I'm having some problums with arrow flight. I think it's because there is to much of the arrow on the flat shelf of me bow. If I install a shot around rest on it would I still be call a traditional archer?
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Don't worry about whether some yayhoo thinks you're not 'trad' for using an elevated rest. They have no historic justification for that opinion. A great many shooters used elevated rests on their recurves in the 60's and 70's.
A lot of vintage bows were tillered specifically for elevated rests. They were MEANT to be used with a rest. In fact, a lot of real old timers are mystified by the craze over shooting off the shelf because they proved, long ago, that elevated rests deliver superior accuracy.
I like shooting a hunting bow off the shelf because of the simplicity, but I've shot elevated rests on many recurves. I'd recommend getting an NAP Flipperest. Just peel and stick.
I don't know how long you've been shooting recurves but here's some tips. If you already know, maybe someone else needs to hear this. If your arrows are porpoising, up and down, adjust the nockset up or down. If they're fishtailing, side to side, twist the string to raise the brace height in 1/4" steps until arrow flight cleans up. And make double sure your arrows are the proper spine.
Personally i place many questionmarks to the word 'traditional archer' .
In the old days a good archer was a man that could shoot with his stickbow made from Spanish Oak (100 - 150 pounds) up to 12 arrows a minute or something like that. It was a group of archers task to 'rain'down a load of arrows on the enemy.
For putting arrow rest on your bow i dont think it would push from the traditional group.
Sure it disqualifies you. Those same guys in the 60s and 70s who were putting rests on their recurves were just as often shooting sights, or berger buttons. The whole gadget scene was well developed, with bowslings, releases, and stabilizers. In fact one had a hard time getting a bow that could be shot off the shelf without alterration. They radiused the "shelf" area so arrows would actualy fall right off, it made for a stronger transition given that nobody wanted to shoot off the shelf. And the shelf itself was quite a bit above the hand. The stick on rests could only be place about where the transverse button hole was. AP is dead right that the bows were tillered to work with all this stuff.
If you take gear from that age with some or all these features, it just isn't "traditional". I'm no gatekeeper, and don't care whether somethign is traditional or not. But I'm not going to snow myself on the question either. You go to a traditional shoot, you don't see folks dressed like the 60 and 70, with the bow I've described above. You could give it a bang and say you were recreating the traditions of that period, but that ain't the period/look that Traditional harks back to. There are lots of influences, but the Bear/Hill looks don't go that way.
Further, if you want to shoot "Traditional" and want to shoot instrinctive/barebow/gap/whatever. Why would you try to elevate your arrow away from your bow hand, or set yourself up for a nock point/tiller situation that wasn't designed into your bow (by the reverse of the point AP made) if it's of modern/traditional type? If it's an old bow and is begging to be shot off a high rest that's different.
Actualy one thing I am working towards is making a FITA bow in the style of that period, with some influence from the look of the later Widow FITA bow in an Autum Oak finish. I have some roots in the 60s, 70s and 80s archery scene, and would like to make a wooden riser bow incorporating some of the stuff we have learned since. It would be cool to hold one's own with a FITA Perry Reflex also.
Do what you want too, but you're asking a simple enough question. I think a lot of the confusion comes from a desire of some to have an unstructured discusion. Afterall who gets to say what is traditional, Yatta, Yatta. It's a style issue, and there aren't any hard rules. But when I look around and see I'm the only one wearing a tux at a "Business Casual" function it's time to admit the obvious. Allen invented the compound in the 70s too, that doesn't make it traditional.
Ossage, Ossage, Ossage.... When you get right down to brass tacks, a SHELF is an elevated rest! If shooting off the top of the hand is so much better, then get rid of that shelf and shoot off the top of your hand!
Does IBO, ASA, NAA, FITA or NFAA disqualify a recurve from competition in Traditional class, if it is equipped with an elevated rest? NO! The top national and international archery organizations do not disqualify a bow equipped with an elevated rest. So who is it that's playing 'Trad God' and making up these silly rules?
The only people it makes any flippin' difference to are the "I'm more trad than you are" crowd. And, like I said, they have no historical basis for their definition of traditional. Their definition is a modern day fabrication. When they (whoever 'they' were) dreamed up the term 'traditional' archery in the early 70's (before that, we had 'conventional' bows and compounds), recurves had only been glass-backed for some 20-25 years. Compounds have been here 36 years now. Maybe that's the point Cougar Mag is making?
recurve question
