The best thing left for us to do as Traditionalists is to distance ourselves from all this. We have always been the Bastard children of hunting anyway. Why should we give a Rat' s arse about " polit correct" ? The best way to lead is by example. We should conduct our own lives above reproach and gently point out the folly of instant sucess to others.
We can rant and wail ad infinitum, but we will not turn society from what it deems as " Progress" . As an example, we all love someone who is rich, and we never ask how he got that way. Our children were reared on the concept of winning as being superior to how the game was played--a complete reversal to the old days in this country. Hollywood, the media, and sorry politicians are our Legacy to the next generation.
We should strive to make traditional archery the " Last Pure Thing"
My 2 cents

Ossage, I have to disagree with that.

When P&Y instituted the 65% rule in 1988, NOBODY was cut out. 65% letoff was cutting edge technology at the time. The organization decided, after seeing letoff % rise from 30% to 50% and then to 65%, that enough was enough. And the manufacturers agreed.

Within 2-3 years of P&Y passing the rule, Matt McPherson went into business and put out a McPherson bow that was 85% letoff, supposedly strictly for 3D and for turkey hunting. Of course, the high tech crowd HAD to have one and the other companies saw some upstart grabbing their market share with a design they had said wouldn' t be produced. So, they renegged on their promise to P&Y and began producing high letoff bows themselves. The whole archery world has been in a downhill slide ever since, IMO.

Nobody was cut out. Rather, everybody has simply ignored P&Y and gone about their merry business, fully aware of the rule. And of course the victim mentallity and inability to take responsibility for one' s own actions that is so rampant these days... Take a potential world record with your high letoff bow and then whine and moan because P&Y won' t let you book the deer because you used a bow they don' t recognize AS a bow.

But, be that as it may, I must bow to John Nail. You ' nailed' it, John. Excellent post!

Lets face it WE ARE NOT ALONE! Bowhunting has expanded beyond the imagination of Ishi and his relatives, even beyond the imagination of the Norman, Turkish, and Oriental archers of the past. Maybe it is time to just catagorize the game taken into different tackle criteria or just abide by the rules of Pope and Young as the non-governmental organization it is and should remain. I used to shoot an Onieda compound does that make me a hippicrit? I mean look at the onieda' s, they are not like other compounds, they are a class by themselves (Perosnal oppion). I now shoot recurves for my own reasons; recurves are considered by some to be a modern invention (they forget the Turkish composite bows where laminated recurves). We all have a hand in improving the sport of archery whether it is continually searching for the perfect exotic wood to make longbows or the latest combination of wood and synthetics of modern recurves, and of course the shortest, fastest, most mechanical compound of today; all of us participate in the sport of archery, it is the tradition of the sport that we are responsible to hand down to the next generation. Funny isn' t it, my son shoots a league for nine year olds and younger. This group of youngsters do not care one wit what type bow they are shooting, they love the fun of being with others, of putting their arrows in the paper, and of course the popcorn with sprite afterwards. Maybe I should segregate my son away from the other children because he shoots instinctive with a Bear Lil bear, oh wait that wouldn' t be right cause he uses fiberglass arrows. Lets all take and learn from our children and remember we do it for the fun, the days of archery being the difference between life and death are past, it is a sport now. God willing our children will pass on the tradition to the ends of time, it is a timeless sport.
Blessings of a peaceful life to all of you,
Towerrat.

Here' s an interesting quote(to me) from " With Stick and String" by L. Emerick
" ........there is a basic law which operates in organizations and popular human activities: the decline and fall of any fad or sport occurs when it' s basic principals are carried to extremes." He was referring to the gadgets and obsession with scores in field archery, but it seems to me the same applies to bowhunting. There is an obsession with " the book" .
That obsession , like smoking, is slowly killing us. We should know better.

AMEN! I agree with your point of a great number of sportsman being to focused on " the book" . I believe that TROPHY HUNTING has led to many of the negative comments made towards the sport of hunting. We have all gone way beyond the buck pole with our magazines, and television pursuit of the trophy animals. As a Christian and a sportsman I will strive to be an example to all, the book I follow is not the record book.
Towerrat

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No, I won' t flame away. If anything, I might just fan some of your flames back at you.

I shoot a compound too, from time to time, but I shoot fingers and without sights. There are even fewer that shoot compounds my way than there are trads. So, ' they' is the correct term.

I' m personally sick of the ' if it' s legal, then no problem' BS. Just because something is legal doesn' t make it right.

All the heat that' s thrown at P&Y over their 65% rule... Why isn' t the same heat directed at the PGA for all the equipment rules THEY' VE imposed on the game of golf? What about major league baseball for all their equipment rules? Those organizations imposed restrictions in their sport to keep the sport from evolving into something it was never intended to be. And that' s exactly why P&Y imposed their rules of fair chase.

I respect the guys that hunt with all the gadgets, and I' m considerate when I' m around them, even try to help them with some of their shooting and tuning problems. After all, in my own small way, I' m trying to look out for the good of the sport. Having someone going into the woods with an untuned bow and shooting badly is a sure way to get wounded game and that puts a feather in the cap of the anti' s. But it doesn' t mean I have to accept everything ' they' want to do. And it darned sure doesn' t mean I have to remain meekly silent and not speak my mind about it.

Well, I freely admit to being a " bow bigot" but I wonder how many compound shooters live archery like so many trad guys do? I don' t mean this as a put-down, I bring it up to make a point. We who shoot instinctive, love to shoot. We shoot in the rain, wind, snow, and blowing cold, just for the sheer joy of shooting. Most compounders I know shoot to check their sight pins, and a little each day to check for rattles, and that' s it.
What kind of fun is that? When I gun hunted, I did the same thing with it. Might shoot a half dozen shots per year to check sights.
My point is: if I had sights, stabilizers, releases, overdraws, and a rangefinder, I' d be upset if I hit outside the 12 ring at 30 yards. It would be an exact science., instead I' m idiot happy when I do it with the longbow. To me they are both OK, but totally different sports.

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Alright, as I am snow bound and bored I will post another reply. All of us have presented our own views and oppinnions on this subject, each one valid. But the fact remains, unless you make your own arrows from saplings, broadheads from bone or stone, and bow from solid wood (lets not forget you can' t use modern adhesives or paints) you are a modern archery shooter. That said we all are responsible to represent the SPORT! It is not the anti-hunters that will upend our pasttime, it is the undecided John Q. Public that will make or break us. If we continue to argue among ourselves over what the general public views as archery (which by the way is anything that looks like a bow) why would they want to support us? I enjoyed shooting my compound, and I enjoy shooting my recurve. Enjoy is the key word. Thats my two and a half cents, sorry if I offended any of you.
Towerrat