Traditional Archery Advice

After years of bowhunting, selling all my stuff, and a couple of years of regretting it, I’m going back in….

This time I would like to get into traditional archery, probably a recurve since everything I’ve read tells me that’s the best to start on vs. a longbow. I’ve been fascinated with it since I was a kid and I’m going to give it a try.

I realize I may shoot for a couple of years before I’m ready to hunt but I loved shooting my compound so much I think I’ll really get into the target shooting with a recurve.

Is there any one out there that can give me some sound advice for an experienced compound shooter switching over?

I appreciate the help!

Scott

I hunted for many years with a recurve and it is very rewarding. It will make you learn to take much greater care in covering or eliminating your scent, playing the wind and so on. You will be a much better hunter period.

Get a subscription to Traditional Bowhunter
Get a bow that you can pull back in cold weather, don’t be a hero with pull weight.
Choose a shooting style and learn the proper mechanics first.
Shoot 1-200 arrows a night from July through the season at least for the first year
Pick a spot when shooting and the rest should come with practice (I preferred to snap shoot) It is all about repeatable mechanics.
Have your arrows fletched with bright colors so you can always see them in flight
You can use AL or carbon arrows but it kind of defeats the purpose. I would suggest since you are starting over to start with wood arrows as well. Pay particular attention to the spine of your arrows, your broad heads and the weight. Speed is not all it’s cracked up to be. I liked a heaver arrow because you always get better penetration and flight. A two blade Zewicky works great and is time proven. There are many manufactures that make quality products.
Start with 8 – 10 yards for a shooting distance. (most of your shots with traditional equipment will be 8 -12 yards for a few years until you are very proficient with the equipment) Don’t bait and you will see more deer, you should try hunting from the ground or lower tree stands. 8 – 10 feet seems to work great and if you do a good job with the wind and scent you will have many deer come with-in a few feet of you.
Since you went to the extra effort to learn and shoot traditional equipment, keep that theme and use the KISS method in all your recurve adventures.

Best of Luck,

Chris

I hunted for many years with a recurve and it is very rewarding. It will make you learn to take much greater care in covering or eliminating your scent, playing the wind and so on. You will be a much better hunter period.

Get a subscription to Traditional Bowhunter
Get a bow that you can pull back in cold weather, don’t be a hero with pull weight.
Choose a shooting style and learn the proper mechanics first.
Shoot 1-200 arrows a night from July through the season at least for the first year
Pick a spot when shooting and the rest should come with practice (I preferred to snap shoot) It is all about repeatable mechanics.
Have your arrows fletched with bright colors so you can always see them in flight
You can use AL or carbon arrows but it kind of defeats the purpose. I would suggest since you are starting over to start with wood arrows as well. Pay particular attention to the spine of your arrows, your broad heads and the weight. Speed is not all it’s cracked up to be. I liked a heaver arrow because you always get better penetration and flight. A two blade Zewicky works great and is time proven. There are many manufactures that make quality products.
Start with 8 – 10 yards for a shooting distance. (most of your shots with traditional equipment will be 8 -12 yards for a few years until you are very proficient with the equipment) Don’t bait and you will see more deer, you should try hunting from the ground or lower tree stands. 8 – 10 feet seems to work great and if you do a good job with the wind and scent you will have many deer come with-in a few feet of you.
Since you went to the extra effort to learn and shoot traditional equipment, keep that theme and use the KISS method in all your recurve adventures.

