Traditional Archery hunting

[StevieSacs]

I picked up a recurve a few days ago and cant put the damn thing down. Its a ton of fun to shoot, but holy hell is it difficult.  Anyone on here shoot / hunt with a Longbow or recurve?  Any tips you could give to someone who's just picking up on it.

I absolutely love my Mathews Halon, but wanted to try something different.  

 

Stevie Sac

[Lawdwaz]

In 1976 NYS started a new program for 14 and 15 year olds.  I was 15 in '76 and started as a Junior Archer.  Started with a Bear Grizzly then and used that without success until about 1980 when I got a Darton SL50.  I ended up coming back to traditional bows (both recurves and longbows) from 1987-1999. Killed deer with both types but more with the recurve.  At the end of '99 I went back to the compound, still am now.

Moog and others will chime in shortly.........

[airedale]

I have shot recurves for many years, I love their simplicity, their tradition and like you found out with your new recurve, "they are a ton of fun". I am no expert or instructor, I can recommend Byron Ferguson's book "Be the Arrow" and plenty of practice, practice, practice and practice more. Good luck to you with your new bow.

Al

Edited December 20, 2018 by airedale

[tommyc50]

I got the samick sage and I love it.Originally I bought it  with the intent to hunt with it. I bought it w/ #60 limbs I had no problem pulling it back and shot it well BUT after about the 4th or 5th shot what would happen is my bow arm would have a hard time keeping straight . so I got the #50 limbs but man I have more fun with that and its no sites alittle beaver fur on the arrow rest and I only have to  make sure I have a 8'' brace Hight. I hope that I could hunt with it but need to practice  alot

[moog5050]

Stevie

i suffer from the addiction bad.  My suggestion is to start by reading this book cover to cover.  Don’t worry about aiming or even shooting at a distance to start.  Alignment and adhering to a good shot routine are the goals to start.  Blank bailing from less than a few yards is the best way to develop these critical aspects.  Aiming , shooting at distance and tuning come later.  

You can also check out videos from moebow, and Joel turner on YouTube. 

Enjoy the roller coaster.  

Edited December 20, 2018 by moog5050

[moog5050]

On 12/19/2018 at 9:49 PM, moog5050 said:

Stevie

i suffer from the addiction bad.  My suggestion is to start by reading this book cover to cover.  Don’t worry about aiming or even shooting at a distance to start.  Alignment and adhering to a good shot routine are the goals to start.  Blank bailing from less than a few yards is the best way to develop these critical aspects.  Aiming , shooting at distance and tuning come later.  

You can also check out videos from moebow, and Joel turner on YouTube.  And the dvd Masters of the Barebow 3 is excellent.

Enjoy the roller coaster.  

 

[StevieSacs]

Thanks for the reply guys!  I bought a Bear Grizzly and am loving it.  I kind of wanted a take down recurve so that I can travel with it and get different limbs, but the Grizzly is a nice bow.  

 

Moog, What broadheads do you use?  

[moog5050]

2 minutes ago, StevieSacs said:

Thanks for the reply guys!  I bought a Bear Grizzly and am loving it.  I kind of wanted a take down recurve so that I can travel with it and get different limbs, but the Grizzly is a nice bow.  

 

Moog, What broadheads do you use?  

VPA 3 blade and German Kinetic 2 blade.   Both kill Deer well.  Just don’t expect a blood trail like a rage hypo.   

[Thornthrower]

Check out Jeff Kavanaugh on YouTube. He has some pretty good instruction.

https://www.youtube.com/user/jeff2008lucywill


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[dbHunterNY]

If you do feel like putting it down Moog will troll and haunt you until you don't. lol  Ridiculous amounts of fun. Like throwing a baseball. First shots will feel awkward and clumsy. Practice often and the right way and it's like riding a bike. just have to almost crash a couple times before you kick the rust off again.

[biggamefish]

Best thing to do is work on form first. It's a little different than a compound but the basic functions are the same. Don't try for super accuracy at first work your way there. Bad habits are hard to break later on down the road!! I know from experience! LOL 

[Doc]

I am curious.....Are you shooting with any kind of bow-sight, or sighting method, or are you shooting pure instinctive? I have seen guys shooting exhibition demos that let their instinct guide the shot 100% and the results are things that could never be duplicated by some of the best shooters with the finest high-tech archery equipment. I watched Stacy Groscup shoot aspirins out of the air and shoot cardboard disks out of the air...... No sights or gap methods.....Just whatever he had between his eyes and his brain. That is a pretty wild thing to behold and if I were to ever go back to my recurves, it would only be 100% pure instinctive. Another thing I always wanted to do is to build my own longbow and arrows (including heads) and shoot a deer with it. That would be a hell of an accomplishment!

[moog5050]

On 12/27/2018 at 8:22 AM, Doc said:

I am curious.....Are you shooting with any kind of bow-sight, or sighting method, or are you shooting pure instinctive? I have seen guys shooting exhibition demos that let their instinct guide the shot 100% and the results are things that could never be duplicated by some of the best shooters with the finest high-tech archery equipment. I watched Stacy Groscup shoot aspirins out of the air and shoot cardboard disks out of the air...... No sights or gap methods.....Just whatever he had between his eyes and his brain. That is a pretty wild thing to behold and if I were to ever go back to my recurves, it would only be 100% pure instinctive. Another thing I always wanted to do is to build my own longbow and arrows (including heads) and shoot a deer with it. That would be a hell of an accomplishment!

No offense doc but there are very very few shooters that can shoot even reasonably well instinctively at any distance.   Unless one plans to shoot his bow 24/7, gapping is far superior for good accuracy with reasonable amounts of practice.  Even instinctive shooters gap just subconsciously.  Learning to control your shot procedure with complete control and aim will kill way more deer and hold up under hunting pressure.   There is a reason so many of the older recurves are drilled out for sights.  Not many can shoot instinctively well.   And frankly aiming is only a small part of shooting a single string bow well  

I can shoot pretty well instinctively but when it comes time to kill deer, I will happily consciously aim by gapping.    

It is fun to see guys like Ferguson shoot like they do.   Just don’t expect it from 99.99% of archers. 

[Thornthrower]

This summer I switched from instinctive and started referencing my arrow left and right out of my peripheral. Groups tightened up. Ended up with 2 doe , a Fox and 10pt this season. All with a bow I built.