Fast Flight® is a popular bowstring material that's high performing and less prone to stretching.

You need to choose your bow based on it’s performance and shoot-ability, and not its draw-weight or because your buddy says, “This is what you need to shoot.” When getting started, you need to start with a lighter draw weight until you perfect your form. One thing you do not want to do is over-bow yourself, reaching a point where you’re fighting the bow and developing bad habits. One of the most important things to consider when choosing a traditional bow is to choose one that is designed to shoot a Fast Flight® string. Except for your arrow weight and draw length, this is the single most important thing you can do to improve the bow’s shooting performance.

Arrows

Traditional fletching varies in color, style, and material, but have one thing in common: they are larger and longer than their modern counterparts for quickly stabilizing the arrow's flight.

Without a doubt, wood arrows are the undisputed king in terms of traditional archery, yet carbon tops the list in penetration and durability. Good ol’ aluminum falls in between the two. You need to use the heaviest arrow that still allows for decent speed and flight. A heavier arrow will have more impact, power, and momentum throughout it’s flight, will penetrate better, and shoot more quietly than a lighter arrow. The only disadvantage you might have (if you want to call it that) is its slower speed, but remember: traditional archery is not about speed; that’s rarely important to the traditional archer. What’s more important is to pick a spot and shoot through that spot undetected. Another thing is to use large feathers (at least 4″) to help stabilize the arrow quicker when shooting broadheads.

Shooting Styles

One thing that can and will vary greatly amongst everyone is shooting form. You need to maintain constant muscle tension throughout your draw, aim, and release cycle so that you never let the arrow and string creep forward. This will promote a crisp, breakaway release. Loosing muscle tension when drawing can cause what they call “string plucking” or a false release. If you do have this problem, you can use the back of your arrow point or take an o-ring, like the ones that come on an expandable broadheads, and install it on your shaft to use it as a draw stop. You simply draw until the o-ring or the back of the arrow hits against your finger, and then  release instantly with a smooth, pull-through action. Doing this should help any release problems you have disappear. Another thing you need to pay close attention to is consistent  bow hand placement. Recurves are more sensitive to consistent hand placement than longbows due to their wider and more flexible limbs.