Recurve stories

[McKayenJ13]

Does anyone have any good recurve stories? I am crossing my fingers to have one made and I would like to live vicariously through you all until then.

Also, are there any tips and tricks to shooting a recurve?

 

[Rob5589]

Welcome to the single string firstly. I'm guessing you have little to no experience shooting a recurve? If not, I'd hold off on a custom until you know what you prefer. Trad bows are pretty personal as far as length, grip, one piece, take down, ILF, etc. It can take some time to see what you best get along with.

Jake Kaminski has a bunch of free content on his YT channel. Tom Clum's course comes highly recommended. A personal coach is always a good option.

There can be a longer and steeper learning curve to shooting a stick bow vs a compound. It definitely takes more dedication and consistent shooting to become proficient.

It's a great time though so enjoy the process.

First bow; start long, start light, start inexpensive.

Good luck!

 

[bowhuntercoop]

First time to kill a critter with a stick you will be hooked. Nothing else comes close to the feeling. Highly suggest Tom clum and his coaching and start light weight on the draw. 25-35 lbs is plenty and go from there.

 

[kfili]

Some of my stories include missing a big buck at 12 yards (didn't even know it was possible), missing a doe, missing a spike....you get it, you'll have a blast.
In all seriousness spend the time to learn its crazy how much better you can get with some good instruction. such a fun way to chase em. I'm glad I missed those first ones, really made me dial in and learn the craft.

 

[ODB]

Yes. Start way lower than you think. Work on your form but don’t overthink it. Few forms of shooting have as many styles, some of which will work for you, some won’t. Although some legendary hunters were cross-eye dominant, Fred Bear, Glenn st Charles, Howard Hill, I would suggest if you are just starting, follow your dominant eye. It will remove that potential mental block as you progress and then plateau.

I would not buy a custom bow at the moment. There is too much to learn before you know what to tell your bowyer. And some bow designs just might not fit your style. Dick Robertson and Wes Wallace made nice bows, but I sold both of mine as I simply did not gel with them at all. It can be expensive to learn this.

 

[McKayenJ13]

Welcome to the single string firstly. I'm guessing you have little to no experience shooting a recurve? If not, I'd hold off on a custom until you know what you prefer. Trad bows are pretty personal as far as length, grip, one piece, take down, ILF, etc. It can take some time to see what you best get along with.

Jake Kaminski has a bunch of free content on his YT channel. Tom Clum's course comes highly recommended. A personal coach is always a good option.

There can be a longer and steeper learning curve to shooting a stick bow vs a compound. It definitely takes more dedication and consistent shooting to become proficient.

It's a great time though so enjoy the process.

First bow; start long, start light, start inexpensive.

Good luck!

You are exactly right. I have no experience with a recurve. This was exactly the response I was looking for. I will check out both Jake and Tom on YouTube and come to a conclusion.

When it comes to inexpensive, are the retail recurves the starting quality I am looking for?

I won't be hunting with one this coming season as I am out of the country. Thank you again.

 

[McKayenJ13]

Some of my stories include missing a big buck at 12 yards (didn't even know it was possible), missing a doe, missing a spike....you get it, you'll have a blast.
In all seriousness spend the time to learn its crazy how much better you can get with some good instruction. such a fun way to chase em. I'm glad I missed those first ones, really made me dial in and learn the craft.

I am looking forward to having some of these stories. A gentleman I work with is who got me onto the idea. He compared it to fly fishing with homemade flies. The idea got me hooked on having a traditional bow in the arsenal.

 

[Rob5589]

You are exactly right. I have no experience with a recurve. This was exactly the response I was looking for. I will check out both Jake and Tom on YouTube and come to a conclusion.

When it comes to inexpensive, are the retail recurves the starting quality I am looking for?

I won't be hunting with one this coming season as I am out of the country. Thank you again.

Southwest Archery, Sage Elite, Black Hunter, are the usual rec's for new shooters. I have two of the Southwest bows and they are solid picks for the money. Personally I'd lean towards them simply because they are available in 64" where as the Sage is 62" and the BH 60". The longer bow will be more forgiving especially at longer draw lengths.

 

[Mighty Mouse]

When it comes to inexpensive, are the retail recurves the starting quality I am looking for?

A Galaxy (formerly Samick) Sage is a popular inexpensive starter bow. I started with a 35# Sage last spring, worked my way up to 45# limbs throughout the summer, and killed a whitetail doe with it last fall. I've since upgraded to an ILF riser with multiple sets of limbs, but that Sage still shoots better than me.

 

[roosiebull]

Welcome to the single string firstly. I'm guessing you have little to no experience shooting a recurve? If not, I'd hold off on a custom until you know what you prefer. Trad bows are pretty personal as far as length, grip, one piece, take down, ILF, etc. It can take some time to see what you best get along with.

Jake Kaminski has a bunch of free content on his YT channel. Tom Clum's course comes highly recommended. A personal coach is always a good option.

There can be a longer and steeper learning curve to shooting a stick bow vs a compound. It definitely takes more dedication and consistent shooting to become proficient.

It's a great time though so enjoy the process.

First bow; start long, start light, start inexpensive.

Good luck!

Can’t really add to this reply, this is great advice

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Southwest Archery, Sage Elite, Black Hunter, are the usual rec's for new shooters. I have two of the Southwest bows and they are solid picks for the money. Personally I'd lean towards them simply because they are available in 64" where as the Sage is 62" and the BH 60". The longer bow will be more forgiving especially at longer draw lengths.

X2 on the black hunter for a new shooter. A friend of mine has one and it’s surprisingly nice for a hundred dollar bow. If you get really into it, you will figure out pretty quickly what you like and want in a custom bow.

