Hey fellas picked me up a recurve this winter a Bear Kodiak Magnum, I'm excited to try it out this coming fall. Still have a long ways to go to feel comfortable and lethal with it. Just wondering how many of you have seriously hunted with a recurve that could offer a rookie some advice...Form, arrows, aiming etc....I'm currently shooting Easton Axis 500's off the shelf with 2" blazer style feathers and a 125 grain field point seem to fly good. Since I picked it up I haven't been able to put it down and the compound is collecting dust. Thanks in advance guys!
Trad shooters
- Thread starter Bocephus
- Start date
C
Caz
Guest
I hunted with a longbow for years. If you really are serious about hunting with the recurve, the first step is to sell your wheels. You will never commit to the recurve if you have that other bow around. Take that for what it's worth.
Practice, Practice, Practice. In order to get good with that recurve you will need to shoot a couple arrows a day, almost every day. Even if it's only two or three shots, it will help.
I would shoot at least 2-3 times a week, with a couple days added on top of that with maybe 2-3 arrows shot. As with any archery hunting, the first shot is what counts, and that's the shot you must be consistent with.
Have fun.
Practice, Practice, Practice. In order to get good with that recurve you will need to shoot a couple arrows a day, almost every day. Even if it's only two or three shots, it will help.
I would shoot at least 2-3 times a week, with a couple days added on top of that with maybe 2-3 arrows shot. As with any archery hunting, the first shot is what counts, and that's the shot you must be consistent with.
Have fun.
W
westelkman
Guest
I'm on my second go round with a recurve and though not decades of experience should be able to help.
You need to decide your technique- Gap or Instinctive. Gap will be more target accurate but when hunting you wont be looking at the spot you are trying to hit. I shot lights out with gap on targets then missed a layup 140" whitetail at 25 yards- too used to focusing on a spot. I now shoot instinctive.
If you are shooting gap take your cues from Rod Jenkins- videos, etc. For instinctive I recommend "Instinctive archery insights" by Jay Kidwell- incredible book and all you really need for instinctive, IMO
The Stu Miller calculator [free download] should get you in the ballpark for arrows. The OL Adcock [free download] tuning guide is the best I've seen for setup and tuning trad equipment. Key with trad is to shoot bareshafts in the same group as your fletched shafts.
"Masters of the barebow" videos 1 and 3 will help you with style and form. #1 touches on all of the styles and some form with #3 being almost all form- very good. The Moebow vids on youtube are very good. The Shooters forum on Tradgang.com has many different videos on form and what guys are doing wrong. Starts with your alignment- the form clock- and then each component from there.
All of the above plus the above advice of "practice", will put you ahead of 80% of the trad guys in 4 months. Trad is much more difficult to master than compounds, by about 4x. I can pickup my compound after a 3 month layoff and shoot 4" groups @ 40 yds but if I go a week without shooting my recurve I'm all over the place.Good luck
You need to decide your technique- Gap or Instinctive. Gap will be more target accurate but when hunting you wont be looking at the spot you are trying to hit. I shot lights out with gap on targets then missed a layup 140" whitetail at 25 yards- too used to focusing on a spot. I now shoot instinctive.
If you are shooting gap take your cues from Rod Jenkins- videos, etc. For instinctive I recommend "Instinctive archery insights" by Jay Kidwell- incredible book and all you really need for instinctive, IMO
The Stu Miller calculator [free download] should get you in the ballpark for arrows. The OL Adcock [free download] tuning guide is the best I've seen for setup and tuning trad equipment. Key with trad is to shoot bareshafts in the same group as your fletched shafts.
"Masters of the barebow" videos 1 and 3 will help you with style and form. #1 touches on all of the styles and some form with #3 being almost all form- very good. The Moebow vids on youtube are very good. The Shooters forum on Tradgang.com has many different videos on form and what guys are doing wrong. Starts with your alignment- the form clock- and then each component from there.
