RE: Gettin' harder...
 

I totally disagree. Trad shooting has exploded. Ask any well known bowyer form zipper bows, Bob Lee, or Black widow. I was talking about this from a guy I get cedars from in Washington state, and he said his orders has tripled. I have two shops within 40miles that have dedicated a whole section to trad bows.

RE: Gettin' harder...
 

Ya I know all about it! Been there - done that!

RE: Gettin' harder...
 

Now now Big C! Where I come from and live Traditional archery has became a forgotten thing. I wouldn't say it if it wasn't true for crying out loud!!;) What goes on in your neck of the woods doesn't mean the same is happening here. I've been around Traditional shooters for 30+ years and I can only think of a handful of guys in the area who've set the compound down and tried either a recurve or a longbow. Its sad but its reality and the truth at least where I live. I've also talked with the bowyers and the Traditional shops in Minnesota and business is tough. Allot of them have closed the doors up.

RE: Gettin' harder...
 

Same here in NY! I'm lucky to find a handful of guys who even KNOW what in Hell a recurve or longbow IS! In fact, these guys all think I'm nuts! They all are compound bows, have Matthew's bows, shoot carbons, etc.

I can't even FIND anyhting 'traditional' at my local shop incl shooting gloves, etc!

RE: Gettin' harder...
 

Traditional really has exploded and, I think, is the fastest growing segment of bowhunting. But the local dealers aren't seeing enough of it to start carrying traditional stuff. Traditional is still a pretty small niche market compared to the compound side. @ 10-15% of the whole, at best.

Plus, trads just don't accessorize their bows like the compounders do, and the big markup merchandise for dealers is the accessories - rests, sights, stabilizers, bolt-on string damping doodads, rubber gizmo's sticking on every available surface, mechanical releases, etc, etc and, of course, etc.;) Those things and paying to get your bow set up, maintained and rough tuned, that's where all their real income comes from. They'll cater to the crowd that means the most profit for them.

Not to mention that it's been such a long dry spell for traditional gear at local shops that most of us have gotten comfortable with ordering off the internet. So local shops never see us anyway.

RE: Gettin' harder...
 

Sounds like you folks in the southern states have allot more Traditional shooters then we do up here in Minnesota. The Traditional shoots they have in Minnesota have gone down in numbers due to the fact that people aren't going to them as much, whether its gas prices or lack of traditional shooters its slowing down. The last Traditional shoot I was at this spring I talked with all the bowyers and Traditional shops that were vender's there and they themselves told me there are much less shooters then there once was. This Traditional shoot use to be full of vender's from all over Mn, WI, SD, ND, IA, MI. OH, IN. Only about a 1/4 of them make the trip now being allot have shut the doors and others said they weren't making enough money at the Traditional shoot to justify driving there. I hope it makes a come back here in Minnesota, it was once very popular here!

RE: Gettin' harder...
 

In the early 80's, I was the only lunatic in a local club of 500 members that used a recurve and longbow. Today I belong to a small local club that owes it's very survival to traditional shooters. Our compound tournaments were so poorly attended that we either had to make changes or lock the gates for good. We went all-traditional. Compounders are still welcome in our club, but we only have trad shoots now. Yesterday's shoot was a non-trophy club shoot, any equipment. I think 5 wheelbows were there out of some 30 shooters.

That's about what we were seeing before we made the move to traditional only.

http://www.dentoncountyarchers.com

RE: Getting' harder...
 

I've gone to 3D shoots up here in years past and there would be maybe 6 traditional guys IF THAT shooting in my division. There are a couple of traditional clubs around NY though. One such club that I haven't gotten around to checking out yet is the Adirondack Foothills Traditional Archers in Holland Patent, NY - just outside Rome, NY. This club was formed in 2005. I plan on checking them out. They shoot indoors at Gander Mountain's indoor range during the winter for fun up here. I'm not sure if NY Bowhunters also here in NY has a traditional division. There used to be a group out of Ravena, NY that was a nice trad club but I've since moved out this way. I know Kevin Armstrong of NY Bowhunters is out this way somewhere and he shoots traditional but I haven't been able to track him down lately...

I have to order 99% of all my stuff via mail order or eBay. I try and buy local when I can find what I need such as serving material, silencers, and field points and such but most of the stuff here is gaited to the 'speed compound' guys! You know, the Mega Sight systems and arrow rests, etc.

RE: Gettin' harder...
 

Kudo's to you all Art!! I wish we could have the same thing up here.

RE: Gettin' harder...
 

I think that I may have known what I was talking but did not effective portait it well. What I meant was that 2020's are only available through the Easton Legacy Line. I have not seen them offered for example in the Super Slams etc.

BTW, our club's traditional long weekend shoot is getting bigger every year. We also now have a Primitive Weekend shoot in April where primitive camping is encouraged.