Best of Luck,

Chris

Hey Scott, congratulations on your decision to try traditional! It’s a lot of fun and a very rewarding way of life! I’ve hunted with a recurve most of the 28 years I’ve been shooting bows (tried the “dark-side” with a compound and find it not to be nearly as enjoyable as with a simple stick-n-string)….to each their own, though! I agree with much of what FishCrazy suggested, with the exception of using wood arrows! I know he meant if you’re going to go traditional why not go all the way and use wood arrows, but DON”T DO IT!!!! Atleast not yet, and I’ll tell you why….Instinctive style of shooting requires more practice and greater concentration on form and follow-thru. At this point in the game that is what you need to master, your form, anchor-point, and follow-thru. You want to elimate anthing that can get in the way of that and erode your confidence. You don’t want to have to worry about which wood species, what spine, keeping your arrows straight, checking them regularaliy….forget about that until you have developed your shooting ability and can consistanly hit your target out to 20 yards…..THEN, and only then, get yourself some wood arrows! I used aluminum because it is readily available everywhere, fairly inexpensive, and is consistant in spine and weight. A few good sizes to start with would be 2016,2018,2117, depending on your draw weight, which brings me to what I feel to be the biggest factor in whether or not you enjoy shooting traditional. I HIGHLY recommend that whatever weight you shot on your compound that you NOT buy a recurve that less than 20 pounds lighter!!!!!!!!!! Being over-bowed is the single worst thing you can do at this stage of the game. You need a bow you can learn to shoot well and you can’t shoot well or with confidence if you are struggling to pull your bow back to anchor consistantly!!!!!!! A lot of ex-compound shooters make this mistake, I made it when I jumped back into the recurve. I don’t care if you can bench 350 pounds, you will be so happy if you get a 50-55 pound bow….atleast for now. It’s not a macho thing to pull more weight, nor is it neccessary. My 55lb. recurve will shoot right thru any North American game animal, I’m not even remotely concerned about it, nor should you be. Shooting a lighter bow and building up into something heavier will not only help your bowshooting abilities, but it will give you the confidence you need to stick with traditional….you can’t hit what you are looking at if you are struggling to pull your bow back or hold your anchor.

FishCrazy mentioned Traditional Bowhunter Magazine….it’s a great resource and I recommend you get a copy if you haven’t already! A few other excellent instuctional materials are G.Fred Asbell’s books and corresponding video, Shooting Instictively 1 & 2…..spend the $ and go to Gander or Cabelas and get them, they are excellent and you will learn more from them than I or anyone else can ever type in a post. Fred is very good at explaining why a recurve or longbow make a better hunting weapon than a compound, in a gentleman-like way and without bashing or fingerpointing, plus he’s a heck of a guy and a good writer! Give Lamont Granger a call at the Footed Shaft or go visit his shop in Rochester….he’s also a heck of a nice guy and probably the best resource in Minnesota for traditional information, bows, supplies, etc…his number is 507-288-7581. Lamont is a great guy and if you don’t listen to me about bow-weight and wood arrows, listen to him!

Good Luck, traditional archery, as they call it nowadays, is awesome! You will have to practise quite a bit more than you did with your compound, but the flight of the arrow and watching it as it flies to it’s mark is one of the most enjoyable passtimes a fellow can do! Let me know when you are shooting well and maybe we can plan a hunt together somewhere, I’m always up for a big-game hunt! If you ever have any questions or concerns about shooting a recurve or longbow, don’t hesitate to PM me. I’d be glad to help in any way I can. Part of the passion of traditional, for me, is helping other people enjoy it too!

Hey Scott, congratulations on your decision to try traditional! It’s a lot of fun and a very rewarding way of life! I’ve hunted with a recurve most of the 28 years I’ve been shooting bows (tried the “dark-side” with a compound and find it not to be nearly as enjoyable as with a simple stick-n-string)….to each their own, though! I agree with much of what FishCrazy suggested, with the exception of using wood arrows! I know he meant if you’re going to go traditional why not go all the way and use wood arrows, but DON”T DO IT!!!! Atleast not yet, and I’ll tell you why….Instinctive style of shooting requires more practice and greater concentration on form and follow-thru. At this point in the game that is what you need to master, your form, anchor-point, and follow-thru. You want to elimate anthing that can get in the way of that and erode your confidence. You don’t want to have to worry about which wood species, what spine, keeping your arrows straight, checking them regularaliy….forget about that until you have developed your shooting ability and can consistanly hit your target out to 20 yards…..THEN, and only then, get yourself some wood arrows! I used aluminum because it is readily available everywhere, fairly inexpensive, and is consistant in spine and weight. A few good sizes to start with would be 2016,2018,2117, depending on your draw weight, which brings me to what I feel to be the biggest factor in whether or not you enjoy shooting traditional. I HIGHLY recommend that whatever weight you shot on your compound that you NOT buy a recurve that less than 20 pounds lighter!!!!!!!!!! Being over-bowed is the single worst thing you can do at this stage of the game. You need a bow you can learn to shoot well and you can’t shoot well or with confidence if you are struggling to pull your bow back to anchor consistantly!!!!!!! A lot of ex-compound shooters make this mistake, I made it when I jumped back into the recurve. I don’t care if you can bench 350 pounds, you will be so happy if you get a 50-55 pound bow….atleast for now. It’s not a macho thing to pull more weight, nor is it neccessary. My 55lb. recurve will shoot right thru any North American game animal, I’m not even remotely concerned about it, nor should you be. Shooting a lighter bow and building up into something heavier will not only help your bowshooting abilities, but it will give you the confidence you need to stick with traditional….you can’t hit what you are looking at if you are struggling to pull your bow back or hold your anchor.

