I'm a part-time trad hunter. I still use the compounds on occasion, but there is nothing like the satisfaction experienced when taking game with a trad bow. It's even better when I use arrows that I make, especially wood arrows. I also like competing in trad competitions. Trad shooters (and competitors) seem to have more fun, and trad archery seems to attract the kind of sportsmen and women with whom I can relate.
I have many trad bows, but my preference is for the laminated longbow. I can shoot them better than any recurve ever tried. They just point better for me. They are also quieter and more forgiving of my mistakes. One of the pioneers of the modern archery movement, Howard Hill, once said of himself that he is not a good enough archer to shoot recurve bows, speaking of their less-forgiving nature and his own limitations. Since Howard Hill's time there have a lot of improvements made to arrows and bows, but I can still relate with his experience.
I had the opportunity to hold and examine the bow that Howard Hill made with his hands and used in the filming of the original Tarzan movie. It is a simple self-bow made of a single, solid piece of wood (osage IIRC). The shop where that bow resided at the time was called Chippewa Archery in Mount Pleasant, MI. The original proprietor, Floyd Eccleston, was a pioneer in the sport of archery and a close friend and business associate of Fred Bear. His shop was a virtual museum of archery containing thousands of bows, arrows, arrowheads, and other priceless artifacts from every famous archer of the 20th century.
But I digress. The bow I grab 75% of the time is a Bear Montana Longbow. With it I have killed many head of game, including my very first trad kill. Shooting it is like meeting with a good old friend. The arrows I usually shoot (when my son isn't shooting them) are 23/64" cedar shafts fletched with feathers from turkeys I have killed. I have used various broadheads but lately have been shooting double-edged Ace heads of 125gr weight. These are very solid and dependable heads, and less costly than some others of the type. I purchased these heads from the owner of the company who graciously attends and sets up a booth at the annual Great Lakes Longbow Invitational, the premier event of the Michigan Longbow Association.
