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Starting the road of traditional bow, what do you recommend for beginner to focus on with limited time and budget?

HuumanCreed said:
That's the plan. I dont feel the pressure to be good at it. Its a wonderful feeling knowing that I'm just shooting for fun. Plus now I have to learn a whole different tuning method, tune arrow, not bow.
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You can still tune a trad bow. Moving strike plate, nock point, tiller, brace height, and on an ilf rig an adjustable rest. These are all ways to manipulate the tune of the bow to the arrow.

HuumanCreed said:
I heard that ILF bows are loud due to the design of limbs pockets. Any experiences? I would like to hunt with the bow someday.
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I'm currently shooting an ilf longbow and it is as quiet or more quiet than most recurves I've shot and my one-piece longbow that I hunt with.

You would be wise to find somebody near to where you live that is experienced with single string bows. If you go ILF you can get a Samick Discover for around $350-400 for a complete bow. I would recommend ILF if you are planning to string walk too.

At your height and draw length, medium limbs will give you the best of performance and smoothness when matched with a 17" or 19" riser.
 
My .02 from helping and mentoring many. First, DO NOT SPEND A LOT OF MONEY ON A NEW BOW! A great many of us and others have walked your path. Get a bow, that you can afford, I use to recommend a used bow, but they are expensive too, find a bow that fits your hand nicely. I recommend going with a recurve or hybrid longbow (I love ASL, but takes while to master). If you have a friend with one, borrow it or go to a shop if can, you do not need a rest, you will shoot off the shelf, which puts the arrow close to the hand. Once you have the bow, get quality arrows, recommend aluminum or carbon with 5" feathers. (I am a firm believer in putting the money in the arrow not the bow). Get a good book, Joedirt said shooting stickbow, good book, or hunting the hard way. Close the INTERNET, stand about 5 yards or 10 yards from target, and work on just form. I know you shot compound long time, but traditional shooting form is little different, usually loose and inch on draw between styles. When you shoot, do not be to concerned about HITTING the X right now. All we want to do is obtain a good group, we are grooving in your form. Do this until, you have a skoal size group, usually 10-15 days proper form. Now, take two-three steps back and do it again. We need to get your form solid, before we shift to aiming. Once you done this, and are grouping well, we can move to the next part. Do not rush it, there is no short cut to learning to master hand/eye coordination with traditional bow. It take's time of diligent practice to get the form solid. Once, it is done, then we do not have to think of form and focus on aiming, that comes next. Two other things, ENJOY the journey, do not get upset it takes time. Do not switch anything, just keep being determined on mastering form.
 
I Purchased Tom Klums video library, from rocky mountain specialty gear. It is a little pricey at $200, but it’s a real intense video training session. Tom is a high ranked certified instructor who charges $75 an hour for in person lessons. But for 200 bucks you can go over and over all of his Lessons. I started out with a recurve back in 99, and I develop bad habits , his video helped me overcome them. Of course back in the day there wasn’t YouTube and the Internet. There is plenty of good information on YouTube.
Good luck in your journey.


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Noonan61 said:
I Purchased Tom Klums video library, from rocky mountain specialty gear. It is a little pricey at $200, but it’s a real intense video training session. Tom is a high ranked certified instructor who charges $75 an hour for in person lessons. But for 200 bucks you can go over and over all of his Lessons. I started out with a recurve back in 99, and I develop bad habits , his video helped me overcome them. Of course back in the day there wasn’t YouTube and the Internet. There is plenty of good information on YouTube.
Good luck in your journey.


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I will second Tom Clum's course. Like @Noonan61 when I started shooting there was no youtube. Back then, the limited information you could find some was good, and some was not so good. I bought Tom's course last year and it helped correct a lot of bad habits and made my shooting significantly better.

I also recommend listening to some podcasts with Joe Turner. Even if you don't completely buy in to using clickers and shooting his controlled shot process. There's a lot of good information in his podcasts about how your brain works that can help you understand your release and shooting and how to improve it. I wouldn't go down that rabbit hole right away though.
 
