Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Bowhunting Starting Traditional

People have been doing it for 40,000 years. You'll figure it out.

Can't you hear Mr. Caveman or Robin of Locksley asking this question?

Bill I have shot a few clubs up in Maine but can't remember the names as it has been a while. One was in Gardiner and the other I think was in or around Scarborough or maybe standish.

It's some of the trad only mentality itself that works against accuracy. The events don't allow sights or any elevated rests. Absolutely no face or string walking will be tolerated. I've even heard of some events that will disqualify you if they think you are gap shooting. How they would know is beyond me. It's nearly as if they are saying, "I just grip it and rip it and if you can shoot better than me , you must be cheating." I can understand limiting equipment but when you start telling people that they can't use certain aiming methods because they create a disadvantage to those who don't use them I think you are going overboard. My philosophy is that as long as a guy is using the same equipment I am, I shouldn't be getting mad because he knows how to use it better than me, I should be learning what he is doing that works better than what I am doing.

I hunted with a lot of people back in the early and mid 60's that used sights on their recurves. Especially those that shot Freestyle in Field Archery.

I never remember all the different body contortions when shooting either, nor so much emphasis on "instinctive". Can't remember seeing anyone shooting a longbow in the field rounds I shot or from the people I hunted around. I did a topic one time on what bow did you start with longbow or recurve..very few of the old timers or pre compound/trad started out with longbows. The longbow popularity came with trad. Didn't see any snap shooting either..unless it was target panic.

Personally I think a lot of the snap shooting today and so many with short draws comes from being over-bowed.

I never did join up with the trad thing, just like to hunt and shoot recurves and flintlocks...right now anyway. I like to hunt with rifles, shotguns, handguns, compounds, in-lines and pellet guns when I'm in the mood also.

Hoyt, what would you say were common draw weights?

Centershot, I don't have a clue, but do see in the classifieds most of the bows for sale are on the heavy side. I've read online on the traditional forums that back pre compounds it was around 45 lbs., although I don't quiet remember it being that low.

Seems like to me it was right at 50 lbs. back then. I do remember a guy with a 60 lbs. bow one time at a shoot and it was considered high poundage. I drew it and it stacked terrible at my draw.

Centershot, this is an other reason why I don't compete anymore. Whiners are what killed it for me. Some guys even wanted special classes for themselves. I used to laugh and say "a loser's class?" Which did not help during re-election time. LOL Which was fine cause I'd had enough of it anyway. I shoot strictly for myself these days and the benefit of my business. I've been known to build bows that have an elevated rest with plunger and a built in slot to put a sight on the bow. And nobody can tell me I can't do it.

I owned two Sky recurve's one with a sight on it. I also had a Win & Win with sight, flipper and plunger and stabilizer on it. I must really be on the dark side! LOL

I shoot true instinctive because I feel it benefits me when out bowhunting. No distances to worry about, either shoot or don't shoot.

That is why competition does not concern me. All I want to do is concentrate on the spot I want to hit. Hopefully the mechanics are automatic. It is all hand eye coordination. Some people are have more God given talent than others. Plain and simple.

I do not care if people want to string walk, gap shoot, use sights etc. I could certainly learn it and pretty sure my target shooting scores would get better. But that is not how I want to do it.

I am proud of the fact that over the last ten years I have not missed a big game critter and the longest shot was 18 yards on a moose! All but two have been from the ground. That is my style and how I approach bowhunting. It should also tell you about my God given talent. I don't have much.


BTW, I won the last indoor 3D shoot traditional division, and I was shooting against an IBO champion. My average score per target indicated that I averaged vital kill shots. That is all I care about. So what, I had good day. We'll see how my hog hunt goes, and spring turkey season.

Archery-How far you can be from the target and still hit it.
Bowhunting- How close can you get before you shoot.

I am a bowhunter plain and simple. Targets are something to shoot when there is nothing to hunt.

