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Starting the Traditional Archery journey...again

GCTerpfan

GCTerpfan

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Joined
Aug 11, 2017
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5,997
Location
Garrett County, MD
I have posted recently in some other threads about getting back into Traditional Archery after being away for almost 20 years. I grew up shooting and hunting with recurves because that is what my dad shot and built for many years. After I started college I quit bow hunting for about a decade. I got married shortly after college and once my oldest son was old enough to start bow hunting I bought him and then eventually me a crossbow. Now that my younger son is old enough to hunt (he took his first deer with my crossbow this fall) it seemed like a good opportunity to hand my crossbow down to him and go back to my recurve.

My dad has been out of the traditional game for almost the same length of time but, he still has some gear scattered around his house so I stopped by this weekend to tune some arrows. By the end of the afternoon I not only had some arrows tuned but, I also came home with a leather quiver for my bow (the bow on the right and the first bow my dad built), the bow in the center which is a 40# bow my dad built and is an example of what his personal riser design/shape used to be, an old Bear Kodiak at 44# for my oldest son to shoot, a bow stringer, and a padded bow case. We also dug through his garage and found boxes of inserts/knocks, arrows of every spine and material, feathers, fletching jigs, feather choppers and about every other misc item you need for traditional archery. All in all it was a pretty good afternoon and just added to my excitement of getting back into Trad shooting. Funny thing is, even after finding all of that I still managed to spend $100 at 3 Rivers this morning.

bows.jpg
 
DaveT1963 said:
Married, kids and trad archery???? - You are screwed lol. Welcome back to "the light." :)

look forward to seeing some bone on the ground.
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Haha. That's why Trad archery took a back seat for so long. Now that two of my kids are old enough to drive, I am hoping I have a little more time then I used to.

As far as the bone on the ground goes. I have made sure the trees I have picked out in my last couple scouting trips have been a whole lot closer then they would have been in the past. :)
 
GCTerpfan said:
Haha. That's why Trad archery took a back seat for so long. Now that two of my kids are old enough to drive, I am hoping I have a little more time then I used to.

As far as the bone on the ground goes. I have made sure the trees I have picked out in my last couple scouting trips have been a whole lot closer then they would have been in the past. :)
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I bet you have a fun fantastic season. I actually blew my only change at a 150 last season because I was trying to draw back my Mathews and he heard/saw it. 12 yards from my tree. That buck would be gracing my wall now had I had my recurve that morning. Shoulder injury from weight training forced me to get and use it (I did kill one buck with it) but getting better all the time.
 
Beautiful sticks welcome back to traditional. Nothing like a stick and string.


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So...to follow up with this. After I tuned the arrows and picked up the stuff from my dads, I hadn't made the time to really do any shooting until this past weekend. After about 100 arrows over three days, this was my last 15 yard group on Sunday.

group.jpg

I would say it's like riding a bike but, I honestly think I am already shooting better now then I used to. I think the biggest difference has been incorporating the stuff I have heard from Joel Turner (Ironmind hunting) on a few different podcasts. A controlled shot has already made a huge difference in my shooting compared to what I remember shooting like in my snap-shooting days. I still have a flyer now and then but, I know what I did wrong when it happens.

I am absolutely stoked to be shooting a recurve again and to be shooting it this well already... Is it deer season yet???
 
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I need to buy another samick and start flinging a few arrows. 3 of the 4 deer I killed last year were inside 20 yards. And it'd be nice to carry a lighter bow. The Synergy is a sweet but chunky girl.

Of course, the 9 point was about a 75 yard shot...I don't have the patience and fortitude to good-naturedly let opportunities like that slip away. I have had dreams about every buck that has ever escaped me. Makes me mad just thinking about it. :angry:
 
Nutterbuster said:
I need to buy another samick and start flinging a few arrows. 3 of the 4 deer I killed last year were inside 20 yards. And it'd be nice to carry a lighter bow. The Synergy is a sweet but chunky girl.

Of course, the 9 point was about a 75 yard shot...I don't have the patience and fortitude to good-naturedly let opportunities like that slip away. I have had dreams about every buck that has ever escaped me. Makes me mad just thinking about it. :angry:
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Do it. I knew I wanted to get back into it this year but, I underestimated how much fun it was going to be. And I just started.
 
GCTerpfan said:
Do it. I knew I wanted to get back into it this year but, I underestimated how much fun it was going to be. And I just started.
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I have a 55lb grizzly, but I need to sell/trade it for a 40-45lb bow and a clicker. Wish I still had my old Pearson I restored. Sold the herd when I hot into saddle hunting.
 
