Both Osage were made from the tree beside my house! Brother retired up in New Mexico met an ol man that is showing him all he knows! 1st pick is hickory bow pulling 60#28"
Both Osage are 65#28" mine is in the works brought it to texas to run about 200 arrows thru it and now it's back getting horn put in it! One of a kind! I love my Mathews but damn these are addictive !!!!!! These are not made with saws or blades were talking buck knife, ax, wood files for tillering! Strings are made with 8 pieces and Linx for silencers!

Nice bows; I shot compounds for years but nothing compares to trad. That will separate the men from the boys.

Great lookin bows, however I'm in the "boy" category for a while till bowhunting starts getting boring. I don't see that happening for a while. If I may ask, what makes the traditional bows addicting? Is it more of a challenge that makes you want to shoot more to get better? Or is it just easier? What is it about them?

PS sorry for the side tracking

I've only been shooting for the last year! You don't just walk out in the yard and step off 20 yards and drop a target! You learn to judge distance by where my arrow needs to go! I kind of explain it to my wife if she's 10 yards away I shoot the arrow like throwing a baseball but if she moves out to 20 or 25 yards I've got to give the baseball/arrow I different path to hit my target there are no pins , it's called instinctive shooting! Once again to me it's just a high of taking something that was growing in my yard a couple years earlier! There's also no let off you pull 65 lbs to your set point and that sucker is gone! Of course my answer is coming from my experience! I'm sure you will get more out of J's answer the Man has been slinging arrows for 50+ years ! This is from about 16 yards Brothers bow while my is being finished

That's how to do it Badlander; I started my grandson when he was three at five yards, he's 11 now and holding a pretty nice pattern at 20. Next year he'll be ready to deer hunt with his 35# bow.

Yes you are so right, 10 and then two or three yards in increments. I won't shoot a deer more than twenty but I practice out to 40 yards, just to keep in shape in case I want to shoot some trad 3D's.

It is kind of like the joy of riding a bicycle, even though you've had a drivers license since you were 16.

I started out shooting trad bows when I was a little kid. It is purely instinctual. I was hunting small game with that old Bear when I was 7 or 8 years old. I bought my first compound bow and started hunting with it when I was 12 or 13 with lawn mowing money. I still own and tinker (a little bit) with trad bows.

While they are simpler in concept, and it is rewarding to see your arrow in flight, they are infinitely much more difficult to master. Many people will spend a lifetime pursuing the perfection of trad bow shooting. Here's another thing: with a compound, you can get away with not practicing for a while, and still be a competent shooter. With a trad bow, your skills are perishable. If you do not practice, you will fall apart, and may be lucky to hit the broadside of a barn if locked inside. I practice with my recurves and long bow just enough to keep my arrows on the bale

I encourage anyone to pick up a recurve and some proper arrows for it, and fiddle with it some. Even the most hardcore wheelie bow shooter can be found with a big goofy grin shooting a simple trad bow.

The darn trad bows tend to accumulate as well. I have 2 compound bows, but 4 trad bows, and I fantasize about putting together a ILF target bow for something else to monkey with.