OT Bowhunting

[RustyJr]

With archery season not too far around the corner I was wondering how many archers we have around here and what equipment you use. Im currently shooting a 55# Bear monatana longbow but also have a Darton 50# compound that doesnt see much use any longer.


RustyJr

[Pitchy]

Well sir, i hunt with a Bowtech Liberty 60 lb bow and have bagged a few deer with it. I use a flip up rest and glow pins for a sight. I also have a long bow but have yet to shoot any deer with it.

[Bruce]

Custom made Howard Hill bamboo longbow w/ port orford cedar arrows. Broadheads vary.

[stew71]

Parker Raptor XP set to 60lbs. All I've hunted are hay bales. Maybe one of these days I'll go after deer with it.

[RIHMFIRE]

Hoyt MT sport ...short axle, 60 pound max....it about 8 years old...

I have gone bow hunting every year for God knows how long and
never brought anything home with a bow....Shot and missed one...
and shot and lost one......tracked that buck for 6 hours....frustrating to say the least!
I must have let umpteen smaller bucks walk by over the years too...
Its toooooo daaaaang HOT during bow season here in Florida...
By the time I hike to my stand...set up the climber...and climb up the
tree....I am sweating so much.....they can smell me in the next county.
Not to mention the skeeters....Thermacell is a must!

[InTheWoods]

I've killed 32 deer over the years with a bow and am now shooting an base-level PSE set at 55 pounds. I just gave up a nice 70# Mathews a month ago due to the fact my old arms just couldn't handle the draw weight any more from the awkward shooting positions bow hunting often requires.

I begain my bow hunting with a recurve bow because compound bows did not exist then. I killed three deer with it. I remember when the first compound bow showed up at my field archery club. It caused quite a sensation, and mostly got laughed at. Prior to that time, I remember shooting at an indoor league with Earl Hoyt, the founder of Hoyt archery. I believe he had the first modern-season Missouri archery deer kill mounted in his shop (he didn't kill it). For the leagues (both indoor league and outdoor field archery), we all shot rather long recurve target bows with very long stabilizers. The Hoyt bows had dual stabilizers, one at the top of the riser and one at the bottom. Fiberglass arrows were just being phased out for aluminum arrows.

I like my time spent bow hunting and see lots more game than during the gun seasons. I have had squirrels stand on my toe, and birds land on my arrows. I have had two hawks try to attack my eye-balls (totally camoed face), and those incidents scared the stuff out of me. I had two bobcats with 10 yards of me last season. Fun.

But, in the end, I am mostly a gun person. For me, bows have no soul and little pride of ownership. While I enjoy my bowhunting, sometimes I think I do it mostly to keep other folks away from my gun hunting areas during the weeks prior to gun season. But it works for me and I think I will go out back now and practice a little with my new PSE.

[rjohns94]

I hunt with my Wes Wallace custom 64# takedown bamboo longbow, cedar arrows. I also shoot a Mathews Reezen with #70 pound pull, mostly target shooting.

[Streetstar]

I shoot an early Hoyt "solo-cam" model from 2002 . I think it was their marketing departments answer to Matthews and all the success they were having (and still are) with their solocam lineup.

Its still a beautiful shooting bow with carbon arrows and 125 gr tips. Draw weight is adjustable up to 65, but i keep it around 55#

Glad you guys brought this up --- i'm gonna go kill a big foam box with it now i think , before it gets dark

[geobru]

I used a Damon Howatt Hunter 55# recurve that I bought new in about 1969 until I got arthritis in my fingers which makes it extremely painful to shoot. I never did use sights, but could do pretty well out to 45 yards. The new compound bows are as close to shooting a gun as a you can be. It is amazing to me how accurate they are with minimal practice on the shooters part. I got good with a bow by shooting a lot, all of the time.

[Nath]

Martin wheel bow and a couple of recurves, any arrow and home made broad heads.

Oh and it's illegal to hunt with a bow over here







N.

[Rusty]

I have a 50# and a 60# Martin Vision but I mainly shoot the 50. I just don't need that much power.

If anyone is interested the Traditional Bowhunters of Fla (TBOF.org) will be having their fall shoot Aug. 12-14 at the Fla. State hunter education camp near Ocala.

[86er]

I use a Martin Razor X set at 58# for part of the season and a 1969 Bear recurve 35# for the doe season.

[Bruce]

Nath,

With you countries rich history w/ the bow, that is just a shame that you can't use it for sporting purposes. Sorry.

