Trad guys

Hang tight here and I’m sure our buddy scrub-buster will along with a ton of advice!

Are you wanting to stay with a recurve or have you looked into a longbow or hybrid style? For me, the grip can make or brake a bow. If it's not comfortable to hold, I'll never be able to shoot it good. I had a custom bow built last year from a bowyer in Oregon. The bow looks amazing but the grip is terrible. I've only shot it a few times. I'm trying to find someone to re-shape it for me. From now on, I'm only ordering bows that I have got to test out. A lot of bow builders set up at archery shoots. It's a great opportunity to test drive a few different ones and see what fits you best. It's kind of late in the year for big shoots. There's a big one in Cloverdale, IN every year. That's where I tested the bow that I will be getting next week. Striker is a good solid bow. I had an older model from them. It shot nice.

Here are some of the bow builders that I am familiar with:

J.T. Traditional Archery: He's the guy making mine. He makes great performing bows.

Java Man Archery: He's on my build wish list. I've shot his bows and they are super smooth.

Big Jim's Bow Company: He is at most of the big events. He sells about anything and everything trad archery related. He has used bows but also makes some top notch customs. Last I heard he had about a 1 year wait time on his build list.

Toelke Traditional Archery: Very smooth and good performing bows.

Yellowstone Custom Bows: He made the bow I've been hunting with since 2019. Very well built bows that shoot fast. I've owned 2 of them. I got a clean pass through on a 3.5 year old buck at 20 yards with his longbow. He makes a 3 piece bow that will be next on my build list.

Stalker Stickbows: I have several friends who have these bows and love them. I've shot a few. They are nice.

Holm-made Bows: The bowyer passed away last year at a young age. You can find used bows for sale. I met him at a shoot and he made some nice bows.

RyanO Bows: The bowyer is a friend of mine. He has just started making custom bows. I will probably have him build me one next year.


There are a lot of custom bow builders out there. There are facebook groups where I'm sure you could get more suggestions. There is a forum called Leatherwall that is all trad archery. They have a classifieds section with a lot of used bows. Be careful if you buy a used bow from there or anywhere else online. For some reason scammers have hit the trad bow world pretty hard lately. Good luck with whatever you go with. Keep us updated on what you get.

As far as shooting, I've been doing it since 2009 and I'm still trying to figure it out. That's part of the fun of it. Like anything, the more you practice the better you will get. I'm shooting several times a day getting ready for my elk hunt.

If you have any questions or if I can be of any more help, let me know.

I'm not sure what part of the state you live in, but there are several bow makers in Michigan. If you are that close to Striker, it would be worth a drive to test out different bows and grip shapes. Shoot a hybrid style and see what you think about that. Stryker makes an excellent bow. Check out 3 Rivers Archery in Ashley, Indiana if you are close. They are about the biggest trad archery supply company in the US. They will let you test out different bows.

Good looking bows there canders. Really like that bacote wood. One you forgot to mention is the black widow. But yeah been thinking about a trip to 3 rivers.

Ended up going with a hoyt satori. Far from custom but very versatile being ilf and a smooth shooter.

Carbon victory v force 500 spine. 125 field points. Realize for hunting probably going to want to put some more weight up front