I got a bow for my 3rd birthday. About an hour later, I killed a lion while on safari with it. You know what I'm talking about. One of those little kid backyard safaris where sparrows become lions. That was 1955 and there was no such thing as traditional archery back then.

Around '85 or so, some of the guys at the archery club were giving me fits about my penchant for shooting 'obsolete' bows and asking me when I'd get myself a 'real bow'. I was one of two traditional shooters in a club of 400 members. Well, I finally got tired of their constant teasing and I got myself a 'real bow.' It was a Hoyt ProHunter, with which I proceded to beat the living snot out of those bozos in tournaments. After giving them a dose of what a traditional shooter can do with a compound, they never again said a word when I had my 'obsolete' bows at the range.

I hunted with that ProHunter, with sights, once. That was the first and last time I used sights in the woods and the first of only about a half dozen trips compounds (barebow) took to the woods with me. I've never strayed too far from recurves and longbows. They are, by far, my first choice for hunting. I like shooting targets with compounds though. Well, some compounds. I thoroughly dislike the short little demi-bows they're making now.[:'(]