- Joined
- Aug 26, 2005
- Messages
- 4,106
This is not a mid life crisis fixer upper though it will give solace to many of the disenchanted .
I am a traditional archer . This is a slightly different animal than a primitive archer which is more an equipment choice than a lifestyle . I shoot modern laminated longbows , mostly wooden arrows and believe in as simple a lifetyle as I can achieve within the parameters I have placed upon myself . I am the only man with a stick and string in a club of fairly high tech modern compound bows with enough lights, bells and whistles to satisfy any techies dream . I will get the occassional smile over my wolf head adorned quiver and my brightly feathered wooden shafts . For the most part I am accepted as either someone who likes to play a bit more or as someone who is working a little harder than they . I average the two opinions and am well pleased.
The point of my post is that I gently suggest to all newcomers that there is an alternative in equipment choices and there is a much more relaxed lifestyle to go along with it . I get maybe one or two converts a year . I get them a relatively inexpensive wooden bow and much cheaper wooden arrows . I point them in the direction of traditional tournaments and a lifstyle that embraces slowing down to enjoy life more . I think many midlife crisis situations are more a realisation that people can,t get where they want to go from where they are . The life of a traditional archer advocates a different approach to being in the woods , it instills or rather frees up our abilities to make simple items for ourselves and the simple pride in being a little more self reliant . If you are so bold as to get yourselves to a traditional archery rendesvous .(A meeting of the Clans might be an apt way of describing it) There are games and moving targets as well as maybe a thing called a blanket shoot where everyone puts a traditional item on a blanket . We then go shoot a fun course of interesting oddities in the woods . The proclaimed winner has first choice of what is on the blanket and so on . I won a little goblet made from apple wood turned by a friend of mine . You might win a new shooting glove or a new string for your bow .
Everyone has a great time . I could literally fill pages with the fun tht goes on . A potluck wild game supper with, if you are lucky, a Lac St Jean meat pie thrown in . This all instills within trad archers a love for life that is eqaled by few .
Certainly archery isn,t for everyone Traditional archery is for fewer still . If you feel a need for a change in your life you won,t be running away from something you will be moving towards where you might have wanted to be from the start . I just about guarantee there is an archery range fairly close to you . Check a little deeper and you,ll scare up some traditional shooters who will either be willing to share their equipment or will point you in the direction of a reputable bow maker . I think we even have one on site here . You will get modern compound shooters who will try to disuade you and there is nothing wrong with that . It won,t take much more than a little effort to scare up a wood bow , a few friendly hints and go for it . If you turn back to compound bows ,so be it . Thats fun too . You won,t see many compound shooter rendesvous though .
P:S: While a Kukuri might not match the rest of my eqipment choices exactly there will be a B:A:S: riding on my hip at my next rendesvous. There is a certain healer who goes there who always has anything from a basic machete to a damascus steel skinner close to hand . I hope to persuade him to the advantages of our way of looking at things .
I am a traditional archer . This is a slightly different animal than a primitive archer which is more an equipment choice than a lifestyle . I shoot modern laminated longbows , mostly wooden arrows and believe in as simple a lifetyle as I can achieve within the parameters I have placed upon myself . I am the only man with a stick and string in a club of fairly high tech modern compound bows with enough lights, bells and whistles to satisfy any techies dream . I will get the occassional smile over my wolf head adorned quiver and my brightly feathered wooden shafts . For the most part I am accepted as either someone who likes to play a bit more or as someone who is working a little harder than they . I average the two opinions and am well pleased.
The point of my post is that I gently suggest to all newcomers that there is an alternative in equipment choices and there is a much more relaxed lifestyle to go along with it . I get maybe one or two converts a year . I get them a relatively inexpensive wooden bow and much cheaper wooden arrows . I point them in the direction of traditional tournaments and a lifstyle that embraces slowing down to enjoy life more . I think many midlife crisis situations are more a realisation that people can,t get where they want to go from where they are . The life of a traditional archer advocates a different approach to being in the woods , it instills or rather frees up our abilities to make simple items for ourselves and the simple pride in being a little more self reliant . If you are so bold as to get yourselves to a traditional archery rendesvous .(A meeting of the Clans might be an apt way of describing it) There are games and moving targets as well as maybe a thing called a blanket shoot where everyone puts a traditional item on a blanket . We then go shoot a fun course of interesting oddities in the woods . The proclaimed winner has first choice of what is on the blanket and so on . I won a little goblet made from apple wood turned by a friend of mine . You might win a new shooting glove or a new string for your bow .
Everyone has a great time . I could literally fill pages with the fun tht goes on . A potluck wild game supper with, if you are lucky, a Lac St Jean meat pie thrown in . This all instills within trad archers a love for life that is eqaled by few .
Certainly archery isn,t for everyone Traditional archery is for fewer still . If you feel a need for a change in your life you won,t be running away from something you will be moving towards where you might have wanted to be from the start . I just about guarantee there is an archery range fairly close to you . Check a little deeper and you,ll scare up some traditional shooters who will either be willing to share their equipment or will point you in the direction of a reputable bow maker . I think we even have one on site here . You will get modern compound shooters who will try to disuade you and there is nothing wrong with that . It won,t take much more than a little effort to scare up a wood bow , a few friendly hints and go for it . If you turn back to compound bows ,so be it . Thats fun too . You won,t see many compound shooter rendesvous though .
P:S: While a Kukuri might not match the rest of my eqipment choices exactly there will be a B:A:S: riding on my hip at my next rendesvous. There is a certain healer who goes there who always has anything from a basic machete to a damascus steel skinner close to hand . I hope to persuade him to the advantages of our way of looking at things .
