Obviously, all bowhunters should extensively rehearse the type of shot that might occur in the field. But McDaniel proclaimed that this is particularly true for those who bowhunt with a recurve.

BIG BUCKS ARE POSSIBLE
Can a recurve toter expect to kill a big buck? Mike McDaniel certainly believes so.

"Several years ago, I watched a fine, wide-beamed 8-pointer fight another buck in a creek bottom, and the next week I came back to the same spot," he recalled. "It was mid-October and really warm that morning -- as it often is in the South -- and a 15- to 20-minute shower had just finished. Not long after the rain stopped, the buck came out of the creek bottom along a trail that led to a clearcut. I had an easy 18-yard shot and the deer only went about 60 yards."

This anecdote illustrates several important points relevant to recurve users.

First, recurve users must set up close to trails, as McDaniel did. Whereas archers afield with compounds can often take and make 30-yard shots, those bowhunters using recurves generally cannot.

Second, recurve users will often have to crowd deer feeding and bedding areas. There are no fiber optic sights on a traditional recurve that will enable an archer to shoot just after sunrise or late in the evening.

Third, McDaniel maintained that recurvers must mind the wind. Since they will be set up closer to feeding and bedding areas and paths, these archers are more likely to have deer scent them. Very strict scent control is a must. Also important is wearing fleece or very quiet clothes, he said.

Finally, the Virginian recommended that recurve archers always cut shooting lanes. Since an arrow propelled from a recurve travels at a slower speed, and therefore follows a more "arched" flight path, the arrow is much more likely to be deflected if it kisses any type of stick or limb.

SUMMING UP
The bow has existed for thousands of years and helped propel humans into modernity by giving them the ability to kill animals from a distance. Not much later, our ancestors learned that the bow could also be employed to kill their fellow human beings from a distance, as bows were used in wars as early as 5,000 B.C.

Sometime in the 10th century, the Turks began to use the precursor of the modern-day recurve. Their bows were a mixture of wood and animal horns and tendons and curved outward at the tips. During the Crusades of the Middle Ages (the time of Henry II, Richard the Lionhearted and Robin Hood), a nasty little weapon called the crossbow wreaked havoc. The longbow became the weapon of mass destruction in the 1300s and 1400s. Indeed, in 1415 at the Battle of Agincourt, 13,000 Brits armed with longbows decimated a French army of 50,000 strong. But the longbow's position as the ultimate weapon also came to an end, as firearms came to the fore in the 1500s.

And on the final day of archery season last year, Mike McDaniel was high in a tree stand overlooking a trail that led to a field. He could have been there with a compound; instead, the sportsman clutched his recurve. Twenty minutes before sunset, 13 antlerless deer emerged from a bedding area and began making their way to the opening. McDaniel drew back, released an arrow and it found its mark. And once again, the recurve proved its worth for a modern-day bowhunter.