Bummed out – a friend is giving up Stickbows

[LimbLover]

#5200

When I first started shooting it took me a couple of weeks to find a decent local range in the area. I happened to hear that a compound store near me had a great range where you could shoot all day for $6-$8. So…I wondered in and met the store owners son Matt who is roughly my age.

I used to go in there and talk to Matt at least twice a week, Saturday mornings when I would shoot, and Thursday nights we would grab a beer. He was my first tradbow archery friend.

I texted him today and asked him if he wanted to stump on Saturday and he replied that he was selling his recurve and going back to the compound after dabbling for two years.

When I asked him why he said:

“Well, I’m a compound bow tech and I work in a compound store. I kind of need to know the product and be familiar with it. Not only that, but I don’t have the dedication to practice like you guys do.”

Honestly…it makes sense. I have NEVER seen him shoot his bow at the range and have only seen a recurve in his hands twice when we went bowfishing. I’m still a bit broken up about it though. I have a lot of trad friends at that range now but it won’t be the same as he works there and was the staple every time I came in.

Bummer…I guess its not for everyone.

[Hiram]

#38331

I don’t have the dedication to practice like you guys do.

To gain a level of proficiency, or to gain a level of skill that insures success?
Proficiency or success can be measured by dedication.
How dedicated we are towards the Animal we intend to Hunt is the measure of success!
Correct practice should insure that we have done all we can to kill the Animal cleanly, quickly, and insure that we have been successful in our treatment of the Animal.
I would say that: Without knowing your friend, he would need the same level of dedication with a compound Bow as any other.
It really is not a question of his equipment! It is a question of his commitment toward respecting the Animal enough to give it his best!
So, in the end, He is either dedicated enough to honor the Animal by practice, or he is not!
Blow this guy off as a Hunting Buddy because you will just end up blood trailing the Animals he gimps!
One more observation. How could the guy give up something, he never really started? Again, move on and walk out of this gully to higher ground! When you reach it, you may well be standing on the top of mountain by yourself. I have done this many times along the way, and I can tell you that the view is Great!!!!!!!!!!:)

[Ripforce]

#38335

Well your even, you added Brent to the fold and you lost Matt! i would give up archery if I had to shoot compounds!:lol:

[LimbLover]

#38430

Nah..Matt is a good hunter. He’s ethical and he did take a nice doe with his recurve this year. I don’t question that. Hell of a turkey hunter too.

One observation I’ve made of him is that he never really shot his bow. We went bowfishing a couple of times and that is the most I’ve seen him shoot since I started. He is either always working or teching compounds. I’ve not shot with him once in a year.

He’s been shooting a compound all of his life and has been successfully. Obviously he knows enough about that world where he’s only been in ours for two. He has never wanted to go to a 3D shoot or jamboree…I think he was either not confident enough or just not that into it.

I can see his point about work too. They sell compounds…there are 20 of us and about 300 of them at that shop. Their business is about 90% wheelie bows and Matt is the primary tech. I can see why he feels he needs to be in one world or another.

Its just weird…thats all.

[Hiram]

#38454

Been there done that Limblover. I hunt alone!

[George D. Stout]

#39123

He’s still your friend and his likes may change down the road.
I have lots of friends who don’t shoot bows at all 8^).

[Cottonwood]

#39134

Now for me, it the light went back on when I was shooting compounds this last year. I saw several traditional recurve shooters come into the range. I watched them shoot intently, and the light went on inside my head.

If only I took the recurve I had at the time, and devoted everyday to shooting just that like I was my modern compound, that I would forget the modern compound shooting.

Yep, the more I shot the recurve, the instictive stride was showing with my groups, and I fell head over heels with the first love that I once had of shooting traditional that I gave up back in 1991. And it was on March 21, 2010 that I handed my son the modern compound bow to keep, and take away from my sight.

I haven’t looked back.

[Patrick]

#39144

That’s a bummer. Bssed on what you’re saying, it does seem that stoning him to death is not a viable option at this point.

[paza]

#39167

That is to bad your friend is giving up on real bowhunting. Someday down the road he will be sorry he didn’t get his animals with a real bow. He will maybe get more bigger trophies with a compound, but it will always be in the back of his mind that he failed the real bow test, but will never admit it.

[Don Thomas]

#42473

The only behavior you can control is your own. Don

[bruc]

#42820

What type of bow he shoots shouldn’t matter one bit! My two best friends both use high-tech compounds. Both of them are very ethical, good people and someone you could count on. They have their reasons for choosing what equipment they use!
The same should apply for your friend. So ya. Don’t stone him to death!!!:D
Bruce

[lssa]

#42986

That is very correct its the person that makes the hunter, not the type bow someone wants to shoot. Most of my friends are compound hunters and are good people to hunt with.

[LimbLover]

#43411

I’m not stoning anyone. Never said he wasn’t my friend…just that he wasn’t shooting a stick anymore. 😆

I don’t know where that is coming from.

My point was that this is the first time since I started shooting last year that I’ve seen someone go from traditional to compound rather than from compound to traditional. I’m sure it won’t be the last but it surprised me.

[Hiram]

#43626

Limblover, my post may seem harsh to you now. Wait till you have traveled and hunted with some people as much as I have, say 20 years from now, and you will begin to see the points I made in my post. One friend of mine hunted with me several years in Colorado and Arkansas, Texas. He quit me and went to a muzzle loader several years ago. No others in my area actually go to Bowhunt and enjoy camping etc. So, I got started hunting by myself about 8 or so years ago. I like it that way until I kill an Elk and have to carry it out by myself! LOL:)

[LimbLover]

#43906

Bah…no big deal Hiram.

I don’t really get bent out of shape. We are just having discussions on here. Everyone is free to their own opinion.

The day I get upset and start flaming is the day I’ll hang up my mouse. 😉

BTW..I understand what you are saying. While many friends have introduced me to hunting, bowfishing, etc…if they back out that isn’t going to deter me from doing those things that are now very much a part of who I am.

[trapperDave]

#44002

to each his own.

he’s shooting what he wants to shoot. gotta respect that. I dont buy into all the high n mighty BS some want to wrap around “traditional”. its just our tool of choice, doesnt make us any more or less a man or hunter.

[Mark Turton]

#44022

Well your Honour it was a justifiable stoning………HE GAVE UP TRADITIONAL ARCHERY………..cleared on all counts.

Are we to be judged by what we do or how we do it.

LimbLover, it may be that your friend needs to put some distance between himself and the commercial archery world before he finds his true path.

Mark.
PS Don’t through rocks at me please.

[LimbLover]

#44050

Pothunter wrote: LimbLover, it may be that your friend needs to put some distance between himself and the commercial archery world before he finds his true path.

Mark.
PS Don’t through rocks at me please.

😆 Thats actually what I think is the issue too.

[Hiram]

#44430

The day I get upset and start flaming is the day I’ll hang up my mouse

Good one! LOL:D

[Bert]

#45636

Good posts and thoughtful- take your friend to see ‘Robinhood’ with Russell Crowe, ask him if he could shoot that fast in actual combat( 10 arrows per minute was minimum-up to 20 for the experts- aimed) and then throw those nasty recurves away!

[Hiram]

#45905

trapperDave wrote: to each his own.

he’s shooting what he wants to shoot. gotta respect that. I dont buy into all the high n mighty BS some want to wrap around “traditional”. its just our tool of choice, doesnt make us any more or less a man or hunter.

“It really is not a question of his equipment! It is a question of his commitment toward respecting the Animal enough to give it his best!’

[Author]

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