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Swapping to traditional archery

I have about a 25 inch draw! It’s a great little bow. I love how it’s small and easy to draw out of a tree in funky positions. It does the trick on deer!
 
rambotogo said:
Every year I say I will go to a recurve or long bow ,but end up hunting with the compound .Maybe this is the year . The people that hunt with stick and string are awesome .
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They are all great. Watching this trad team in the contest every year helps me talk myself into sticking with modern gear though. I still enjoy eating venison that I harvest. I’m not the blood thirsty savage I was in my younger years but I still enjoy killing stuff also. The guys who consistently kill deer every year with traditional gear have my attention.
 
I made a selfbow in 2017. It is addicting, but I have not switched totally. I have my trad bow and compound in the truck with me. Some days I grab the stick bow, some days I grab the compound. I have shot 3 deer with my stick bow. They have to be close. I don't like shooting out to 20 yards with it. I get in tight to where I expect the deer to come from when I have my stick bow.stick bow.jpg
 
Jasper2 said:
Wow, Must be a short draw guy, or that was a mis-type? 25" draw maximum on that badboy before it stacks up!
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Not necessarily. Short bows can be made to stack a little farther out. I have 2 javamans that are 54in but made to 28in draw. Finger pinch is what starts limiting them.
 
Oakridge said:
I have about a 25 inch draw! It’s a great little bow. I love how it’s small and easy to draw out of a tree in funky positions. It does the trick on deer!
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I’m a 25 in draw too and like my little 54in bows but it’s not that much more compact than a 60in once you get use to it. I think I’ll benefit more from the performance increase of a longer bow with the handicap of a 25in draw. My next bow will be 60in. That will just be 3in longer on each limb.
 
I’ve felt like I seem to get more performance from a shorter bow as I’m flexing the limb more? @swampsnyper i would be curious to hear your thoughts on this? Javaman bows are excellent bows also me and my father own 4 now.
 
swampsnyper said:
Not necessarily. Short bows can be made to stack a little farther out. I have 2 javamans that are 54in but made to 28in draw. Finger pinch is what starts limiting them.
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They can be made not to stack but not that particular bow. I have one and talked to the bowyer at length before I ordered one. With that design, 25" is the maximum recommended draw for that bow. I was only speaking of the mentioned Centaur...I should've clarified that.
 
Jasper2 said:
They can be made not to stack but not that particular bow. I have one and talked to the bowyer at length before I ordered one. With that design, 25" is the maximum recommended draw for that bow. I was only speaking of the mentioned Centaur...I should've clarified that.
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My bad. You are correct.
 
Oakridge said:
I’ve felt like I seem to get more performance from a shorter bow as I’m flexing the limb more? @swampsnyper i would be curious to hear your thoughts on this? Javaman bows are excellent bows also me and my father own 4 now.
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My thoughts are that the longer the limb, the more working limb you have. That’s the way I understood it. Longer bows were used in England kingdoms to get more power to shoot further on open terrain. Shorter recurves were developed to shoot off horse back for maneuverability. That’s just some things I picked up studying to build bows one day. I’ve read that years ago so maybe I’m getting things mixed up. Lol
I’m about ready to start building some so I need to do a refresher.
 
That makes sense to me. I always figured a shorter limb would flex more and get into the power stroke sooner. Looks like we need a experts opinion :)
 
A longer bow has more kinetic energy potential than a shorter bow. There are then factors that go into the build of a bow that allow that potential to be seen. However, all things being equal a longer bow does have more power up to a certain point. Once they get too long you start to loose the benefits of a longer bow.

FYI, I have been building and experimenting with self bows for about 18 years.
 
I switched from a Jennings T Star to a Brackenbury recurve back in 1992. I started following the Wensel boys in the mid 1980s and thought "I want to do that". By the early '90s I got sick of the runaway technology (wow, times have changed) and I started to not even want to pick up my compound anymore. To me, it wasn't a bow, it was some sort of contraption. I thought that bows shouldn't have so many nuts, bolts and mechanical parts so I made the switch and I will never go back to tech. When the day comes that I can no longer shoot my recurve effectively, then I'll just become a meat hunter with a firearm. Nothing against guns or compounds, but at this point in my 61 year life, they just ain't for me.
There was one year since I switched that for some reason, I was in a shooting slump and I got the compound back out (around 2,000). I hated it. I killed 2 bucks with it that year but I had such a hollow feeling...kinda like I was cheating myself out of something.
I shot my 60th deer this year. Probably 45 of them were shot with trad gear.
The majority of them have been taken with a 52#, 60" Allegheny Mountain Recurve. I love that bow.

I highly recommend trying trad. Just be firm in the mindset that you will probably be limiting your shots to well under 20 yards in the beginning. I've extended my range to about 19 yards and I'm okay with that limitation. Last season, I had a borderline Booner at 30 yards. Most of the compound guys would have shot that buck. I watched him walk out of my life with no regrets. Letting deer walk that I could have killed via technology has become almost enjoyable. I consider it a victory just being within 30 yards of a big buck. The days when I felt like I desperately needed to kill a buck are long gone and I'm fine with it.
 
I switched 5 years ago. Like many have said, get yourself a samick sage in 35 or 40 lbs. Get some 500 spine feather fletched arrows with a 125 grain tip, a leather shooting glove or tab and JUST SHOOT... from 10 yards. Initially it's all about your form and maintaining consistency. Once you get that down you can worry about tuning your arrows to your bow. A 35# samick sage will be that weight if you draw 28". Take away +or- 2lbs for every inch less that you draw and add 3 lbs for every inch you draw over 28". These #'s aren't exact but close. Practice, practice, practice.. and you will want to practice because shooting a trad bow is fun. It's not like a compound at all (it's way better). The Traditional Bow Hunter page on facebook is a great place to ask questions also and there is a Traditional Bowhunters Classifieds also where you can probably find a Sage for sale also. Feel free to hit me up with any questions about making the switch. You'll be selling all that compound stuff before you know it!!! Good luck!
 
I figured I could miss deer just as well with a recurve as I could with a compound, plus I like the added challenge. It brings a whole new feeling to the hunt. If things are slow I get down, pack up, cover some ground and do some stump shooting. Trad definitely makes the hunt way more enjoyable to me! I love the instinctive method of just looking at the target and watching the arrow hit the spot that you were looking at! :) @swampsnyper you nailed it brother! LOL!
 
I switched about a month ago. I bought the PSE nighthawk in 45#. It’s basically PSE’s version of the Sage. I am hooked! I’m already contemplating selling my compound. Just don’t know if it’s worth selling though for what I would get out of it. Might just keep it in case. It’s the Mathews MQ1.


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If at all possible, attend a traditional bow shoot nearest you. Spend some time looking at bows, shooting bows and talking with folks there to see what feels comfortable to you. Most stick bows look similar but feel and shoot differently. At traditional shoots there's plenty of venders selling used as well as new bows. There will be bows to fit any budget.
 
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swampsnyper said:
All it takes is to get a bow just to play with in the yard. Then you won’t be able to put it down because it is so fun to shoot. Next you realize you only pull out your compound like a rifle before the season, to check that’s its sighted in. Then you don’t feel like lugging that boat anchor around and say the hell with it, I’m taking my Tradbow. Then a deer comes in range and you are falling apart like a kid on his 1st deer. You try to find sights to settle into but they are not there. You try pointing your arrow like you are looking down a BB gun. You forget everything you practiced all year. You watch your arrow fly over the deer’s back and you smile because you haven’t felt that way in years. Eventually you kill one and it’s the most satisfying hunt you ever been on.
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You nailed it!
 
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