Trad Archery Popularity

[AlphaK9]

Looking for your opinion. Do you feel like traditional archery is on the rise or the decline?

With massive advancements in archery technology in the last 2 decades, I am curious if guys step away from modern compounds when they get "too easy". Also curious if the traditional archery world attracts newer archers or if they are made up mostly of former compound shooters. I have been on both sides of the spectrum. This is just for fun- post up where you are at and where see the biggest growth, in 3D shooting or in the hunting industry?

 

[LostArra]

Target shooting like Lancaster Classic or Vegas: traditional / barebow is growing.

Bow hunting: where an unfilled tag is considered failure especially on social media, there is much more movement to crossbows since even a compound takes a little practice to be accurate at "hunting distances" (fill in your idea of hunting distance) .

 

[GLB]

I agree with LostArra. The promotion of larger archery events like Lancaster with Barebow and now Longbow events televised. Some have been brought over because of the ILF movement.

I think that the growth and or decline is also a regional thing. I see it more as a decline as compared to the late 80s and early 90s

 

[Tradchef]

Target shooting across the board is growing. I don't see many people in the field with stick bows at all. I think people like the thought of it until they realize they need to actually work at it and practice. I agree with the above. The modern conveniences are what most gravitate to so they can increase success. It's too bad as you can be successful with traditional equipment on the regular and you might actually get better at hunting with your modern gear if you choose not to stick with it or bounce back and forth. I also think more people need to understand without traditional we would have no compound and archery seasons. Without compound and modern gear we would have no interest in traditional or archery in general. It has pros and cons for sure. I am glad the bowyers are staying booked out and busy and continuing their craft. Always great to see that.

 

[Geewhiz]

Like @Tradchef said, becoming and staying proficient with traditional archery equipment is a huge commitment. I jumped in head first one year and practiced every single day and many days multiple times a day. I was what I would consider proficient by the time season rolled around and I was able to make a great shot on a good bull. The following year it went to my head and I was feeling pretty good about myself and I didn't practice near as much. I clean missed 8 bulls with my stickbow. It was humbling to say the least. I finally bagged it, and took my mathews for a walk and killed a nice bull my first time out with it.

Any given day throughout the year I could pick up my mathews and hit a paper plate out to 50 or 60 yards even if I hadn't shot it in months. If I picked up my trad bow right now I would be lucky if I could hit a round bale at 30 yards.

 

[Beendare]

I’ve been shooting trad for about 25 years now and that’s exactly why I switched from a compound because it was getting too automatic.

Shooting and hunting with a recurve reignited my love for Archery and bow hunting.

I think there are a lot of guys like me that want to take it to the next level, even though it will limit your success. If you are a tree stand Whitetail hunter it really isn’t that big of a deal to shoot a trad bow because you can set up for short shots on Whitetails.

 

[ozyclint]

Seen plenty of guys take up trad, hunt with for a while then migrate back to wheels.
Some were social media types where they are a slave to content. They realise that trad isn't conducive to making lots of regular content and they fade from the scene.
Those that hunt trad exclusively are very few.

 

[Guncap]

Seems to me like it's growing because there's so many resources to learn how to shoot properly now. Let's be real, a large segment of the traditional community believes you have to shoot like Hill or Bear and anything else is cheating or somehow against the spirit of traditional archery. Heck, even a lot of guys new to it think you have to shoot that way because that's all they've ever seen. This has held back traditional archery for decades but now we're seeing a shift away from all of that.

 

[markanderson12]

I think were I live it is slowly become a little more popular but still not many people shooting them. I try my best with having friends shooting my bows but I hear the same thing form everyone. "Well I'm going to have a big buck at 30 and I wont get a shot..."

I went on and off for years but now I am only shooting trad now. I hunted mostly here in Wisconsin for a while and I kept thinking the bow was the problem why I wasn't filling tags. I had a few mature bucks that Id have come within 3-40 yards and I just could not get them into stickbow range. Well I of course I went back to a compound and changed my set ups a little bit and I was killing deer at close ranges 10-20 yards. Went back to the recurve and longbow and i killed three deer all at close ranges because I have became more confident in my set ups. I have 7 recurve kills and one with a longbow, 7 of those animals were from 4-17 yards and one was at 30. 8 kills, two I hit high in the shoulder that both lived, and 2 clean misses. Kind of wild but I actually have a better success rate with a trad bow vs the years with my compound. Once a person can get a few animals down I don't see why anyone would go back to a compound. To me it is so exciting playing chess and getting the animals in close and making it happen.

Crossbows in my area are also getting out of hand.. if a person actually needs one I have zero issue. My grandpa is 76 years old with worn out shoulders but he still wont give in to the crossbow. He got it bow rebuilt by a matthews dealer and is now shooting it at 42 pounds. Has a new arrow set up with a 2 blade head and he limits his range to 25 yards, the old timmer is still killing deer like he has been for 50 years. When I was 13 I pretty much shot the same set up he is now and I had no issue with deer.