Rabbit Hole

[retrieverman]

I hate hunting when it’s hot mosquitoes, ticks, gnats, and snakes!

I hate it sweating and swatting mosquitoes in a deer stand too, but October has proven to be the best time for me to get up close and personal with a target buck and is generally before they start breaking off points.

I’ve been researching traditional archery and joined a traditional archery message board, and dang this rabbit hole just keeps getting deeper.

 

[AER244]

I hate it sweating and swatting mosquitoes in a deer stand too, but October has proven to be the best time for me to get up close and personal with a target buck and is generally before they start breaking off points.

I’ve been researching traditional archery and joined a traditional archery message board, and dang this rabbit hole just keeps getting deeper.

Are you sourcing bois d’arc staves and sharpening your draw knife to roll your own yet?

 

[Steelers Fan]

I quit shooting compounds in the '90s after taking 3 deer at 50+ yards. I have been exclusively recurve hunting since. Well, I still pull the trigger on powder puffers occasionally. I'm right handed and have a torn right tricep that has diminished to a visible difference in each arm (almost non-existent). I have a bad c5/c6 joint that has left two fingers on my right hand partially numb. Technique is extremely important to shoot recurves. You must practice to the point of muscle memory, mostly pulling/drawing with the back muscles. I used to pull a 62# bow but have since reduced to 48# to avoid neck and back pain. Compounds take very little practice. Get them tuned and they're like a rifle. The reason the bow kill % looks low at MCAAP is because of crossbows and much improvements in compounds. Back when Bill Starry ran the hunt x-bows weren't legal statewide. The kill numbers were quite parallel. I've been to MCAAP 10-11 times. The number of out of state hunters is higher. The current overall number of participants are there for the opportunity and haven't done the work to perform. If you watch the Lancaster Archery Tournament the largest, wildest, most exited crowd is there to see the Bare Bow finals. Those who know (the rest of the bow classes) can't help but respect the skill level it takes to shoot these weapons. Any minor error is amplified exponentially as opposed to the compound/x-bow shooters. It becomes a quest of internal excellence that fuels the drive to practice, fail, practice, improve, want to quit but try again and again. The more you hunt with a recurve/long bow, the better a hunter you will be making most other categories quite simplified. Actual hunting skills are required as opposed to longer range equipment.

 

[retrieverman]

Are you sourcing bois d’arc staves and sharpening your draw knife to roll your own yet?

It’s not quite that bad yet but close. I discovered in my research I can build my own recurve (called a WARF bow) using the riser off a Hoyt Gamegetter II compound I bought in 1987 and have had on a shelf in the barn for 30 years. All I need is adapter plates which I ordered today, and a set ILF limb which were shipped from Lancaster Archery Supply yesterday.