Follow along on Yooper's trad journey!

[Yooper906]

Figured I would do a blog or a thread (for those interested) on my journey into traditional archery. To start out, I love shooting my bow, I shoot 4-5 times a week and really love the sport of archery. Shooting my bow isn't just practice, it's been therapy for me and lets me block out everything for the 30 minutes. I am not a professional archer, but I would say I am a decent shot. However, I was really critiquing myself after every shooting session, wanted pinhole groups, started tinkering with my bow (thinking that was the problem) and ultimately took the fun out of shooting.

I recently had the urge to dive into the world of traditional archery, shooting my compound is fun, but shooting a recurve is a BLAST! I spent hours doing research on what bow to get, recurve vs longbow, ILF vs wood bow, etc. I chose to go with an ILF setup to start this journey. I was overwhelmed with all the options out there and eventually I would like to get a custom wood recurve, but I am not there yet. I bought a used Hoyt Satori riser for a great price and then purchased a set of 35 lb DAS Bamboo Limbs, I went with the 35 lbs so I can learn proper form/mechanics. I then signed up for the Solid Archery course and that has helped me get a better understanding of shooting my recurve.

So far, I have been shooting at 15 yards and pretty surprised of the groups down range. 3 fingers under feels more comfortable than split finger, I recently started using the "crawl" method for aiming and have noticed a big difference in my groups. I thought everyone was instinctive aiming in the traditional world, but I quickly have found out that's not at all the case. My goal for this year is to be proficient enough to hunt with the recurve, Sept 16 is opening day of bear for me and I am really hoping to take one with the recurve.

My compound is quickly gathering dust, as I don't really have any interest in shooting it. It's crazy that 15-20 yards with a compound seems so easy, yet it's my max (currently) with the recurve. Shooting this recurve has done wonders to my mental state, I am no longer worried about pinhole groups, but am happy with a group of 4inches on my block target. I am finding myself at work looking forward to coming home just to shoot, I shoot before work in the morning, it's getting addicting.

Thanks for reading,
-Yooper

 

[grizzly63]

Carry on and enjoy the journey.

 

[jejack26]

Been shooting recurve for 45 yrs now. Lots of guys I've hunted with that shot compounds changed to a recurve because they saw how much I was having. Enjoy the journey, there will be days you curse

 

[kiwi hunter]

Yes, with you all the way.

 

[Yooper906]

Summer practice has been going well. Still using 35lb limbs, but going to put the 50lb limbs on shortly. Getting more comfortable with my gaps/arrow flight, however it’s all going to change with the hunting limbs.

Usually shoot 50-75 arrows a night and have been shooting the club 3D range about twice a week. Getting nice groups at 20-25 yards and really developing my repeatable shot sequence/anchor point.

Next step is determining hunting arrow setup for the 50lb limbs. Leaning towards .400 spine with 225 up front, but will call the guys at RMS gear to pick their brains!

Stay tuned,
Yooper

 

[Sheltowee]

will call the guys at RMS gear to pick their brains!

Stay tuned,
Yooper

They are some fantastic, knowledgeable, exceedingly helpful dudes. I need to make a run up there one weekend before long.

 

[sambo3006]

35 lb limbs to 50 lb limbs is a huge jump for a recurve. I hope you can shoot it well. But if 50 lbs proves too much, rest assured in the knowledge that lots of guys hunt with and capably take big game up to moose size with 40 to 45 lb recurves (Ken Beck, former long time owner of Black Widow Bows took an Alaska Yukon moose with I believe a 43 lb recurve). Perfect arrow flight, sufficient arrow weight, and a razor sharp fixed blade broadhead are the keys to penetration with a moderate poundage stick bow. Best of luck on your journey!

 

[cbat]

Where did you go ?

 

[Yooper906]

I’m still here. Just been busy in hunting season…….and failure.

Opening night had a nice 250lb boar 15-16 yards away. Mind you, this is the distance I’ve been practicing. The only difference is the bear was always moving/laying down/sitting on his butt. I wanted a broadside shot. The bear ended up leaving and I never shot.

Fast forward to 20 mins later, here he comes again. This time giving me a shot. I pulled back and kept pulling (never really hitting my anchor thst I can remember) and there goes my arrow right over his back (left and right was good). Bear takes off and never to be seen again. That’s the only hunt I used the recurve on and went back to my compound.

I keep thinking a lot about that night and why I shot high. The only thing I can think of, is I was amped up in the moment of truth and actually pulled more than my DL and that little bit more was the difference. I’m not sure, I just whiffed at the end of the day.

This isn’t the end to my trad journey, I still would like to harvest an animal this year. But that animal will most likely be a doe at a known distance.