Yes I can, I've made my own bow, string, Knapped my own point and killed deer with it.

Ilike to use 140 grain pine trees, beveled and fluted on one side. What type of point do you like to knap for deerhunting stealthy?

gri22ly I've not progressed that far as a bowhunter - you're doing it a truer way, and much more difficult, and I admire that and respect it.

99.9% of compound shooters cannot say the same thing though

No respect deserved for me, Imainly hunt with a compound and Grim Reapers.

Just something I like to do every now and then.

Apparently quite a few of the trad shooters cannot say the same thing either.

Old buddy, you need to lay the blame where it belongs. It was the trad shooters of the 50's, 60's, and 70's that threw their longbow and recurves in the corner when the compound came along, no one hijacked the bow season, it just plain and simple changed by the very ones you keep relating to.
By he mid to late 60's I never seen anyone shoot a longbow, they had been totally replaced by the recurve.
When I got out of the Core in the late 70's I went to get a new Bow because my 67 Kodiak was showing stress on the limbs and guess what, if I wanted a recurve it had to be special ordered, went to several shops and no one had one!

You will shoot about the same with a compound if you take the sights off of it, maybe worse if your a snap shooter, just faster.

Fred Bear tried,to shot the compound, said he could not get use to it, the breakover threw his shot process off. I think he was a Bowhunter!

You ought to post some picts of that in the trad forum. I am working on a sinew string right now myself for the hey of it. I want to compare speeds.

so I guess Im a bowhunter in progress and after 18 yrs of shooting a compound??