Last weekend while with my daughter at an anime convention (Japanese cartoon things - I don't get it) out of town I was paroozing the pawn shops and found a Hoyt Vantage LTD. After working them over on the price a little I walked out with it. So after a little messing around this week I think I have a combination that works and am getting my fingers back into the action. It has been fun, certainly not the level of accuracy as shooting with a release aid but there is something about the connection with the bow held by your fingers that is really cool. I have it set at 54#, shoot ICS Bowhunter 500's 29.5" long w/ 3 4" vanes. bow has a 3 pin sight, quiver and short stab. Anyone else like shooting w/ fingers? Fun stuff.

After watching Tim Wells shoot with fingers -I thinking about giving it a go.
Had a new bow string put on one of my hoyts and they changed all my settings etc. typical around here at the UN-Pro shops.
Nice old bow you found there ! It'll certainly sling an arrow through a big game animal.

I shot fingers for years. Indeed it is a BLAST.
Sucks nobody really makes a fingers bow anymore.
That's why Oneida Black Eagles cost so much.

Some go 2 under ot 2 split and run 65% letoff.
I like about 25# on the fingers for a good release.

Might buy an Aeroforce, if I can score 5150 skeletonized outers and pimp it out.

Until then I'm shooting a tab, and recurves.

Tim Wells............is an alien.

Are most of the finger shooters in your areas shooting bare bow or w/ sights? I shoot Trad and Compound w/ release so it's all fun. Just been thinking about taking the sight off and shooting gap like I do with my recurves.

Fingers and sights was popular back in the day.
A buddy of mine actually shot a 300 indoors fingers w sights.
We always had a few barebow guys.
I liked a front sight and no peep.

Peep shrunk my groups to tiny, but in the woods a black bear target disappeared. Dunno if I was in the sun and the target shaded, or the other way around........but that peep sucked. I cut it out and reset my sights on the practice range. Shot my deer on the run that yr, right to left (tough for a righty). Eh, he was trotting down the farm lane under 20 yards. Smoked him!

Back then we ran the Zero peep with alignment tube, and drilled out the hole. But being a cylinder, you got reflection/ghost image.

Switched to Fletcher peep but when doing so also went release. Tiny groups, high scores, wins and damaged arrows became common.

If I get another Oneida project, it will be shot barebow, fingers. Sights work great, but I'm thinking the Oneida as a handcapped man's recurve

I miss the old days. More fun, moving targets,compounds shot fingers........we had a ball at various clubs/went to each others shots.

Whole 3D culture has changed (and not for the better IMHO).

My favorite split finger tab is a calf hair Kantpinch KP300.

For 3 under I use a Blackwidow 3 under calf hair tab.

HATE gloves.

Use whatever you like/works best.

When Im not shooting my recurve, I shoot an older 41" ATA PSE. I tried a few of the older Hoyts with the cam and 1/2, but didnt care for them. The round wheel Hoyts with 65% let-off are the primo finger bows. Shooting a compound with a release became very mundane to me. I also shoot 2314 XX75s out my PSE, they really thwack things.

Agreed. I can hardly get myself to go to one anymore. I call them long range novelty shoots.

I love the Hoyt Cam and a Half. But at 65% it's just not a fingers bow for me. I like to shoot split, 3 fingers, so want about 25# on the fingers. That means I gotta shoot 75#.

My old Protec max'd at 72#, and was .25" too short for me to run fingers (release was fine).

The old PSE stuff of 41" ATA we all shot them fingers, but back in the 80's that was so "short folks often shot them release.

LOL..........41" too short. Not to 29" IMHO.

Old IBO was to 60 yards. Newer Bohunter class, to 35. MBR to 45. It's an 11 ring (or whatever they call the X now- quarter or nickle sized bull within the bull.

Can't get on the knee or get dirty, can't have to stretch to shoot around stuff..........nope, high ceiling and straight up, so your partner can hold an umbrella for you.

What really p*ssed me off was good old school clubs ditching the mover targets.

Several clubs around back in the day, none exist now. I hammered em, PSE Mach Flight 4 at 82# w overdraw

Good thing I havent shot and am sick, wont make Cloverdale this yr. I'd probably risk my HF1225 limbs on some moron.

There are some great trad guys, but the ranks have been poisoned by too many weirdos and A holes.

Like everything else.

FWIW I usually shoot the BH or MBR stakes, with trad.
That under 25 crap is boring.
Kills my score (comp wise) but when you lob one in at 45 and it's an X.............people watching go nuts!

They LOVE watching those arrows fly.

Sights and 320 FPS..........the just get a blur.

Romance of the arc.........they just don't have it.

