Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Bowhunting Liking shooting the recurve instinctually again....

Busted out the recurve again and it felt good. Even more so after I took the crutch(sight)off and started flinging sticks instinctually. My groups actually improved which shouldn't be too surprising. How many of you guys out there do the same and find it works better for you without getting hung up on "needing" sights. I'm liking it so much I just might moth ball my old Matthews and just hang with the recurve for good this time.

I've never used sights on my recurves or longbows, not in 45 years of shooting bows. It always felt and shot so good I never tried them.

I just started the recurve/traditional archery game a year or so ago and I was hung up on the need of a sight from using compounds. You're right it just feels right shooting a recurve or long bow without. It doesn't surprise me as I have done a fair amount of point shooting with my pistols in low light conditions and the results were the same. I actually shot as well and maybe a smidgen better. It's as if you get too focused on the sights and over think the shot.

There's three things in my life I don't remember when I started doing them. Shooting a rifle, fly fishing, and shooting barebows.

I've been pretty serious about instinctive shooting a recurve for over a decade. I've shot a couple dozen arrows a day (at least) ever since. There isn't anything else like the magic of killing big game with a barebow. It takes balls, and in the end, you know YOU did it. I make a lot of meat with a thunderstick, but ever since my first bowkill, BB King said it best

i've been shooting recurves and longbows since 71 or so. i gave my last custom recurve to my son a few months back. these days i only shoot a longbow. trad is simple and effective, you just have to get a little closer. enjoy shooting/hunting with your recurve.

i started in the mid-sixties, but the left elbow acts up now. note- no caps. do it while you're young.

I tried a compound for 1 year and killed to whitetails with it and told myself it was like shooting a gun. Sold it dirt cheap and never looked back. Longbows and wood arrows only for me.

I no longer have the time to dedicate to shooting like I used to, but I"d grown tired of the compound... get em in range and they were dead....

The recurve took more shooting and then you became confident, but somehow it just feels better. I don't shoot past 15 anyway, and I"m fairly sure I could grab mine any day and still kill with the first shot, but I wont' risk that.

For some other reason, I've never shot well or enjoyed a longbow though...