Hunting the hard way.

[DRT]

Most of us did not start out with a traditional bow as a hunter. Most of us have hunted with firearms, compounds or crossbows at some point. Maybe for the greater part of out hunting careers.
I know there are many traditional bowhunters who have only shot single string bows and that is pretty cool. However from conversations I've had it seems more are converts from other disciplines.
So I thought it might be nice to share where you are in it, how you got here and how focused you are on trad vs other disciplines of hunting implements.
Me I'm really a convert. Although I started with a gifted used Bear recurve I didn't hunt a lot with it. One because I only hunted type 2 permit land back then and two because soon I picked up a Bear Whitetail 2 on clearance an quickly learned to be deadly accurate. That year I got my first deer lease, shot my first five archery deer on that lease. There were two slob hunters on it who kept claiming traditional bowhunters were the only real hunters as they constantly wounded and lost deer. The good traditional shooters I knew at the club shot religiously to maintain their edge and I knew I wouldn't have the time to do that until I retired. Fast forward 25 years an watching Buff and CRM95 shoot at Big Oak and I took up the single string. I've taken my compound on a few hunts since but couldn't bring myself to release an arrow except on big pigs. Just this year on a tough hunt in Missouri I let them walk the evening I carried it.
I'm not sure but I know for now, at this point in my journey, the single string just feels right.

Gary

[Bisch]

Enjoy it while you got it!!! I started with a compound many moons ago. I then switched to trad bows, and have pretty much only hunted with them for the last 25yrs or so, up till last year.

A couple years ago I injured a nerve in my neck which almost completely shut down my left arm. Nothing has been totally right since.

I’ve wounded or missed more critters in the last 2 years that I probably did in the 10 previous to that. Last week was the straw that broke the camels back!!!! I am now hunting with the compound again till I can figure things out.

I still get more out of doing it with a trad bow, but just can’t justify keeping on with it till I do get things figured out better!!!!

I’ll still shoot 3D with my sticks, and I’ll still shoot them most every day. But the hunt is on hold till I get “it” back again!!!

Bisch


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[TxAg]

Rifle, compound, trad, and now back to compound and rifle. I've gotten to where I don't really care about the weapon like I used to. It's all fun, but target panic ruined trad for me


I very much enjoy the annual trad kill thread, though!

[RickBarbee]

My Grandpa built & shot bean shooters for as long as I can remember. He was darn good with one, and he taught me how to build, and shoot them at a very early age. I don't remember when I first started building them, but I was shooting them at age 3. I think my love for this is what lead to my love of the bow and arrow.

I started out shooting recurve and longbow in 4H, and cub/boy scouts around the age of 7 or 8. We never really had any real instruction, but it was fun none the less, and I believe due to my bean shooter experience I was able to achieve fair accuracy after a while. I loved it, and wish I had had more positive influence for it throughout my childhood.

My Dad was an avid gun hunter, and although he tried to bow hunt (one time, one season) he pretty much scoffed at the whole concept. Those being the conditions, I was never encouraged to pursue archery, or bowhunting, but I did shoot the bow now and then.

I completely lost interest in hunting when I reached my mid to late 20s, because the gun presented no real challenge for me. I tried a couple different methods (pistol & shotgun), but they just didn't bring that feeling of challenge & EXCITEMENT back to me as I had felt in my early years gun hunting, and I completely quit hunting for 4 years.

Then in the early 80s I had the good fortune to become acquainted with a fella my age, that was both an avid archer, and bowhunter. He rekindled my interest in both, and was able to coach most of the self taught bad habits I had learned as a kid out of me.

I had for a long time been an avid turkey hunter (mostly shotgun), and I prided myself in the ability to call them in, and put them close. This new friend had never hunted turkey, and although I had told him I no longer hunted them he insisted I take him out to try it. I agreed, and he met me before daylight on the following Saturday morning.

We started preparing to head out, and he pulled an old Browning Fire Drake and some arrows from his back seat. I immediately started drooling. What a beautiful bow!!! I however was skeptical of his chances of success, and offered to lend him a shotgun. At this he just smiled, declined, and said - "I thought you could call em in close?" I replied - yep I can, and so we were off.

I called a couple of real nice gobblers off the roost for him that morning, and they hit the ground at about 20 yards in an immediate strut. He shot, and lopped the head off of the largest one.

That was the beginning of a never ending romance with the bow for me. We spent the rest of the day stump shooting using his bow, and him giving me pointers.

Remember I said my Dad tried it once? Well he still had that old bow (A 45# 58" Shakespeare Kibab), and all of the arrows. I went and borrowed it that night, went back out turkey hunting Sunday morning, and got my first bow kill. The romance was accelerated into a full blown LOVING ADDICTION at that point. You might even call it a "Fatal Attraction" with a twist Heh Heh.

