Honest question......is a recurve easier to shoot accurately....????

(v. a longbow......for MOST people).

Ease is relative. Does it have more snap, yes. Do you get a smoother shot, in many cases. All depends on the design of the two bows you compare, as well as materials.

Most I know and have workedwithon shooting tend to make faster progress with arecurve. Particularly with a heavy risered takedown. I believe it's dueto more consistant hand placement with the contoured grips onmost recurvesand the mass weight of the risers. Personally, I shoot more consistantly with a recurve. I don't do bad with a longbow, but I'vereally got to pay more attention to form and alignment when shooting one.

Jeff that Montana you are shooting is very smooth shooting for a longbow. When I decided to take up traditional archery, I compared a long bow and a recurve side by side on the range.... a Martin Savannah and a Bear Super Kodiak.... no comparison there at all... and now I have four recurves.

Since I have shot the Montana, and while my experience is somewhat limited to about ten bows from each class, the Montana is definately my choice in production class longbows.

As others wrote, easier is relative. Your Montana is certainly easier to work with than say a Martin X-200 recurve. The important thing that I have found is when you are starting out (and I am example of what not to do), its good to start with ONE BOW and get VERY comfortable with it. Seems to me thats just what you are doing, and thats definately good. I got a bunch of different bows (fairly inexpensive too) and just monkey around with all of them. I'm decent, but not hunt ready with any of them.

There isn't much difference between most of the modern reflex/deflex longbows and the modern recurve... There grips are very close in most cases and speed is the same.... Now, if you are talking about a true D style longbow, then I can yes, a recurve will typically be easier to shoot. Neither are easy and I've owned all variations....I think a lot of it is just finding that bow that fits you well.

Just a fact finding mission. I don't like the looks of any recurve I've ever held.....even the Black Widows. They're just not "for me". No offense intended.

I love my bow....and it seems fairly easy to shoot (for me). I was just wondering WHY most people hunt with a recurve, it seems.

After I bought my recurve on e-bay I asked a few questions about it and was told that I would have a hard time learning to shoot it due to the short,(56"), length. I picked up a Bear Cub longbow shortly after I got the Darton recurve. The bear was much easier for me to shoot. I sold that bow for a handsome profit. It was too pretty for me to take into the woods.
I have now gotten to be a pretty good shot with the Darton after almost 2 years of shooting it on a regular basis. I am very curious about how I would do now with say a 64 or 66 inch recurve. I have a feeling the longer more forgiving bow would be easy for me to shoot accurately in a much shorter time.

I was the same as you Jeff the first couple of years that I shot trad.. I just loved the longbows and how they shot and looked.... Some how or another I gravitated towards recurves and have been shooting them for a couple years now...

I'd like to have one of each, but I'm too OCD for that and would never be able to choose which one to concentrate on!

Actually I find my longbows easier to shoot accurately.

I agree. For me it don't much matter. I could pick up my dads or my brothers longbow and be ready for hunting in no time. They both just feel very natural to me. The recurve I shoot was a gift given to me by my dad 13 years ago as a birthday present.