Hi Feathermax... My question to you is going to be here in two parts. First, I want to compare the compound to the recurve, which is what I shoot, or longbow and the rationale for considering the compound a traditional bow.
1) This whole issue started when Bill Wadsworth and others who at the time developing a bow hunter education program through the NFAA, took the NFAA (target archery) definition of bow (hand held) and extended it to the hunting seasons. I have no idea why they excluded an already traditional piece of bow equipment from the season, but they were soon to be faced with the compound.
When the compound bow was introduced, it too created a huge outcry from traditional archers, but the definition that it was a hand held piece and I don't know what else, led to their inclusion in archery seasons. From the original letoff's of 50 to 60%, we now have bows being shipped standard with 80% letoff... 10 pounds for a 50 pound bow, 12 pounds for a 60.
When you compute the mechanical advantage of the compound over the recurve or longbow, one has a difficult time rationalizing the compound as "traditional". Add wrist bound trigger releases and you have essentially a crossbow... and no the 20 % holding weight for hunting does not pass for being "hand held". A recurve is hand held, and every pound gets heavier every second I hold it.
Drawing. You mentioned that you had to draw at the moment of the shot. This does not seem to be the case on almost anything I've seen on the outdoor channels. In so many cases I've witnessed on TV archery programs, the bow is drawn as they see the animal come into view and is held motionlessly till the animal presents itself, sometimes for several minutes. And, crossbow aside, if drawing was the issue, there would be no game harvested. We seem to figure out a way to get it done with longbows, and them compound guys seem to figure out a way to get it done themselves.
If its the ability to draw and maintain the hold that keeps the crossbow out of "HUNTING", how does one justify the compound compared to the recurve or longbow? Is it accurate to call a compound a traditional bow?
Part 2 will come next.
Aloha...
