Attrition rate of newby traditional archers

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cck311

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Apr 23, 2020
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I was just curious. Out of all the guys that try out traditional archery how many do you think stick with it long term vs how many give it up fairly quick and go back to a wheel bow? I barely even know any guys that tried it out in the first place. There's not much interest in it around here.
 
I’m not sure 100% on it but I don’t think it’s many that go all in 100% and stay that way. Some of us do and did and some have neva shot a compound. I feel like it’s dropped off from the last few years but overall interest is still decent. I think more people dabble and shoot both which honestly why not. Shooting both is super fun. People see the success but they don’t realize the work put forth into being consistent and I think that’s where the rubber meets the road. You have to want it bad enough to commit full time. But some folks are good at both. I had a hard time switching back to a stick after time with a compound. So I was one that just picked the one I enjoyed the most and rolled. I still like to go to the pro shop and shoot the new technology but I enjoy my longbows and kill just as consistent. 🤙🤙🤙
 
I started archery for the first time last year. Started with a recurve because it was cheap to get setup. Lots of fun to shoot but realistically I would have to be like 10yards or less with that thing, to hit the vitals every single time. Some days my 20y shots were great and some days they sucked. I did the online Solid Archery Mechanics program by Tom Clum.
I learned allot but the overall inconsistency of my performance made me feel like I should not be hunting with it. I might go back to it someday.
I just bought a compound and am still figuring it out but I can hit baseball sized groups at 30y easily if I execute shots properly.
For me, for now, its a no brainer.
I do think trad bow hunting is the coolest way to do it. But I have a looooooooong way to go before I can try to poke a deer with one.
 
Where are you located?

The answer to your question is...It Depends...

In my mind it depends on what motivates the person to hunt in the first place. If your motivation is being successful every hunt, or only killing mature animals every year, then I think lots of "would be" converts never give it a try, or decide fairly quickly that it's not the correct weapon for them. I think more and more people fit into this category each year. It takes a special mindset to embrace being unsuccessful hunt after hunt.

The folks I see sticking with it are those who honestly don't feel the need to prove anything. They are ok with not killing a bull, or are willing to shoot a spike buck. They are ok with the proverbial tag stew and love the process as much as the photos for Instagram.

Let me tell a story to illustrate. I have a buddy that drew a non resident bighorn tag in Nevada last year. I helped him out and really early in the hunt he shot a young ram with his recurve. He was ecstatic! As was I. But you would never guess the number of locals around here that gave me a hard time about "letting" him shoot a young ram. They all lost sight of the hunt and the challenge associated with traditional equipment. They were too caught up in the trophy aspect of hunting. They are the types of hunters that will never try a traditional bow.

I want to be clear. There is nothing wrong with that mind set. It's just not the mind set that will work for becoming a traditional bow hunter.

That's my two cents.
 
nevadabugle said:
Where are you located?

The answer to your question is...It Depends...

In my mind it depends on what motivates the person to hunt in the first place. If your motivation is being successful every hunt, or only killing mature animals every year, then I think lots of "would be" converts never give it a try, or decide fairly quickly that it's not the correct weapon for them. I think more and more people fit into this category each year. It takes a special mindset to embrace being unsuccessful hunt after hunt.

The folks I see sticking with it are those who honestly don't feel the need to prove anything. They are ok with not killing a bull, or are willing to shoot a spike buck. They are ok with the proverbial tag stew and love the process as much as the photos for Instagram.

Let me tell a story to illustrate. I have a buddy that drew a non resident bighorn tag in Nevada last year. I helped him out and really early in the hunt he shot a young ram with his recurve. He was ecstatic! As was I. But you would never guess the number of locals around here that gave me a hard time about "letting" him shoot a young ram. They all lost sight of the hunt and the challenge associated with traditional equipment. They were too caught up in the trophy aspect of hunting. They are the types of hunters that will never try a traditional bow.

I want to be clear. There is nothing wrong with that mind set. It's just not the mind set that will work for becoming a traditional bow hunter.

That's my two cents.
Click to expand...
A bighorn with a recurve is crazy awesome no matter the size. Those guys giving you guff are idiots.
 
What Nevadabugle said resonates with me.
Seen a few guys shoot trad for a few years then move on to other means. Mostly the social media sharing type.
Seems that eventually they realise that's it too hard to kill often enough with a tradbow to satisfy the insatiable demands for content.
 
nevadabugle said:
Where are you located?

The answer to your question is...It Depends...

In my mind it depends on what motivates the person to hunt in the first place. If your motivation is being successful every hunt, or only killing mature animals every year, then I think lots of "would be" converts never give it a try, or decide fairly quickly that it's not the correct weapon for them. I think more and more people fit into this category each year. It takes a special mindset to embrace being unsuccessful hunt after hunt.

The folks I see sticking with it are those who honestly don't feel the need to prove anything. They are ok with not killing a bull, or are willing to shoot a spike buck. They are ok with the proverbial tag stew and love the process as much as the photos for Instagram.

Let me tell a story to illustrate. I have a buddy that drew a non resident bighorn tag in Nevada last year. I helped him out and really early in the hunt he shot a young ram with his recurve. He was ecstatic! As was I. But you would never guess the number of locals around here that gave me a hard time about "letting" him shoot a young ram. They all lost sight of the hunt and the challenge associated with traditional equipment. They were too caught up in the trophy aspect of hunting. They are the types of hunters that will never try a traditional bow.

I want to be clear. There is nothing wrong with that mind set. It's just not the mind set that will work for becoming a traditional bow hunter.

