I always wanted to get into traditional archery because those guys at 3D shoots seemed to have so much more fun than every body else. Don't get me wrong, I love shooting my compound bow and it is not going to be sold
. I am not a purist, I still use a gun for hunting sometimes, I will use spin cast and fly rod when I go fishing. All those are tools and some of those are sure more efficient or forgiving than others. Sometimes I really need to get the job done, I need meat in the freezer, but sometimes all I want to do is to go hunting and fishing and getting something is not the entire goal and it become fun to challenge oneself by using methods that are more challenging making success even sweeter.
So I bought a recurve a few years back and decide to try it out. Well let me tell you it was a disaster. I tried real hard to learn to use it but could not hit a 4X4 target at 20 yard with any consistency. Everyone who tried to help me just kept saying just concentrate on where you want the arrow to go and it will happen. It's just like throwing a baseball. Well did you see me play baseball???? It can work really good if you have good hand eye coordination but for a guy like me who had vision issues all it's life it just didn't work. They told me to bend down , cant my bow etc.. I was told not to stand up so straight because it was not a compound or an olympic style recurve it is traditional archery. I gave up, decided it was not for me and I could not do it. My recurve ended up in the closet collecting dust.
That all changed this fall, I came across a film on you tube. It is called " The push a traditional archery film" and he explained in words I could relate to how to make the switch from compound to trad not so painfull. It is a little long but the aiming method he use made it possible for me to start enjoying shooting my bow. If you have struggled with trad archery and are willing to try something different then instinctive shooting you owe it to yourself to check this guy out. It is free, he doesn't promote any product or bash on different style of aiming. He simply made this movie to help more people enjoy the trad life. It has made a huge difference to me and this is why I thought I would share it on this forum.
My two biggest revelation I had from this movie is first, you don't have to throw away your form you have work so hard on with your compound. Shooting a trad bow is not so different than shooting wheels, good stance, same grip, good anchor, back tension and follow true. Second thing I realize is you can effectively aim these bow, you don't have to be an instinctive shooter and some of those methodes can easily be applied to hunting effectively.
I hope this help other members on this forum. There are other guys also on you tube that have excellent informations such as Jeff Cavanaugh, Clay Hayes and many others. Get your recurves out and enjoy a new challenge.