Types of Traditional Bows

Archery has been around for thousands of years and in that time people have come up with plenty of different types of bows.

The best types of bows stuck around and the rest disappeared.

But even with modern advancements in compound bows, some people still prefer a simple stick & string traditional bow.

In this article you’ll learn the most common types of traditional bows.

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Traditional Bows vs Compound Bows

For all of the different niche types of bows and all of the opinions of the thousands of archers around the world, bows can be broken down into 2 simple types: Traditional and compound.

Compound bows are the most advanced form of bows available.

They have space age materials, super high arrow speeds and create tons of force with the use of cables & cams(wheels on the end of the limbs).

Because they are so much more powerful than traditional bows, compound bows are what most archery hunters end up using.

Traditional bows mostly look more like the types of bows you’d think people used 1,000 years ago.

They are simpler and

But even traditional bows fall into different categories…

Recurve bows

Recurve bows are the most common type of traditional bow.

They get their name because of the shape of their bow limbs.

Recurve limbs start by curving towards the archer and then almost at the tip they “re-curve” back away from the archer.

This shape is the main thing that sets them apart from longbows.

The second curve is also what gives them more power than a longbow with the same draw weight.

Because of this extra speed and power, some people consider recurves less forgiving to shoot than longbows.

Related: Best Recurve Bows for Beginners

Traditional recurve vs modern recurve (Olympic)

As technology has advanced, recurve bows have evolved into 2 different categories: Traditional recurves and modern recurves.

Modern recurves are the types of bows you see in the Olympics and most other larger archery competitions, which is why they’re sometimes also called Olympics bows.

There’s no holding back with modern recurves, they have all of the bells and whistles.

You’ll usually see them with a sight, 2-3 foot long stabilizer, 2 smaller side stabilizers and a clicker.

But none of those are the main factor in what makes it a modern recurve.

The biggest factor is based on the materials used to make the bow itself.

If the bow is made without any wood in it, most people consider it a modern recurve.

Traditional recurves are a little less straightforward.

Some people will consider any recurve with wood in it a traditional recurve…

Other people can zero in on the other materials used other than the wood and determine it based on that.

Overall though, most people agree that traditional recurves don’t use sights or stabilizers.

Longbows

Longbows are pretty much what they sound like, really long bows.

Historically they were made with wood, some even with a single piece of wood which made them both a longbow & a self bow.

The length of the longbow helped to give it extra power for shooting further.

Longbows were the main type of bow used by medieval archers.

In modern times, longbows have been making a comeback in the archery community, but with so many different materials that can be used today the line is starting to get blurred on what actually is a longbow.

At its simplest and long bow is any wooden bow that doesn’t have recurved tips.

Or more simply, if it looks like the shape of a capital D when it is at rest, odds are it’s a longbow.

Self Bows

Self bows are a bit of a hot topic in the archery world.

A self bow is any bow that is made from one single piece of material (not including the string).

So when the bow was first invented, it was a self bow.

And originally, all longbows were self bows.

But this isn’t very common any more.

With a high enough draw weight, self bows can have the power to shoot as fast as most other types of traditional bows.

The downside is that they’re usually less efficient, so to shoot the same speed as, let's say a recurve, a self bow needs a higher draw weight.

Horse Bows

Horse bows are one of the lesser known styles of traditional bows.

They were originally designed hundreds of years ago to be used by archers who were riding on horseback.

Because they’re designed for shooting from horseback, they are noticeably shorter to help make them easier to maneuver.

Horse bows often have some form of curve to them and can be similar to the recurve bow.

To keep it simple, the easiest way to tell the difference is the length of the bow.

Recurve bows are much longer than horse bows and when strung have a limbs with a slighter curve than a horse bow.

One thing to keep in mind is that because horse bows are one of the oldest forms of bows, they were developed in multiple different countries…

So horse bows can look wildly different from each other based on they style of horse bow.