"Especially as an Asian, you have to maintain very high standards" lol

I am in the same camp. While the compound bow is a precision machine it's also a rather difficult to service one. I went for a single piece recurve for the simplicity of maintenance. String it, check brace height, wax the string, check for mechanical issues. That's it. No timing adjustment, no sight adjustment. Just me, the bow, arrow and the target. If I miss (or shoot crap like I usually do) it's all on me.

I am an engineer by profession and the simplicity of traditonal or barebow recurve appeals to me as I do enough tingkering on my job and I just want to shoot some targets.

Being traditionally minded, I find compound bows to not be particularly aesthetically appealing, they indeed look like some kind of complex machinery. No offence to compound users, you do your thing.

I shoot a Hungarian, a recurve and a compound but my favorite is compound. Your explanation is very much spot on and understandable. This is what makes archery such a fine sport. Thank you.

I think a compound bow is about two steps away from a crossbow, which might as well be a gun. Recurve bows, on the other hand, are more simple. I find it incredibly pleasing to know that I could take what amounts to a stick and some hair, and fling a sharper stick 50 yards away into a target, perfectly. I wouldn't feel the same about a gun, or a crossbow, or a compound. I would say it roughly goes...
knife throwing -> axe throwing -> slinging -> barebow -> recurve -> recurve with sight -> compound bow -> crossbow -> gun -> explosive
...in order of "most satisfaction with hitting the target."

Had the bow set up at a pro shop. It performed just fine https://www.youtube.com/post/UgkxQEKUoxLWwayEDZR0NKB-5limn4MBU-2L . And I would say this is a good starting now that I could pass down to my son when he is older.But the package was missing the release and a nock was missing from one arrow.Dealing with customer support was terrible. They suggested I buy a new release rather than correct their own quality control issue because it’s to expensive for the. to ship it out from China.Update: manufacturer got back to me and resolved the issue. I retract the above statement.

Hi  I am a newbie to archery at the age 75. What you're saying is just the way I am thinking.  We are fortunate to have enough ground around the house  to do archery I'm so glad I found your videos.  Thanks for putting them up.🇬🇧👍🙋‍♀️

I like re-curve. I enjoy the ritual of the stringing so that I can feel the bow through my whole body. I like the feel of the power building in the draw. I like the awareness that my whole body is engaged with the aim. I like how I must project to the target and make it part of me.
For me, archery is a method of joining with the world. Most machines don't help with that.

That's why I'm still stuck on my English Longbow :)

I learned on a (simple) olympic recurve, but with a sight it wasn't challenging me enough. I'll never get a very high score, but seeing people's frustration sometimes, I'm just happy missing the target half the time and having fun!

I agree with what you say about the different disciplines. Each to their own. I started at 17 in 1986 with target recurve then compound. For 17 years I was a coach and it was a 4 day/week thing. I was pretty good so I naturally progressed to compound for the new challenge and new things to play with. Soon after, the inner 10 zone was introduced and there was even more pressure on. At the end, I frankly got tired with being so robotic. I got stressed on the shooting line and the mental game took over. I yearned for a longbow as a new challenge, but I never got one and I gave it all up.

15 years later, last October, my daughter persuaded me to take it up again. She had no interest in target so I found a field archery club nearby. I was really nervous. I honestly thought I would never be able to hit a target without the use of sights or the other contraptions I was used to. Of course I missed. Just imagine how career-limiting that is in target shooting... But then I hit some, I missed some and I hit some more. Missing is normal and I found the attitude in traditional shooting is totally different. It's still about hitting the target, but less about perfection and robotics. Every single shot is taken from a different place, targets are all unknown distances; your stance changes to suit the terrain and obstacles. I don't worry about my form so much now; It's more about gauging distance and being intuitive.

Above all, we have a laugh going around the course, even in winter, and it's physical exercise too. I can't describe the pleasure of hitting a target some 50 yards away with no assistance, or just missing it, or bouncing an arrow off a tree and it not being broken :) I am hooked again and I have a lot of fun. It's no longer about perfection, but the joy of shooting.

I could say the same thing you've just said in reverse, I never found traditional or re-curve bows to be appealing, I loved the complexity and shape of the compound, it does look intimidating at first but once you get used it you'll like it even more. BUT, I really don't know much about re-curve, maybe once I try one I will change my mind, for now, I'm dead serious about compound and every complex thing that comes with it!

I started out using a compound.  Then one day I saw a women at an indoor range and she was destroying a bulls eye at ten yards with a plain one piece bow, so I talked to her and the next time I went to that indoor range I rented a recurve and fell in love the first time I hit the bulls eye which was probably fifty shots in.  I found that even though it was harder it was much more satisfying and challenging.  The compound was more like shooting a rifle but the free style was more like learning to throw a ball.  I sold my compound, bought a recurve and twenty years later I haven't looked back.

Yeah, I'm in the "stick and string" old school archery camp, but I'm not the kind of gatekeeper purist that says that anything else isn't "real" archery. Framing it in a context of real or not real seems like a pointless debate. Although making a distinction between historical and modern archery isn't without merit. If folks want to shoot compound, great for them. I just don't want anything to do with it.

It's kind of like electric and acoustic guitar. They're both real instruments and just because one has been around for much longer, saying that the newer type isn't a "real" guitar would just be silly.

Why do I do my style of archery?    When you asked this at the end of the video I thought that it would be easy to comment on it but I was at a loss of words.  As I looked deep within for the answer I  heard my inner self respond that I do my style of archery because it is my style of archery.  And so it is.

Nothing like nailing a target with a recurve, you feel ownership of that shot....

I prefer longbows.

Archery is like martial arts. "same thing" but many  different styles.  Everybody can find the right one.

Honestly? Watching this video, I felt like you were giving all my reasons and motivations for my style of shooting and choice of bow. I'm a traditional archer at heart, but the perfectionist in me is drawn to target recurve. Over 20 years I've shot both barebow and target, and will probably end up shooting barebow exclusively one day. Compound would bring out the absolutely worst in my perfectionist streak, and simply does not appeal.

One of my favourite episodes of yours. I really like your philosophy.