Traditional Hunters

[electricstart]

How many guys still Use Traditional Bows and what's your set up ? I Do not hunt all the time with My recurves and I have a few . Right now I Guess my main one is Hoyt Santori 45 lb , Gold Tip traditional classics 500 arrows,  Zwickey delta 125 heads or Muzzy 125  . I think (Hope )  I may be getting a Black Widow for Christmas or when ever it comes in could be months . Dreamed about the Widow for many years never pulled the trigger . My wife and kids might have . I do use my cross bow or compound for meat the recurve is for fun . Once my freezer is full Now I use the recurve . Have not been successful in many years though because only looking for the right Buck and has to be perfect shot . Usually winter bow and on the ground  . I do love to stump shoot have killed many of them . 

[Gobblengrunt]

I have an enormous collection of stickbows 😃 and hunt with them almost exclusively.  My stickbows range from true collector pieces, very high end ilf, custom bows, and some cheap ones.  Of all my bows, my current “go to” stickbow is a cheap black hunter longbow.  I have 4 of them and they are all phenomenal shooters in every category!  My favorite hunting setup is a black hunter longbow 43#@27”, victory vforce 500 arrows with 100 gr brass insert tipped with a wasp 150 gr sharpshooter broadhead.  I have this tuned to me shooting a perfect bareshaft 30 yards plus.  I comfortably shoot targets out to 40+ yards but my hunting limit is about 20 yards for a variety of reasons.  I love my stickbows!

[Ron]

So at present I have a 1972 Bear Grizzly 50#+. Shooting aluminum arrows. This is my backyard bow, because I do not shoot recurves as well as longbows. Grip feels off to me. By the end of this week I will have a Poison Dart 62” 53# longbow on order. Bowyer says 4-5 months. Plan is to convert back to the stick bow for my solo hunts and the compound when I am out with the kids. And next year will be a lot more kids hunts. 

[electricstart]

My original plan until covid hit and meat shortage and Now the Biden inflation and meat prices was to do complete season just traditional . We will see next year where we stand . Gobblengrunt that's an awesome Buck . I respect all you guys that harvest animals with  tradition bows  it takes a lot of time and patient . A little more challenging than a x bow and compound ForeSure .

[hammer4reel]

I have 5 sticks set up .

64” Dale Dye that’s 58#

62” Dale Dye that’s 57#

60” Bear super kodiak 55#

60” Bear super kodiak 60#

64” Bear long bow 55#

shooting gold tip trad shafts , 100 grain brass inserts, 4” Shield cuts  145 grain bear razorheads .

 

I pretty much only doe hunt with my trad bows .

reason being I normally only see my target bucks once and want to be able to harvest them at 40 yards or less that time .

with my stick bows I won’t shoot at game over 20 .

if I don’t get a shot at a doe , the next day there will be another but with mature bucks I may not see them again .

 

this year on 6 day I decided I was going to shoot a certain buck with my recurve .

he walked around me 3/6 days well inside compound range , never presenting a shot with the recurve as every time he was close he was head on .

.

 

 

[2 Brits]

I have a few original Brackenbury bows - I bought these in the mid 80's before Jim passed.  He was a great guy and fun to talk to.  I also have Great Northern and Black Widow bows.  I use the widow mostly, shoots very flat - its 53# at 29.75 draw - I've shot aluminum, wood and now traditional heritage 250 grain.  As for broadheads right now using Woodsman.  Started with Zwickey and spent alot of time sharpening those.  

Another fun aspect is making arrows.  Right now I just order bare shafts then dip and crest and glue on the feathers.  My buddy and I used to order a gross of wood arrows - then weigh, spine test and sort them out getting only about 2 dozen that were decent.  Then stain, seal, dip crest and glue on feathers - used to cringe when one found a rock or lost one!  We even spent a weekend once making some arrows from floor boards - that was when I had alot of time and more patience than I have now.  

Just keep shooting and practicing - I can shoot 15 yards in my basement and try to shoot at least every day.  

There are some good traditional only shoots around.  Whittingham in the early spring, Itar in late July (moved this past year), Muzzy stump shoot in August and Lincoln Park archers as well.

 

[electricstart]

Couple Of guys from wilderness archery years ago shot Brackenbury bows . Great bow . I usually make my own arrows too .Paint , Fletch and cut . Bought the Traditionals already done . I am thinking of getting some wood arrows next . Shot 2216 xx75  Eastons for years . Carbons seem to work  better. Nothing like the old cedars . Yea you do have to practice . I am limited a little 30 to 40 arrows shoulders start to hurt so I stop . I can do more but why push it . I am restoring two Ben Peersons colts right now . Coming out good may be ready for winter bow . 