All of the above plus the above advice of "practice", will put you ahead of 80% of the trad guys in 4 months. Trad is much more difficult to master than compounds, by about 4x. I can pickup my compound after a 3 month layoff and shoot 4" groups @ 40 yds but if I go a week without shooting my recurve I'm all over the place.Good luck
B
bucklover
Guest
One of the funnest ways to practice, once you have the basics down, is to go out where there is fairly soft dunes/hills/brush, (sandy if you can find it)where there's a lot of jack rabbits. Shoot at them for an afternoon, standing, running, whatever. It is a blast and really helps you become part of your bow. It's great to develop instinct shooting skills, judging distance, etc.
Hey thanks for all the input guys very helpful. I actually took half a day off work today and shot several different settings. I'm finding form plays a major role into shooting a recurve, I am getting the basics down and am becoming much more consistent and tighter groups out to thirty yards. I'll shoot a good solid group then miss the target by 3 feet the next shot...those are getting to be fewer and fewer between shots. The most comfortable and natural form to me is very similar to Fred Eichler's style, I try to mimic his form and shots and it seems to work fairly well. Consistency is the key it seems I can do everything right and my anchor point may be a little different one shot and throw the arrow way off target and cause erratic arrow flight. Anyway thanks again for the pointers I'll keep workin at it, I agree about getting rid of the compound. I'm not quite there, but haven't touched it since I got my recurve....I need a first kill with the stickbow and I think I would be hooked deep, Thanks again!!
W
westelkman
Guest
Sounds close...best to bare shaft to be sure
As stated, practice. Work on developing good form. Shoot at five yards with your eyes closed to focus on form every now and then. If you can find them (I don't think they are in print, but Amazon has used copies, as well as might many public libraries) G Fred Asbell's Instinctive Shooting is a valuable and entertaining read.
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powellpounder
Guest
Bocephus hey I will hold your bow for you. Just give it to your pops and I will come pick it up 
C
Caz
Guest
Here are a few shots
HorseCreek
Very Active Member
- Messages
- 2,242
I've found that my bow shoots a really heavy arrow better. I'm around 650+- grains. I'm looking for penetration, and since I won't be shooting past 30-35 yards, my arrows don't need to be smoking off my bows shelf. Try shooting three fingers under and split fingers. Find what works best for you. I shoot three under. I find I get a better sight window and no nock pinch. Two inch blazer feathers seem pretty short for trad, but if it works then go with it. I shoot 3, five inch feathers.
Get some cheap shafts and shoot lots of stumps. It's a blast and great practice.
Read your owners manual and find the recommended brace height. Start from there and figure out where you bows sweet spot is with your setup.
Good luck and shoot straight!
Traditional >>>------->
Get some cheap shafts and shoot lots of stumps. It's a blast and great practice.
Read your owners manual and find the recommended brace height. Start from there and figure out where you bows sweet spot is with your setup.
Good luck and shoot straight!
Traditional >>>------->
Thanks for the input Horse, thus far I have had good luck with the blazer feathers. I put a 125 grain Thunderhead on and it flew like a dart. I think I have the initial setup down now its just a matter of practicing. What strings do you guys prefer? Quiver? If any? Thanks again for all the help!
You're gutsy Bocephus! My advice: keep your compound sighted in and in the back seat of your truck! One miss at a 30" buck from 30 yards and I'd be back to old habits for sure! Ha! Good luck buddy! Nothing but respect for guys who get it done traditional style! Kip
Kip our Pa's huntin stories on Beaver from when they were Stickflippers inspired me to pick up a stick bow! I dunno know how serious I'll get with it, I've got a long way to go to feel confident. I do have more fun in the backyard shooting stumps, cats, stray dogs, gophers obnoxious neighbor kids (with a blunt of course) than I ever have with the compound haha! We'll see how I feel this summer hopefully we can pull a tag out of the draw this year. Take care Kip you Turkey!
