School me on Trad gear

[Jon Boy]

Well I decided to give traditional archery a go this year. I just think its an awesome way to hunt and want to get back to the basics. Over the last year ive began to simplify my hunting methods. I practice year round and here the key to shooting accurately is practice and patience. Ive got that. If I dont feel im up to par in the accuracy department a few months before hunting season ill switch my main focus back to my compound. No sweat.
Now that thats out of the way, what do I need to know? Whats easier to shoot, recurve or long bow? Whats a good starting poundage? I shoot a 70 pound compound with a fairly stiff draw for reference. Arrows? Tuning? Good bows?
Any response welcome

 

[larryschwartz]

Jon,

Wow...so much to say and so little space to type it in.

First things first, start with a bow of around 40-45 pounds draw weight. It sounds light coming from your compound but you need to remember that you are holding 100% of 45#, not 15% of 70#. If you start with a heavy bow you will very likely develop bad form problems from using the wrong muscles and techniques to get the string back.

Next, a used recurve or longbow will do fine for you to start with and you can find tons of them on eBay for reasonable prices, and you can then sell it again when and if you decide to move on to something different or heavier. I would suggest that you try some friends longbows and recurves first to see what you like better, although a recurve will probably be easier to learn on, at least in my opinion, since it has a pistol grip like a compound does. Once you decide if you like a recurve or a longbow then you can get one to start practicing with.

There are a lot of good books and videos on how to shoot traditional bows out there. You might want to check out www.3riversarchery.com as a starting point for those. The best thing would be to find a trad bowhunter nearby or your state level trad organization ( http://www.tradbowmt.org ) and find a mentor. There are probably dozens of trad bowhunters in Billings. Then go to lots of shoots and try out different kinds of bows to see what you like best and more importantly what you shoot best.

As for broadheads, they all work for trad gear, but I would stay away from mechanical heads as they take more energy that fixed blade heads. Two blade or three blade, it really doesn't matter, just what you prefer.

For arrows, a lot of folks will tell you that if you are shooting trad you need to have wooden arrows, but you can use aluminum or carbon if you prefer. Feathers will work better for you than vanes though, so don't try shooting vanes as they will make the arrow bounce off of the arrow shelf/riser when you shoot.


If you want to talk about trad bowhunting feel free to give me a call on my mobile, 443.994.1098. That is in Annapolis, MD.

Larry

 

[Jon Boy]

Thanks larry! I really appreciate the advice.

 

[Ryan Avery]

Jon Boy, Larry pointed you in the right direction. One thing that I will add. Make sure you will have time to practice almost every day. The stick and string is a very perishable skill.

 

[wvtradbow]

It's very addicting,you won't probably be that consistently accurate at distance at first,Don't Give Up.Start 10,15 20yds strive for perfection at those distances...Don't over bow yourself,it leads to very bad habits ( I know way to well)short draw,snap shooting,target panic, that are hard to break..With the materials in use today you can get great arrow flight at any weight bow,recurve or longbow..I had a number of friends that started out with compounds years ago then go to traditional archery, only to go back to compounds when the urge to kill things out past a comfortable longbow range or a few misses with the recurve was too much to bear.I have a friend that calls me a "method hunter" and I believe he's right..Traditional archery is a blast..www.Tradgang.com is a great site to visit for traditional archery...Good Luck and welcome to the addition...

 

[larryschwartz]

Jon Boy, like I said, feel free to call my cell if you want to talk trad bowhunting, or PM me your number and I'll be glad to call you.

Larry

 

[gotllamas]

Larry hit it on the head. I would like to add a couple things.
1. First once you start with trad gear you may never pick up a compound agian.
2. It doesn't have to be alot of shooting, but shoot everyday.
3. Recurve will be more forgiving to shoot.
4. One thing I found out is not all tad bows in a certain model shoot the same. One bow may shoot sweet and the next identical bow may be like shooting a tunning fork. If you can go somewhere that has a large inventory of bows shoot them all. I spent 3 hours at Black widow shooting pretty much every bow they had in my poundage range and found the one that fit my style of shooting.
5. Trad shooting takes baby steps to become good. Unlike compound where you buy a bow, sight it in, and go hunting. Trd gear takes time.
6. While hunting you will have alot lighter load to carry in the bow. My recurve loades weights 3.5 pounds and my long bow is 2.5 pounds. Both bows break down and fit inside my pack on the way out.