Hell0 All, I have been doing a little research on side/back bars being used for hunting. I did use one a little bit this last year. I was curious what some of your thoughts were on them being used in hunting situations. Josh
IMO, to much stuff hanging off a hunting bow for me. Long treks, extra weight, more stuff to get hung up on both on the way in and in the stand. I am a big fan of the KISS principle.
I never used them until this year with the V3 and it really helped my shooting, sure I can not use one and be good but I really like it and I have more confidence in my shooting with it.
I have to agree with the KISS principle. Use a Tight Spot quiver, tight to the bow and adjusted to suit my style of shooting. Don’t want or need to extra weight or junk sticking out.
I do have a Tight Spot and that helps a lot. I will probably play around with a back bar a bit, but ultimately I think I won't use it unless I see an improvement.
putting a back bar on the Ritual 33 is the best thing I could have done ... it sure helps the balance and steadies the bow and my groups have shrunk .. I never have liked 'lite' bows anyways ... stability comes from weight and A to A, and it isnt that heavy .. I still have to carry it in sometimes a mile to 1.5 miles and it sure is NOT cumbersome and it dosnt budge either, even after being hauled up and down dozens of times a season ... putting a back bar on is the best single thing I have done to enhance my accuracy ... BTW, I use a CBE Torx, 10" front/8" back/ 2 oz. front-4oz rear ...
IMO it's the "trendy" thing to do right now and makes your bow look cool, so people are jumping on that bandwagon. Bowhunting is not competition shooting where 1/8" can make the difference between success and failure. The vast majority of poor shots on animals are off by many inches, if not feet. A back or side bar is not the missing piece to success for most people. Also, most people slap them on their bow with little idea how to use them properly - meaning how much weight to use, where to put it, and where to position the bar for maximum impact. Also, IMO most bowhunters aren't good enough archers for it to make a tangible difference when you're under stress anyways. I tried it for a couple of years and went back to a single front bar. Too much extra crap hanging off my bow that I didn't really need. I opted to go with something a little longer and with more weight on it than before, and it's made the biggest difference in the way my bow balances, feels and shoots. Instead of a small 4-6" stabilizer that is more of a vibration dampener than anything, I went with a 10" bar with 5 ounces of weight on it. The difference really is night and day.
I have too much time on my hands and have shot all kinds of setups. For reference, I do not have a quiver attached to my bow. Killed a deer last year with front and rear stabilizers attached (first time ever hunted with back bar), this year killed 2 with no stabilizers attached. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I guess to clarify, my 2 primary bows both have Crossover 812 with 3 0z weights on them . I can adjust the length to the need. The Double XL is primarily my treestand bow, so the stabilizer doesn’t seem to get adjusted much. Also shoot it with the quiver off. Axius Ultra is my “western” bow. It’s shot with the quiver on and that stabilizer gets played with a lot more. Used to shoot V bars back in the ‘90s for 3D. It was more for extra weight than any thing else. I try to be a tournament shooter when I’m hunting. The whole aim small, miss small makes sense. After 40 years of shooting a bow and hunting, I’ve come to understand the term Diminishing return. At some point you have to realize that good is good enough.
My two cents. Yes, back bars, etc will absolutely help balance the bow and help you aim and shoot better. There shouldn't be any debate about that. However, lets stop and think about what we're doing here for a moment. Most of us here anyway... are whitetail hunters hunting out of treestands and taking shots less than 40 yards. Will the extra balance help your shot? Absolutely. To the degree where if you don't have the back bars, etc you won't make an accurate shot on that deer? Nope. Not even close. Truth is, we're trying to put an arrow into a pie plate sized spot on a deer. Of course we all should strive for as much precision as we can have. But we're not shooting at a half dollar sized spot on a Vegas target where being off a 1/4" is the difference between a 10 and a 9 on the score card. I have a back bar setup that I've played around with on my bow and it sure does make the bow balance nicely in the back yard, and probably helps my accuracy a very small amount. But that small amount is not going to make the difference between a dead deer and a missed or wounding shot. For hunting bows, I've found that a longer front stabilizer is a nice compromise, keeping it simple, yet giving me better aiming control. Too many shoot too short of a stabilizer and too little weight up front on it and never see the benefits of going a bit longer/heavier.
I agree, although I shoot a back bar lol. My stabilizer knowledge is limited, but does the single, longer bar and weight upfront on your Mathews not make it even more “top heavy”? I’m still shooting the Vertix and maybe it’s all in my head but the backbar seemed to help quite a bit with not wasting time during my shot sequence to get the bow level before I shoot. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
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I only use them if I'm hunting in the West, where I may get a super long shot. For whitetail or any shots under 60 yards, I don't see a need for them.
I have used them in the past and I noticed a difference. However, for years I shot without them and did just fine. I have killed more deer without them on than with them on. My last 3 bows I put them on, but then I bought a Mathews VXR and I noticed I shot that bow well without them. My advice is to give it a try and see what you think.
