My dad and I thought we'd try out bow hunting this year. I have 0 experience with bow hunting. He's got some experience with bows, not much, anyhow he's got a compound that's about 85lbs or so that he intends to use and I have...nothing. His bow is much too strong for my little T-rex arms and I don't know a damn thing about what would be good for me anyway. I hoped to try a recurve bow for this season and I don't know what to look for price range wise, quality wise and what to steer clear from or even what's a decent draw weight (I don't even know if that's the correct term, sorry) for me. We won't be hunting deer this year, or anything bigger probably than a turkey, blue grouse, waterfowl for a while but I'd like to work up to bigger game eventually. Though I'm right handed, my left eye's the dominant one so I need something that I can shoot left handed. Any help would be much appreciated.
you probably wont want to start on a recurve if you plan on hunting this year. if you have a draw of 29" or less i would suggest a diamond Razors edge. Its technically a "kids bow" but at 29" and 60 lbs of draw, its going 305 fps. Which is prob as fast as your dads old 85 lb brute :D that and for 350 bucks, it comes with everything but arrows!
Solid advise from Live2Draw. Another thing to consider is something used. The first things you need to do are to learn what your draw length is and what weight you're comfortably shooting. You don't want a draw that's too long and you don't want weight that's too heavy, especially if you're going traditional. I'd say nothing over 45 lbs. to start in a recurve. Some people are going to advise that you can shoot RH and close your left eye. While this is possible, it's not ideal. The best way to start is the right way, which in this case, for you, is the left way. You'll be much happier in the long run. Go to a proshop and get measured up. A good starting point for draw length is your wing span in inches/2.5 but that may need to be fine tuned a bit. For traditional this is irrelevant except that it will tell you how much poundage you're getting out of the bow you are looking at. Traditional draw lengths are typically 1/2 to 1" shorter than the formula I gave, poundages listed for a bow are at 28" of draw and for everything over or under 28 you can add or subtract roughly 2-4 pounds per inch. Check the classifieds and see what you come up with there are often good deals to be had and there is even a LH specific one on this site.
