TRAD TECH - A Personal Discovery

There are a growing number of archers interested in the tradtech possibilities - traditional archery in the generally accepted term but using FITA-style equipment. While metal recurve risers are certainly nothing new, to a great extent the current tradtech movement has been pioneered by two notable American archers, Bob Gordon and David Soza.

Bob Gordon's WARF (Frankenbows) bows are based on short compound risers modified to accept ILF limbs to give a short hunting/3D bow with the performance of Olympic limbs. David Soza refined this concept even further with the DAS bows - highly adjustable, highly engineered, precision recurves also utilising the performance plus adjustability of  ILF limbs. The fact that DAS bows are now available through 3 Rivers Archery (the bastion of trad hunting in the USA) speaks volumes as to how the tradworld is coming to accept the performance benefits of these unique bows.

Through the open-minded discussions and debates on the Trad Talk forum I have added a Hoyt Gamemaster 2 to my bow collection together with arrow rest, plunger button, stabiliser and carbon arrows. As stated in the homepage traddies like to keep it simple. Simplicity however doesn't come that easily and many, many hours are spent tuning arrows to shoot off the shelf through adjustments to side plate thicknesses, arrow spine, point weights etc.

Guess what? Tuning a carbon arrow to a centre-cut recurve bow with an arrow rest and plunger button is so much easier. The Hoyt TEC handle is very stable, virtually free of vibration and devoid of any handshock. The standard Hoyt Limbs are smooth and fast however you could upgrade to Border, Hoyt or Win&Win ILF limbs at a later date should you so wish (conversion kits are available to do this).

Is it trad? Hell yes. The bows might be easier to tune and more stable in the hand but the principals of not using sights are the same and the bow weight must be held on the fingers. These bows allow you to refine your shooting to a degree but they cannot make you a better archer. The tools may be slightly different but the challenge remains the same.