That's my two cents.
Click to expand...
This sums up a ton. And I agree 100%.
 
I dipped my toe into traditional archery a few years ago. I've hunted with it every season since then, but when I'm getting more worried that I'm not going to fill the tag...I go back to my compound.
I enjoy shooting my longbow more than the compound and typically leave the compound at home when I go to the archery range.

When hunting, I'll give either equal time. And I also hunt rifle and muzleloader when time permits. I don't see that as giving up trad...just using my other methods of take because I enjoy the process.
 
Wh where I hunt, the terrain favors the stickbow. Shots over 40 in n Idaho are very few and far between. When I see bulls.....they're in nasty stuff.
 
nevadabugle said:
Where are you located?

The answer to your question is...It Depends...

In my mind it depends on what motivates the person to hunt in the first place. If your motivation is being successful every hunt, or only killing mature animals every year, then I think lots of "would be" converts never give it a try, or decide fairly quickly that it's not the correct weapon for them. I think more and more people fit into this category each year. It takes a special mindset to embrace being unsuccessful hunt after hunt.

The folks I see sticking with it are those who honestly don't feel the need to prove anything. They are ok with not killing a bull, or are willing to shoot a spike buck. They are ok with the proverbial tag stew and love the process as much as the photos for Instagram.

Let me tell a story to illustrate. I have a buddy that drew a non resident bighorn tag in Nevada last year. I helped him out and really early in the hunt he shot a young ram with his recurve. He was ecstatic! As was I. But you would never guess the number of locals around here that gave me a hard time about "letting" him shoot a young ram. They all lost sight of the hunt and the challenge associated with traditional equipment. They were too caught up in the trophy aspect of hunting. They are the types of hunters that will never try a traditional bow.

I want to be clear. There is nothing wrong with that mind set. It's just not the mind set that will work for becoming a traditional bow hunter.

That's my two cents.
Click to expand...
This sums it up a lot for me too, we do have rmsgear locally though, so there's a wealth of knowledge to utilize so we probably have a higher percentage stick with it than other places, but I'm really not sure on that because we might have a higher percentage try it here for the same reason. I've had a bighorn ewe tag twice now, got close enough one time the first season but had no shot, I recommend people shooting the first legal sheep they can get close enough too, that shit is hard, but man it's fun!
 
I bought one and kinda figured it out, tuning and brace height and right arrows and spine and weight and blah blah blah. After tinkering a while (a YEAR) I got pretty decent with it. Shot it another year before I thought to take it hunting. Shot one doe with it on September 28th of the 3rd year, killed her fast. De-strung the bow, hung it up and haven't touched it since. It's been 2 years. Maybe when I get so so good at consistently always killing with a compound I'll go back to a recurve. I didn't hate shooting it. I just felt like there was so much tinkering and upkeep and god forbid it rain. Lol.
 
trailblazer75 said:
I bought one and kinda figured it out, tuning and brace height and right arrows and spine and weight and blah blah blah. After tinkering a while (a YEAR) I got pretty decent with it. Shot it another year before I thought to take it hunting. Shot one doe with it on September 28th of the 3rd year, killed her fast. De-strung the bow, hung it up and haven't touched it since. It's been 2 years. Maybe when I get so so good at consistently always killing with a compound I'll go back to a recurve. I didn't hate shooting it. I just felt like there was so much tinkering and upkeep and god forbid it rain. Lol.
Click to expand...
I don't get how you could think there's more tinkering and upkeep, and as far as rain, I just treat my feathers with Rust-Oleum Never Wet Fabric treatment, rain don't bother me as much with trad as it did with compound and all the hardware on the bow getting rusty, and I don't have to go to a shop to do any string maintenance or anything!
 
oldgoat said:
I don't get how you could think there's more tinkering and upkeep, and as far as rain, I just treat my feathers with Rust-Oleum Never Wet Fabric treatment, rain don't bother me as much with trad as it did with compound and all the hardware on the bow getting rusty, and I don't have to go to a shop to do any string maintenance or anything!
Click to expand...
I will freely admit that the tinkering factor could've definitely been a ME thing. I definitely needed less equipment to tinker with the recurve than I do my compound bow now. That process may have been more complicated because I was figuring it out on my own through youtube. I would never say I'm a number in that attrition rate, I'm just on extended leave and I'm not ready to come back long term. I'm still experiencing firsts, never killed an elk or a mule deer or a bear with a bow. So doing it with a traditional setup seems nuts. I do still have everything I need to make it a sick killing machine, I'll get to it eventually.
 
The only reason I put away the recurve and stick bow was because of a logging injury. A pile of riggin fast slacked on my left shoulder made it pretty hurty to shoot. Years later, I think I’m ready again. I really wish I hadn’t of gotten rid of my bows.
 
It depends ….


I would say it all depends on how frustrated the hunter gets due to the success rate of taking an animal. If your successful the first year it builds and builds confidence. A lost animal or some missed opportunities or missed shots and the percentage rate will go down because of frustration or thinking if they had the wheel bow I would’ve made the shot.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I think it depends on why they started in the first place. I had killed a bunch of game with a compound and just wanted something simpler. Most I know that have stuck with it are similar. I also didn’t like the way modern archery was going. It had become and arms race. Launching arrows at animals at extreme range and then when predictably, they lost animals, oh well it bow hunting and shit happens. Unfortunately I hear that with too many trad guys as well. A new hunter starting off with a single string bow before they learned how to be a killer, is like jumping in the deep end of the pool to learn to swim. I think those are the guys that get in then right back out.
 
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