Bending the Bow Suggestions

A lot of my friends are hunters, and they lean towards the use of the bow and arrow. . .That has always fascinated me. I'm not a hunter, and the last time I "tried" one on (compound bow) was like 30 years ago. I have the foggiest idea on any such today.

Anyone here into archery or bow and arrow hunting and could give sound advice on such? I realize that these tend to be "tailor" specific to each individual, but would like to gather some information/leads here.

Thanks for your patience!

1. Don't feel the need to express your manhood with the draw weight of your bow. Start light at a weight that you can draw fifty or sixty times in a half hour without waking up cramped into a pretzel the next day. You should be able to hold the bow straight up and down, in shooting position, and gracefully pull the string back to the release point.

2. Research the various major bow manufacturers and see what kind of history they have, what kind of shooter they aim for (ha ha). I have a great bow, but by a manufacturer who went under in the 1990s (at least I can't find them any more). If I were buying right now, I'd be inclined toward a Martin, just based on what I know of them from the early 1990s when I was last in the market for a bow. Hoyt and Oneida are also high on my list.

3. I wrote 1 and 2 based on the assumption that you'd pick a compound bow. There's nothing wrong with a longbow or recurve if you want to go that route, but it's a whole different way of shooting. With a compound bow, you can draw and hold. With a strong longbow or recurve, by the time you draw you'd better be pretty well ready to release.

4. Find a good archery shop in your area. I prefer small shops with knowledgable owners, but if all you can get to is a Mega-Outdoor-Mart, it's probably better than mail order. Make a few trips to talk with the people who work at the archery counter; figure out who really knows bows, and who just transferred there because selling furniture was too tough.

5. A bow isn't just a bow. This kind of goes along with #1. You need to have a bow fit to you in a number of ways. Draw length must be correct; bows generally come made with a small range of adjustability, but you want to get one that is pretty close at the middle setting. Draw weight must be within reason. The cam action should be comfortable for you. Bow weight must be within reason so that you can hold it up while you're getting the hang of aiming and firing. The bow should be balanced well, so that it doesn't tend to rock back or foreward when you loosen your grip hand (sometimes accessory weights are used to balance things out).

Other general suggestions: Go ahead and start off using a peep sight. This is threaded into your bow string, and it a great starting aid (IMHO). You might as well go ahead and use a string release of some sort (this is like a 'trigger' that you hold in your hand, with a strap around your wrist, which you use to grab the bow string to pull back and then release it). Some guys still swear by fingers to release, but I'm not one of them.

Plan on spending a lot of time getting good at the technical aspects of shooting a bow before you ever go hunting. If you can't hit a deer target at 60/70/80 yards with your bow, you have very little chance of making a clean kill in 'real hunting' at 20/30/40 yards.

I'm just a (lapsed) target shooter, I don't hunt, but I do enjoy shooting. Oh, check out this site that came up when I was googling for my bow manufacturer (Xi), it seems to have some decent tips:
http://www.nesportsman.com/articles/article57.shtml

Jim

Pretty much what Jim said! If you're leaning towards getting a compound bow though, be prepared to spend some money. Whereas people that go for recurves/longbow won't worry about peepsights, release aids, optics etc. Generally compound bows are a bit more expensive. I've a compound myself and love it, although i havn't been using it lately


Oh, a nice size backyard helps. Can set up targets and practice at home whenever you feel like

And when you set up your back yard range make sure you know what's behind it. Arrows have a disconcerting way of finding cracks in fences.

A recurve is often drawn by pointing it upwards to use the offset leverage of your shoulder as you bring it level. An arrow released in error from a 40 lb bow at 30 degrees travels a long way.

Many archery shops have indoor ranges.

Daniel

Yup! Makesure your fence can withstand an arrow and with my targets...generally i make them LARGE and then glue/stick on a smaller target...bottles, leaves...whatever is at hand. Didn't state this before but in retrospect, i should've.


I actually just got my bow out and had some fun in the backyard...

Thank you all for your comments regarding bows, especially the compound ones. I've a long way to learn about them before proceeding to purchase.

ks_physicist said:

If you can't hit a deer target at 60/70/80 yards with your bow, you have very little chance of making a clean kill in 'real hunting' at 20/30/40 yards.

Click to expand...

Interesting, since this is what happened to one of the fellows I work with while he was turkey hunting. He was down to his last arrow (had six on him) when he made what he called a "lucky shot" out past 80 yards.

Great rundown Jim and that link is interesting too!

Yes I've heard of some of the names for compound bows such as Martin and Hoyte. That "Slayer" is up there in price as Delvance alluded to.

Some years ago, I saw a demonstration about "target shooting" with arrows versus guns. Targets were placed behind sandbags. The rifles and pistols were fired but no "hit" on target. Arrow shot from bow went through the sandbag(s) and made a "hit" on the target! And not just once, but a couple of times! I understood what you mean when you said about "backing!"

Again, Thanks!

You can probably judge from my username whether I'm into archery or not. Well, I've actually been out of it for a couple years now, but the basics are the same.

Pretty much ks said, I agree with.

Very few people have any business shooting at live animals farther than 50 yards. 80 yards is obsurd and is unethical, too much risk in wounding the animal.

When I was into it, Hoyt was #1, lots of competition shooters used hoyt. I hear good things about mathews too. Maybe they've changed in the past several years, but I wouldn't recommend an Oneida. I had my friend and my dad get oneidas and I didn't like them. Too hard to tune, I had to use 5 inch vanes just to get the arrows to fly straight.

Oh and just to add some more...

If you're not going to hunt then speed is less of a concern. A fast bow will trade off forgiveness. A slower bow will be more accurate. If you're just starting out I would recommend a more forgiving bow, one that will let you make mistakes in your form and release and still let you hit your target consistantly. For example, brace height and how aggressive the cams are will affect your repeatability.

If you're going to get into competitive archery I'd also recommend you start off with a back tension release and get training on how to use it. If you start off with a triggered release, you can develop bad habits. But I realize that's getting kind of advanced and you probably won't know if you're going to get into competitions.

Just have fun.

Hello RobinHood4x4!

Thanks for that detail. Much appreciated! That comment of the "80 yards" obsurdity risking in wounding an animal is exactly what happened with that fellow.

Fascinating and lots to learn concerning this subject on archery. . .