between shooting Xs and killing shots here.
As far as the deer jumping the string the compound comes out ahead.
If the deer freezes behind something and you are at full draw you can wait it out with a compound. Clearance wise you have less limb length to worry about

Where the advantage swings to the trad bow for me is that if I have a deer at 20 or less yards I can get on the deer and make a killing shot in less than half the time. So if the deer is browsing I can come up and get a shot off before it moves.

If the deer is close and comes walking by I can raise up and shoot much faster.

Over on the Campfire the other day they were talking about a guys compound that came apart, derailed or some such thing because he slightly torqued the string while letting it down. You will never have that problem with a trad bow. If you need to let down because a shot oppurtunity has passed you can do so with less motion and without throwing your shoulder out. You can also stop at half draw if need be without getting a hernia.

[Selfbowman]

Long bows are slower , more quite, take more practice and are more of a fun challenge for me. That being said it is even more fun with a selfbow. Arvin

[IowaHunter]

Practice stump shooting with judos. Shoot a lot when you are in the woods. Have fun.

Good idea, make a game of it in the off time.

[Limbwalker]

Agreed on the "stump" shooting - although I never actually shoot at stumps, but rather leaves, flowers, etc. Judos make the perfect practice head for actual hunting shots.

As far as the deer jumping the string the compound comes out ahead

Exactly the opposite of my experience. In the past 35 years, I can count on one hand the number of deer that have ducked my arrow with a recurve or longbow, but I've lost track of the number that have ducked or moved when I shot my compound. Had one jump the string just 3 days ago with my compound. I swore I'd never hunt with one again, but I decided to give it another try and that was my result. Lesson learned.

My longbows are so quiet that a deer would have to be very, very close to be alarmed by them. And I'm not interested in shooting a 300+FPS bow with ultralight arrows to try and outrun the deer. That's why we have firearms season IMO.

Look, traditional bowhunting is a lifestyle change. To make it work consisitently, you have to dedicate yourself to shooting your traditional hunting bow year-round, so that when the shot presents itself, you think nothing of it and the idea of missing is not even in your mind.

If a person isn't really interested in making their traditional hunting bow their primary bow to shoot, then they really are better off using a compound.