I been shooting trad for 4/5 years, I have learned a lot but there's still a lot to learn. I have a Samick bow good quality for a great price. However They are not a bear t/d which is what I shoot now , of course the bear cost 4x as much. Hears my recommendation.
1. older bear ( not the take downs ) bows can be picked up at fair price and will hold their value but the samick is a good option as well.
2. Start out with a low draw weight , I goofed up here when I started. I just helped my brother buy and set up my a 25lb sage . It's a blast to shoot and slings a arrow pretty dang hard . If I had it to do over I'd start out with a 25/30lb bow at my draw length. Fyi your draw length effects the poundage , most bows are measured at a 28 inch draw .
3. Don't worry about accuracy at first it comes later, focus on correct form and a clean release at 10 yards or less
4. Expect a longer learning curve than compared to a compound.
5. Join as a many trad archery forums as you can . There's a lot of good info and some good guys shoot trad. But take every thing as a suggestion , trad archery is a personal experience. What works for one will it for another .
6. Be prepaid to experiment With your set up a lot to find would works for you. Example 3 under or split finger , anchor points , stance , glove vs tab etc and On the bow you can adjust brace height , nocking point, shelf material , string material etc etc but don't stress this to much in the beginning.
7. Don't give up after a few weeks. I am so glad I stuck it out . There's nothing like shooting a longbow or recurve bow . I have nothing against compounds I shot them for years. But I highly doubt I'll ever hang another on my wall.
I made so many mistakes at first but I learned a lot and the more I learn about trad archery the more I want to learn . I recently started building my own strings , tabs , arrows and it's just as fun as shooting or at least for me it is.
There's several archery pages on Facebook and I few trad only classifieds as well Good luck