Just because you shoot targets and gap shoot doesn't mean you can't pick a spot and shoot just as fast as anyone claiming to shoot purely instinctive. As I've already said target shooting need not be detrimental to hunting, and likely will only help.

To the original poster, if he hasn't ran in terror.

You can tell from these posts bowhunters are worse than rifle loonies.

I know, I'm both.

This thread is full of great advise. Don't get caught in the minutia.

Go to the previously mentioned retailers. Call them, talk to the staff, get a low cost trainer with matched equipment and shoot.

Shoot, shoot, shoot......................................

You can find good books and videos on form. I won't say proper form, to me proper is what allows you to be consistent.

Each of us that have done it for a while will give you slightly different advise. Be patient and practice.

"Trad Gang" has a lot for you to look at, including member videos of technique.

You are correct, except that is not my style. Target shooting can be detrimental if you get used to other methods and get into the rigid form.

Does Tom Brady or LeBron James use gap systems for getting their balls air born? No, the have learned their mechanics and developed their own style.

I've heard throwing balls used as an analogy to shooting a bow. I do not think this is the case for 99.99% of archers, no matter what they think. I believe shooting trap or skeet is a much better analogy. Muscle memory, form, and sight picture are all used but integrated fast and seamlessly.

Try this experiment to see if you use the arrow as a reference. Stick one of those glow sticks to your target and shoot at it on a completely dark night. It has to be pitch dark so that you can't see your hand in front of your face for this to work. It works much better in a closed room. 99.99% of archers who clam to shoot instinctively can't get close to the target if they can't see their bow or arrow tip. They claim to take no notice of such things during the shot, but they subconsciously use the same sighting reference that a gap shooter does. Remember this experiment only works if you cannot see your bow or arrow tip at all.

Right...it ain't rocket science. Pygmies do it.

I have done the shoot in the dark exercise. In fact, we have quite a few "coon" shoots at night on 3D courses we have set up. Although there is some ambient light. It makes you a better true instinctive archer.

All the sensory input is there, but I am focusing/concentrating on the spot. Everything else is probably in my subconscious, which is where I want it to be.

I am not saying my way is the only way. Just explaining the process that I use.

The OP wants to start traditional bowhunting. Learn the mechanics and he can take his individual style from there.

Maybe he will get into target shooting? Maybe not?

Tradgang is his friend. There will be lots of help there, right or wrong.

Throwing the ball analogy is correct, as is trap and skeet. It is all muscle memory and sight picture. My sight picture is different than a gap shooter though. Not right or wrong, just different.

Like I stated before, I struggled mightily with this whole traditional thing. Makes the success's that much sweeter.

All that I'm trying to say is that learning to gap shoot will help so that you don't struggle so much in the beginning. You will be consciously using an aiming method and thinking about what your sight picture will look like at different yardages. As you do this thousands of times, it becomes ingrained. When I shoot at an animal or even a disc in the air, I don't have to consciously measure the gap or calculate the yardage. Gap shooting has now become instinctive. It is so easy and such a good method that it really bothers me when people scoff at gap shooters as if gap shooting is a detriment to hunting. IMHO it is simply a more clear way to learn how to shoot for beginners, rather than using all the esoteric language that trad shooters like to throw around, like instinctive shooting. No one shoots instinctive. We must all learn to shoot. Instinctive implies something that you are born to. We even have to learn how to throw footballs or baseballs.

Exactly, Mr Clark! I agree one hundred percent. No body and I mean no body shoots completely instinctive. If that was the case that person could hit the center of the target with their eyes closed at any distance. And no body that I know has ever been able to do that thru the 40,000 years that shooting a string has been around.

Instinctive shooters are gapers! Most also don't want to admit it either. Because they think it is a pure form of shooting. The only shooters that I know that don't are string & face walkers or sight shooters. Every other style that I know of has a gap to it. ie...arrow point below the target as a reference for example.

No, instinctive shooters are not gappers Wild Bill.

I'm fairly surprised that you'd even write that.

I just picture the flight of the arrow before turning it loose. That is, if I think about it at all.