Hi-tech cheating

[Rougie]

I only recently got into archery, but I purposely started with a traditional bow. The thing I couldn't understand, was how people could learn the same instinctual skills with a hi-tech recurve or worse still, a compound bow. To me, it just seems like cheating...

So the question I ask is (And this has probably been asked many times, but): Are people shunning traditional bows because they know they won't have to be as skilled to get the same result?

I just can't get over hi-tech bows seeming like cheating

[Tom]

Originally Posted by Rougie

just can't get over hi-tech bows seeming like cheating

You'll get over it. Each discipline is as hard as the other - they just use different yardsticks.

[Tobytoolbag]

Cheating's a bit of a harsh way of putting it, but I know how you feel. I remember when I first started archery, back in the early '80s, and compounds (which weren't at the time recognised by GNAS of FITA) were regarded in much the same way as I'm sure the traditionalists viewed recurves when they first came on the scene.

If I remember rightly, we had a debate about this a while back, and the conclusion we came to was that the more 'bits' you add to the bow, the higher 'the bar' is set for handicaps, classifications, and suchlike, in order to compensate for the gadgets. Different bows, different skills, different expectations, and generally no more or less difficult to shoot to a 'high standard' than each other.

However, I know what you mean about stripping it back to bare basics - just you, the bow, your arrow, the target, and your finely-honed skill and judgement. It's why many on here dabble in the traditional stuff as well as the other forms of the sport...

[Rougie]

Has anyone won a major competition with a traditional recurve bow when up against hi-tech recurve bows?

[Jerry Tee]

You Are entitled to your opinion and you have chosen a difficult path but there are a few things you should be aware of.

1. There are archers that due to age or other circumstances physically cannot shoot a longbow or a recurve.

2. With the greater use of technology comes an increase in required accuracy, It's like comparing Dirt bikes and F1 cars, they not meant to race each other even though they both have wheels and are powered by petrol.

3.Most of us 'cheaters' are still good archers when you take the toys away. I am a compound archer but I can still borrow a basic wooden riser club bow and jazz arrows with no sights and shoot a 500 portsmouth bearbow. So think before you a word like cheating, it could annoy some people.

[Jerry Tee]

Originally Posted by Rougie

Has anyone won a major competition with a traditional recurve bow when up against hi-tech recurve bows?

No because they would not be shooting in the same class.

[Rougie]

Originally Posted by Jerry Tee

3.Most of us 'cheaters' are still good archers when you take the toys away. I am a compound archer but I can still borrow a basic wooden riser club bow and jazz arrows with no sights and shoot a 500 portsmouth bearbow. So think before you a word like cheating, it could annoy some people.

Surely it is more gratifying to hit something on target with a traditional bow, than hitting it on target with a hi-tech bow? - I just can't understand why someone would want the extra accuracy, if it is not their own skills which are creating said accuracy.

[Dave]

This is a wind up, please someone tell me that this is a wind up!

[Tom]

Rougie. What kind of bow do you shoot?

[gino]

ouch, this thread is going to start some arguments

There is a really big difference between the disciplines of archery and to compare them is a big mistake. JT's reference to the dirtbike and the F1 car is a good example. Both can get around the track, the dirt bike would strive to improve his laptime by seconds, the F1 would aim for improvements of tenths of a second.
As a traditional archer I swear by the longbow but I can understand why people shoot recurve and compound but its a different kettle of fish. When I shoot my longbow I'm trying to do the best I can and getting as many hits and improve my ability. I've meddled with a compound and as a kid I used to do target riflery and with the rifle it was all about self discipline and training myself to be able to take everything into account and even put my breathing into the context of the shot to get as accurate as physically possible. I'm not sure if I can compare compound to riflery and I'm not saying I just point my longbow in the right direction and let go, there is skill involved, but you just cant compare the two and say one is cheating.