First Trad 3D

[Stick'em]

Well I went to my first traditional 3D today. Wow do I suck! LMAO!!!

I have won many a trophy at 3D's shooting my super high-tech compounds with scopes. I would get mad if I missed the 10 ring. Today I was thrilled to hit the animal at all....head, butt, legs....anything on the animal elicited a "YES!!!" reaction.

I did do pretty good though despite my statements above. There were times when I was on and other times when I could have used a alloy detector.

You know......even though I did not perform anywhere near where I would with my compound......this was the best shoot I was ever at. Met some great traditional shooters and they were very encouraging and funny. Never laughed so hard at my own mistakes. Can't wait to do it again!

BTW - I found an awesome little traditional shop named "The Footed Shaft" out of Rochester, MN. This guy had an increadible selection of traditional gear. Good day all the way around! :highfive:

[danbow34]

Stick'em
my friend this is what it is all about! loads of fun and some of the greatest people you will ever meet!

keeep shooting ,keep having fun! :cheers:
later dan

[tuffshot]

Stick'em

Now that you have had the chance to go, I am sure you can't wait to go again. Each time you get to go is a learning experiance There is always the one shot that one says to their self, why can't I do that every time? LOL

I went to a 3D shoot today myself, I was the only Trad shooter there :eek:
I did know a few of the people at that club from years gone by and they rememberd me and got to shoot with a couple of old friends. I was treated very well and it seemed like word got around that I was on the range. If anyone was close enuff to my group they would stop and watch me shoot. Talk about nervus but as luck would have it I made my best shots when someone was watching :sbrug: The prez of the club stopped by on one target and said he was going to watch me shoot it was about a 27 yrd shot and I put it in the bottom of the 11 ring.. man that felt good

Funny thing was I had to start the second half with a differnt group and was shooting from the same stake they were where the targets could be out to 35 yards but none were out over 32yrds lucky for me. They have another shoot there again tommorrow looks like I will be going again and rush back to watch my sons baseball game .

[snydley]

The correct trad reply after any shot is FOAM IS "MY FRIEND"

[Papabull]

Traditional 3D is, in my opinion, the great unknown sport. Every Sunday shoots are held but unless you're "in" that circle of information, you'd never know it. It's fun, the entry fees are very low and help suport the clubs, which in turn help support us. The comraderie is great and it's always a blast. If there are a lot of compounders in the region that go, I just get out earlier to avoid the backups.

Most of all, nothing tells you how you really shoot at animal sized and animal shaped targets at unmarked yardage like 3D. It trains you to pick a spot when there is no spot and trains you to get an eye for distance and your trajectory in a woodland/field setting not much different than you may be hunting in the fall.

Almost everyone I know who shoots 3D and hunts, too, is very successful in the fall and their tales of good shots and tagged animals outnumber their tales of woe and spectacular missed shots. There is so much good about 3D for a bowhunter that I have to wonder why a bowhunter would ever sniff and say, "I never go to 3D shoots. They don't do nothing or me".

Heck, if it's just for the chance to go hang out and shoot with other archers for a couple hours, it's worth the time and money, in my opinion. Glad to hear you went and I'm looking forward to hearing how you make out in a few months. I'll bet your shooting improves by leaps and bounds by then!

[eric96]

IMO trad 3-D is the way to go. If you miss the target with a recurver or a longbow you just laugh it off find the arrow and carry on. With a Wheel bow it is a little different.

[Stick'em]

Thanks guys! :thankyou: Yes...it was a blast! Yesterday foam ws my friend, but so was dirt and a few saplings. My friend is defined as anything where I can still recover my arrow. :cheers:

[steve morley]

Stick'em; With a Compound you're expected to hit everything, with a Longbow you're expected to have FUN :)

It's sometimes hard to accept less than perfection after shooting Compound and many archers just give up Trad and go back to the wheels, it's not because they cant do it, I think it's a mental adjustment that needs time.

Because Trad shooters don't expect to shoot high scores, they're much more relaxed about everything, Keep up the shooting, with your attitude I'm sure you will be shooting great scores soon. :shooting:

[DAS]

Yea Trad archery is about having fun for sure. I'll tell you though, Van/fl just sent me a photo of a 50 yard group he shot yesterday. If I were a 3D target, every shot would have been in back of my foam head!! The idea that trad shooter's have to take a back seat to compound shooters is not an absolute! :shooting: :)

[ROD JENKINS]

The idea that trad shooter's have to take a back seat to compound shooters is not an absolute! :shooting: :)


DAS....I like your line of thinking!