What I should have done is hybrid my Mathews SBXT w Hoyt Cam and a Half. That might have been the perfect hunting bow. Proly would have done well in 3D.

Almost bought a Mission Ballistic. Monster Chill the high end rig I'd like.

Lot of money to just pop crap deer. I have more fun doing that with recurve.

My Protec was pretty nice though.....

Might get another Hoyt Tec bow, if I can find one in Safari finish (at reasonable price). I asked Randy Walk about a hunting target color scheme at an ATA show and he said that's a cool idea........2 yrs later they had it.

All I ever shot was fingers on a Hoyt Ram Hunter II. I remember reading a thread about a store in Vansant, VA with a whole inventory of NOS finger shooters and accessories. I always wanted to go and check the it out.

I've been shooting fingers 30+yrs. My go to bow is a Matthews Conquest Pro I bought when
they were first introduced. GREAT fingers bow if you ever run across one. I use multiple pin
sights but no peep and a modified Saunders Fab Tab. Recently had part of my right hand
fused leaving me with a drooping middle finger so shooting with fingers may be done for.

Saunder's Fab Tab?
There's one behind ol Frank King's place near Northrop HS in Ft Wayne.

I threw it there way back, beside his dead lawnmower and other junk, when I shot at a rabbit in VERY cold weather, 55# Hoyt Huntmaster recurve.

That SOB was like a firecracker going off!

Mine are so old and well used they're supple enough to be quiet. Tried others(and gloves)but the Saunders worked best for me.

I started with fingers in 1978 and used a finger tab till about 2005. Went to archery shop had them install a D loop, a drop away rest, and I bought carbon arrows and a release.
I shoot so much better with this set up that I am never going back.
Enjoy your bow and finger shooting.

I ran a PSE Phazer for years and shot fingers. Practice, practice, practice. Consistent hold and release are essential. I'd suggest signing up for a hunter's league somewhere to get some of your range time in. The range I shot at had a hunter's finger release division. Evens out the competition quite a bit.

I shot fingers with a first generation PSE Phaser for years. It was a good bow, but just not fast enough for my tastes. I've got a buddy who's just an archery nut. His latest "phase" is retro bows. To that effect, he's resurrected an old Fred Bear Whitetail Hunter. 6 wheels, about 20 feet of cables, and not very quiet. That being said, he shoots it very accurately out to about 30 yards. I wouldn't be surprised if he takes a deer with the old contraption this fall.

Not true, Hoyt has never stopped making a fingers bow.

IMHO they did when they went to 65% letoff.
I like shooting 3 finger, split.

The old PSE Laser/Phaser stuff........not the fastest, which means mediocre form results in decent accuracy.

Switching to the Nova/Vector stuff that hit 215FPS.........some guys used to slower rigs had issues (fingers). The Bear Polar LTD and Whitetails were pretty slow.

Somebody ought to do a Youtube hunting channel, with classic gear, call it "This old bow".

Maybe do a Browning wood riser rig, old Bear 6 wheelers, T star Jennings, Oneida Screamer, a Martin Jaguar, McPherson GC 2000 etc etc.

LOL, I remember when 215 fps was considered fast.

FWIW I run a Blackwidow 3 under medium calfhair tab, or a Kantpinch KP300 medium (hole slit for better fit).

Either one for recurves. Just a KP300 for fingers and wheels.

Love my Fletchunter 3D shorty release. Peep and hot cams, fun stuff.

Fingers bow........always looking for a deal on an Oneida BE2. Man they're expensive!

Proly the best release bow I've had, my 2005 Hoyt Protec in safari finish (loved that color).

Bow was a tank though.

Thought about a Mission Ballistic 2.0...........in case I get hurt at work and can't shoot my recurve.

But then that's the $$$$$ game.

Anybody remember the old wood riser bows, with radius shelf........looked like they had Golden Eagle limbs/cams......... think they were sold by Tim's Archery.

I saw them at a show, and never after that.

Such an idea is sound, a handicap trad bow kinda thing.
But to be "more trad" I reckon an Oneida would do it.

Too bad the Aeroforce has such a fat grip.
Wonder if an LFM might be doable (cheaper than a BE2).

Their new Osprey only goes to 50#. Onviously bowfishing only. Kestrel is shorter IIRC so is a release deal.

No wonder the BE2's keep climbing in price.

Old bones/muscles..........man an Oneida draw smooooooooooth.

65% let-off is ideal for fingers. You are the only person I have ever heard complain. I have been shoot fingers since 1976, when I first started in JOAD. Have not stopped since then I still compete and of course hunt. So if you have ever competed I am sure we have met as there aren't that many finger shooters left and hasn't been for a long while. I also shoot a Toelke Whip takedown.