Best Longbow 2024 For Traditional Archery and Hunting

We made a comprehensive guide that will help you choose the best longbow at your level of experience and your goals in traditional archery and hunting.

Do you feel that the time has finally come for you to hang up your ultra-accessorized, modern compound bow to embrace the sport of archery in its purest form?

If the answer is yes, then you're not alone: more and more archers are now switching to traditional longbows for recreational purposes, target shooting, and even bow hunting.

Two of the most commonly reasons cited by the archers that have made this "shift" are the simplicity of equipment and the sense of authenticity and "history" that it carries. Shooting a traditional bow will offer you a unique, challenging, and somehow "mystical" archery experience.

11. SinoArt Takedown Longbow

Among the list of best longbow picks of 2024 is the budget longbow of SinoArt. This longbow comes with a starting package including a fur rest pad, a stinger tool tab, and string nocks. With the SinoArt Longbow, you will receive more than what you expect from it. Yes, it might have some undetailed finishing, like a drop of glue run over the bow, but is a very nice and inexpensive bow. It shoots well, it is very accurate and you will experience almost no hand shock.

For this reason, the SinoArt Takedown Longbow is included in the best longbow picks. It will do the job with target practice and smaller hunting animals. The draw weight varies from 30 all the way up to 60 LBS. The string length is 57 inches and the bow length is 59 inches with an AMO of 60 inches. The Longbow weight is 2.2LB and is available made of wood, fiberglass, or bamboo. It suits the right-handed hunter as well as the left-handed hunter.

If you want to try out hunting, target practice, or even gift a hunting present? The SinoArt Takedown longbow is your go-to product! With its low cost, it includes lots of quality products. What is included in the package you might ask? Well, it comes with 1x Wood Riser, 2x Limbs, 1x 16 Strands String, 1x Stringer, 1x Fur Rest Pad, 2x String Nocks, 1x Pair of Otter String Silencer. Why keep on searching for a different budget longbow?

12. SAS Recon Folding Survival Bow

As we’ve explained before, the SAS brand is a world-renowned longbow, crossbow, and compound bow manufacturer. The Recon Folding Survival Bow is no different from all other bows manufactured by the Southland Archery Supply. The SAS Recon Folding Survival Bow is the big brother of the SAS Tactical Survival Bow and comes in a very limited quantity. It is the fastest deploying compound bow, which is perfect for hunting. It stores takedown arrows inside the riser.

The bow is 24.3 inches long when it's folded and 63 inches when strung. The SAS Recon has a draw weight from 45 - 55 pounds and a maximum draw length of 31 inches. For the 50 pound version, the arrow's speed increases up to 200 feet per second and for the 55 pounds, it is up to 210 feet per second. The weight of the bow is 2.4 pounds. It is made from T6 aerospace-grade aluminum and suits the left and right-handed archers.

If you are looking for the fastest, most agile deploying compact bow, the SAS Recon Folding Survival Bow has to be your best pick! There is literally no reason why you shouldn’t purchase this bow if you want to be quick and light-weighted when hunting. It is made of a top-tier quality material and stores arrows in the rinser, even when it's folded! Get it here, get it now!

13. Longbowmaker Flagella Recurve Horsebow

The Longbow from Flagella Recurve Horsebow is made in the style of a Hungarian longbow. Therefore, the longbow has the aesthetics of the hunters from the hunting era back in the day. It has an East-European look and feels and is made from Wood, Cow leather, Glass Steel, and Beech.

But why is a Hungarian-styled longbow included in the best longbow picks of 2024 you might ask? Well, just for that reason! It is quite different from modern longbows, which are plenty of it nowadays. The Flagella Recurve Horsebow gives you just that feeling of the real hunters from back in the day but also gets the job done that modern longbows do.

With this bow, you stand out from the others and have to be handled in a way that gives you that cool feeling that the real men had years ago.

With the handcrafted care and the sturdy build, the Flagella Recurve Horsebow is precise and accurate once you’ve mastered it. The traditional can appeal to anyone who wants to experience the real archery of the archers from back in the day.

It has a draw weight from 30 up to 110 LBS, a body length of 54 inches, and a draw length from 28 to 33 inches. It has an ergonomics riser design and comes in the color black.

If you want to experience the real historical archer feeling, the Hungarian-Style Longbowmaker from Flagella is the go-to Recurve Horsebow. It gives you that feeling that the real men experience back in the day when hunting was their only source of survival!

14. Kainokai Traditional Handmade Longbow Horsebow

The Kainokai brand is known for its outdoor goods made with craftsmanship which maintains a characteristic of powerful, high speed, and a lasting lifetime. This is no different for their bows! The recurve longbow has a beautiful look and with some practice, it shoots perfectly.

Another benefit is the products that are delivered with the longbow. The package contains 1x handguard, 1x finger guard, 3x arrow target paper, 3x hunting arrow, 1x bowstring wax, and 1x bowstring.

