I could barely walk. How was I going to scout, bow hunt and possibly recover a deer? What about the fact that there happened to be bear on the property? I managed to hunt hard one to two days a week for nearly three painful months and finally bagged a small buck at [...]
I vividly remember the first time I prepared for a mule deer hunt with my dad. In fact, I remember it better than the actual hunt. It was August 1996, and I had just finished my Hunters Education course. The excitement of getting to go hunting was likely the only thing that made [...]
After a short four hours of sleep, I walked in under the grey light of a Friday morning. Halfway around the hill I froze, as I could hear antlers clicking together as a couple of young bucks sized each other up. I wanted to see them, so I slowly continued around the waist [...]
“He has draped the American Outdoorsman with an infinity of contraptions, all offered as aids to self-reliance, hardihood, woodcraft or marksmanship, but too often functioning as substitutes for them. Gadgets fill the pockets, they dangle from the neck and belt. The outdoor equipment grows lighter and often better, but the aggregate poundage becomes [...]
One man clearly stands out when you think back to the advent of modern bowhunting in the United States—Saxton T. Pope. What Maurice Thompson started in the late 1800s, Pope took to the next level in the 1920s. Saxton Temple Pope was born at Fort Stockton, Texas, on September 4, 1875. His father, [...]
Many years ago legendary bowyer and hunter Dick Robertson wrote an article focused on defining what constitutes traditional bow hunting. No doubt the article ruffled some feathers in the traditional bow hunting community. I was relatively new to traditional bow hunting so I did not understand the importance of the topic and frankly [...]
The mid-January sun shone brightly, but there wasn’t much warmth in its deceiving rays. There was a good covering of snow on the ground and my hunting buddy and I were out for a winter’s hike, making the most of a break in the weather before the temperatures plunged again. Winter brings unique [...]
Jay Peters shared this video with us, and we thought our readers might enjoy it as well. So many traditional bowhunters are down to earth, good people, like Dave. Here's what Jay had to say: "I interviewed my uncle who was 73 at the time of this interview. He has been [...]
"Dad, I think I’m ready,” Victor said one morning after shooting his recurve. “Is that a fact?” I asked with a tinge of incredulity. Lately, he had been neglecting his archery practice, preferring to play Clash of Clans with his buddies. “Show me.” We strolled out to the range behind the house, and [...]
In this video Clay Hayes discusses the difference between compound bows and traditional bows (recurve bows and longbows) when it comes to making the switch from compound to trad. He'll answer questions like: How long does it take to become accurate with a recurve? Can you hold a traditional bow at [...]
