Longbows....cool

[Beendare]

Playing around with the Dryad longbow limbs I bought a couple yrs ago and never really shot before I had issues with my elbow.

Dang those are quiet! I thought my recurve was quiet...but the longbow limbs are practically silent. Its crazy shooting next to a friend with a compound that is pretty quiet in its own right...but the LB limbs make that compound sound like a gun going off.

Setup; tradtech 17" riser with the Dryad legend longbow limbs rated 50#

I will chrono both setups just for the heck of it....

Are you a longbow or recurve guy? and why?

 

[oldgoat]

Longbow, they look cooler and as you said, very very quiet! I have Dryad Orion and two sets of limbs I really liked shooting but I'm getting ready to move them and order another Toelke Whip.

 

[Kevin Dill]

I shot a recurve (several of them) for a number of years. Then I shot a longbow and killed just as effectively with it. I shot a selfbow for a couple years and...to me...it was little more than an ultra-primitive longbow. I wasn't captured by the selfbow mystique some claim. So I've continued to shoot both recurves and longbows over the past couple decades. Interestingly enough, I've found myself gravitating to my longbows more and more. I shoot them just as well as the recurve and they don't feel like a handicap in my hands. I am convinced the longbow limb design is superior to a recurve for durability and dependability in rougher use situations. I'm also quite certain every longbow I've owned was and is somewhat quieter than my recurves. They are a simpler design and I like that when I'm hunting hard in rough country.

My current favorite is a Featherhorn by Cari-bow. I've owned it about 7 or 8 years and have taken literally several tons of game with it. It's a 2 piece takedown and shoots a heavier arrow with speed and authority. I trust that bow the same as I do my compass.

 

[LostArra]

Kevin: just curious. Did you make the selfbow? I have made many selfbows and before I made one that was "special" I didn't hunt with them. But when I killed a deer with that special osage stick and with cedar arrows I made, it was truly a rewarding experience. I can remember everything about that hunt even though the deer was no trophy. It was my most fulfilling hunt except for my first bow elk. The challenge with a selfbow is keeping the bow tuned to wood arrows which can be a technical and almost mystical challenge. I don't hunt with the selfbow now. I use a modern longbow (Dwyer) and find the performance on par with a recurve with less noise.

 

[PNWGATOR]

Love the longbow. Shootability. Durability. Silence. Shot one for a couple of years after transitioning from a recurve. I promise you, the acoustics of an arrow vibrating on the shelf as a giant bull is trying to kill me as I'm $hitting myself is unforgettable....
Have since made it full circle back to the compound, but the longbow tugs at my heart.

 

[Kevin Dill]

LostArra...

I'm sort of a paradoxical longbow guy. I don't get much from the whole 'traditional archery' mindset or scene. I have always thought of myself as a hunter above all other things and somehow I found my way to the 'traditional' weapons. I love a good recurve or longbow but only as a hunting weapon. The trad mystique just doesn't exist for me. The selfbow I owned was made for me by Dick Robertson many years ago. I could make one but have no interest in it, and I somehow know I wouldn't find more satisfaction there. The hardcore trad guys generally don't understand me...someone who hunts with the weapons but only because they do what I need.

 

[Beendare]

I'm at a similar place in my evolution[?] as a bowhunter. I like the degree of difficulty involved in shooting a stickbow and just the challenges involved in shooting them accurately has made archery more interesting.

There are trad guys that revel in being a part of that group....and I think thats great, just not for me.

i could have gone a couple different routes...maybe being a lot more selective...more of a trophy hunter but the stickbows spoke to me. since i eat a lot of game, I wanted the meat. I've had the good fortune of killing my share of critters with a bow...so its easy for me to step into stickbows as I don't feel i have to kill something for it to be a good hunt.

Longbows; I've shot one of those Hill style bows that just about rattled a couple of my fillings out....it had hand shock I was unaccustomed to. The claim of those Cari-bow Featherhorns is very little hand shock- is that true? I can tell you the Dryad limbs on that heavy riser has no shock....or at least no more than a recurve.

