Traditional Bow hunting
 

Anyone hunts with recurve or long bow? Looking for info on a setup that won't break the bank beings that it will be my first traditional bow. I will mainly use it for hogs and whitetail (when rifle season isn't open). Thanks in advance!

I used to hunt traditional. It's a lot of fun, but you really have to know the limitations of the equipment. Your best bet is to call Lancaster Archery or Three Rivers Archery, they are a traditional hunters warehouse and have experts on staff that can set you up with a nice rig that will perform well and won't break the bank.

I'm told there's a guy by the name of John Wert at Lancaster that is really helpful with trad archery. I talked with him once last year, and he seemed knowledgable and he expressed a desire to set up a bow that would work for customers - including the correct side plate and rest set up for a customer's needs. Plus, pleasant to deal with.

Another place to go is find a traditional archery forum... I'm sure there is something out there on Archerytalk if you want to sift through the rest of the hoopla on that site... there are some very knowledgeable people there that will help you and give you good recommendations.

I have been bow hunting with traditional equipment for the last ten to twelve years. I do 99% of my hunting with a longbow, although I do have a recurve as well. My suggestion is to find a good used recurve or longbow in the 35-40 lb pull weight at your draw length. I believe that 35 lb draw weight is the minimum you can hunt with in Louisiana. The most important thing by far in traditional hunting, is proper form. If you begin with a heavy draw weight bow, you will handicap yourself significantly while trying to learn the correct form and technique to shoot well consistently. Initially, any bow with straight limbs, good construction, and consistent pull weight (you want the bow to smoothly add the pull weight as you draw, for example: the pull weight will increase 3 lbs for every inch of draw) will do to learn.. You can always upgrade in quality and poundage as you progress in the sport. By the way, I have had pass through shots on whitetail deer and one shot kills on hogs with a 35 lb recurve bow. It's where you put the arrow, not how hard the bow is to draw that kills them dead. That is why proper form and technique is critical when shooting without sights or other aids. My suggestion is to go online and check out some of the traditional bow hunting sites. There is a wealth of information available to every level of hunter, and some extremely knowledgeable people that are happy to help in any way they can. One of my favorites is tradgang.com. Register on the site and check out the shooting form section, the shooters clock is the best training aid I have seen. There are also videos that people submit that are critiqued by the other members so you can see virtually every mistake you can make while shooting a traditional bow, as well as helpful comments on how to correct the problems. There are also forums you can ask any question you can think of and get some very astute answers. You can google traditional bow hunting sites and spend the rest of your life checking them all out. www.artofmanliness.com has a list of links for the beginner traditional archer to check out. Good luck. It is by far the most exciting way to hunt, especially when hunting on the ground, eye to eye with the animal you are hunting!!!!

Bob Lee Bows

I bought our son a Sammick Sage recurve in 45lbs for his birthday. Got it off of ebay brand new for $140. Smooth, quite ,and fast. Its no high dollar custom bow for sure but its a great place to start. Its a nice looking bow that shoots great. Im sure the hogs don't care about brand names when a broadhead goes through their lungs. Wanting to get me one in the 50-55lb range.