I hunted, and shot some competition with a compound for one year, but never laid my trad bows down.
I often hunted, and shot competition with both on the same days during that year. But, the compound just didn't do it for me, so after that year it was sold, and I've never owned another.

It's been a great/thrilling Trad Bow ride/journey all these years in both competition, and hunting, and I will cling to it for as long as I possibly can.

I have nothing against other methods of hunting, but if I ever get to the point where I can't shoot my trad bows proficiently enough to hunt, I'll probably stop hunting all together again, or (and likely) just pick up a good camera, and hunt with it. I get my thrill out of getting close, so a camera will fill the gap somewhat.

Rick

[jerp]

I didn’t grow up deer hunting at all, just travelled all over several states with my dad chasing quail and pheasants. I deer hunted for the first time after I moved to Texas at age 25. I shot a couple with a rifle and went back to bird hunting. In the late 90’s I bought a compound on a whim which kindled my fire for deer hunting. I got the trad itch a long time before I jumped in with both feet about 8 years ago. I hunted with a compound for 15 years but have not even drawn one since I bought that first longbow. I don’t kill critters very often but I sure have fun!

[Horsehide]

I didn't grow up in an area where there was a whole lot to hunt besides small birds and it had appeal to me. My Dad never hunted in his life or came from a family with a hunting tradition. I was into firearms for a whole different set of reasons and could outshoot most of my friends.
Moving to Colorado opened up new horizons and our freezer was filled with venison most Falls. Rifle hunting became stale and I bypassed the compounds to jump into stickbows.
Shot R/D longbows and ASLs. Put fewer critters in the freezer, bu the fun was back.
Now back in Texas, I find myself older and not as proficient with long bows. With the guidance of friends, I am gravitating more towards recurves or shorter bows.
Compounds still have very little appeal to me, but they are just a tool. I will not look down at someone who uses one to be able to make ethical shots. The hunt is really what drives most of us. We might adapt to adjust to our current circumstances, but we are still hunting.

[mobrien]

So I thought it might be nice to share where you are in it, how you got here and how focused you are on trad vs other disciplines of hunting implements.

I started using the old fiberglass recurves as a kid (8 years old or so) and learned from my dad, he wasn't much of an archer but he enjoyed shooting from time to time. A few times I tried to hunt with my bow for rabbits and squirrels but never had any luck. In my teens I hunted squirrels and rabbits with an air rifle or .22 and was successful, eventually I stopped shooting the bow.

About 4 years ago a buddy got interested in shooting the bow and bought a recurve, his talking about it got me to pull out my dad's old fiberglass Ben Pearson, get a new string for it, and start some shooting again. Eventually I bought a better bow and did a few 3d shoots with my friend and it became even more fun.

After my 1st hog hunt, I decided I really wanted to take some game with the bow. My first kill was one of the biggest adrenaline highs I've had hunting, it was only a 55# pig or so but I saw 3 of them up the road and stalked up to them through the mesquite to get my shot off within 15 yards. The pig ran 20 feet past me and fell- I was hooked after that.

[popup_menace]

Archery and I have always been hand-in-glove. However, nobody in my family ever showed interest in it or helped me learn it in any way. When I was a kid (7 or 8) I loved shooting the little fiberglass bow and arrows my dad got me, but when the string broke and the fiberglass got too splintered I made a bow out of an old truck antenna. I whittled some arrows out of dowel rods and shot those at cardboard boxes. That went on for a number of years and I made bows out of just about anything that bent with a bowstring made from sausage tying yarn that I braided together.

At 13 I got my first compound, an alpine archery micro (or something like that). I dry fired it, shot aluminums that bent, and just overall made every mistake you could with that bow. But, it kept my fire lit well enough through high school and chasing girls that my senior year I bought a Hoyt Maxxis and started hunting seriously. I still knew next to nothing about tuning and setting up a bow, but I loved shooting and was decent enough that I was confident I could kill an animal.

When I was 19, I was luckily invited back to a ranch where I subsequently procured MLD tags and now had a doe tag to fill with my bow. This would be the first big game animal of my life, and by goodness I was going to do it with a bow or I wasn’t going to do it at all. That season I shot my first deer with that Hoyt, and I was definitely hooked.

College started, and I started swapping bows and learning how to tune and set up more so out of budget necessity than anything else. I began to enjoy archery for what archery was more than the hunting. But, I kept hunting nonetheless and killing a few deer here and there.

