Traditional Bowhunting Interest?

[Jesse Minish]

#4113

The poll on the home page got me wondering if it was one or more things that got you interested in traditional bowhunting? For me it was my dad that got me started since the time I could walk but once I got old enough to read, it was TBM and and books written buy the greats of our sport that really made me stick to it in the tough times of getting nothing but tag soup until my first longbow blacktail at 14 years of age. Since then I have used everything I have read to stay successful and dream of one day hunting abroad like Alaska and more. Further more I would like to thank my dad and the fine folks that make TBM possible for influencing me in the greatest ways possible.:D

[Killdeer]

#27864

I didn’t reply to the poll because none of the answers applied to my situation. I come from a family of nonhunters.:oops:

My early years were spent exploring creeks and waste places in the many places we lived. The one constant I had, besides any junk that I might be able to keep, was the outdoors and its ways. I was fortunate that the norm back then was for kids to come home from school, and spend the remaining daylight hours outside playing. No soccer-mom, no T-ball, nor after-school programs.

So, I would be down at the creek catching anything I could find, and if I couldn’t catch it I would watch it. For some reason, my mom got me a bow when I was eight. I think she knew me pretty well. Bows were the only weapons I could have, and aside from my dad’s sword, they were the only weapons in the house. I had to teach myself to hunt, and as soon as I moved away from home, I bought a pellet gun, then a rifle, and then I got seriously into hunting. It wasn’t until the mid 1990s that I began to seriously hunt with a bow. My kills are exceedingly few. Oh well. I still hunt with whatever I can, but the bow is an old friend that goes way back. It, like photography. makes me a kid again, discovering and marveling, which is what I think the Creator wants us to do.

Killdeer
I know you are wondering…I was eight in 1964.:P

[RAGMAN]

#28064

Well for me it was call modern archery. Lamminated recurves were the thing to have. Yes 49 years ago I was a 5year old kid with a fiberglas herters bow following my dad through the woods. I was really bad on those armadillos. I think archery is still a great sport.

[Clay Hayes]

#29110

A lucky role of the chromosomal dice! Like Killdeer, I come from a non hunting, yet rural family. I often wonder why I am afflicted with such a deep love and need for nature and archery when my brothers seem content with other pursuits. Traditional bowhunting is so much a part of me that any description of myself that didn’t incorperate it would be woefully inacurate.

ch

[Ralph]

#30929

I was an Air Force brat and everywhere we were I roamed all that I could. In my young days, I’m nearly 64 now, roaming around the country was a whole lot easier than it is today. I got a little Sears fiberglass bow for Christmas in the 7th grade when we lived in Idaho. Actually, 45# ain’t that little anymore. From then on even with periods of being on a few other pursuits like the Corps and “mating” days I have been shooting. I love it. I used to run around in Morocco with my old bow and some arrows (whatever I could make do with)and stump shoot. Peaked a lot of interest then for sure. Wouldn’t be the same now, probably not wise. It’s been great to have friends like Gerald Johnson (Yellow Jacket), Bill Foreman (Great Plains) and Reese Field over the years. You may not know of Reese but he is the grandpa teacher of bowyers and shooters in this part of the world. Many more shots to ya, Ralph.

[tracker26]

#31564

hello everyone, im a newby with a bow. i usually hunt with a rifle or muzzleloader but i wanted to give the bow a try. i went with a recurve cuz compounds are way to gadgety. i wanted to get back to the basics. i took the survey and marked friends. a buddy of mine from colorado got me started. many thanks to TBM for the helpful articals. i look forward to the next issue.

dayton

[chrism]

#32428

I have shot compounds all my life and about three years ago I had reached a point with my skill and tournament level where the only way to proceed was to start spending lots of money. Things like special sites with magnification special arrows not suited for hunting and such. I was at a bow shop intending on making the financial leap and over in the corner was an old beaten up long bow with no markings on it for a mere $45. For some odd reason I purchased it and shot it every day for a month. The shire frustration of it all hooked me. I have a better longbow now and still shoot it 6 days a week, make my own wooden arrows and am still hooked. I don’t believe that I will ever master the longbow and am looking forward to that fact.

[Korak]

#34574

I started field archery back in 1973. Did not touch a bow for the last 20 years when I started hunting. I’m using the same Fedora TD that I used in 73.

[OBXArcher]

#37824

For me it was a 12 year absence from bowhunting. I went out purchased the newest fastest bow, all the gadgets and in 30 minutes I was shooting better than ever. Killed several deer that year and it really wasn’t that much fun. I bought a “backup” bow to take on a trip to TX. A PSE impala, I fell in love to say the least. In the last 4 years I have bought and traded over a dozen trad bows. I love this stuff.

By the way I have yet to kill a deer with one. I have killed several hogs, which are my favorite by far.

[Flintlock]

#38529

I havent picked up a long bow since I was a kid in middle and high school. It was yew wood with wood arrows. Had a short stint with a compound bow but didnt like it and sold it. Got into muzzle loader hunting since the early 70s. So this past fall I retired and bought a Rudderbows longbow with some ash arrows. Bought the Traditional Bowhunters Handbook off this website and I will have at it again. Hope to start on carp shooting this spring!:!:

[eric]

#39306

I got started 5 years ago when my grandpa gave me an old fred bear recurve. I shot at and missed a few deer that year but I was hooked on archery. I now have that old fred bear recurve, a PSE coyote recurve, and a bearpaw longbow. I shoot ceadar arrows with turkey fletching(all homemade:D). Right now I am teaching my sister and little couisin all about archery( at least the little bit, that I know:lol:). I like to hunt small game, big game, and everything in between.