I’ll chime in and repeat what has been said already. It’s good advice and you should take it in serious consideration.

Get a low poundage bow and a good set of arrows to practice with. You need to develop your form which will take more time than you want but that will shorten the learning curve. Tom’s videos already discussed could be helpful in getting the basics down.

You don’t have to spend a lot of money to get a good bow so don’t. Once you get it all figured out then start dropping some coin on something more if you need to. The Samick Sage and Black Hunters are really good affordable bows. I have a Black Hunter and it shoots better than the $1400 Black Widow I used to own. The widow is gone, I still have the BH. Money spent on premium arrows tuned to any bow is money well spent. The folks at 3Rivers Archery or Kustom King can help you with get a good arrow set up.

I am going to go against the grain and recommend you do not get an ILF bow. You are coming from compound to trad and you don’t need to get hung up in all the tuning worries and tinkering. After you figure things out get one. Stay as simple as possible. Bow, arrows, glove/tab, arm guard, Quiver is all you need to get started.
 
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GCTerpfan said:
I also recommend listening to some podcasts with Joe Turner. Even if you don't completely buy in to using clickers and shooting his controlled shot process. There's a lot of good information in his podcasts about how your brain works that can help you understand your release and shooting and how to improve it.
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Are there any particular podcasts you could link here sir? Ones that stand out more than others.

Asking for a friend with 7 children and not a lot of time to listen to podcasts. ;)
 
You just have to be willing to step up and do whatever it takes to listen to podcasts. Me? I ditched my 2 minute one way commute for an hour and a half one way commute. Now, I don’t expect you to have my level of commitment because few do, but you must commit to the podcast process.....
 
Red Beard said:
Are there any particular podcasts you could link here sir? Ones that stand out more than others.

Asking for a friend with 7 children and not a lot of time to listen to podcasts. ;)
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Here is a good one with Joel Turner: http://tradgeeks.com/podcast/podcast41/

Here is a Q&A video with Tom where he discusses all kinds of stuff:

I haven't watched this but, heard (from you) that there's a lot of good information in it. Figured I would list it for others that are reading this.
 
This is a great thread, should be a sticky.

Although, as someone said earlier I need to get off the internet and shoot a lot more arrows..
 
I been watching alot of Clay (NOT Chris) Hayes videos. He is a lot more skilled and dedicated to living the life he wants then just archery. His video about living debt free really blew my mind on what you can do with hard work and self taught.
 
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HuumanCreed said:
I been watching alot of Chris Hayes videos. He is a lot more skilled and dedicated to living the life he wants then just archery. His video about living debt free really blew my mind on what you can do with hard work and self taught.
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Haha, it's CLAY Hayes. Chris Hayes is the fake news liar from CNN (or is it MSNBC?).
 
For simple things, you could follow the Fitzgerald boys and shoot instinctive off a compound.

check out their YouTube videos.
 
As mentioned above about converting your bow to ilf to make a trad bow. Here is a good idea to try on the cheap.
 
In my opinion mike coverd it , don’t go buy an expensive bow . He suggested the black hunter and I would second that . I have a older model 58” grizzly recurve it’s a good shooter for me but the black hunter is a little smoother on the draw. Also I wouldn’t use a rest learn to shoot off the shelf . I use the three finger under method and find that my groups are better at 25 yards than with a split finger . Also make sure you use the same brace height every time vs stringing the bow at different heights every time . When getting started you will need to adjust the height until you find that sweet spot that works for you. It’s been over a year since I strung my recurve and I can’t remember what the height was . But shoot a lot to find the spot once you do the arrows will fly better and more accurate. I use a glove vs a tab get you can find good ones on the 3 rivers site as for braodheads I like the magnus two blades . You mite not believe it but I also got a D&Q 60” recurve off Amazon , I was impressed with the draw and how it shoots it was under $200 .
 
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