Once I got married and started a real job archery took a backseat to a lot of things, but it was always there. I kept picking up shooting instruction and learning better how to tune and set up bows. Eventually I worked my way into working for a local shop for a season. That was awesome, but that was actually kind of what led me to trad archery.

I started listening to podcasts a few years ago, and a couple of them mentioned hunting with trad equipment. While working at a pro shop and messing with all the gadgets on the compounds, these folks talking about tuning an shooting a Stickbow has me intrigued. I took the plunge and sold all my compound stuff and bought a recurve this year. Killed my first animal with it a few days ago. So far, I can’t say there is much I miss about the compound. That spark for archery is back like I haven’t had it in years, and I’m apparently still able to kill stuff.

That’s my story.

[Ruttin&Struttin]

Started with a rifle and shotgun. Then 23 years ago went to compound. After about 10 years of compound only, I started mixing in traditional. Pretty much I hunt with the compound until I kill a buck and then hunt the remainder of that season with the longbow. Works for me.

[ballgame]

Been deer and exotics hunting since before I can remember. Was in the blind with my Dad while still in diapers. Hunted with a rifle up until 2000 (19 years old). It was still fun and I got really good at 400+ yard shots.
Started exclusively using a compound in 2001 to extend my season and for the challenge. By 2012 I had already shot one of every species of animal that roams our place and I found myself not shooting my bow. One of my uncles shot a recurve and he took me to a local 3d shoot. My uncle is not a good shot but a guy we shot with was awesome! I honestly didn't think people could consistently kill animals with a trad bow (after watching my uncle shoot for years). After the 3d shoot I decided I would give Trad a try... I've never looked back.

[SwampRabbit]

I started hunting some where in my early 30s. I am a first generation hunter... or at least it skipped a few generations. I am prettt much self taught in that regard.

Started with a rifle, and hunted rifle for 2-3 years before getting a compound. Still hunted both until I started trad and then pretty much switched exclusively to the stick and string with a rare exception that I might bring out the boomstick for a deer late in the season when I didn't get it done (which has been every year the last 3 years). We eat deer all year, so I like to have a deer or 2 in the freezer.

For every other critter, its all me and my widow...

My wife just shot her first critter last year, and her first deer this past month. She hunts a rifle and so does my 14 year old son, although he is getting old enough and interested in killing a hog with his compound. My 9 year old daughter hunts with a recurve crossbow I set up for her...

So as a family we hunt with the tools that fit our capabilities as hunters.

I will say that I got to enjoy a recent couple of hunts for deer with a rifle... they were run and gun on a ranch that was wide open and no feeders. Sitting at a feeder with a rifle lost its thrill for me when I started bow hunting... but spot and "stalk" with a rifle is still enjoyable and rewarding.

But nothing, and I mean nothing compares to the thrill of a stick and string bow hunt. There isn't a species that I have killed that I haven't done with a bow, and there are several I have only killed with a stick bow. Javi, coon, yote, turkey, javis, jack rabbits, gar, sheep, black buck, rattle snake, etc. Doubt I would go out of my way to shoot them now with a gun.

My personal hunting has slowed the past year as I have focused on getting family members thier kills... hoping this next year I get more time to hunt so I can break my dry spell... also, I really enjoy hunting with buddies and haven't had the chance to do that this year like years past. That is the part I miss the most.

[Fishxbones]

Never had a place to hunt deer for years. Spent the majority of my time hunting birds, ducks especially. Finally got a place to hunt deer about 5 yrs ago and used a rifle for the first few years. I was always interested in bow hunting but never took the plunge. After snooping on the trad forum for awhile I finally picked up a recurve and now hunt with a long bow. I have never shot a compound bow. Part of the reason I went straight into trad is I wanted simplicity.

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[Selfbowman]

Bisch I had the same problem I think. At about full draw my bow arm would collapse. It got corrected when I face planted on a bicycle ! It adjusted my top 4-5 vertebra all at once. Hurt like hell and don’t recommend it. Sometimes you have be careful to ask God to fix your injury. But it’s fixed. Arvin

[CRM_95]

I started out with a compound, then started shooting trad in 2015. I've had a lot of fun along the way and been frustrated beyond words too. This year most of my hunting has been with a compound, because I've got a lot going on in my personal life and just can't practice like I should. I can not shoot my compound for 3 months and then pick it up and go kill a deer. For me that doesn't work with my trad bows, I need to shoot every day. With that said I still shoot my trad bows as much as I can and I'm by no means done with trad. Hopefully things will slow down and I can get back to normal soon. I still love it.

[DRT]

Good luck with the election Ryan and congratulations on the kills you have this year. It's no gimme with a bow regardless.

Gary