Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Bowhunting **Bowhunting is a lost art**

I used to bowhunt, and would still like to, except I can't find the time to devote to it anymore. however, I still follow the sport. I fee bowhunting has really lost something over the past 10 or more years, and feel 3D shoots are the cause. The 3D shoots have led to all these new fangled bow designs, goofy sighting systerms, releases, the list goes on...... Bowhunting has always been a traditional hunting method with a mystic aura, but all the tradition is almost lost today, and it really saddens me.

I think you are right, and that is why I fully support the P&Y organization for its stance on the technology on bows and technology. They made a stand saying that this is enough technology and this is where we draw the line. Lately they have taken some flack thanks to the great buck that beatty shot, but P&Y has stuck to the rules and i am glad.

To a degree I would agree with you guys. As someone who bowhunts using traditional and modern equipment I find the most important thing that technology has not and cannot change and that is getting close enough to take the shot. My effective range with a recurve is 30 yards, my effective range with my PSE is 30 yards. Sure I can shoot targets and 3D animals out to 60 yards with my compound but that does not make me effective on live game animals at that range. Sometimes I think that my high tech compound makes hunting more complicated than hunting with my recurve. For instance, with my recurve I have no sights, peeps and overdraws to worry about. I also do not have to really estimate yardage since I shoot instictivley. With my compound I must judge to within 3 or 4 yards the range and worry about all of the gadgets functioning. I am also a much faster shot with the recurve than with the compound for those times when the shot window is just a fleeting chance. Grant it the compound shoots much faster and I can hold at full draw longer therefore giving me some advantages over a recurve. On the downside the compound is much louder, heavier and cumbersome. I take deer both ways every year and really think that all things considered they are equal as hunting tools. Of course I do not have to practice near as much with the compound as I do with my recurve. I find that the hardest part of bowhunting is getting that shot on a big, mature whitetail not actually making the shot. While I am a technology lover I also appreciate the time and effort needed to master the traditional equipment. In all reality if we look at the history of archery, a true traditional archer would use a handmade bow, cane arrows, stone tips and turkey feathers for fletching. Against these primitive tools the Bear recurve is a technolgical marvel. Good hunting. HOSS

Well it seems to me that hunting with a bow is the same now as it was a few centuries ago, provided you use a longbow or a recurve. Yes we have aluminium and carbon arrows, but one can still use wooden arrows. I prefer broadheads to mechanical blades, so again, nothing taht did not exist a few centuries ago.<BR>All in all, to me, bowhunting is still getting closer and shoot instinctively...

Mojo, old-fashioned bowhunting does not have to die -- it's up to the hunter. Everyone's free to use stick-and-string or aluminum-and cable, whatever turns you on. All the technology in the world won't replace hunting skills and ethics. <P>3D has evolved into a sport of its own and shouldn't be confused with bowhunting, really. Of course many of the required skills cross over.<P>I know I am a more effective hunter with my cam-bow and mechanical release -- but I could make it work with a recurve.<BR> <BR>Frankly, it is much easier to be lethal with the former, as it requires less discipline and time, and I am more pragmatic than nostalgic as far as bows are concerned. I do enjoy the time I spend every year with my friend who makes his own bows. We cut cane for his arrows when we hunt black bear in eastern NC. He fletches his cane with feathers, etc.<P>The great thing about hunting is that we can haul whatever tackle we choose and still have a good time. Or perhaps I should say that I am fortunate to have good friends who feel free to hunt as they wish.<P>Also, don't despair about the primitive bowhunting tradition. It may not be mainstream (neither are flintlocks), but there are plenty of those guys areound. My friend makes and uses atl-atls (throwing sticks) to launch litle spears, tans hides, whacks points from stone, and hones other traditional skills.<P>Cheers, Talus

There's probably more archers using longbows now than there was 30yrs ago before compounds were invented and most people used recurves. Howard Hill and is about the only one I remember using a long bow back then.<BR>

I would probably agree that too much technology can "overwhelm" the experience. However, there are some camps that would argue that better technology can help reduce the number of non-fatal shots. Flatter shooting bows can help compensate for hunters who, in the moment, made a poor estimate on distance or when the weather decides to play with the trajectory of an arrow.<P>In any event, my biggest fear of technology isn't so much that it will take the experience out of bowhunting. Instead, I fear it will take the experience out of the BOWHUNTER. I find far too many people who feel that these tech-ed up bows can aim and shoot themselves. There is NOTHING that can take the place of practice. Buying a $1000 bow setup will harm just as many animals as a $50 bow if the user hasn't taken any time to prepare. <P>In short, bowhunting is what you make of it. I cannot express the amount of humbleness and gratitude I feel when I step into the woods. It doesn't matter type of equipment I have.<P>I feel society plays a bigger role in the participation level of hunting and most other outdoors activities for that matter. Take a look around. Everyone's so caught up with "who can I call on my cell phone next" that no one turns their eyes to the woods anymore. Many adults are caught up with either their own pursuits (jobs, houses, etc) that they don't take the time to take children out into the woods. Instead, they sit at home and learn life through computers and MTV. Without seeing first-hand what the outdoors has to offer (and I'm NOT talking about hitching a ride with mom and dad's $100000 RV to hook up to water/electric next to a mini golf course), these kids will have to settle for what the media tells them. Judging by what I see on this site, there isn't a lot of support for how the media portrays hunters and our activities. <P>It's up to us to show others what this activity means to us and what it has to offer.

Well said WI. I am guilty myself. I have tried to get my kids out from in front of the magical boxes but they won't budge. They are about grown now anyway. Those teen years are a hectic time with all the hormones pushing them around. If they won't go I will just have to go hunting anyway. Good hunting. "D"

MN_Mojo,<BR>I understand where you're coming from with the technology of compounds, but I DO NOT believe that 3-D archery is to blame. There is a lot of information to be gained from all the folks at these shoots, no matter what your equipment choice may be. There are separate classes for traditional bows that allow you to shoot with archers using simular equipment, closer stakes to shoot from and (in most cases) simulated hunting shots.<P>3-D archery is just another type of practise. If you don't like that type of practise, then by all means practise some other way, but be sure to practise. [img]images/icons/smile.gif" border="0[/img] Like so many other things in our lives, you have to take the bad with the good and get what you can out of life and go on.<P>Archery is a VERY personal sport...from equipment, stands, blinds, methods of hunting, etc. and it always will be because we are individuals that have individual tastes. I enjoy it all! I hope everyone else can too! [img]images/icons/laugh.gif" border="0[/img]<P>Good hunting, bowhunter57

Well said WI,learn some outdoor skills young and respect for nature, it will stat with you a life time...