FishCrazy mentioned Traditional Bowhunter Magazine….it’s a great resource and I recommend you get a copy if you haven’t already! A few other excellent instuctional materials are G.Fred Asbell’s books and corresponding video, Shooting Instictively 1 & 2…..spend the $ and go to Gander or Cabelas and get them, they are excellent and you will learn more from them than I or anyone else can ever type in a post. Fred is very good at explaining why a recurve or longbow make a better hunting weapon than a compound, in a gentleman-like way and without bashing or fingerpointing, plus he’s a heck of a guy and a good writer! Give Lamont Granger a call at the Footed Shaft or go visit his shop in Rochester….he’s also a heck of a nice guy and probably the best resource in Minnesota for traditional information, bows, supplies, etc…his number is 507-288-7581. Lamont is a great guy and if you don’t listen to me about bow-weight and wood arrows, listen to him!

Good Luck, traditional archery, as they call it nowadays, is awesome! You will have to practise quite a bit more than you did with your compound, but the flight of the arrow and watching it as it flies to it’s mark is one of the most enjoyable passtimes a fellow can do! Let me know when you are shooting well and maybe we can plan a hunt together somewhere, I’m always up for a big-game hunt! If you ever have any questions or concerns about shooting a recurve or longbow, don’t hesitate to PM me. I’d be glad to help in any way I can. Part of the passion of traditional, for me, is helping other people enjoy it too!

Thanks for the great advice!

The more I look into this, the more I realize how much I don’t know about it. I’m really excited about getting started.

I plan to stop by the footed shaft this weekend to talk with Lamont. Hopefully I can look at some bows and maybe even shoot one.

Is there a “commercial” brand/model of recurve that’s known as a great bow or do I need to go with a custom built bow?

I’ve been looking at some boyers sites: Brackenbury, Fox, Wes Wallace, Trails End, and WOW are they Georgeous : AND EXPENSIVE!

Thanks again!

Scott

Thanks for the great advice!

The more I look into this, the more I realize how much I don’t know about it. I’m really excited about getting started.

I plan to stop by the footed shaft this weekend to talk with Lamont. Hopefully I can look at some bows and maybe even shoot one.

Is there a “commercial” brand/model of recurve that’s known as a great bow or do I need to go with a custom built bow?

I’ve been looking at some boyers sites: Brackenbury, Fox, Wes Wallace, Trails End, and WOW are they Georgeous : AND EXPENSIVE!

Thanks again!

Scott

Lamont has a ton of Bear bows and a few others to choose from. Bear and Martin are two good bows. Howatt is another good one! As for the custom bows, there are some awesome bowyers that do outstanding work on custom bows, but most are fairly pricey. I just bought a Blacktail bow from Norm Johnson out in Oregon….waited a year to get it and when I opened it up I said it was too pretty to hunt with! Anyhow, he makes awesome bows, as does Wes Wallace, Fox, Schafer, and a bunch of others. Don’t believe you have to get a custom bow to be good….any Bear or Martin will shoot equally well. Buying a custom bow is just kinda the natural progression of things once you get hooked on traditional archery. Let me know what bow you buy? Just remember….Don’t buy one too heavy! If you are going to see Lamont, you are in good hands…he will steer you in the right direction!

Lamont has a ton of Bear bows and a few others to choose from. Bear and Martin are two good bows. Howatt is another good one! As for the custom bows, there are some awesome bowyers that do outstanding work on custom bows, but most are fairly pricey. I just bought a Blacktail bow from Norm Johnson out in Oregon….waited a year to get it and when I opened it up I said it was too pretty to hunt with! Anyhow, he makes awesome bows, as does Wes Wallace, Fox, Schafer, and a bunch of others. Don’t believe you have to get a custom bow to be good….any Bear or Martin will shoot equally well. Buying a custom bow is just kinda the natural progression of things once you get hooked on traditional archery. Let me know what bow you buy? Just remember….Don’t buy one too heavy! If you are going to see Lamont, you are in good hands…he will steer you in the right direction!

Become the arrow. by BYRON FERGESON. very good book. more about longbows but his ideas about form and mechanics are great. he is a shooting legend.

Become the arrow. by BYRON FERGESON. very good book. more about longbows but his ideas about form and mechanics are great. he is a shooting legend.