I shot competition archery quiet a few years ago. I had a compound and sights and all that. I haven't shot in years.

I don't necessarily think anybody here can answer my questions, but can maybe point me in the direction of a good forum.

Now I'm working toward a goal of hunting small game and birds with a recurve. A friend gave me some gear he had in the closet. A shakespear 40+ recurve and some aluminum arrows, probably Walmart arrows. I've been shooting a little, and now I can start to get a better idea of what is going on and what I am doing.
The shelf on the bow is totally bare. When I shoot the arrow seems to bounce away from the shelf, the plastic fletch is hitting my hand.
I am guessing I need some kind of a fur pad for where the arrow sits, and I probably need arrows which have the proper spine for my bow.
Once I have a handful of proper arrows, I can practice better.

Thanks for the help.

Frank, have your arrows re-fletched in Turkey feathers...they "give" when coming in contact with the riser. Also, put a flipper rest on the bow "window" just above the shelf. That'll give much cleaner releases. For small game practice. I used to hold the bow with an arrow nocked, with tennis balls at my feet. You kick the tennis fall and try to shoot it as it scoots away. It's amazing how good you can get after awhile. Instinctive archery is great, as long as you have the time to develop the skill level.

Awesome,you know what's going on.Certainly more than me.

The plan is to make my own self bow eventually, then my own arrows. So I was trying to stay away from the modern stuff like flippers. Do you think I still should go with one?
I'm pretty surprised with the instinctive shooting. I first tried to shoot basically how I used to shoot my compound, not so good. Today I went out and just went with what felt right. I was hitting oak leaves at about 10 yards. I was pretty surprised. Deer size targets at 15 yards were no problem. I'm really looking forward to goose season.

quote:

Originally posted by Biebs:
Frank, have your arrows re-fletched in Turkey feathers...they "give" when coming in contact with the riser. Also, put a flipper rest on the bow "window" just above the shelf. That'll give much cleaner releases. For small game practice. I used to hold the bow with an arrow nocked, with tennis balls at my feet. You kick the tennis fall and try to shoot it as it scoots away. It's amazing how good you can get after awhile. Instinctive archery is great, as long as you have the time to develop the skill level.

Check on bowsite.com and the tradwall. You'll find lot's of folks who understand the issues.

quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:
Check on bowsite.com and the tradwall. You'll find lot's of folks who understand the issues.

Cool, thanks!

If you want to shoot instinctivly shoot off your shelf as the arrow is closer to your hand and "shoots where you point." If you use sights then the flipper is the way to go. Although the flipper will give you better arrow flight right off the bat the higher arrow position might work against you. Definately get rid of the vanes.

There's a lot of stuff to go through before it all comes together.

Go to Tragdang.com and hang out there for awhile and you'll learn lots.

Three rivers archery sells the best stuff for trad hunters. Look especially for the video they have called "masters of the bare bow" it's worth its weight in gold. Watch it but don't get bogged down in the theories of all the different shooters yet....have fun with it until you get better then get more "scientific"

While on Tradgang look for "stu's arrow calculator" it's a program that's been put together to help you choose the correct arrow for the bow. Super important to tune the bow and arrow in combination with each other. Once you've got perfect arrow flight you're on your way to accuracy. Think about it if a gun won't pattern any better than 18" at 100 yards then you shooting won't be better than that...same with this trad gear.


Also go to O.L. Adcocks site or to A&H archery and look at their stuff on bare shaft tuning. The idea is if you can get the arrow to fly well without feathers then it will work even better with them. When the arrows are properly tuned you'll be able to switch between field points and broadheads without a worry.

Important thingy-the arrow calculator and bareshaft tuning go together,hand in hand so look at them both carefully before you start buying arrows. Understand what's going on with that stuff a bit then go and buy arrows.

You also need to have a fletcher and be able to cut your own arrows. That way you can play around a bit with arrow length etc.


It's a long quest you've embarked on and it still gives me fits. Killing an animal with trad gear or even better something you've built yourself is pretty special.

With an elevated rest you can shoot those plastic vanes but I strongly recommend shooting off the shelf with feathers.Get some Judo heads!They're great for roving/practice and small game.If you plan to try shooting birds in flight you'll also want some "Flu-flu" fletched arrows.Good luck!