Eric

[Ken]

#44951

Hi every one,I worked as a pro hunter and trapper for 8 years for forestry and killing 200 plus animals a night was slowly killing me,So I quit the job and hunting all together.After 18 months the lovely wife could see that just fly fishing alone wasn’t enough,So in her good wisdom that christmas she purchased a cheep T/D recurve and a few arrows and as they say the rest is history.I now am the proud owner of 2 recurves,Predator T/D hunter,martin dream catcher,martin viper L/B,barter L/B, plus the first one which is used for bow fishing now.Unfortunately bow hunting is pretty much illegal here in Tasmania apart from rabbits but I do live in one of the best trout fishing destinations in the world, so you can’t have it all,But we are working hard to get fallow deer added to that.
Cheers, Ken

[stabow]

#46574

I started shooting a bow when I was 5 years old that was in 1955 My dad was a non hunter but when I turned 12 he bought me a 20 gauge shotgun and started taking me small game hunting and I’ve been hunting ever since. Bows and muzzleloaders are my preferred weapons to hunt with now for the extra challenge……stabow

[Ice Man]

#47906

As others have said, I didn’t respond to the poll either as none of the responses were how I got started- exactly.

I really started bowhunting (w/a compound bow) when I was 28. Now I am 47. Though truthfully, I did go walking in the woods with a bow for one year w/a recurve when I was 14 but for some reason it didn’t stick. In the mean time, I enjoyed deerhunting and upland game with guns.

So I got into bowhuting later than most, when a new neighbor moved in that was a fanatic. Though he was several years my younger, he mentored me on all things regarding a compound bow and how to bowhunt versus my rifle hunting experience.

Starting about my late 30’s I began noticing traditional archery. I even bought a subscription to TBM though I had NO intention of shooting a trad bow. Why? I have no clue.

Yet for 5 years, my mentor and I pal’ed around and every so often I would say “Some day I am gonna buy a longbow” when we would see one in passing.

Well one day, when we passed yet another rack of longbows at some trade show, and I once again made my old comment of “Someday…” and he turned a looked at me and said “What are you waiting for?”. He made this comment, I am sure, because he was tired of me saying it over and over. Well, you know what? I had no answer and bought one the next week and I haven’t shot anything but recurves and longbows ever since. I don’t even shoot guns anymore.

So the irony is my compound bow mentor got me into this. And yes, he still only shoots compound bows.

So the poll did have friends as a choice, but it didn’t seem like my response fits the intent of the questions.

[Milhouse]

#53464

I got into traditional archery basically because a friend of mine bought a traditional bow, and I wanted to try it to. I dabbled in it, but was really into compounds and all the gadgets and gizmos that went along with those.

I piddled around with it for a couple of years, but when there was “serious hunting” to be done, I always went with the compound. Eventually I got out of trad all together. I put together quite a string of nice whitetail bucks with the compound, but hunting was beginning to be more like a job, and I was expected (or so it seemed to me), to put another buck “on the wall” every year.

There are a ton of bowhunters in my area, and also a bunch of squabbling amongst that crowd. Things like “he’s moving in on my area”, “that was my buck he shot”, and blah, blah blah. I finally got sick of trying to keep up with everything and everyone, and decided to just do my own thing, and get out of the rat race that bowhunting seems to have become. I really enjoy just going hunting with a bow that feels like a flyrod, and not need a 30lb pack full of stuff to do it. Anyway, I know there were people saying I’d be back on the compounds within a year, but the absolute truth of the matter is that I would not even consider owning another compound (at least at this time).

[Grizz]

#57607

As a child my Dad took a stick and put a string on and let me go after those big black squirrels that ran the softwoods across from our house,from that point on i was always the Indian in Cowboys and Indians,i became a boyscout and always went to the woods.The woods are always there for me with her arms wide open no matter what…Hunting with bow and arrow just consumes me and the practise and 3D shoots have been pure fun.I wish the snow would melt so i could look for sheds and scout for next season.

[Hubertus]

#62107

Thanx for this post Jesse! I too did not respond to the survey for the same reasons.
I’ve been into archery for almost 5 years. I came from a non-hunting family but always pursued the outdoors on my own. At the age of 25, I wanted something new to try that I could eventually share with my young family. A “guys’ night out” at the local range lit the fire, but it needed some care to bring it to a blaze.
For a few months I shot rented compounds sporadically and played with a recurve on a whim. When it came time for my own equipment, I chose the beautifully simple Chekmate Falcon that the range owner had allowed me to use simply because of the lower startup cost. Fewer gadgets, lower cost. I figured I would likely get a compound at a later date (and idea that sounds completely foreign today).
Long story short: range shooting led to outdoor shooting led to hunting (a passion I did not anticipate). Traditional equipment fit perfectly with my personal style. Jabs at the range about “real bows” and me being on “the dark side” have always rung hollow and foolish.

[Raider2000]

#8907

I like many of us grew up where as a child went in search of adventure in creeks, the back woods or where ever I could find that nature was all around me, my grandfather taught me many of the lessons that still stick with me today including the basics of shooting a bow, my first was one he made for me out of some Hickory, even today I follow a rule that he drilled in my head 28+ years ago, he called it the 20 yard rule.
When shooting at a target you are in control & if you can hit your target consistently at say 40 yards knock your hunting distance down by 20 yards because unlike a target where most aspects are in control by you in Nature there is nothing that you control but yourself.

I’ve always had a facination to Nature & although I have used other means of hunting I have made it my mission to go back to my humble beginnings mostly so that I can pass what I have learned to my daughters & hope that they too will appreciate the greatness & simplicity of nature & true bowhunting.

[gordy]

#11206

Just posted my intro. I have been hunting for 40 years but have been just taken with traditional gear.

[Author]

Posts