When'd you take the plunge and get rid of your compound?

[rhendrix]

So I'll be hunting from November 2nd to the 12th, I've got my compound and recurve in my car and will be heading out in the morning, but I'm gonna try my best to hunt with just my recurve. I'm just afraid that I'm gonna get into a situation where I pattern a deer but can't get close enough within my effective range (20 yards with the recurve) and will miss an opportunity. Have any of you guys ran into this, and how did you overcome it? I'm hunting public land, so I'm already stacking the odds against me, and I'd really like to get a deer with my recurve. But I don't want to stack the odds so far against me that it's dang near impossible.

Ron

[Antlers86]

I havnt got into Trad yet but plan to next season. I'm afraid I will have to sell my compound in order to do so. If it's sitting there I would end up grabbing it every time. I'm ready for more of a challenge.

If your really set on getting your first with the recurve then have faith in yourself and leave the compound at home!

[RickBarbee]

1957

[rhendrix]

I havnt got into Trad yet but plan to next season. I'm afraid I will have to sell my compound in order to do so. If it's sitting there I would end up grabbing it every time. I'm ready for more of a challenge.

If your really set on getting your first with the recurve then have faith in yourself and leave the compound at home!

That's the problem....my faith is shaky. Lol!

[CRM_95]

I sold mine about a month ago. December will be a year since I started shooting trad. With that said I'm not a purist. I'll bow hunt with a stick bow, if I don't get it done I've got a safe full of rifles.

[SwampRabbit]

I haven't touched my compound in 2 years. Still trying to find a buyer...

I started shooting trad 8 months before I finally put up the compound. I put it away the day I killed my first deer with it. I had already refused to shoot at a deer farther than 20 yards, so coming down an extra 5 wasn't that big of a deal. Of course I try for 10, and that has proven to be more challenging.

It is not easy. The experienced guys make it look easy... but it takes time to get good at it. I personally have bought into that idea and have just decided to go all in, realizing that I will have ups and downs along the way. But... I gotta say thhat those ups with a trad bow have been way more rewarding than a compound or rifle.

Last year was a big up... this season has been bit of a down... just rolling with the punches.

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[jerp]

I took me forever to take the plunge. During most of the 15 years I hunted with a compound I was intrigued by trad bows but could never make the commitment. When I finally did I was all-in. Other than to help my son tune his bow I have not drawn a compound since the day UPS delivered my first trad bow. That was about 6 1/2 years ago.

[Fordtough68]

I need to bag one with a compound first! Lol

[Johnny Dangerr]

At 62 I went the other way and got a Xbow......

[DRT]

Never happen.
I enjoy shooting my compound as well. I like the precision of my shooting with it. I like the confidence I have in it. I like how it makes things bleed. Just like I'll never get rid of my rifles or hand guns.
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[killerbee]

I think it's been 4 yrs for me now. I still rifle hunt some.

[Junkers88]

I'd say don't get rid of it until you feel you need to do so. I've never owned anything other than a recurve and not until July of this year so take what I tell you with that in mind.

Richard.

[SwampGhost]

I never got rid of my compound. I kept it in case my oldest son wanted to shoot/hunt.
Its been sitting in it's case for 6 years now. I have no desire to shoot it but that's just me.
SwampRabbit said it well, you have to be able to handle the fact that you will not always Get One! But when it all comes together, It is a feeling like no other.
You will never kill one with it if you leave it home. You just have to decide how important it is to you.
Best of luck!

[Jimbo47]

I'm 70 and I started out bowhunting back in the mid sixties when I was in my teens. I always hunted for as long as I could remember when I tagged along with my dad and brother, and I was always fascinated by archery back then, because my brother and I used to hunt and find arrow heads on the ranch we used to roam around on that belonged to my dads friend.
I even carved out a bow out of a cedar limb and it actually worked, but it was pretty crude, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever until I broke it. lol
After I got out of the service I bought a Ben Pearson Predator recurve bow and hunted with it for about six years, and I had some memorable hunts using it, and then I went and bought my first of several compounds which I used for many years and even shot in 3D competitions for several years, and I hunted on a bow only lease for close to twenty years and then I started having shoulder problems (work related) and I sold my compound and bought a crossbow, which I used for several years until my shoulders healed up about the time I retired, and then I came full circle for about six years now, since I bought another recurve to go along with my Ben Pearson bow, which I still have that was my original recurve back in 1970, that I still use by the way.
That's my story best I can recall.

I guess I should have read the OP's question first so I would say like others have said, "leave the compound at home!"
It's like that saying.....bowhunting makes you a better hunter, and hunting with a recurve/longbow makes you a better bowhunter.

[DRT]

The difference I've seen in the past is a lot more wounded and lost animals by traditional shooters. That's the biggest turn off for me. That's why I feel like I need to be able to shoot small consistent groups.

I don't take long shots with my compound bows. The vast majority of the deer and pigs I kill are 20 yards or closer. 25 is a long shot. So I don't see the traditional bow as a handicap that way and figure I must be doing something right to get as many kills per year as I do. That being said I hunt in a lot of target rich environments and its easy to pattern animals to feeders. Not sure how great a hunter I am but I am successful.

The amount of practice it takes to get good and stay sharp with a trad bow is exponentially more than a compound with sights. To me that is the big difference. The slow is fine. As long as any bow is relatively quiet and you can effectively shoot at the range they are at you can kill them. But doing that without sights, just pointing and releasing, trusting your brain, eye and hands to consistently deliver that arrow on target is tougher than shooting the compound.

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