E-HuntFishCamp

I love traditional archery and own several fast ,light,and powerfull longbows.I have owned some real great compound bows as well (Hoyt Razortec,Matthews SQ-1) and took a number of deer with them but found myself enjoying the sport  less and becoming a "gearaholic".

    There was always one more new gadget someone was trying to sell you on and you "just had to have"..You needed a string release, get it tuned and sighted in,had to know ranges for your pin sights, etc etc etc .There was just no end to it , the $$ and always a "new and improved" version came around.The bows were also delicate (cams are aluminum) and relatively heavy to lug around the woods all day . If you did get a shot opportunity,you had to rely on the pre- sighted pins to get the shot just right .A misjudged distance meant a miss or worse a wounded animal.

    Then the magic happened. I was introduce to recurve-decurve 60# longbow handmade out of dark sexy laminated woods and overlays. Jerry Decker of "Decker's Bows and More" merely told me to string it up and shoot for awhile..well that was it. It was quiet as smoke,had a punch like a brick s---t house , light as a feather ,and pretty much hit where you were looking and pointing.I fell in love.Nothing else to tune,buy,fix,improve,add etc.Guess this is why the "industry machine" does not like us traditional guys..can't sell us much!:wink:

    Ihave since bought a 3 piece take-down "Bob-Lee Hunter" longbow for travel and could probably buy many more as each is a not only a deadly weapon ( historically more people have been killed by bows than bullets! ) but a beautiful piece of art.

Just my 2cents. Dan

i was a fairly late starter in bow hunting--although my dad bought my brother and i solid glass bows-and we shot every arrow in to the deep brush--and enjoyed them -we promtly gave them up when the ruger .22 came on the scene!!then at about 30--i got a compound bow and couldn't put it down!!i shot morning -noon -and night--got invited to a 3-d shoot and the fire was really fanned!!a year later i was working as my second job in a archery shop--and with a big dicount-the gear and latest model bows really rolled in!!!---then one day i saw a copy of traditional bowhunter magizine--it certainly was a turning point for me!!i had been reading all the horn-porn-infomercial bowhunting rags--and this was clearly better[for me] simpler-purer--all the stuff my gadget driven compound hunting was lacking--and i rember thinking -hey,these guys are getting it done!!and doing it without all the junk--just a stick and a string!!soon after that i saw a pearson colt in the local classifieds--for $17 and met the guy and bought it------all down hill from there!!!i waffled around for a couple of seasons unable to completely commit to the stic--but its been some 16yrs now and i know there is no better way to hunt big or small game for me---

  for the last 3 years ive been building my own mild r-d long bows and hunting with them --for me it adds another dimension of satifaction--both taking game with my own creation and watching other folks face light-up when they drill a bulls-eye with one of my bows-----

  more later-----mike