Nutterbuster said:
I have a 55lb grizzly, but I need to sell/trade it for a 40-45lb bow and a clicker. Wish I still had my old Pearson I restored. Sold the herd when I hot into saddle hunting.
Click to expand...

I am working with a 40lb bow right now (the middle bow in the picture above) and a clicker. It's the first time I have ever messed with clicker and it's definitely helping. Listening to Joel Turner talk on a couple of podcasts made some light bulbs come on regarding mistakes I made in the way I used to shoot and how to fix them. I was considered a pretty good instinctive shot in our circle of Trad friends, and back then it was a pretty big circle. But, I can tell already that what I am doing now is going to allow me to shoot better then I used to.
 
I’ve enjoyed following. I’m just stepping into the trad world this year for the first time and have been shooting as much as I can. I’m decent at 10 yards but nowhere near game shape. What is this clicker?
 
I've been really intrigued and wanting to give the trad route a serious try for hunting. I have zero experience with traditional archery and I don't know anyone to really get me started or going in the right direction. I watched "The Push" which really got me motivated to pursue this route and the thing that appealed to me the most was how he explained aiming/shooting using the 'fixed crawl' technique. I then went to the local archery shop that had a small selection of bows and the guy at the shop explained I would need/want to get an ILF bow if that's how I plan to shoot, but he didn't have any for me to try or get my hands on and said he could order once I decided what I want... That then lead me to try and research, but the more I read, the more options I find and the more complicated/overwhelmed with information I have become. I've now found myself in the position of "paralysis by analysis" so to speak...! How do I make a decision of what to get or what I'll want when I don't know anything about traditional bows???

I guess what I'm getting at is, HELP please? Any advice/wisdom to push me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated. Others have said to get a Samick Saige and give it a try, but from what I've been told or read that won't allow me to shoot the fixed crawl, is that correct??? I've been looking online at the Hoyt Satori or the Trad Tech stuff, but if I'm going to spend the money on those options I'd like to feel confident I'm making the right buy. It doesn't make sense to me to spend the money on just any bow to learn on and then have to turn around and buy a different bow to be able to hunt with... I'm not sure if I'm over thinking this or missing something, but my perception of traditional archery was that it was a simpler style of archery and I'm now feeling like it's much more complicated than I ever imagined...? lol

Thanks for reading this, please feel free to set me straight and make me commit to this challenge.
 
With traditional archery, you can spend a little or a lot. Although I've got a custom recurve at home, the bow I used this past season I bought off of Craigslist for $75.
A custom bow is about the same price as a compound unless you really get a piece of art. When you add a rest, sights, release and quiver to your compound bow you can easily add half again the cost of the bow.
A stick bow requires no rest, sights nor release. A nice bow quiver will set you back about $100.
 
Nutterbuster said:
I need to buy another samick and start flinging a few arrows. 3 of the 4 deer I killed last year were inside 20 yards. And it'd be nice to carry a lighter bow. The Synergy is a sweet but chunky girl.

Of course, the 9 point was about a 75 yard shot...I don't have the patience and fortitude to good-naturedly let opportunities like that slip away. I have had dreams about every buck that has ever escaped me. Makes me mad just thinking about it. :angry:
Click to expand...

Galaxy Emerald at Lancaster archery ... I just picked it up , much faster , smoother and lighter than the samick sage ( I sold mine lol )


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GCTerpfan said:
I have posted recently in some other threads about getting back into Traditional Archery after being away for almost 20 years. I grew up shooting and hunting with recurves because that is what my dad shot and built for many years. After I started college I quit bow hunting for about a decade. I got married shortly after college and once my oldest son was old enough to start bow hunting I bought him and then eventually me a crossbow. Now that my younger son is old enough to hunt (he took his first deer with my crossbow this fall) it seemed like a good opportunity to hand my crossbow down to him and go back to my recurve.

My dad has been out of the traditional game for almost the same length of time but, he still has some gear scattered around his house so I stopped by this weekend to tune some arrows. By the end of the afternoon I not only had some arrows tuned but, I also came home with a leather quiver for my bow (the bow on the right and the first bow my dad built), the bow in the center which is a 40# bow my dad built and is an example of what his personal riser design/shape used to be, an old Bear Kodiak at 44# for my oldest son to shoot, a bow stringer, and a padded bow case. We also dug through his garage and found boxes of inserts/knocks, arrows of every spine and material, feathers, fletching jigs, feather choppers and about every other misc item you need for traditional archery. All in all it was a pretty good afternoon and just added to my excitement of getting back into Trad shooting. Funny thing is, even after finding all of that I still managed to spend $100 at 3 Rivers this morning.

View attachment 10948
Click to expand...

Welcome back !


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