I shot a Fred bear super kodiak for a few years and then switched to a bivouac ilf long bow and a black widow PSA, both of them are far superior to that Fred bear bow in every way but I wouldn’t have known what to look for otherwise. A grip that feels great for one person might not feel good for another. I know a guy who loves the black widow standard grip, I hate it and got mine with the cooling grip.

You can go down the rabbit hole with bows all day long but if you don’t shoot them it dosent matter.

 

[roosiebull]

Does anyone have any good recurve stories? I am crossing my fingers to have one made and I would like to live vicariously through you all until then.

Also, are there any tips and tricks to shooting a recurve?

Stories? I have only hunted with a recurve for 2 seasons, and one positive side of hunting with a recurve is the accumulation of war stories and more experience and more awesome encounters, which is a byproduct of screwing up slam dunk after slam dunk…

Of the last 18 years I have killed 16 roosies with my bow, and those other 2 years were the years I hunted with my recurve, haha

Not for a lack of complete layup opportunities, but had I been hunting my compound, I would not have had most of those encounters, because I wouldn’t be missing sub 20 yd shots with it

Hunting with and shooting single string bows is very addictive, very fun, and at times very frustrating. I never pictured buying a 1500 dollar chunk of beautiful wood that’s impossible not to appreciate, and then want to throw that beautiful chunk of wood and craftsmanship off of a cliff, but hunting with a recurve delivers that desire.

Seriously, everything about recurves is fun, way more fun to shoot than compound bows, the simplicity was what initially caught my interest, then once I was obsessed I realized simplicity is a trick, and I think every aspect is more technical than shooting and tuning compounds… sneaky technicality

Like mentioned above, start light, dedicate yourself to shooting with good form and consistency, that’s all that matters starting out, and fighting draw weight will stunt your growth in traditional archery

A consistent and repeatable shot process is a big deal, it takes a lot of shooting to get there, so don’t get discouraged… access to coaching would probably help a lot, but there are a ton of resources available as well to do it on your own, but you need discipline and don’t try to skip steps

 

[mtnwrunner]

Wow. I started hunting with a recurve in 1980 and I have literally a ton of stories that would take forever to tell.
I've missed quite a few animals at very minimal distances...SMH. But they are so much fun.
I'll just share this one......
My partner and I were hiking out one afternoon and this grouse flies up into a huge fir tree. Perfect shot sitting on a limb and its about 30 yards. But it's one of those that if you miss, you'll never get your arrow back as the tree is on the side of a canyon.
No way we can miss, right? So I shoot, just barely miss. He shoots, does the same. Grouse never even flinched, still sitting there.
So we repeat this process 6 more times as in both of us.
Somewhere on the side of the opposite canyon is a nice grouping of 12 arrows...............

Randy

 

[Rob5589]

Love and hate those damn grouse

 

[Muledeerfanatic]

Start light like everyone has said and shoot as much as possible
I have missed lots of shots as well!
One was a nice chocolate bear in Idaho that walked a mile or so right to me and gave me a perfect 20 yard shot
Watched the arrow sail in there for a perfect hit then drop like a rock right under him and stick in a stump that was inches behind him. He looked at it and waddled away

 

[North Idaho Stickbow]

I have so many amazing stories of taking long nature hikes in the woods with my recurve! Where to begin?

 

[Kevin Dill]

Somewhere around 1985....

I was at a practice range with a good friend. Both of us were standing on a large elevated (about 15' high) wood platform practicing treestand shots. he had a Jennings T-Star compound and I had an original Bob Thompson Zipper recurve. I was pounding the target pretty good and Randy was impressed. He went down and pulled our arrows, but before climbing the steps he walked to a nearby trash can and pulled out a white styrofoam cup. He stepped off 30 long paces and dropped the cup. Then he climbed back up to me and simply asked "How good are you?"

Nothing to lose. I nocked a cedar arrow and looked at the cup which was laying with the open end toward us. "Hell yes"....and I put the arrow directly into the open end of the cup. Randy leaned over the rail and spit some tobacco juice into the leaves below. Then he said "I call that shot an accident. Do it again." Whereupon I winked at him and proceeded to slap the first arrow with my next shot....directly into the cup. Before he could say a word I grabbed my remaining 4 arrows and dropped them over the rail. I believe in quitting while you're still a winner.

 

[Btaylor]

Another good thing about a stick bow is you can make up cheap arrows with dowel rods for chasing small game or shooting armadillos or dirt clods with no fear of breaking or losing them because you only have a couple dollars in them. I have killed deer here with every legal weapon except a handgun and selfbow and to me nothing is as gratifying as watching a well shot arrow from a recurve or longbow hit the tuft of hair your eyes were focused on.

 

[McKayenJ13]

Wow. I started hunting with a recurve in 1980 and I have literally a ton of stories that would take forever to tell.
I've missed quite a few animals at very minimal distances...SMH. But they are so much fun.
I'll just share this one......
My partner and I were hiking out one afternoon and this grouse flies up into a huge fir tree. Perfect shot sitting on a limb and its about 30 yards. But it's one of those that if you miss, you'll never get your arrow back as the tree is on the side of a canyon.
No way we can miss, right? So I shoot, just barely miss. He shoots, does the same. Grouse never even flinched, still sitting there.
So we repeat this process 6 more times as in both of us.
Somewhere on the side of the opposite canyon is a nice grouping of 12 arrows...............

Randy

That sounds like a good time to me. I am looking forward to the comradery that traditional archery has to offer.

 

[McKayenJ13]

I have so many amazing stories of taking long nature hikes in the woods with my recurve! Where to begin?

PM me, if that is a thing I can do. I am new to rokslide.