Traditional Bowhunting. (longbow)
 

Hello there fellow bowhunters. I have a fair knowledge of bowhunting with a compound bow. But I am planning to take on the challenge this season with a traditional longbow. So I was wondering if any of you longbow hunters out there know what is a good quality longbow out there. I have no knowledge of longbow, but you never learn unless you don't do! Thank you guys/gals.

My first trad. bow was a Bear Montana Longbow. Great shooter, for the money. They can be bought, new, for around $300. You can find them, used, for $200 (maybe less!).

Good luck.

If I were in your situation, I'd join tradgang and peruse their classifieds.

Check for a local trad club close to you.Someone should be glad to help you choose the right longbow,reflex-deflex,straight D whatever.Try to shoot a few longbows before deciding what you want to buy.Check out http://www.siegeworkcreations.com/longbows.htm.There are numerous good longbow bowyers.Siegeworkcreations has a good basic price for a beginner.If you really want to get pumped get hold of
Lettin' Loose
A Season with a Longbow DVD

I started off with a martin savannah. And after owning over 15 trad bows, I still hunt with that savannah.

Like Jeff said, you also can't go wrong with a bear either. In fact i recommend the bear first, that way you can learn what you do and don't like and next bow be a little more.

There are lots of great bows on the market--although I don't think there's any such thing as a "can't go wrong" bow, at least as far as you liking it. I quit keeping up with the different ones I've owned several years ago. I can say that there's been several that really dissapointed me after reading the reviews they got on different sites. On the other hand, there's been some that very few seem to know about that, to me, shoot great.

It boils down to personal preferance. Get your hands on as many as you can and get an idea of what you like or don't like. You can usually find a Montana at one of the bigger hunting stores--see how it feels to you. Try to attend some tournaments or rendevous--those are great places to check out bows.

My advice is don't get hung up on claims (i.e., this bow shoots 210 fps--balloney), don't get hung up on price (just because it costs $2,000 doesn't mean it shoots any better than the one that's $200), and don't get hung up on what your buddy or the guy in the video or whatever is shooting. Get one that feels good to you.

And get the video "Masters of the Barebow, Volume III". It will save you a lot of headaches and shorten the learning curve.

Good luck!

Chad

Lots of great bows available.I shoot a custom MR Hamilton Scorpion.I would go with a Martin for a factory longbow.IMO they make the best factory longbows and recurves on the market.Just be sure you don't overbow yourself.Also your draw length will drop several inches from what you shoot with the compound.Good luck!

I agree with the others try out some different bows. Heck you may not even like it, after shooting compounds for a long time many are not willing to give up the distance and accuracy for a long bow.

I started with a recurve, then went to a long bow, then for years because of the topography I had to hunt I went to compounds.

Then again, you will probably get addicted!

Dry Ridge Archery makes a good longbow for around 200-250 bucks.
I've read good things about his bows.
Also, Kustom King carries the Black Forest longbow for around 300 bucks. But like others have mentioned...the Bear Montana is a good bow also.

I just recently switched to a longbow from a compound myself. I purchased a used custom made longbow at a longbow shoot for $175 just to try it out. I don't think it even has a brand name. It really has made archery fun again!

One thing you might consider is the draw weight. When I decided to try traditional I went down to try out a few bows at a supplier and started pulling bows that were similar in draw weight to my compound...I could barely pull them back! You may be surprised what you can pull and shoot with a traditional bow.