[Desert Archer]

Shooting without sights (Barebow or Traditional) is never going to have the rifle like precision of the fully tricked out compound. That being said, too many "trad" shooters accept medicore shooting when it doesn't have to be like that.

I was shooting the field course a couple weeks ago and ran into a guy I know from meeting out at the range. He shoots a longbow with cedar arrows and asked if he could walk the course with me just for the company. I said sure and invited him to shoot along with me. At first he declined, saying he would just wait to get closer as he was an "instinctive" shooter. By the time we got the the Hunter part of the course he decided to just try a couple of the longer shots. He tried one at 25, then 30-35 and finally 40 yards. You never saw anyone with such a big grin on his face when he started hitting paper at those longer than his normal distances. On a 36 yard fan target he put two arrows in the five ring and one about an inch away in the four. He was so proud of that target he wanted to save it or take a picture.

You don't have to settle for just "having fun". Keep challenging yourself and have fun getting better and better. That's really fun!

Dave

[DAS]

DA, :amen:

[DAS]

This is Van/fl shooting my bow at 50 yards. Check out the bare shaft!!! :eek:

[van_fl]

To have a bow that shoots this well!!!!!

DAS :youdaman:

[danbow34]

fun first for me and if that makes me a back seater or a mediocre shooter in people eyes , then so be it. drove my son from this sport because as a compound shooter my score was everything that will never happen again.
trad archery brought me back to earth and my son back to archery, now we are closer then i could have ever imagined. becoming a trad archer has made me a better shooter, and a better hunter ,as well as a better person.

but thats just my :2cents:
dan

[Stick'em]

Dan,

Funny you should say that. My son shoots a little PSE compound (He is 8 years old). He never liked a release and always shot with fingers. He is a decent shot, but used to get really depressed when we went to the 3D's together because dad was pounding 12 rings.

Well....yesterday we went together and we both hit some and missed some. On the way home he said to me.....never sell that bow. I had fun today. I pressed him and asked him why he felt that way and he said......its much more fun to shoot with you when you shoot like me.

Like I said......most fun I ever had! Sure....there were times of fustration, but a couple of times I hit that 10 ring when some of the compounders didn't.....damn that felt good! Even had two guys shooting compound come up to me and asked me how I liked traditional. They said that it looked like fun. I told them it's the best thing that ever happened and the bonus is....no allen wrenches needed!!! :highfive:

[Eaglearcher]

I have just read this thread for the first time and its like i wrote it myself.
I shot compound (off fingers) for many years and got to a standard where i was winning international competitions. However i gradually realised that although i was still an enthusiasic archer, i had lost the joy and excitement that i had felt when i first took up the sport. Too many times i would leave a shoot feeling that i had let myself down because of one or two bad shots. The reality being that i had still shot well but maybe not to my best standard.
Since moving over to shooting a longbow i have regained this joy and i am enjoying the sport more than ever. My daughter (who shoots an unsighted compound off her fingers) can now regularly beat me and the rivalry between us is a new side to our sport.
Traditional archery seems to allow you to enjoy your good shots and to forgive yourself for the bad ones. As Steve Morley says. Some people can't make this mental adjustment but those of us who have, are given the opportunity to rediscover the joys of archery all over again.

Shoot Straight, Shoot True :shooting:

Eaglearcher

[Stick'em]

Eaglearcher,

Couldn't agree more. My son left the 3D with a metal medallion and I left with wonderful memories.

You are right about the rediscovering archery part. I remeber my first bow (Bear Whitetail).......it was given to me as a gift from a great guy who not only introduced me to the sport, but taught me to hunt. it was a surprise gift that set off 15 years of dedication to archery and bowhunting. Funny how life works.

Sure wish I kept that old bow, but being a young pup I gave it away to buy my first bow (High Country Safari). I put more arrows through that Safari then any bow I have owned to date. It was an extention of my arm.

Now here I am 15 years later with traditional equipment and I have that same passion back all over again.....oh and I am just as bad a shot as 15 years ago! LMAO!!!

Kinda doing this with everything now. I also took up fly fishing to rediscover the fun and challenge of catching fish. Must be part of getting older I guess. :sbrug: