We should arrange a mixed hunt one of these days. I think it would be interesting, don' t you?

Sadly enough , it seems the only common ground between alot of compound hunters and trad hunters is the fear of shorter seasons...hence the crossbow controversy![] I said it before , I' ll say it again....SELFISHNESS!

We need to come together as HUNTERS! In this day and age it shouldn' t matter what ones weapon of choice is , the important thing is to grow the overall number of HUNTERS!

Anybody for an extra early " spears only" season? We could all get into elitism then! The comments about hitting a deer with a rock are laughable, but we have all been that close, haven' t we? Hopefully we can remain that close to one another, even as we disagree. Good comments....I enjoyed reading them.

Clint

Wow....

What a post....... I agree with a lot of what you had to say Arthur - A lot.....

there are too many guys out there that dont put in the time to be bowhunting wether theyu shoot a recurve, a longbow, a compound, or a crossbow.....- Its EASY to see..... go down to your local pro shop and hang out ( Im serious ) for a day... and just listen to people... you can pick the guys out.....It amazes me the things I have heard people talk about, seen guys walk in with, listen to stories about misses, their equipment etc....
I remember reading about Fred bear in High School - the man amazed me.... I read stories about his taking a Ram (I think a Ram) at 60 yards - running away from him and nailed it - but i dont remember anyone at the time saying it was an unethical shot back then, and it wouldnt have matteresd wether he used a recurve or compound - he was ' The Bear' - today, we look at things differant perhaps wether its overfishing, hunting, trapping, I think we all agree that things and the way people percieve themn has indeed changed. I remember as a late teen shooting my Bear Whitetail II compound after I traded in my recurve and never thought anything about ' Trad' hunting - I was BOWHUNTING period..... I shot instinctive, no sights, no release.....and i still can but dont, but back then I could hit moving targets, flying targets (yes flying) and did it very well... I used to (for fun) shoot empty gallon milk jugs at 100 yards - I could hit them about once out of 5 shots.... yes thats no misprint......but Id have never taken a 100 yard shot at a game animal... I did hit a running grey fox at 30 yards because I KNEW I could do it because all I did as a teen was shoot a bow - and I mean its all I did....Im not sure if id have tried a deer though Im pretty confident i could have done it - today, Im shooting sights and have though MANY times about going back to a bare bow - I tried it the other day with great success and had a LOT of fun.... but with my current high tech setup Ill take a walking shot to 30, a standing 40 - thats it. Although I shoot sights now and my opinions have changed as well as my abilities - I still consider myself a BOWHUNTER - period.....an ethical one, traditional gear or high tech...... I love bowhunting and dont regret a thing about it i do...

I started bow hunting in 1972. My first bow was a #45 recurve. Got a couple deer with that bow using bear razor heads. When I first tried a compound I was more accurate because of the sight pins and my groups got smaller. And my range that I would shoot at a deer went from 20 to 30 yards. I never hunted with my recurve again. But I did not realize that I had abandoned traditionalism.

The story talks about hunting being ruined by non traditional ' equipment' and ' gear' .

I guess I gave up traditionalism when I started using climbing treestands, trail cameras, modern camo, scent killer spray, topo maps and aerial photos.

Charlie, I cut my internet teeth on Bowsite. That place always feels like Saturday night in the Do Drop Inn. Always a fight going on. Glad I found more respectable places to hang out, where people mostly come from the deeper end of the gene pool.

Unfortunately, you didn' t turn the tables on anybody. The article you posted is 2-3 years old and it was thoroughly blasted and hashed out back then, even by the trads. Or MOST trads, I should say. It was so badly recieved that it had been pulled from Compton' s site, last I' d heard, so I was really taken aback that you even found it.

Doug; crossbow controversy. Hunters should stick together, for sure. At the same time, they should not be trying to steal hunting time and opportunity from seasons dedicated to other forms of hunting for their own selfish reasons. So, which group is actually being selfish and not sticking with other hunters? The ones trying to maintain what they have or the other that is trying to take opportunity away for themselves? I think the ' selfish' finger you point at this side of the controversy can just as easily be pointed back in your direction.

eightwt, I grew up hitting the TV every Saturday afternoon just hoping and wishing the American Sportsman would show Fred Bear on one of his adventures. There wasn' t any blatant commercialism about it, just the wonder of going hunting with a bow. I' d watch him go hunting bear then I' d grab my bow and arrows and go out in the pasture behind the barn and go hunting too. And sometimes I' d get my bear, only my bears were a good bit smaller and they had long ears and a fuzzy white tail. And I used bows I made myself, being taught by my grandfather who told me he learned from Geronimo after the chief had been released from prison. I was in college before I ever learned to shoot like a white man, with 3 fingers on the string and a solid anchor.

Those are some of my traditions. I' m the same person and have the same values, whether I' m carrying my selfbow or my ProTec. Oh, sure. I go through my phases where I' ve had a belly full of technology. People start talking about ' needing' more arrow speed, ' needing' better sights for low light, ' needing' this, that and the other. I can' t see any need for any of it because I was taking game with my bows many years before anyone cracked 230 fps OR came up with fiber optic sights OR mechanical releases became the ' in' thing. I' ve done all of it and I do what I can to help with their problem, but at the same time I do like to point out the alternatives.

100 yards with bow and kill a deer if you hit one in the right spot i have a yard enogh time shooting a gun 100 yards and not missing

They don' t call ' em die hards for nothing. I see people shooting those old stickbows and it kind of reminds of parades where you see the 85 yr old man driving his model T and then you see the Rose Bowl queen riding in the hot rod. I would rather be driving the hot rod.

Yep, Redpath. Only those of us with style, taste and class shoot sticks any more. [&:]

Ya, and it take many years before one can one aquire all those traits.