Good point.







So, do you guys practice all year?

Sorry! Forgot the origin of this post. Yes I do! It's my numero uno hobby!

Are compounds more accurate then traditional bows? Yes

Do you HAVE to be closer to game with a traditional bow? Yes

Do you (sorry, sorry) SHOULD you practice more with a traditional bow? Yes

Does a compound put more energy into the arrow? Yes

Are compound arrows easier to get perfect then traditional arrows? Yes

Is form more important on a traditional bow as compared to a compound? Yes

The list goes on but I'm tried. These things and many many more make traditional hunting harder then compound hunting. If compounds are not easier to hunt with, then why were they invented? Why are they so popular with people that don't practice.


Same with a gun? handgun? traditional bow? compound bow? spear? rock on a stick? Hammer? rock? bowling ball? There are many more things then hitting the animal.

Have you ever shot traditional? If you haven't some days you will go out and just shoot terrible. Everyone does, this is magnified with traditional archery compared to compound bows. Is it the same to shot an animal with a gun and bow at 20 yards? No its not. But my gun is so heavy and my safety is so loud and and and my scope is so complicated and it hurts my shoulder and back.. wait a minute its harder then archery.

Says who? The shooter determines accuracy!

What does that have to do with anything? I've shot 95% of my deer with my compound under 20 yards! So your point is?

I agree , thats where the challenge comes in! Trad bows take much more practice and dedication!

Again , what does that have to do with my point? Does a slower heavier arrow shot from a trad bow not kill an animal just as dead as a faster arrow with more energy?

Again , it has nothing to do with my point! The majority of trad bowhunters that I know shoot aluminums anyway.

Not from my experiences! Slower arrows are much more forgiving to bad form. Consistancy is more important than form for either!

Traditional hunting is not harder if you become proficient with your traditional gear!

Because it's human nature for MAN to try and make things bigger , faster , and stronger! UGHHUGHHUGHH!(in my best Tim the Tool Man Taylor impersonation)

Read my entire post next time!

Tell that to Byron Ferguson, I am sure he will appreciate it.

rybohunter - If you cannot see the hypocracy in your own views, then you're right, you'll never "get it"

As surely as theres a world of difference between compounds and crossbows, so too it there between compounds and recurves/longbows. You can count the ways, be it the huge influx of hunters numbers thanks to the compound, to the aiming, to the cables and cams, to the speed and power to the letoff to the not having to draw in the presence of game ... its all applicable.

I submit that IF compounds, release aids and all the high tech gadgets that allows for ya'll to virtually not have to practice and still be accurate is legal in archery season, theres absolutely so little difference in the reasons to use a crossbow in archery season that it becomes a mute point. The PBS has brainwashed people into thinking crossbows are bad for archery, too advantageous to shoot, a negative yet they've never proven to be in states where they are legal. If any one "kind" of bow lives up to the fears of the PBS, its compounds, not crossbows.

silentassassin - note the smiley faces in those comments, they were not serious ones. As surely as a guy just coming from gun hunting to crossbows is a huge challenge, so too is the challenge a gun hunter to a compound faces, or a compound hunter going to recurves, or a recurve hunter going to self bows, or a self bow shooter hunting with cane shafts and knapped heads - its all relevant to the hunters - bowhunters - choice so long as the weapons allowed in archery seaon doesn't negatively affect the season, the herds etc. I'd almost be talked into poison pods being legal too - thats how open I am to people hunting with what they want to hunt with.

Now, that doesn't mean theres differences in equipment and challenge, certainly a compound hunter picking off deer at their effective range of 35 yards is "easier" than a guy shooting the same deer at his effective range of 15 yards with a snakey osage and cane shafts - but thats PERSONAL choices and both have equal challenges for the siad hunter.

I know at this point in my bowhunting, a longbow/recurve is PLENTY of challenge ! Spending hours and hours and weeks working on tillering a self bow, making shafts and trade points is beyond me right now.

Double Creek - The above statements are what I believe - parts of if not all the stuff I've posted before this was half true, half false and half to stimulate a good talk about what is and isn't bowhunting and to drive home that eveyone is all about THEIR type of hunting, and how everyone is cool with any types of bows that ya'll want to shoot .... until crossbows are mentioned. Funny how most people are so eager to say they're not elitist ... but turn rabid when crossbows are mentioned. Do you know why silentassassin and myself could care less about crossbow hunters ? We both hunt a state where they're legal and they don't affect our hunting at all man.

BOWFANATIC - I'll only ask you one question that will prove my stance that recurve/longbows are harder than compounds - why do most bowhunters use compounds ?

Do you understand what I'm saying above ? I see your point ... that personal challenge is what makes the hunt, not the equipment, but you must also acknowledge that equipment chose falls into ones challenge in a big way. You won't see many newbie hunters shooting stick bows .... why ? They are not up to that challenge, a compound and killing deer that way is big enough challenge. A GREATER challenge comes with recurve/longbows that they may or may not ever decide to try.

Facts are the highest scores are shot with compounds. P&Y is almost all compound entries. The biggest deer (with the exception of the Mel Johnson buck) were compounds kills. Most all magazines are full of compounds, most all bowhutners shoot compounds, most all archery shops cater to compounds.

Why ?

Uh .... maybe they're THE #1 bow because they makes bowhunting - or rather the ability to shoot and kill animals - much easier and therefore the preferred bow ? Chuck Adams even admits he uses a compound because it gives him a greater chance at killing the game he's after.

But ya'll hunt with what you want to. I say until the point where archery season becomes threatened with shorter season, less bag limits etc then technology isn't a bad thing, or cannot be proven to be. When the day comes that it DOES begin to affect archery season, I would hope ya'll would be in favor of restricting technology and the advances made that we'll see that makes killing deer that much easier. until then, I welcome all compounds, recurves, crossbows etc

Stealthy, tha't why I was "mildly" busting your chops

REGARDLESS OF WHAT WE PRACTICE WITH, ISN'T IT THE HARVEST THAT MAKES THE EXPERIENCE WELL WORTH ALL THE PRACTICE THROUGHOUT THE OFF SEASON. IF YOU SHOOT A NICE BUCK WITH A 50 CALIBER SNIPER RIFLE OR A SPEAR ISN'T THE BUCK AND THE EXPERIENCE OUTDOORS WHAT MATTERS.


WE DON'T MOUNT THE EQUIPMENT ON THE WALL, JUST THE HARVEST.

You guys that claim practice is unnecessary... I don't want to see ANYTHING from any of you come August and September. I don't want to see one freakin' question about form, tuning, arrow spine, sights. I don't want to see one complaint about how your string broke in your case and you didn't know about it and now the pro shop is too busy to put a new one on for you so you can go hunting tomorrow.

Not a word from any of you! NOTHING! You've sown the seeds, now you can choke on your harvest.

I advocate practice. I absolutely despise the very notion that practice is not a requirement for shooting a compound. So, unlike you clowns that argue the reverse, at least MY conscience is clear.

Just remember your point of view next fall. That's when those people that have taken your advice, that they don't need to practice, are coming on here posting. Remember what you told them when they're moaning about shooting just good enough to wound the animals they draw down on. You'd better not pull your ethics bullsh*t on them, because YOU are the ones that put the idea out there.

This whole damn thread is flat sickening. I think the whole lot of you need to take a refresher course in bowhunter ed.[>:]

I agree Authur P. If you don't practice year round then don't complain about your missed buck.