What longbows you guys shooting?

 

[Kevin Dill]

I'm not aware of handshock with my Featherhorn, but I'm pretty sure a weighty 3-piece TD recurve might feel smoother. A bit of mild kick in the hand is not a problem for me.

My game and my ultimate satisfaction is to beat the animal and have my chance at very close range. That's where my heart is...I live for those rare encounters at hold-your-breath closeness. That's where the longbow excels above every other bow I've ever shot.

 

[LostArra]

LostArra...

I'm sort of a paradoxical longbow guy. I don't get much from the whole 'traditional archery' mindset or scene. I have always thought of myself as a hunter above all other things and somehow I found my way to the 'traditional' weapons. I love a good recurve or longbow but only as a hunting weapon. The trad mystique just doesn't exist for me. The selfbow I owned was made for me by Dick Robertson many years ago. I could make one but have no interest in it, and I somehow know I wouldn't find more satisfaction there. The hardcore trad guys generally don't understand me...someone who hunts with the weapons but only because they do what I need.

I don't classify myself as a traditionalist but just a bow hunter. I enjoy traditional bows but bought my first compound at 63 when a shoulder injury popped up after I drew a Wyo elk tag. I still hunt with it in some situations but the self bow experience was a rewarding one much like those beautiful surewood arrows you built for the moose. Carbons would have killed that moose just as dead.

The problem with buildings selfbows is the amount of time and work it takes and I've only got so much shoulder activity left so I'm back to modern longbows built by experts.


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[Kevin Dill]

I don't classify myself as a traditionalist but just a bow hunter. I enjoy traditional bows but bought my first compound at 63 when a shoulder injury popped up after I drew a Wyo elk tag. I still hunt with it in some situations but the self bow experience was a rewarding one much like those beautiful surewood arrows you built for the moose. Carbons would have killed that moose just as dead.

The problem with buildings selfbows is the amount of time and work it takes and I've only got so much shoulder activity left so I'm back to modern longbows built by experts.


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10-4. The answer is found in knowing yourself and what really motivates you to hunt. I know guys who are motivated by the bow and the traditional aspects of these weapons. Some seem more about being traditional than anything else. Sometimes people see the longbow (or recurve) and judge a man to be a traditional bowhunter. I'm a bowhunter and what I use doesn't need an adjective now...just as it didn't need one in the 1940s or '60s. Bow + Hunter = .........

I do enjoy good bows, arrows, wood-stocked rifles and much of the less-gadgety things in hunting gear. That's where the longbow enters for me. It appeals to my want of simplicity. It drives me to get closer to my quarry. I think it has made me a more effective hunter due to the demands it puts on me in order to be successful. It's a great feeling when it's one simple bow, one arrow and one man's skills going up against a highly desired game animal.

Good topic!

 

[Superkodiak38]

I grew up shooting a fiberglass bow with cedar arrows, at 18 I bought a Bear whitetail hunter compound that I shot with no sights and fingers. Later I moved to a Darton 50 MX with full length 2417's and razorback 4's, that's when I started bowhunting. I killed some deer, got a real job, academy, shift work, marraige etc.. I came back to archery 12 years ago and decided against a compound. I had already killed deer, most of them at less than 20 yards and I tried a buddy's compound but hated the pins and release so I got a Bear Superkodiak when I was 38.. ^^^ my handle. The first time I shot a longbow with a low wrist grip I knew I was home. I've had a Kim-shaw ( Tom Parson's lives nearby) An Abbott Yew longbow and for the last 7 years a Horne takedown. I draw about 30.5 so I shoot a 66" bow. I am however taking a ride up to Lancaster in the spring to see John Wert and try a Titan III, I am looking for a 64" recurve in the 50's for an elk trip I have planned for September of 2018. If John can set me up off the shelf, low wrist with around 550-600 grain arrows that will probably be my primary rig for that trip. Be nice to train it with a few whitetails ahead of time

 

[Beendare]

Interesting comments.

