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.

So true! I'm switching back to Trad after 2yrs and getting back to shooting 3-5 times a week to get form back.

Been shooting a few groups when I go practice, usually around 10-15 arrows from the trad bow a couple times a week.

Keep the yardage short, just working on form and repetition currently.

Did break out the compound yesterday as well. Haven’t shot since season ended.

I discovered I have a “flinch” when I draw in anticipation of my shoulder tearing, my whole body tenses up. Very weird and it’s something I’ll have to work thru. Maybe time to get a lower poundage bow although I don’t want to.

On the plus side, shoulder felt fine this morning

Once you do it regularly your muscle memory should help, if you focus on your shot.

Been shooting the recurve as regularly as I can. I've gotten to mostly hitting the 4/5 rings at 10 yards. Not great but I see improvement. I had hoped that picking it back up after 45 years a lot of the form would return but that hasn't been the case (other than what I have from shooting my compound). What I did retain was the feeling of a good shot. I know right away when a shot didn't process right. That's a big plus and has helped me but I still need to concentrate on the little things. The biggest struggle has been lengthening my hold at full draw. When I can do that, I'm hitting the 5 ring. If I'm too fast, the group spreads out to the three ring. If I'm too slow I have no idea where it's going. The magic number is about a half to a full second of hold. I've started counting from ready to release at an even cadence and that has helped. This is the same struggle I've had with the compound over the last three or four years and I think the holding too long misses are a remnant of target panic. I can go through the process of draw hold and let down (and I do). It seems each practice session gets a little better.

I also shot 3d practice for the first time with my recurve. That was an eye opener, as I expected. It's one thing to set up a shot at a known yardage with the same target and an entirely different thing to shoot a new target at estimated yardage. Let's just say I only lost one arrow and leave it at that. I plan to shoot the Glen Rose ASA (the only one I can shoot and make it to the shop on time) or maybe the Abilene TBOT, which is the same weekend, but that my be a stretch to get back to Weatherford by 1. If anyone on here shoots the TBOT, let me know how long they take and when they start on Sundays.