Diving Into Trad Bowhunting. No more suction cup arrows. Wisdom and Stories appreciated.

[Tire_Iron]

I think you are spot on, Beendare. I am definitely doing it the hard way for now.
There is a great chance I will end up adding a manufactured bow or two to my collection someday, especially when I have more time to shoot.
At the moment, I am enjoying the learning process and not in a hurry to shoot a lot because it is winter.

Where do you normally go to buy your bows? Any thougts as far as what to consider If I do start looking into buying?

 

[LostArra]

If there is a weekend bow building gathering anywhere close to you it is worth the drive. Much like having an archery coach for form, if you see some things done (backing a bow with rawhide, adding recurve to tips with heat, twisting up a flemish string) it's a much easier start to produce your first bow that isn't either 25# draw weight or firewood. I've attended selfbow "jamborees" in Missouri and Oklahoma.

I wanted to put horn nocks on a yew longbow I had made and I could not have done it without the help I received at OJAM from JD Jones (Pinnacle Selfbows) who is a bow artist.

You will also see some unbelievably great selfbow shooters (and some really bad ones ).

Oklahoma Selfbow Society - OJAM

 

[Beendare]

You probably want wood shafts…try Surewood.

I was shooting the Axis trad and Beman Centershots with the woodgrain. I make up my own arrows.

I am switching to Link Boy and Accmos….so far great spine consistency, great carbon shafts and 1/3rd the price.

 

[Tire_Iron]

I definitely want to get some wood arrows, i just figured carbon would be easier to start building with and more durable as I will probably miss the target a lot to start with.
How is the durability on those cheaper shafts?

There is a traditional archery club somewhat near my location. I hope to get involved there at some point when my schedule lines up.

 

[X099503]

Hello all,
This is my first post on rokslide. I originally just joined to get to the classifieds, but after reading a bunch of threads, I am excited to learn from such a large community of hunters.
Here's the dream:
I have been whitetail hunting with a compound bow for years in Northwestern WI. The last few years have been tough to get out bowhunting because of school, but I am getting the itch to be more committed next fall.

I kicked around the idea of traditional bowhunting since high school, but never got around to it. Naturally, with a number of years for the idea to slip in and out of my mind, I got it into my head that I want to build the bow myself too.

Traditional archery has always seemed cool to me, ever since my dad gave a bow with suction cup arrows as a young boy. In hindsight, this was probably long before I was old enough to wield that kind of power. I don't remember this, but apparently I smoked him in the forehead from the top of the stairs as he walked by. When asked what I was doing, I said "I'm in my deer stand, Dad. I'm hunting deer."

A year ago, I cut some ironwood(eastern hophornbeam) logs from around the family hunting cabin. Last spring, I built a shave horse. This fall, I finally got around to splitting and carving down a stave. I still have to tiller and finish. With my intermittent progress, I hope to finish my first bow, learn to shoot it, build a new bow that works well enough to hunt, and go kill a buck next fall. Someday, I think it would be awesome to take an elk in the backcountry with a selfbow. If I don't do that, at least with a compound.

Attached is a picture of my stave so far. Simple flatbow design. 1.75" wide limbs at the widest. I plan to reinforce the handle section and cut an arrow shelf. Might recurve the limb tips... we will see once I get to tillering.

Would anyone be willing to share stories and/or lessons about when you were first getting into traditional bowhunting, bowbuilding, graduating from suction cups to broadheads, etc?

Just keep playing with it different way of shooting 3 under split finger heavy or light arrows half the fun I have is just playing with different things and trying them out

 

[Boxerboxer]

Thats doing it the hard way for sure…..carving your own bow From a stave.

I do know that the all wood bows from a stave are more delicate than fiberglass or carbon lam bows. One of the guys at our archery club shoots them…and they don’t usually last him more than 2 seasons. Keep it sealed…..and Have a backup.

You're spot on about selfbows being a bit more delicate and about sealing and having a backup, but 2 years is not the normal lifespan for a well made selfbow and I wouldn't want @Tire_Iron to get that impression. Of course, if he's building his own bows and not buying any, the first few may not even last that long, but with time and skill that lifespan should well exceed 2 years.

 

[Mcnasty]

Rocky Maintain Specialty Gear in Arvada Co. great shop and folks that know all things Trad Bow or as close as you can get if that is not possible

 

[kdsulliv]

Look up "The Traditional Bowyers Bible" series of books on making self bows - wealth of information there. As others have mentioned, Clay Hayes is good. Another one is Tradgang.com - a forum for traditional archery building and shooting - post a question in the "Pow wow" section and you are likely to get a good response.

As for me, I picked up a longbow two years ago, and finally felt good enough to hunt with it last year - took some time to understand aiming the darn thing. The "Masters of the Bare Bow" DVD series is a great resource there.

Also look up "The Push" they have a great website and podcast, and online classes on shooting and form.

Basic lesson here is - you're in for a big ride, take your time and don't get frustrated. It will take a long time to understand everything and then get good at it but it's much more satisfying than anything else!

 

[sneaky]

Best thing you can do to learn about building your own bow is to go to the Twin Oaks Tennessee Classic shoot and do their class. You start building your bow on Thursday under tutelage of some master bowyers, and on Sunday you shoot a round of 3D with it.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[Tire_Iron]

I already have volume one of Traditional Bowyers Bible and Clay Hayes's book. Both have taught me so much just paging through em.

Thanks! I'll have to check that out for if I ever make it down that way!


I am not too concerned with how long the first one lasts, but I would love to see it work right when I finally get some time to finish it. Making shavings on the shave horse is a lot of fun anyway.