[Gobblengrunt]

39 minutes ago, electricstart said:

Couple Of guys from wilderness archery years ago shot Brackenbury bows . Great bow . I usually make my own arrows too .Paint , Fletch and cut . Bought the Traditionals already done . I am thinking of getting some wood arrows next . Shot 2216 xx75  Eastons for years . Carbons seem to work  better. Nothing like the old cedars . Yea you do have to practice . I am limited a little 30 to 40 arrows shoulders start to hurt so I stop . I can do more but why push it . I am restoring two Ben Peersons colts right now . Coming out good may be ready for winter bow . 

Why limit yourself to only 30-40 arrows?  Sounds like it just may he too much weight for you at least for now.  You can get great limbs for $100 on that satori.  Buy a set at 30# and work on form.  It also shouldnt matter wether your shooting aluminum, carbon, or wood.  If they are spined and tuned correctly they are all good!  Fyi - most bows ive hunted with in the past 10 years or so have been 41-43# @ 27”.  With proper tune, arrow/ broadhead combo, and of course shot placement, ive experienced pass throughs (at least two holes) on most every buck ive shot.  Good luck on your progress

[hammer4reel]

1 hour ago, electricstart said:

Couple Of guys from wilderness archery years ago shot Brackenbury bows . Great bow . I usually make my own arrows too .Paint , Fletch and cut . Bought the Traditionals already done . I am thinking of getting some wood arrows next . Shot 2216 xx75  Eastons for years . Carbons seem to work  better. Nothing like the old cedars . Yea you do have to practice . I am limited a little 30 to 40 arrows shoulders start to hurt so I stop . I can do more but why push it . I am restoring two Ben Peersons colts right now . Coming out good may be ready for winter bow . 

Couple of years ago LOL

jimmy closed wilderness archery over 30 years ago  , Donny turned it into bow hunters outpost for a few years after that .

 

[electricstart]

1 hour ago, hammer4reel said:

Couple of years ago LOL

jimmy closed wilderness archery over 30 years ago  , Donny turned it into bow hunters outpost for a few years after that .

 

I remember Jim craig and I went to high school with Don .  Henry owned the one in Dover for a while too . Seemed like a few years ago wow 30. I am getting old. I really meant the one on 15.  Duncan and Turkey John had the recurves ,Danny owned it . Cant remember the name . Great place shot there a lot . I think it was Buck and Bass but do not remember any fishing stuff so I could be wrong .

Edited December 15, 2021 by electricstart

[toxo]

At one time or another,I have owned almost every custom bow out their! lol  Black Swan, Jim Brackenbury, Great Northern, Schafer Silvertip,Black Widow,Appalachian, to name a few. My favorite bow was a Ron Pittsley Predator,it shot the best (for me). Seems all the good Bowyers have Died! Always made my own wood arrows.Bought Tapered,compressed cedar shafts from "the Arrowsmith".Sealed them,stained them,dipped and crested them.Sometimes I would splice the feathers and burn them to shape.They came out beautiful and it was a lot of fun. I never tried to foot a shaft though.

[Rusty]

3 hours ago, 2 Brits said:

I have a few original Brackenbury bows - I bought these in the mid 80's before Jim passed. 

Sad but true story.  I had a Brackenbury bow that I really liked but it was a little light,  so I called him up personally and asked him to make me a bow.  A month later I was in the local archery shop and they said, "Did you hear that Jim Brackenbury died?"   

I was obviously very sad at the tragedy of his death but also upset that I wasn't getting the bow that I ordered.  Then a couple of days later UPS shows up with my bow.  It was probably the last bow that he signed before he died.  On the riser it says "Custom made for Rusty by Jim Brackenbury". 

And yes, I know it was Wes Wallace making his bows at that time.  But it was probably the last bow that he ever signed.    

[electricstart]

 I might take you up on that Foggy Mountain . You let me know when you are going . 

Thank You 

[nb6624]

I took my first buck this year with my Matthew's Triax since then I switched to my BW greybark...and that's why I haven't been posting any hero photos this year. I had a few encounters with some absolute megas but they were just out of reach. Still trying to close the deal but having fun trying!

[nb6624]