The Pull of the Dark Side

[johnny2]

#5547

I have had deer all over me and with the rut coming on here I am feeling a strong temptation to pick up the wheel bow for just a few weeks. Of course you never can know, but I feel like I would have all my doe tags filled as well as possibly one buck tag if I would have had my compound with me so far. This is the first year I haven’t practiced with it and had committed myself to the stick for better or worse. But knowing I could be back to bustin bottle caps at 40 yards with just a little practice is causing me to lose sleep, well that and the thought of only one deer in my freezer so far(just can’t hardly eat store bought meat).

I’ve been telling my buddies I picked up a stick because I can accept the limitations and welcome the challenge, heck I’ve killed plenty of deer, I don’t need to kill three or four a year(one friend asked if I picked up the longbow cause I was goin vegetarian:D). My primal urges to kill deer are whipping my need for increased challenge. Man I feel like a junkie trying to justify gettin my fix:lol:. Am I a wienee if I give in?:oops:

Had a doe jump string last afternoon and thats not helping. Seeing lots of fawns without their mama and thats telling me hardcore chasing is right around the corner. Man, just talking about it I can feel my resolve slipping. Maybe I’ll just kill a couple of em with the wheel bow and then back to the stick. What to do, what to do.:?

[Steve Sr.]

#42163

I’m assuming you haven’t taken big game with trad equipment yet?

If you have “deer all over you” you are in a great situation to do just that and THEN compare the two, if you still wise.

You are correct and the best is coming and you do have opportunities so it is up to you.

I’d swap you in a heart beat. The last 45 hours in stand I’ve not seen a single deer.

If you “need” to kill deer, easier is indeed the way, but this IS your first year with trad equipment.

If you enjoy hunting, you are now on the right path and taking deer regularly with your trad gear will be part of each season if you give it the chance to prove so.

Regardless of what you compare, a short time with anything will never be immediately as successfull as something you did for years.

The satisfaction of using traditional gear will show itself shortly if you simply allow it to. One season, the entire season, is not too much to ask when the end result is going to provide you with the pros and cons of something you will do the rest of your life.

I vote stay with it, practice daily, and pick a spot. Jumping the string, is jumping the string, no bow so fast that it erases that possibility.

I might point out that a lot look at traditional archery as “inferior” yet it is not, in any way.

Believe in your equipment, know your range limitations and combine the two. That range will change as you grow in the sport, as will the belief in the equipment and your own abilities with it.

Just my 2 cents.

God Bless
Steve

[Patrick]

#42167

[Yoda voice] Mmmm, resist you must. More efficient you will become.

[Normal voice] My family and friends constantly give me grief over switching to a longbow. They think it’s a phase. They’re wrong. I have to say though, in the situations I’ve run into where it would have been a piece of cake with my compound, I don’t get that pull anymore. Just to be sure though, I sold my compound when I bought my longbow.

Either way, there’s certainly nothing wrong with using a compound, but each time you “give in”, you’re making it easier for you to do so in the future. Just a thought.

[johnny2]

#42212

That is hilarious Patrick, I didn’t know if anyone would get my title but you look like a fellow generation Xer.:D

I’ve just got the one doe under my traditional belt a couple weeks ago. “Deer all over me” has not translated to inside 20 yards, broadside, unaware except for twice in about 12 hunts (and those are the criteria I’ve given myself for the green light to shoot).

It’s funny but it really does feel like withdrawls(what I imagine it would feel like anyway). For the last 15 years by this time I have two or three deer in the cooler(doe tags on the lease). We need four deer a year to get by and I know there is plenty of time, but man, that urge to draw blood is stronger than I thought it would be. Old habits die hard.

I can hear a bunch of you now ” He’s griping about two shots in twelve outings, is he nuts?”. No, I’m spoiled.

I told myself this year I would be a more “mature” hunter but as the rut approaches my wife says I’m gettin that crazed look in my eye and my neck is starting to swell! LOL:D

[Steve J]

#42241

Yeah. I WASTED 600 bucks , I had of “found money” after going over to a cousins house & shooting his compound. I was so amazed at the grouping I got, the devil got ahold of me and within a few days I dropped that money at Bass pro, and walked out with a bow,case etc. 600 freakin dollars. I was set on onlyu primitive &trad, before shooting his bow.
worst thing is , I am already tired of the compound , and know I cannot re-sale it and get anything for it.
I COULD of bought me a nice longbow for that money. my longbow is only about 100 bucks from woodbows,,, but I like shooting it better than my compound. so now Im shooting my wood bow & the comp sets in its case.
I love shooting a bow , not a machine , whether its fish target, stumps or game.
Oh well,
Steve

[Mark Turton]

#42255

I guess the real dilemma is between hunting for meat and hunting for sport.

Or does hunting traditionally brings a different level of satisfaction knowing that every element of what you do just has to be that little bit more refined and the margin for error smaller. Is it the challenge that we all seek that makes us better hunters?