I have made many self bows and still think the Yew wood English longbow is the best.

[getitdone1]

Nath,

Thanks for those great pictures. Nice looking dog.

Don

[ceb]

64" 64#@27" longbow of my own manufacture. Or I use mid '70s era Bear Takedown recurves. Arrows have been wood since the early eighties, either cedar or douglas fir. Broadheads have varied, but mostly Zwickey Black Diamond Delta 2Bl. Started shooting in the summer of 1970, gees, thats 41yrs this summer.

[rjohns94]

CEB,
Just about the same here, Was Christmas of 69. I was in 5th grade. The summer before I had purchased a fiberglass longbow around 30# draw and it took me all summer to get to the point I could pull it back. those muscles just didn't like the idea of pulling a bow. by the end of the summer I was convinced it was the bow and asked for a new bow for Christmas. They got me a White Wing target bow, 32# draw. I was disappointed at first becasue it was long and was not a "hunting" bow but I started that day shooting it. Dad took me the next business day to the shop he bought it, JO-Jans in Catonsville, md. There I saw a "real" archery shot and my first indoor shooting range. Spent about an hour there with the owner giving me all sorts of tips and correcting things I was doing wrong in my shooting form. We added a sight to the bow and he sent me on my way. From that day on, I shot every day in the back yard. On my next birthday, i purcased a 45# Bear recurve and that served me for several years. I picked up a compound bow in the early 70s but I kept shooting the recurves all along. Through 77 i shot nearly every day. Then I went to college and only shot on my summers, going after turtles, frogs, carp and suckers. Then Navy carreer slowed my shooting for about 5 years until I picked up a Fred Bear Signature takedown. I shot that bow into the 90's when I got my first custom Wes Wallace longbow, a beauty that sent to Mescalaro two years back. I replaced it with my current Wes Wallace takedown and last year added the Mathews for variety. I still shoot about a hundred arrows a day, year round either in my basement or in the field. If I had to choose one outdoor activity, over any others, it would be shooting the longbow. It would be followed distantly by shooting my flintlock, then my pellet rifle. That longbow is my passion. Nice to hear of others who have been doing it for a lifetime. Good on you.

[Rusty]

Mike, Jo-Jans must be where I bought my first bow as well. It was on what, Frederick rd.? The main drag through town? Mine was #45 Ben Pearson complete with sights. I guess a lot of us never thought of instinctive shooting back then. Think of all the really nice bows we ruined by putting those little screw holes in them.
We were living in Elkridge at the time.

[rjohns94]

yep, thats the place. Your right, I have seen a lot of used bows with screws in them. I actually was scared to put screws in mine so I just used black electrical tape to tape the base of the sight to my bow. Later on, the Bear takedown had holes already in the riser. I don't use a sight on my longbow and though it limits my distance, I prefer it much more to any bow with sights on it I have shot.

[Rusty]

What a small world it is. My dad's office was in Arbutus. Where did y'all live then?

Don't tell me you went to McDonough Military Academy.

[rjohns94]

I lived in Crofton, south of baltimore on rte 3, attended Arundel High School and then Hargrave Military Academy in South West Virginia. After, I went to Annapolis.

[horsesoldier03]

I shoot a Browning Excellerator. Its one of the older round wheeled bows that is all wood and has a laminated wood riser. Its a slower bow, probably only shoots about 250fps but I have never chronied it. It does its part when I do mine. To date, I have only taken 1- 8pt buck at 30 yrds with it.

[Nath]

I shoot a Browning Excellerator. Its one of the older round wheeled bows that is all wood and has a laminated wood riser. Its a slower bow, probably only shoots about 250fps but I have never chronied it. It does its part when I do mine. To date, I have only taken 1- 8pt buck at 30 yrds with it.

Good for you Horsesoldier, just goes to show, more is not allways better!

N.

[Birdman]

55 pound, 60 inch Blackwidow longbow. You have to know your limitations with traditional equipment compared with the good shooting compound guys but the satifaction I found from stalking up on a doe and dropping her at 15 yards with my longbow could never be replaced with killing a record book buck from a tree stand with a rifle, slug gun or revolver. Yep, I love the old stuff. Don't get me wrong now. I will never bad mouth the compound guys. What my son can do with a compound bow with all the whistles and bells is amazing and I'm proud to stand back and listen to others talk about his ability, but like I said, I like the old stuff.

[rjohns94]

Birdman I hear you loud and clear