This traditional handmade recurve longbows arm is made from transparent epoxy and wrapped leather. The handle is made of locust wood, polished and painted to reduce the wear and tear of the bowstring. In addition, the bow is waterproof for effective outdoor use. The traditional recurve bow is suitable for the right and lefthanded archer.

The power is strong, the shooting speed is fast! Because of the transparent epoxy wrapped in leather, the bow is light and durable, which makes it the perfect longbow for beginners. In addition, the bow is delivered with an entire kit included to practice your archery skills!

The bow is available in 25-55 pounds and has a draw weight range of 20-70 LBS. The 40 pounds bow can get a hunting arrow as far as 150 meters (might be even more!). We recommend a 30-40 pounds Kainokai traditional recurve longbow for men, and a 25 pounds for women. For newcomers, a 40 pounds suits well, to master the technique of archery fast.

15. IRQ Traditional Handmade Longbow

The IRQ traditional handmade longbow is an extremely impressive entry-level of traditional bow for speed shooting! You probably won’t find a better deal that is readily available. The hand shock is minimal and it fires great.

The bow is made of Acacia wood and high-strength epoxy resin fiberglass limbs. It is tough and wear-resistant. It has that cool black and gold leather limb surface, which gives it a nice look. The draw weight is 30-50 LBS, the longbow is 53,5 inches in length. The purchase package includes 1x horse bow with string, 1x bow arm guard, 1x archery glove, 1x bow tensioner, 1x pair of Tendon silencers with rabbit hair.

All these integrated designs allow high performance, flashy speed, great comfort, low hand shock, and more precise shooting. Overall, you will be more than satisfied when you purchase this budget bow!

16. Southland Archery Supply SAS Maverick

As explained earlier in the best longbow reviews of 2024, the SAS is a well-known brand in archery. It lives up to its expectations, and the Maverick One Piece Traditional Wood Hunting Bow is no different.

There where you only buy the bow and string for this price, it delivers its value. The looks and feel are really nice and well made, which might even be an understatement! For that reason, this longbow is included in the best longbows for 2024.

The longbow is made of wood and weighs 2.2 pounds. The riser is made of Makore Wood, Zebra, and Chulgam. Limbs are also made of Makore Wood with High Strenght Fiberglass. It has a Slender Shape and feels very comfortable.

The length is 60 inches and comes in a wooden and black color. It comes with different draw weights from 35 up to 55 pounds. The downside is that it is only available for the righthanded archers.

Overall, this SAS Maverick One Piece Traditional Wood Hunting Longbow lives up to the Southland Archery Supply name. It is lightweight, durable, and very accurate. It is available in different sizes and has a great appearance and performance.

About traditional archery

The challenge and - at the same time - the beauty of traditional archery is in the total lack of gadgets and aids that modern compound bows and crossbows offer. With a traditional bow, it's just you and your skills with bow and arrow. But does this mean that any piece of wood would make a good bow for practice, let alone for hunting, as long as you're a good archer?  

Do not be fooled by the simplicity of traditional archery equipment. Behind the making of a good traditional bow there's, more often than not, centuries of high quality woodworking craftsmanship. Hand-crafted, wooden recurves and longbows might not offer the speed and adjustability settings of the latest wheel-and-pulley weapons, but they offer a unique archery experience, for some even superior to that of modern equipment.

Traditional Hunting with a Longbow: Pros and Cons

Hunting using traditional bows can be a thrilling experience. Many archers that have switched from compound bows or crossbows have cited the sense of involvement and challenge that hunting with a longbow brings. Even more exciting is the reward of being able to drop a deer using the exact same equipment that our ancestors used. There are a few advantages and a few disadvantages of hunting with a traditional bow.

The English longbow

The English longbow is the most famous type of longbow. It has a narrow limb, deep core, and used to be roughly around 6ft/1.8m tall (but certain warbow-weight models could surpass 1.9m). It's usually made out of yew, even though materials such as ash or elm were also used traditionally. With English longbows, the arrow is shot off the hand, just like our ancestors. During medieval times these bows had higher draw weights, as they were used for hunting and warfare. In modern times, English longbow are of niche interest and are manufactured with a reduced poundage.

The "Hill style" American Longbow

The "Hill style" American longbow is an evolution of the classic flatbow, which is a bow with has relatively wider limbs, and a flat cross-section that usually has more taper towards the limb tips. Flatbows also have a small cut-away to shoot the arrow from the shelf, rather than off the hand as with the English longbow.

Flatbows, unlike longbows, can be made by a great variety of timbers, and thus they have been used widely in ancient times for hunting and warfare, notably by Native American tribes such as the Hupa, Karok, and Wampanoag, prehistoric ancient Europeans, some Inuit tribes, Finno-Ugric nations and a number of other pre-gunpowder societies.  

