Hello all,I am not sure if this is the right place but let me introduce myself

my name is Josh and I have been shooting a compound bow for a about 5 years, and I have decided to make the plunge and learn to shoot traditional. I hope to purchase a bow and learn to shoot over the winter. The goal is to become proficient enough to hunt in a year or two. I found this forum when the guys over at Bowhunting.com referred me over to here. Just thought I would say hello!

Welcome Josh. Glad to have ya. This new adventure your about to undertake can be as simple or as complex as you want to make it. Alot of knowledge and experience here. Have fun and if you become frustrated, don't loose sight of what brought you down the traditional path in the first place.

Traditional. Bow hunting is the most rewarding of all hunting!!!

Welcome Josh...It shouldn't be hard to find more PA..guys in here. Enjoy the journy.

Crowfoot

Welcome, where ya at in Pa?

Find a coach. https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Archery/Judges-and-Coaches/Coaches/USA-Archery-Coach-Locator

You'll be able to cut the learning curve in more than half.

Bowmania

Welcome to the adventure. Question, What direction are thinking of taking in trad shooting?

Welcome Josh. Trad is a journey but well worth it in my experience. There are a lot of folks from your part of the country who can give you a lot of good advice. Good luck!

Hi Josh. It is a world of fun and making your own equipment just adds to the experience. Don't get discouraged that you are not as accurate as with the compound and all the bells and whistles. I still have 2 tricked out compounds and appreciate all the engineering and machining that went into them. I haven't picked one of them up in 2 years. I am even moving more toward self bows and primitive equipment. I started long before compounds so it is back to my roots I guess. It has been a fun ride.Best of luck to you. I hope you enjoy it. >>>-----> Ken

Welcome! Dues you pay us is $10 to each of us!

Don't fall for that $10 trick. Just go straight to Frisky a $500 Pay Pal contribution to his Lordship will get you everything you need to know.

Welcome! There is not time like the present, Josh. Jawge

For your $10 you will get made fun of from now on.>>>----> Ken

Welcome and enjoy!

Josh, earlier this year I had the pleasure of shooting 3D with a wheelie...we were the only two guys assigned to shoot "barebow" class, ie wheels and trads both OK if no sights or stabs or releases...

...gave me a lot of recurve confidence because he's a longtime local champ and I was able to avoid being totally whupped and occasionally scored better.

What I'm saying is, relax about the trad bow...shoot your wheels that way it'd be great practice for trad.

Hi Josh. Welcome! Look for a local traditional archery shoot and just go to check it out. Lots of good folks usually at those shoots. They'll give you lots of good advice. A really good Traditional Archery Expo is coming up at the end of January in Kalamazoo Michigan. We call it kzoo and it is well worth the drive from PA. Lots of great bowyer and bows to try. I am usually like a kid in a candy store at that event. Best of luck to ya!

Steve

Hey, Josh -

As he guys have said, you'll get plenty of advice here; much of it directly contradictory to the rest, and (oddly enough) sometimes equally correct. It's kind of an individual thing...

But if I could offer something up front...

#1 - don't get caught up in the whole "Instinctive" mystique; it's bull. Nobody was "born" knowing how to shoot a bow - everybody has to learn, and there are some ways of learning that are better and faster than others. Not surprisingly, it is NOT the way that was espoused 30 years ago in a very popular book, but rather a way that has been tested in University labs by Brain Scientists who specialize in how we humans acquire neuro-motor skills.

True, you can GET TO a point where you are not consciously aiming that arrow, but that is where you END UP... IF you learn properly. Attempting to learn by starting off at the desired endpoint is a just recipe for frustration, and the only thing worse than a guy who gets so frustrated that he quits is a guy who never gets good enough to hunt effectively, but goes out and flings arrows at animals anyway because he thinks he's as good as he can get.

You probably learned to shoot pretty well with a compound real quickly, because the sights told you where your arrow was pointing, so you didn't release until you knew you had it right. Beats the hell out of "not aiming", having no real idea of what you did wrong, and attempting to correct THIS shot based on a fuzzy recollection of what you probably did wrong on the LAST one, doesn't it?

If you choose to start off shooting a recurve with sights, that's probably the best and fastest route to becoming a good shot; if you choose to go without pins and/or a peep, you're not entirely out of luck, because you still have a perfectly good sight available to you IF you are willing to use it. It's called an ARROW. If the front end and the back end are lined up with the target before you release, you'll soon find yourself hitting the target fairly consistently. If you are careful to anchor in precisely the same spot on your face for every shot, you will learn so well how to do it Right that it will feel strange, different and Wrong when you anchor anywhere else. And at that point, all you have to do is float the point under your target and pick a spot.

Learn properly, and you will get to a point where you hardly have to think about it... it'll get to feeling so natural that you'll almost disbelieve that you ever didn't know how.

Thats a pretty good welcome id say. Welcome Josh.This is a great place to learn.

I'll give you a deal. Free advice for only $200 per year.

Joe

One more thing Josh..take a look at some of the harvest threads on hrre. You will see alot of 10,12 14 yard shots. You don't have to be the best shot at long range, just learn the range where you are the best shot you can be at this time in your experience. Have fun..

Hello josh welcome! Where are you at in PA?

Welcome Josh. There are lots of us on here from Pa. You're probably near someone who would be glad to shoot with you and give you some pointers. I'm in the Harrisburg area. Jim

-Frisky That seems like a pretty good deal, as my grandfather always use to say "anything free is worth saving up fer"

But seriously, thank you all for the warm welcome. I was a bit suprised to see so many responses, you guys must be desperate for new members! just teasing of course, I will try to answer a couple of your questions.

