I'd think the inherent long term value of stickbows vs. compounds has something to do with it.
It's easy to rationalize hanging on to recurves and longbow once you have them, not so much with compounds. Buy a nice used recurve or longbow, take care of it, and it will hold it's value pretty well. Compounds just keep depreciating to the point it's not even worth selling them. It doesn't take more than a few years for a compound to be almost disposable...even though it still shoots as well as it ever did and generally as well as the new ones.
I rarely shoot it anymore but still have my trusty Hoyt EltraElite hanging on the wall. I really doubt the new Hoyts shoot significantly better, and yet my 2007 bow would only bring a couple of hundred bucks in the classifieds, three hundred if I got lucky. I'd be paying $1500+ to buy it's new replacement (bow only) and while I'm sure it's a dandy bow I doubt it's that much better than the UE.
After the initial depreciation stickbows really don't seem to loose any value. Some of the bows we are shooting today might be worth quite a bit of money someday when the bowyers start to retire. Original Schafer Silvertip recurves made by Paul before his death are highly sought. Some of the bowyers working today are artisans of a very high level, their work will someday be the "Classics". I might not be around to capitalize on it, but I think that in time a Norm Johnson Blacktail, or a Dave Windauer Silvertip, or a Dale Dye recurve, or any of several other individual bowyers bows will be highly desirable and sought after collector items. I have my name on the bows made for me and I hope that someday after I'm gone someone will take them hunting with my name still on them, will they know who I was and how long I saved up for that bow?
I look at the stickbows on my wall and see monetary value locked up in a useful item. Most have been bought used and I know I could sell them for at least what I paid for them. The three that I've bought new would show a depreciation were I to try and sell them right now, but I have no intent of doing that. When I go and I pass my bows on to someone else, at that time I'd wager that all of them will be worth significantly more than I paid for them.
I look at my compound and see a great shooting bow that to a great degree is simply disposable, at least as far as market value. When I go I'd imagine it will be nothing more than a conversation piece, or end up in a dumpster as a ridiculously outdated antique.
Some things are disposable, some things aren't. Stickbows are a lot like firearms, most will be around longer than their original owner.
