Trad Gentlemen!

Tradchef said:
Man, I did just what you are looking for a long time ago. Everyone told me to go with an ILF and build up from there and then make a choice. I shot compound for years but always bowfished with an old Wing recurve I bought for $50. I loved it for bow fishing but I never really loved recurves. Then I asked about longbows. I heard how hard they were in comparison and the pros and cons. Mostly length while hunting and the lack of speed in comparison and so on and so forth. Even the guy that makes my longbows for me was telling me this years ago. But to me they always felt better, shot fantastic and did what I needed them to do. Since then I have hunted with a 66" longbow for years and wouldn't think of going another route except for a self bow or maybe a nice static tip. It's killed elk, deer, hogs, bears, small game, upland birds, you name it. It does it every year. The main thing like everyone has said is figuring out what you like first and then get a mentor or coach. Develop consistency and form and knowledge, keep an open mind and focus. The only limitation is ourselves with it. If you practice and get the confidence and accuracy needed you can target shoot and take game out past than the standard saying of 15 or 20 yards max in certain situations. There's a lot that will disagree with me and thats fine. I know what I am able to achieve at distance in certain situations. Some guys can only feel comfortable to 10 yards, some to 30 and beyond. There's a lot of good and lot of bad information out there as well so just be aware of that when you do your research. As you will see there are more ILF shooters than one piece longbow shooters. At any rate it's all good stuff and lots of choices to look at given the information provided.
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I have seen a few of your kill posts and enjoy seeing your success! I appreciate the advice, and I think I have found my starting path for now. Good luck this fall, I always watch the trad threads.
 
Trumpkin The Dwarf said:
This is what got me to change my ways as well... There's nothing like shooting a round of 3D with one of the top trad guys in your state to see what is possible. I shot a squirrel at 17 yards with my longbow last fall and I fully expected to hit him. You still end up setting limits for yourself while hunting, cause animals move, but the potential is there to be very accurate at 25-30 yards.
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I think I’m going to like the challenge for deer and turkey. I still get far too excited when I get a cow elk with my compound, I don’t need a bigger challenge chasing them. I’ve killed turkeys with my compound using only natural cover and camo as close as 2 yards. This year I “challenged” myself and killed 2 birds with grandpas 410, and one with my compound. It took me a whole 3 days of hunting spring turkeys to fill 3 tags this year. I have a strong feeling my trad journey will be more difficult and look forward to it. I also know that I want to try wood arrows (and stone tips) down the road, but that is a deeper hole than I want to look into right now.
 
In terms of "light longbow" I'd take a looks at Toelke bows. It's become my favorite longbow. I'm currently shooting a 54" Pika. I typically only hunt deer sized animals and smaller. My current draw weight is 47@26" and my carbon arrows are around 9-10GPP. Depending on your draw length and strength, I'd say 45lbs-55lbs. I prefer shorter longbows because I am short, hunt from uneven ground and typically shoot crouched from my knees. That way I don't have to worry about clearance on my lower limb. Had a few deflected shots before on my longer limbed bows.
Toelke Bows
 
IMG_0249.jpegA nice surprise to come home to. After a few chores, I’ll pull it out and play around. I picked up a thunder horn quiver as I figured it will go bow to bow as I improve.
 
My trad bow is like that buddy that everyone has. He's kinda an asshole, but he'll tell you the honest truth whether you want to hear it or not.

You can get away with punching the trigger on a compound, but the follow through and proper execution on a stick bow are so much more important. Once I realized that and really focused on executing a good shot, my group shrank considerably.
 
Taudisio said:
The only thing they didn’t do was glue the inserts and I have dug around looking for my cool melt and I can’t find it anywhere. Looks like I’ll have to put it away and can’t shoot it until Friday when the new stick of glue shows up. 😭
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What are the arrow specs?
There is no way I could wait until Friday. I would get some DAP Rapid Fuse or some JB Weld (Ace Hardware for either) and glue an insert into one arrow and be shooting. A light poundage bow won't stress an insert.
 
LostArra said:
What are the arrow specs?
There is no way I could wait until Friday. I would get some DAP Rapid Fuse or some JB Weld (Ace Hardware for either) and glue an insert into one arrow and be shooting. A light poundage bow won't stress an insert.
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😂 I thought about some superglue, but I have a ton of stuff to keep me occupied with a new house. They are black eagle vintage 400 spine full length with 150gr heads. RMS setup a clicker at 30.5” draw and it still feels short so I’m glad they didn’t chop any off the arrows. Someone at the shop shot it at “my” DL and said they were flying perfectly. I have to take their word for it until this weekend.
 
LostArra said:
There is no way I could wait until Friday. I would get some DAP Rapid Fuse or some JB Weld (Ace Hardware for either) and glue an insert into one arrow and be shooting.
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Agreed. I wouldn't use hot melt unless you want BH's left in targets.

When I'm adjusting arrow length epoxy inserts and cut from the back. Yeah, it takes a little refletching....but it's usually only once. I use the 80g-300g FP trick to determine spine first before I start cutting.
 
Beendare said:
Agreed. I wouldn't use hot melt unless you want BH's left in targets.

When I'm adjusting arrow length epoxy inserts and cut from the back. Yeah, it takes a little refletching....but it's usually only once. I use the 80g-300g FP trick to determine spine first before I start cutting.
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I’ve been using This stuff for years and I’ve never had a bh get stuck in a target, or had an insert come loose. That’s including 3d tournaments, and going through elk/deer/turkeys and burying tips into wood. It’s also neat that with a lighter, I can pull the insert off and reset it in the field in seconds.

I shot around 30 arrows yesterday from 12 steps. Following some YouTube advice, I have pretty decent groups, but they are about 10” to my 10:30 from where I am intending to hit. I need to video myself and work on my form most likely.
 
Beendare said:
Glad you had good luck....but we find tips with that blue hot melt in the carpet bales at our range all the time.
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Couldn’t tell you the last time I shot carpet or straw bales. Must have been over a decade ago. So that makes sense we have different experiences. The nearest public range has bales and paper targets out year round, but I don’t spend the $15 and hour drive unless they have a 3d shoot.
 
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