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It's the season where the trad archery forums are full of distraught traditional shooters who can't get their form correct or have some sort of shooting issue. They laid out a lot of money for their crafted marvels of laminated wood, modern steel broadheads, machine turned cedar shafts, motorized cresting machines, CNC machined feather cutters, synthetic string material and jig, and glue on plastic knocks. But now they’re faced with a panic as they don’t have the ability to shoot accurately anymore. Their only option is to keep trying and hope they snap out of the mental anguish so they can return to their 20-30 yard max effective range.
I'm really now starting to think the supposed benefits of a traditional bows with their high quality laminated limbs, synthetic strings, machine turned straight arrow shafts, and CNC cut steel broadheads are overblown. Archer Fred Eichler said trad shooters are at an advantage at closer ranges provided they can pull it together to make the shot and I have to agree with him.
Trad shooters today should really take a page from the book of the elders.. Cut down a osage tree and shape it into a bow using various rocks. Nap your own broadheads from rocks you found, hand hew, straighten, and harden your cedar arrows, cut feathers from a real bird you killed, and make their strings from sinew and gut. You just saved a ton not having buy all the the needed "stuff" that trad shooters rely on when shooting trad today.
Imo, the hardest thing to tune on a longbow or recurve is the archer himself. Practically the whole trad archery industry today revolves around selling the latest and greatest modernly manufactured “trad” gear to help a trad archer hide his weaknesses and lack of skill. Really only the manufacturers benefit from this.
IMO most able bodied bowhunters would find much more fullfillment and satisfaction returning to the older ways. Not for "challenge", but because it simply makes sense.
I'm really now starting to think the supposed benefits of a traditional bows with their high quality laminated limbs, synthetic strings, machine turned straight arrow shafts, and CNC cut steel broadheads are overblown. Archer Fred Eichler said trad shooters are at an advantage at closer ranges provided they can pull it together to make the shot and I have to agree with him.
Trad shooters today should really take a page from the book of the elders.. Cut down a osage tree and shape it into a bow using various rocks. Nap your own broadheads from rocks you found, hand hew, straighten, and harden your cedar arrows, cut feathers from a real bird you killed, and make their strings from sinew and gut. You just saved a ton not having buy all the the needed "stuff" that trad shooters rely on when shooting trad today.
Imo, the hardest thing to tune on a longbow or recurve is the archer himself. Practically the whole trad archery industry today revolves around selling the latest and greatest modernly manufactured “trad” gear to help a trad archer hide his weaknesses and lack of skill. Really only the manufacturers benefit from this.
IMO most able bodied bowhunters would find much more fullfillment and satisfaction returning to the older ways. Not for "challenge", but because it simply makes sense.