Just a few thoughts on the subject, Mark.

[Chris Shelton]

#42432

Confidence it the key, I would say you should lock that temptation in a safe and throw away the key or sing a anoying song untill you forget the combination!!!

I waltz around beleiving that I can fill the freezer every year with my curve mainly because I can!

See, you beleived me didnt you, actually if I wouldnt have had a full freezer the last two years and a mixed sex rifle season instead of a buck only one, I would be able to fill me freezer every year. This year is the test, can I do it with a stick. I unlike you have a very efficient hunting partner that I know will fill my freezer if I dont, because while I am stalking through the deep woods with my stick during rifle season, dad is also still hunting with his 30-30, so I really dont have to worry, no presure on me!

You on the other hand, sounds to me like it is all on you. I would say that you should follow a contigency plan. Your state will have a rifle season, or mabye a late muzzleloader. Ours is sometime in january. I would set a date and if your freezers are not full by then, then consider switching to the “gaurentee”. I have a set date for myself, but I will just quit trying to fill my freezer on public land, and go to the “gaurentee” of hunting my buddies property!

[johnny2]

#42561

GTA, my oldest daughter and my wife will hunt some. I’m pretty sure one of them will get a deer. It’s not just the meat. For lack of a better description I just love being a predator. It’s not blood lust, just an itch I can’t scratch without killing. It’s what I’ve done my whole life. It’s not even a pride thing and goin to the compound is as much as I’ll compromise. I just thought that after all these years it wouldn’t itch so much. I even tell people “oh the killing is just the cherry on top, I just like to listen to the hoot owls and squirrels,blah, blah, blah” and I do, I love it all. I just love it so much more when I hear the hoot owls while I’m following a blood trail.

You guys have pretty much convinced me to stick with the stick….ha ha (didn’t really mean to do that).

Thanks for the intervention and tough love.

May the force be with you.

[Hiram]

#42602

I do not shoot recurves because I believe it is a challenge over compounds. I do not use them because I want to be a part of anything which represents tradition or mystic. I use them because I love the simplicity and utility of the design. I shoot them because they are the best system to hunt with. I shoot them because I shoot them more fluidly and accurately in Bowhunting situations. Bowhunting is a close up thing. Think about this: You are actually limited by your vision to see the single point of focus whether you are using sights on a compound or barebow. Guys shooting at ranges past their vision capability are shooting at a point in the outline of the target. What I mean is that: they cannot distinguish the focal point or spot as we refer to it in hunting situations. They are guessing at the “kill zone” and not a single spot. They get really good at this method of guessing. Try this to see my point here, Shoot at a 3-d deer target from a distance that you can see the scoring rings and move back till you can no longer see them. See what I mean. Without magnification you cannot exceed your own eyesight. One strings are perfectly suited to the Bowhunters needs in the field. They are lightweight and mobile but like any Bow they have limitations. We are not “special” because we use Trad Bows, we are simply utilizing the “Best system” to hunt with.

[johnny2]

#43665

Well, I haven’t been able to hunt for a few days cause of work schedules and heavy rain(I think I’m gonna have to grow gills if this dang rain don’t stop). I did shoot my Navajo longbow today and man I love it! Everything Hiram said about stick bows is true and I love the romance of the traditional bows. Just seeing it leaned up against the oak in my yard while I’m pulling arrows with all the autumn leaves on the ground makes me want to hunt with it. When I’m shooting it feels like an extension of me, which actually makes me feel more like a natural predator as opposed to the “terminator” feel with the compound, rangefinder, release, and all the other “necessary equipment”. Sorry if all that sounds a little hokey, I said I was a romantic.

Nope, I’m sticking with the longbow. I know the learning curve may be steep, but it was with the compound too. And it took me longer than 2 weeks in with the compound to kill my fisrt deer. I guess I’m ahead of the curve. It IS all in how you look at things GTA.

Really, thanks everyone. I’m the only trad shooter in my bunch of running buddies so I put this post out there I guess cause I was looking for someone to talk me into hanging in there. My resolve was failing. Thanks again for the encouragment.

[Patrick]

#43683

Good for you! We’re not as different as you thought. Lol!

The way I was shooting this morning (practice before I headed off to work), good thing I had sold my compound! Frustrating! :-/

[Chris Shelton]

#43725

o sorry jonny shouldnt have assumed!:D Then you should definatly stick with the stick. I leave tommorrow for 5 days of fall turkey and pre rut action:shock:!!!!! So I am looking forward to leaving my 12 gauge at home!

[johnny2]

#43734

No need to apoligize GTA, what I’m saying is that you were right. A positive attitude goes a long way.

[Hiram]

#43835

Yes on the positive but you “make your own luck”. The lucky ones tend to make the most of situations by being those who seize the instances “where preparation and opportunity meet”:)

[Author]

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