Good afternoon from California all. I have a question. Does anybody out there know much about Bows and what would be a decent one to start with? I am looking at the possiblity of starting to hunt archery as well as rifle and I figure if I start practicing with one shortly I should be somewhat proficent by next season. Besides, I talked my wife into one for Xmas. Any help would be great. Thanks

look at the most expensive one you can afford and then realize its actually to much. picking a bow is like buying clothes. you really need to try it first ie pick it up and make sure it fits YOU.

you can get a fair bow in a pawnshop for 50 dollars or you can spend thousands of dollars and the truth is a 50 dollar bow you picked yourself will probaly be better for you than a high dollar one someone gives you.

arrows and broad heads are the biggest expense once the bow is bought.

the simpler you keep your bow the less can/will go wrong in the woods.

Hi Irskii.. I started out with a Bear white tail hunter went went through a few diffrent Bears they were good. Then got me a Browning Tracker I love it. shots smooth I have a friend that shoots a PSE and he likes that brand. Best thing to do is go to the store and see what feels best in your hand All brands have a slightly diffrent feel to them its all about what feels best to you personaly. Good luck!!!

Irskii. I worked in a bow/gun shop for a couple of years. Bows come in all shapes and sizes now adays (lol) There are so many to chose from most of the major manufactures have good reps, PSE-MATHEWS-BEAR-HOYT etc. With that bein said you would need to go to a local shop and be fitted for draw length, they are adjustable but only to a point. you would need to figure out how much weight you want to pull again they are adjustable by only 10 pounds. So you could get a 50/60 -60/70 they are the most common, a local shop can help ya figure out what ya need, and you don't have to buy it from the local shop. Once you no what you need you can order one or buy a used one, but fit is crucial. If you hunt out of a tree stand alot you may want to look at a bow with a shorter axle to axle length. A release aid is a good idea with a compound they allow you to pull heavier poundage more easily and aid in acuraccy. For arrows you would have to wait to see what poundage bow you end up with. As far as broadheads i like MUZZYS but my best advice is one that shoots straight and is sharp. Broadheads usually shoot different than target arrows so practice should be done with both and before ya go hunting put new razors in the broadheads.
Well i guess i have babbled on long enough . Good luck archery can be very rewarding .
Joe

One thing I would advise is no matter what brand or how much money you spend pick a bow with at least a 7 inch brace height (the distance from the back of the grip to the bowstring when at rest). In my opinion from experience this is the most important factor in a bows shootability and forgiveness of human error in form in the heat of the hunt.My current bow has a 5.25 inch height and although I have won some prizes and got a lot of venison with it its very finicky in my shooting form. It has cost me a few deer when shooting from poor positions or when wearing sleeves and the string slaps the sleeve throwing arrow to the left. My next bow will definitely have more brace height.

Take an afternoon, visit a couple archery shops that will let you shoot a couple different types of bows and try'em all out. There is a world of difference between them and it will at least give you a starting point to know what feels and shoots good before looking at price options.

You can put alot of money into a bow or be like my wife last year, we bought one off EBay for $88 and she practiced and killed a deer with it. We werent sure if she would like archery longterm or not but she has enough basics that if she ever has to shoot archery again we can choose a better bow, if she never shoots again we arent out much money.

Welcome to the site btw


-DallanC

Ummmmm, are you looking at a traditional or modern approach?
I'll just list the modern compound bow for you and if you need more, please feel free to ask away, the guys here are more than able to help ya out.

I've worked at a gun/bow shop for a few years (and owned a few compound bows before switching to full traditional) and as far as customer service, many of the larger companies are going to do well with small problems.....for big problems though, Mathews was the hardest to deal with.
But many of the large companies charge a high $$$ for their product and you will have to weigh pros and cons yourself WHEN you go to a pro shop and they LET YOU TRY IT (because every good proshop i've been to will let you try a select few you are looking into getting) and the ones i recommend are Bear, Parker, PSE, Jennings, Hoyt, and Browning.

When i was getting fully out of using a compound, my last was a Jennings something or other and a Parker Hunter in a DEFLEX RISER because they are way more forgiving and without getting way technical it's easier to shoot. I picked these companies because they accommodated me and my gorilla arms shooting a 32 1/4" draw and sent me the parts to make it exactly that way! When anything went wrong (like a bushing or limb breaking 'on Jennings bow') they always mailed the parts on their dime, next or second day air.
7"+ brace height is a must (again more forgiving) because it's way easier to tune, and when you get there you want to learn how to tune your own bow.
Don't worry about shooting short fast arrows and overdraws, because your bow will have a short fast life. If you want more speed use carbon arrows, full length, and with 100+ grain broadheads (i've always used 125 grain). Broadheads, they are a dime a dozen, although i used to use Muzzy 4 blade 125 grain and would still if i hadn't sold my compound and went to traditional because they performed flawlessly!
Arrow rest, i can't find a more revolutionary one, than a Whisker Biscuit! I've honestly spent hundreds on rests and with a WB i saved soo many hours of tuning and soo much $ because the thing really looks wierd, but works!
Other than that....with sights, quiver, stabilizer, etc, etc, etc.....any good shop can outfit you in the right direction, because with soo many out there, it would take forever to list.