IME with a Big Jims Buffalo longbow i owned...... the degree of difficulty went up even from the recurve I was shooting. There is no doubt riser mass contributes to stability...I've shot a Hill style longbow...and it made me realize how whimpy my bow arm is!

I also realized how poorly my pointing was with a light longbow...as even the tiniest form error with grip or bow arm pushed that arrow in all directions

 

[RCL]

I had Mike at Dryad make me up a set of ilf longbow limbs a year ago and couldn't be more pleased.
They are mounted on a 13" riser to make a 58" bow.
Almost silent and very smooth.
I have shot take down Pronghorns for years and love them, but they are getting very little use.

 

[bobinmi]

I shoot a dryad orion with longbow limbs as well. Love them. the bow is silent and I feel its the best of both worlds. It is as fast or faster than any recurve I've owned and its as quiet as any longbow I've owned. Combine that with the more recurve style high wrist riser and it has become my go to bow in less than a month.

 

[Shawn Hultquist]

Ive always been a longbow fella. i like them so much that i build them

 

[Muttly]

Me, I like rifles, I like recurves, and I like revolvers, but I love long bows.
Not really any statement to make, or any decision made, just an observation. Don,t quite know what is is about em, but I picked one up a couple years ago and things kinda meshed, flowed, I found what fits. Got a one piece R/D, loved it, got a take down version as a back up for travel, that one turned out to be a perfect fit. Made me a better shooter. I,ve gone from a casual shooter with a recurve to kinda OCD with the long bow, knots in yer shoulder blade, kink in the neck from over shooting doing bare shaft tuning. Deep down, I,d like to consider myself a fairly lazy guy, so that sorta goes against the grain.

I think probably the biggest reason for my deep seated affection for the long bow is that it DOES require focus on my part to shoot one well.
I,ve noticed over time that it,s almost impossible for me to stay mad and shoot the bow. It,s been a long, hectic week at work, got the holiday family feud going with my wife and her sisters, some bad news from my folks. Been a long week.
Goofy though it may sound, it was nice to come home in the dark, put on a headlamp, grab the bow and an arra with a tail light, head out back with the canine unit and do a little stump shooting.

 

[smoke]

I shoot both. I like the length of recurves but shoot long-ish bows a bit better. For me, bowhunting is very attractive because of the sense of history . . . or pre-history associated with those weapons. For that reason I gravitated toward selfbows and sinew-backed bows about 15 years ago. I don't hunt exclusively with them but the majority of my hunts are with my homemade gear. Its all fun though!

 

[6mm Remington]

I've shot a longbow a little bit and like it, but I own a Martin Damon Howatt Hunter 60# recurve. I really like that bow and enjoy shooting and hunting with it. There's something special about shooting longbows & recurves. Not sure what it is but I sure enjoy using them.

 

[justinspicher]

I've been a recurve guy since going "Trad" ten years ago. I've never messed with a long bow, figured I've got my hands full getting competent with a recurve as it is. I'm not much into the Trad scene, but I shoot a black widow and recently started using wood arrows.

 

[Jarrod Renaud]

R/D longbows for me. a few years back when I got into trad, I shot a whole mess of bows at RMSgear and came out with a Caribow Featherhorn r/d longbow. Loved it, felt so natural and easy to shoot. The next year I got impatient and felt like I wanted a new bow... went with a Toelke Chinook recurve and struggled with it from spring to fall... freaked out two weeks before hunting season and ordered a Caribow Peregrine r/d longbow... it all came back to me and was instantly consistent and confident again. Well... the next spring had some limb seperation with the Peregrine and Abe (the bowyer) replaced it with one of his static limb recurves... my shooting went to hell again (well almost... my effective range went from 40 to 20 yards). Each bow I've had were within 5lbs of each other and all were shooting within 2-4fps of each other but I just cant get past the forgivness of a longbow. For me, recurves expect much more from you. Now Im waiting for another longbow from Abe