The American Longbow as developed in the 1930s and popularized by Howard Hill, an archer referred to as "The World's Greatest Archer", This bow is usually a bit wider, with straight, shorter limbs and a rectangular cross-section, which scientific investigations have identified as the most efficient cross-sectional shape for a bow limb. This design results in increased stability and power compared to recurves and traditional longbows. 

The Reflex/deflex longbow

The Reflex/deflex longbows, also known as hybrid longbows, are a modern style of flatbow with deflexed riser (curving towards the archer) and reflexed limbs (curving away from the archer). Those longbows which have been developed to maximize the bow's energy efficiency and reduce handshock to the mininum.

A reflex/deflex longbow will have performance similar to a recurve bow, while maintaining the low weight, aesthetic, and forgiveness of a longbow.

Different reflex/deflex longbows have different degrees of reflex, and some bows might have very little, while some others might have a strong reflex, resembling the shape of a recurve bow.

One-piece vs Take-down Longbows

Due to their more compact dimensions, many American longbows are of ‘one-piece’ design, meaning the limbs cannot be detached. However,  ‘take-down’ variations are also popular. Neither of those two types offers any real benefits in performance over the other. The only two advantages of take-down bows over one-piece ones are: 

1. that the take-down can be transported in a much shorter case when disassembled.

2. that the limbs on a take-down can be changed at the archer's discretion.

Whether you’re new to traditional archery or you're a seasoned longbow/recurve shooter but still need a refresh, the meaning of some of the technicalities and specs might be more or less obscure.

AMO length

AMO stands for the Archery Manufacturers Organization. The AMO created a set of standards including for defining bow length. 

Typically, when manufacturers indicate a bow's length in inches they almost always mean AMO bow length. 

The AMO length of a longbow is calculated as the length of the string plus 3 inches.

For example, a 66 inches AMO bow is supposed to take a 63 inches string.

However, some manufacturers sell strings by AMO length rather than actual string length, so pay attention the the measure unit used when purchasing a replacement string for your longbow. Additionally,  not all bows take a string exactly 3 inches less than the printed bow length, and some bows, especially English Longbows, are measured at their un-strung length.

Usually, longer longbows make smoother shots, they are more stable and are much more forgiving than shorter bows. Additionally, with short longbows you are at risk of reaching a "false" anchor point before full draw, at which point the bow will be difficult or impossible to draw and this will lead to sloppy, weaker shots.

Longbow Recommended brace height

Brace height is defined as the distance between the string and the deepest part of the bow grip. Brace height is one important factor in tuning a longbow or recurve. Differently from compound bows, on which the brace height is set by the manufacturer, on traditional bows it's up to the archer to twist or untwist the bowstring to achieve the ideal brace height.

To increase the brace height, twist your bowstring to reduce its length. To decrease the brace height, untwist the bowstring or install a longer bowstring. Avoid untwisting Flemish-style bowstrings completely as string failure may occur. 

Remember that the shorter the brace height, the faster your bow will fire arrow, but this will come at the expense of forgiveness and quietness of the longbow. 

A longer brace height will result in slower arrow speed but it will likely give you higher accuracy, stability, and less noise. A shorter brace height will result in faster arrow speed, but can increase noise, reduce efficiency and accuracy, and even damage your bow permanently.

Manufacturers recommend ideal brace heights for individual models, but, ultimately, the brace height setup on your longbow choosing  it's down to your personal preference, shooting style and overall comfort.

If you aren’t able to find the recommended brace height for your longbow, start at 7 inches and then increase or decrease the brace height until you find the setup that suits you.

Longbow Draw weight

The draw weight of a bow is defined as the amount of force stored by the bow when fully drawn. Therefore, the higher the draw weight, the more force you will have to apply to draw the bow.

Differently from longbows and recurves, compound bows are built in such a way that, once fully drawn, they can be hold at full draw using little force, as most of the energy is stored in the limbs (a feature called "let-off").

If you're used to shoot a compound bow, remember that with a traditional bow you will have to hold with your fingers the same weight that you draw. Therefore, if you choose a longbow with a draw weight equal to that of your compound, you will probably struggle holding the bow at full draw for  long periods of time without getting tired. This will obviously reflect on your shooting accuracy and, more generally, on your overall traditional archery experience.

Make sure you adjust your reference draw weight when switching from a compound bow.

Choose the best longbow for you

"What's the best longbow for me?"

The answer to this question depends on many different factors. Are you just starting out into archery or are you a veteran compound archer or crossbow shooter looking to get into traditional archery/hunting?  

If you're totally new to archery, make sure you are aware of the challenges of shooting a longbow. Don't let the initial obstacles hold you back from practicing, and remember to choose the correct draw weight for your size and application.  

Price

Obviously, price will be a significant factor to consider when choosing a longbow. 

Based on the longbow style and manufacturing, the price can vary wildly. On top of that, price can also fluctuate seasonally. Make sure you don't sacrifice quality to save money, as getting a cheap longbow will probably make your shooting experience a nightmare, and you will not want  to continue practicing traditional archery!