First I live in Scott Township, which is near the Scranton/Carbondale area. I am looking at getting a takedown recurve, so I can buy some lower poundage limbs and really work on my form.

I have always thought it would be cool to take up traditional shooting. But part of what made me jump is I now have my Grandfathers old bow. It is a Howatt Hunter NE PLUS ULTRA, it is 50# and I don't know how old it is, but it would mean alot to me to take a deer with that bow. But I can't shoot the thing more then a couple time before any semblance of form goes out the window. So my goal is to learn to shoot properly with a lower poundage bow such as a sammick and work my way up to using his bow. I am here to learn and shorten that learning curve as much as I can,and learn a little more about the sport as well. Thanks again for the welcome!

Welcome to the bright side, you won't want to go back. JF

Josh my grandfather gave me his 1967 kodiak hunter and told me to kill something with it before he passed away. I have hunted turkey with it and one season of deer with it. One of these years I will kill something with it and then retire the bow. It’s kool that you have your grandfathers bow! Best of luck on your traditional journey. This is a great resource and there are a lot of knowledgeable and good people here on the wall. Great place!

Welcome aboard Josh ! Traditional archery is very addictive ! Have fun with it

Sell the crutch.

Sale the compound. Get a coach. Do buy a bow that is to heavy, start light to learn. Have fun. Best advice I could give.

Sounds like you have done your homework Josh...Also you have a good plan. These things would have saved me a couple years..

Welcome to a great site.

welcome Josh the hunter has a very good reputation.whatever you wind up with, every time you shoot it ,shoot the hunter a few times also. just don't over do it...ron

Welcome Josh. Enjoy the journey!

I've never heard of a Ne Plus Ultra Hunter, but I would LOVE to see some pics of it (hint! hint!)

Hunter is an EXCELLENT bow; I've had one for about 25 years. One consideration - if you start with a takedown, you may find it a little bit of an adjustment when you switch to the Howatt because of the much lower mass; that lightweight riser can jump a bit more in your hand. But MAN is it nice to hike up a mountain with a 1 or 2-pound bow in your hand.

Thats $10 cash or money order ; )

Youll be happy you took the training wheels off

Welcome Josh. Hope I don't get pulled across the coals for this suggestion but buy yourself a copy of Viper's book, Shooting The Stickbow. There is more info in there than you will ever use.

Welcome to the Wall. As GF said, you will get lots of advice here. The hard part is picking out the good advice. Stick around and you will start seeing some common patterns. My advice is to have fun with it. If you aren't having fun, you aren't going to shoot as often, practice as much, and so on. My other little piece of advice is to get some blunts or judos, get out in the woods and do some stumping - because it is FUN.

Josh, did you read GF's post. Good, read it again. A lot of good info there.

Here's the main problem with trying to learn from the Leatherwall. YOU have to be the master of deciding which is good advise and which is bad. ANYTHING here is going to have a pro and con answer. Something as basic as glove or tab will prove my point - do a search. Two things can help in this area. Be aware of the "I've done it this way for 30 years". I've done things wrong for 30 years and LEARNED along the way the correct way to do SOME things. Also the comment, "if it works for you". A lot of things WORK, but you can be building TP in your shot for one.

This is the 17.4 yard accuracy crowd. You don't have to be in that crowd. Learn a good shot sequence with FORM in mind plus GF's comment on an aiming system. With time you'll find the opposite of what your thinking about our 'primitive weapon' to be true. It's actually a more effective weapon than a compound, because of one little thing - set up time.

It's been mentioned by me and others, the biggest mistake you can make is not getting a coach. I gave you a web site. I should have been more explicit. Living in PA you'll have scads of guys you can talk to. The site has phone numbers. Ask them what kind of archery is their passion. If you can't find anything there you didn't make enough calls. Lancaster is also in PA. John Wert is a master, but Lancaster is there to make money. Cost wise I don't know what you'll find on USA Archery, but I don't charge for my coaching. Cost should not trump passion.

One last thing, get the book "Shooting the Stickbow" by Anthony Camera. It's a bible. Plus on odd occasion, he'll answer a question on this site. He's Viper 1.

Now for the most important bit of advise, if you learn that anyone is a Cheezehead, discount their advise to 0.

Bowmania

Thank you Bowmania and others who have given me resources and advice, any books or videos that you might recommend will be more than welcomed!

I started reading articles and watching videos on form and whatnot over the summer, and the biggest thing that I have taken away is that there doesn't appear to be one superior way to shoot. You can have two talented archers with different methods achieve the same result(shooting tab vs glove, split finger vs 3 under, gap shooting vs instinctive etc etc).

I will try to find a coach over the winter, at the very least I know the guy at my local pro shop will be able to critique my form and whatnot.

Anyways here are a few pics of my Grandfathers bow. It has a few light dings in it, but it appears to be in great shape. it is 62" and has a 50# draw, serial number is HM58560

I'm not a bowyer, but I would have that ding looked at by someone who is.

And I got a PM which reminded me that I did not cover one helpful (but not strictly necessary) tip, which is that the easiest way to know for sure that your entire arrow is aligned with the target is to choose an anchor that puts the nock directly below the center of the pupil of your dominant eyeball. You can anchor so that you're looking "through " the string (which is exactly what a peep sight is for), or you can cant your bow AND your head so that the nock ends up on the plumb line through your eyeball.

You CAN anchor outboard of your eyeball with a vertical bow, but then you have to triangulate the right/left hold for the range. MUCH better to just look straight down the arrow so that the only thing you have to estimate around is the vertical hold.

And if you want to pay anybody here for their not-in-person advice, I'd go with Viper and just buy his book.

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