I hunted with compounds for years, but grew an everincreasing feeling of dissatisfactionin knowing that the type of hunting I was doing didn't hold a candle to what the likes of Fred Bear, Saxton Pope, and early cultures had done. It felt likeI was hunting with amechanized killing machine instead of a bow. The fair ease at which I could nail targets without having shot for extended periods of time made practice seem moot, while the mass of equipment and tools that I lugged around made me weary of even wanting to shoot. At the same time, the gratitous marketing of faster / better archery equipment andthe rise of trophy hunting seemedextremely distasteful, if not disturbing to the point that I felt a geniune urge to disassociate myself with mainstream hunting. ButI still loved to hunt, and I finally gathered the stones to buy a longbow, like the rare fellow I'dmarvel overat a local archery range. My first few months with that longbow felt spectacular. Unencumbered, clean, freshjoy. Accuracy came only with quite a bit of practice, but it was fun. That was over 9 years ago.

Shortly after, I learned through the internet that a handful of folks were making their own self wood bows. I became captivated them myself and have been turning out my own dead serious wooden hunting bows in the years since. With practice, theserelicts of the pastunequivocably make meat, even in the deer devoid recesses of Pennsylvania. There absolutely is an exciting sense of history and romance with this equipment, as well a tremendous amount of personal satisfaction. I've gone as far as makinghomemade metal trade points for broadheads on the arrow end of the spectrum. I would like to explore knapping in the future, when I'm ready to tackle my next learning curve.

There are those whoopenly admit they avoid anything which is more difficult or requires more of their time, and those who simply scoff at primitive fair as being "ineffective". But there are a good many, I suspect, who've felt the same inclings that I had, but lacked the confidence or knowledge to pursue traditional bows. To those, I also suggest they seek it out and try it. They should tackle it with the same tenacity thatthey would with all things that are truely worth while. They may find a whole new world opens up.