Maybe. Most of the habitat that supports that style of hunting is further west. I definitely wouldn't pass up on the opportunity if one came up, but it's pretty rare where I'm usually hunting. I really love the scouting and ambush aspect. But mule deer would be something I'd love to try spot and stalking for sure some day. It is really impressive what those guys are able to do.

That amount of front weight allows the bow to balance neutrally at the shot. Without it, this bow tips back at the shot. So in order to gain benefit from rear weight, I'd need to add much more leverage off of the front end. Certainly long front and rear rods like they have for olympic recurve is going to be the most stable, but it also adds more to a hunting rig style that prioritizes minimalism. The way I have it set up is sort of a middle ground that's most similar to competitive barebow class. Easy to carry around in the woods but still somewhat heavy and stable when compared to wood bows.

So I know you can definitely buy traction belts from industrial suppliers like McMaster Carr or similar that specify dimensions on the belt. What I'm not as familiar with is the design of their original belts and any reinforcements to know if they're 1:1 or not

That sounds like a solid setup

Thanks Dave!

It's fairly easy if you have a process in place. I found trying to go back and forth between compound and instinctive traditional is tough, but following a repeatable shot process like NTS or similar where you can draw to load, lock in your alignment (like hitting draw stops) then mentally switch to aiming and expanding through the release is very similar to compound.

Maybe. There's a paint job on it too. I have read on Uuhka's site that they don't recommend adding anything to the limbs directly, but not sure of the reasoning. I will say the catwhiskers on the string did make a huge difference on the reaidual string twang.

@@DIYSportsman I gotcha. Another idea is to wrap the bow string with yarn where it makes contact with your bow. I did that along with the Velcro and it's almost silent lol. Might've made it a tiny bit slower, but well worth it imo

@@OrionARS The guy who lent me the limbs also mentioned that he'd added thin rubber pads to the limb pockets to make the connection system more like a DAS and saw benefits from it as well

@@DIYSportsman nice, I waxed my limb pockets with string wax, along with the threads of the limb bolts. It definitely helps I just have a cheap samick sage recurve, but it gets the job done lol

I am shooting an elevated rest which helps. With a good tune, the back end of the arrow flexes out away from the rest and doesn't really make contact with the rest wire or the shelf. Now, the vanes I'm using are very thin, called Trad Vanes from AAE. They are designed to have a ton of flex and be a little more forgiving, even shooting directly off of a shelf.

@@DIYSportsman Thank you so much for the reply! So, in your opinion, if I do not use a rest and shoot of a hair shelf, should I use feathers? If I have a rest but should feathers, is that a detriment? And finally, would using a compound "twin pronged" rest be an ok idea on a recurve (basically the kinds of rests that do not totally enclose the arrow, like a whisker biscuit rest)? Presently I a bow set w wire rest and with hair shelf and I should feathers of both. Thanks again!

@hexadecimal delirium You can use feathers with anything. Their only downsides are that they don't perform well when soaking wet and aren't as durable. When hunting they can make noise brushing against things too. But they are the most forgiving if there is any contact. In target archery many shooters might choose big feathers for indoor shooting and small vanes for outdoor shooting, and they are almost always using an elevated rest and plunger. For hunting, if you were going to try vanes with the hair rest, I'd try the trad vanes and compare against feathers. The vanes will be a little quieter, more durable, and better in rain. But the feathers will likely be easier to shoot well right off the bat, and you can adjust their length or height to get something that performs best overall for steering broadheads and not fishtailing too bad in crosswinds.

@hexadecimal delirium For drop away rests, there are actually recurve specific drop aways like the Zniper or Free flyte. They have some followers in target archery but can be more finicky to set up. I probably wouldn't use one for hunting. One thing to remember with finger release is that your arrow is flexing significantly side to side, which could cause issues with compound style rests.

@@DIYSportsman I guess the rest i was thinking of called "spot hogg infinity?" or its much MUCH cheaper clones on amazon. They look like a fork that is spring loaded that allows the arrow to push on it. But there is no "release" like drop away rest. it is all self contained. Either way, definitely thank you for all the info! I'll keep the vein suggestion in mind. I actually have some uncut bloodsport arrows i bought to de-vein, cut and turn into hunting arrows (because they fit the spine and price i was looking for), but maybe I'll keep few veins on and experiment! Thanks again man!

A little of everything. Mostly central because it's close to home, but I've hunted a fair bit past Duluth and and in the SE, especially for turkeys.

The bottom of my top nock set is right at 9/16"

@@DIYSportsman I’ll have to try a bit of negative tiller. I never can get a good bareshaft with a fixed crawl

Actually now that you mention it there were a number of vanes where I had to manually stick the rear 1/2" or on after removal from the jig. Maybe lining that portion of the jig with foil would help. After doing a bunch of broadhead shooting I'm testing out moving to 4x 3" feathers at 5/8" tall just for the extra forgiveness of a bad release.

I opened up the string and slid some cat whiskers in between the strands. Then I restrung the bow and locked them in place with serving material

Yea they both have the heavy mass at the limb pocket design. I believe I read that the backwoods has more deflex than the wf-19 but don't quote me on that.

Just the one. I hunted with it a little more but couldn't quite get past the lack of confidence that I'd make a perfect shot every time, like where my confidence is at with compound. I would occasionally take practice shots on a hunt that felt good but would miss by say 8 or 9 inches and I didn't know why. And we don't get a ton of tags so I found myself torn between wanting to shoot any deer with traditional vs going after an older deer with compound. So I knew that when I picked it back up again, I'd do it only after I rebuilt my shot, had a strong mental game and forgiving setup, and would pre-decide which hunts and tags I'd use it for versus which ones I'd use the compound.

That’s awesome I hope you smoke a giant!

I've noticed that to especially be the case on shorter bows with small sight window cutouts 👍

I already committed to filling my in state tag with a single string bow so I'm going to stick to that but will still use my compound for my out of state hunts. I don't have enough confidence with traditional to take it on a four day hunt or pull off the small handful of opportunities a year on older deer I've been following.