My new black widow pch v should be shipped to me next week. I have dove in head first and feel like I am most likely done with my compound for good. I have a ben pearson cougar that I have been shooting and the more I shoot the recurves, the more I love it. I know that I will have growing pains, but that's part of the fun. It's like learning archery all over again. That being said, is anybody else on here taking the plunge and going all in on trad equipment?
Spent a lot of years there and have transitioned to the new way. Still like to shoot trad in the yard but will probably only hunt with a compound from now on. Lots of fun. Go for it and enjoy.
i "made the switch" over 30 years ago.....owing several BW's, Brackebury's, and several other custom recurves along the way. Got rather stodgy about compounds, until my draw shoulder wore out and ended up eating some crow about wheel bows when I was forced to return to "training wheels". What I have found is that compound shooters are not nearly as negative about trad guys as the reverse. In fact, most compound shooters I have encountered in the past 5 years have been in awe of the effort and restraint of quality trad guys. Work hard and pay your dues with your stickbows, but don't feed the stereotypes because you never know what, when or where life is going to push an undesired change upon your preferences. All the best....
I most recently made the switch not completely as I still rely on my compound as my go to for harvesting pretty much any game animal but I also love shooting my recurve and am constantly working towards taking it to the woods I shoot everyday and I'm getting better with time my biggest hurdle with trad archery was form etc getting to full draw same anchor and release. I shoot split instinctive and it has been quite the learning experience. Looking forward to taking my grizzly to the stand this fall. Good luck to you also. Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk
I've shot both a lot over the years. Used to make and sell take down recurves and longbows even. One of mine when I was practicing for a mule deer hunt in SD in 2006.
I have been very tempted to recently, but I need to save my money until I start killing more deer with my compound!
Two of my best buddies dad's are Hardcore traditional archers. Make their own bows with sinew strings, and wood shaft arrows with turkey feather fletching and stone points all made in his shop... straight up Injun. I would love to but just don't have the time right now.
No doubt it has been a struggle maintaining consistent form and anchor. It's such a different way of shooting than what I was used to. I love it though. It's been quite awhile since I've enjoyed shooting a lot, but now I can't get enough of it. I've been shooting everyday with my ben pearson cougar. I probably shoot anywhere from 50-100 shots every time out, and it is getting easier. I think that I'll be listing my compound for sale before too long now.
I started out w a bow my dad made me at 3-4 years old my parents disagree to age. Id shot all traditional as a kid going to compounds around 12-13. I liked a bunch about it but something seemed missing. Crazy as it sounds my favorite part was pointing out blood drops w a recurved bow limb tip and the smell of the cracked cedar arrows. In time my shoulders wore out n I went back to compound in earnest hunting w stykbows only when I felt I was healthy enough for the practice to be ethical. Still something was missing. I've been this year shooting my recurves a lot. Almost every other day n they're smoking the targets. My body holds up in back in come fall!
I'm honestly on the verge myself if I get good enough I may trade my compound also. Glad to here you are feeling good about trad archery it really is a ton of fun Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk
Well my PCH V is in transit! I can't wait to get my hands on it. I've also got some sitka spruce arrows on the way. I'm pretty pumped about using the wings from this years turkeys to use for the fletching too. I think that I'm really going to enjoy building all my arrows as well. Something about a recurve and a wood arrow just gets me excited.
Good luck w the bow! I had a bunch of recurves at one point. Got divorced n sold some I regret. Kept a Bighorn I had Fred Asbell build in the 80s I think and a PSA black widow made in 04. Being I use the bighorn to bowfish n it's rigged up right now I've been shooting the PSA. Love both bows. You want to get even more psyched, being you're just jumping in if you've never seen "Bowhunting October Whitetails" get it. 3 rivers archery has it for $12.95. Video is a classic n today I still use some of Barry Wensels ideas. Shows lots of cool stuff done w recurves
Well I'm officially "all in". I found a guy that wants to buy my compound and I'm ready to make the move. I'm having a ton of fun with my new widow. I'm also in the middle of building my first set of sitka spruce arrows. It's a really cool process and I really enjoy creating my own personalized equipment. To anybody that is hesitant to make a change or try traditional archery, just go for it. It's a ton of fun and I don't regret it one bit.
Tell us about the wood arrows you're making. Any previous experience?? I'm working on some Douglas Fir right now, trying to get through the "hot weather". Doing some experimenting on color combinations. I like to use Rit Dye as a wood stain because of the large selection of colors and the fact you can still see the wood grain through it. Ever use it?? chris
These are the first wood arrows that I've ever made up. They are Sitka Spruce and I stained them dark walnut. You can still see the grain through them and they look pretty nice so far. I used gasket lacquer to dip them with and it was really easy and they turned out nice and slick. I started hand cresting them since I don't have a cresting machine, but my wife stopped me and told me to wait since my birthday is this weekend. She pretty much told me I was getting a cresting machine, so I'm at a standstill until I get it set up. In the meantime, I've been shooting some other wood arrows that I have, as well as some carbons. They both fly well out of the widow and my shooting is getting better every day. I still have a lot of practice to do, but am confident that I will be able to ethically shoot deer at 20 yards this fall.
I get really fired up about it every year thru the winter and spring. I shoot daily and get good enough to hunt. Then summer comes and I work 80-100 hours a week and loose it all. It's like starting over every year. I've really improved this year when in got new limbs with lighter weight (47lbs). It has actually helped my compound shooting with improving my form.
When I first got a recurve a few years back, I suffered from target panic pretty badly with my compound at the time. Shooting that recurve helped me quite a bit with my compound shooting because it allowed me to just draw back and shoot. I wasn't concentrating on holding a pin and locking up. After shooting the recurve for a little while I was able to go back to shooting my compound without target panic. I think it helped my form as well. You can get by with a few mistakes on form with a compound, but a recurve will show you all the flaws in your form pretty quickly.
