Tradhunter - Traditional Archery Bow Hunting Forums

Some of you probably know I work night shift. Sleeping a normal schedule with n my days off can be challenging. I often find myself up around 1-3 am and head to the garage to piddle and hopefully not wake the family up. I had been getting stuff ready for my Antelope hunt but I’m pretty much set on that for now. I haven’t been shooting or building any bows due to my elbows still giving me issues off and on. Today I had a piece of Osage ready for tiller. Got going good on the long string. I was 40# @22. Figured that was close enough to brace it. The wood did have a few spots which looked dry. Not thinking about the lack of moisture we have had I went ahead and broke the bow about mid limb stringing it up. Broker multiple directions and appeared too dry. Good thing, I didn’t hurt my elbows any with the limited amount of work I got in. I had a piece of hickory calling my name but I decided to clean up and organize my workbench some. Ended up putting quite a bit of my bow building tools up. Gotta give it a break. However, it will be a challenge finding something quiet to do. Waiting for 530 this morning so my son and I can go to the archery range and tune his bow shooting distance out to 70 yards. I’m not real excited shooting a different method right now but it at least keeps me in the game until I am physically ready to shoot sticks again.

Yeah, don't rush it. There will be time enough for trad shooting when you are properly healed.

Hope your back to your tradbow shooting and building soon. It's hard when it is such a big part of your life.
Sounds like your on the right path. Like Kirk said, don't rush it. I rushed my shoulder injury years ago and now it pops up and bites me when I over do it.

Sorry about the lost efforts! Got to do whatever you can to stay in the game, best of luck with whatever you use, your a trad hunter at heart! Have you thought about using a Xbow? May be easier on you than a compound. I look forward to hearing success stories from you this coming season!

I think I would quit archery all together before I went X bow, in my mind, it’s just like a center fire. I haven’t had any pain or issues with the alternative method. I did go down in weight however. I can still shoot a stick bow just not long enough sessions and accuracy I feel comfortable hunting with it. It just hurts too much. I think a lot of the issues I have came from
Building so many and prepping so many staves in a short time. It is definitely addictive and I certainly enjoy building bows. I have quite a few staves in my shed. Probably enough to last a lifetime as I probably could make 70-80 bows. As of now, my plan is to get trough this season with my current method. NOT BUILD BOWS FOR AT LEAST A YEAR. And evaluate again next year. If I feel I cannot build and produce bows with low hand shock and maintain a good hunting weight I will probably look at a Hoyt Dorado or Satori and get something 40-45# and see how it feels. The way I am currently feeling, I believe I may need surgery on my Left elbow at some point.

You might give a thought to an ILF style bow (like the ones you mentioned) in a very low draw weight (20-25#) which *should* have a similar effect to an 85%+ letoff compound. Nice thing about that setup is you can go up in DW with different limbs as your shoulder and strength improves. I can tell you, right now I'm feeling the effects of jumping back in too quick after a year+ layoff, even with my 45# bows. Thinking about doing the same using my Sage and low # limbs.