So, no matter if your just getting into it with a new or used bow (look for the names i listed if buying used), and how much you spend and save, it is very addictive (as you can see from my rant ) and you will want to shoot all year round....like me!

Looks like you have goten a good load of info, the only thing that I can add is that if you really want to get a bow that fits you and you are comfortable shooting you need to go to an archery shop and try out a few. I have very long arms, I have a 32" draw and there are very few bows that fit me well, I shot a modified Pearson for a while and then picked up a Hoyt. Both were over 42" axle to axle. I tried some of the shorter bows but they torqued bad and ate my arm alive, I didn't like them. If I hadn't gone to a shop I don't think that I would have ever found one that was really my style.

Wow Flint54 you know first hand what people like us go through. And believe it or not, i actually shoot carbon arrows with my traditional bows now. I know it's quite odd to hear of a person doing this and it's even worse that i shoot a 36" pole. I was at an old archery shop that i used to frequent and the owner was doing the order and found 2 dozed uncut 36" carbon arrows that was shipped by mistake, so i traded a dozen XX78's that i had collecting dust, and have been shooting them since. It may not be the fastest, but it hits em hard as hell!

OK, how many of you Traditional muzzle loader shooters use a modern compound bow?

Don't shoot a bow anymore, I miss it but due to my first bow hunt here in NC I have decided that it is not my ballgame! I don't like standing on two cottonmouths while having a copperhead swim between my legs as the yellow flies and skeeters are taking chunks out of my body and the sweat is running into the wounds.

Yes, I shot a coumpound and I shoot Traditional Muzzleloaders, they are my favorite. I also shoot inlines and also use them for hunting during some muzzleloading seasons. I use a .50 CVA MagBolt this year in Minnesota. Due to its size it is much easier to pack for a long distance trip vs my 42" .54 cal flintlocks. One thing I am Happy about is that Minnesota requires open sights for muzzleloading season, no scopes or optical devices unless there is a medical reason and then 1X is only allowed.

I will say this again, I would much rather have used my traditional as it is much faster to reload than any inline I have ever used, but even with that handicap I was able to harvest two deer in less than 5 minutes and my hunt was over before sunrise on opening day!!!

I started out with a compound bow that one of my uncles gave me. it was light simple and had no sights. I used a little dab of paint to mark the side limb so I could use that as a guid line for my yartag.
that bow was probley the best compound bow I had.
I then ended up gettting a commanchie recurve, it weighed about 1 and a half pounds, and was a 85 pound recurve. it was the best bow I had.
I say had because some one stoled it from out of my truck along with my home made deer skin quiver, with all arrows.

I ended up getting a compoud bow from cabellas, it had the quiver , sights and peep sight hole. I paid alot of money for it. took it out the other day and said what the hell. it was heavy , and had too much junk on it.
I ended up stripping everything off of it to the bar bones. except for the sights. and I was happyier with it that way.

some times simple is better. get a bow that fits your draw , and then find the arrows that shoot best with it.
I used a paper method to find the right place to place the nock for arrow possistion. shooting a arrow threw a peic of paper about a foot or less from tip of arrow . this will show you if your arrow is flying straight or flying sidways after you release it. moving the arrow up and down and possitioning the nock will help this. and learning how to releas the arrow good.

after you get set up on that. practice is the next best thing a person can do. shoot it every day.

a good durrable light bow would be my best recommendation. and if you like fishing. get a set up for bow fishing for the same bow.

I had a home made quiver that I kept my arrows in. with a sling to keep in around my sholder. yea, like the indians useto do. lol I found that was the best for me.

allways kept it loaded with my fiberlass bowfishing arrows and my hunting arrows. just need to put something in the bottem of the quiver to keep the arrow tips still and not banging into each other. it also keeps them quiet while out hunting.

How do you measure your draw ??

Dimitri

most archery places have a arrow with measurements on it. you put it in the bow, draw, and read the measurment at the arrow rest . I think they make the arrows 1" or 1/2" longer from the arrow rest.

thats the way I have seen it done. ?? dont know who they do it now days. they probley have some complicated way of doing it now. lol.

Basiclly from holding a arrow as far back as you can from the hand holding the bow ??

Dimitri