Right before season I broke up with traditional archery....it just wasn't working, and I thought it best that we saw other people.

Hunted with my compound bow all season long and it was a reminder of how fun shooting a compound could be, unlike the previous two seasons that were wrought with frustration using trad gear.


It was a nice day today so after getting home and getting some chores put to bed, I thought "what the heck" and strung up the recurve and shot a few arrows at a 10 yard target. Holy crap, I can really tell I haven't been shooting! Muscles are all weak and form isn't great. Shot a few good groups, a few decent ones and a few bad ones. Kept the session short but will shoot again in a few days.


Also grabbed the compound bow ( I tore a rotator cuff in 21' and it hasn't fully healed, I get apprehensive about drawing my bow and thus, I don't shoot it nearly as much as I should) and shot twice at 20, once was 2" low and the other a perfect bullseye. Not bad for not shooting since Dec. 20th.

I went through a bad bout of target panic a couple of years ago. It got so bad that I actually dreaded drawing my bow. It's better now but not cured. I switched back to trad after about 45 years. I've really enjoyed shooting my trad bow. When I slow down I'm decent with it. I'll still hunt with my compound for the time being as I don't seem to have near the panic issues I do in competition. But I find, every chance I get I'm shooting the trad bow. Four days a week I work on compounds and shoot them through paper about 15 to 20 times a day. It's odd. If there isn't a spot or a 3d target, I don't seem to have issues shooting so I don't think it is the standard panic from release.

Maybe a low poundage trad bow will help with conditioning your arm and shoulder for shooting the compound bow. When I pick one up, it's usually the 30 or 35lb bow. I get more reps that way and also don't really have an excuse for not holding a little longer.

The beauty of a compound is that, if your form is easily repeatable, you can pick up after a few months and still shoot accurately. What degenerates is the ability to shoot several shots accurately.

Glad you are shooting trad again. If your bow is 45 lbs or above, it wouldn't hurt to have a lower poundage one for daily practice.

Now that we have 3D leagues here in town, I have stopped shooting trad altogether. It has become more important to me to work on the compound. Although to be honest, most weeks I only shoot those 20 shots at league. Not much time for selfish things.

I am on the leaders board and I shoot a torquey 80 pound speed bow. So now I have to ask myself, how much do I have to gain by switching to a more forgiving rig with less draw weight? Or maybe the speed of my bow is actually the reason I can hang, because it is more forgiving to range errors.

I will probably switch to a 70 or maybe 75 pound Elite before too long. I like that grip on those elites, seems to be good for consistency. That HNTR33 looks good to me, I like a 33” ATA bow.

If you are shooting known ranges then the range error for a slower bow is less important other than for wind acting on a slower arrow. If you are shooting unknown then the fastest bow you can handle, shooting the fastest safe arrow is best.