I was looking for a bow to use for hunting and competition archery. I shot the PSE supra max and loved it! It was absolutely amazing! It was perfect in every way... But it's over 37 inches ATA. Is that just too long? Would it be impractical for tree stand hunting? Should I look at something shorter? Or is it fine? Edit: is the 37 inch ATA worth it? Does it help accuracy that much that its a must have... Or something I could live without
If it was me I would feel it was too long. I shot an old Bow Tech bow that was 35 when I first got into bow hunting and I found that there was times a shorter bow would of been helpful. This last season I moved up to a G5 Rogue and its 31. I love it. When it comes to what you shoot the only thing you need to ask yourself is do you feel comfortable with it or not and do you like to shoot it. If the answers are yes then stick to what you got.
Yeah starting to sound like its worth it. I really want to be able to compete but still be able to hunt
The ATA of your bow and how it affects your accuracy is somewhat dependent on your physical stature. I'm on the taller side and shot a 35" ATA bow for years with little problem. For the past few years I've shot a 40" ATA Bowtech Constitution and do notice an improvement in accuracy. It's not a remarkable difference but the longer ATA is much more comfortable for me. Shoot what's comfortable. I've never had a problem in the treestand.
The shorter the bow the steeper the string angle. The steeper the string angle the farther away from your face the peep is. The farther away the peep, the less accurate you become due to consistency issues from the peep being farther away. Shorter draw lengths are effected less. There is also what is referred to as canting the bow. That's when the vertical plain is out of level or better described as the shooter leaning the top/bottom of the bow side to side. Canting is much easier to do with much less effort than with a longer ATA bow. Add these factors together and it is undeniable that generally speaking a longer ATA bow is more accurate in the hands of most shooters. For example, 32" ATA @ 27" draw would have a very similar string angle to a 34" ATA @ 29". Add a short Brace height to that like some of the "speed bows" and it's a pretty significant decrease in accuracy combination. I personally am 29" and shoot a 34.75" ATA bow and I will not go shorter. I have owned a 32" ATA bow and hated it. I have yet to have an issue in a hunting situation that posed an issue with any of the ATA's i have shot. the longest was 38". When I buy a tournament only bow, it will be a 36" plus bow with a brace height of 7"+.
Thank you! Very thorough by the way. I'm looking to compete in archery year round but still hunt with this bow. I like the supra max a lot but is it a good target bow?
If you like it get it. For me that happy spot where I really start liking a bow is 32" or more. My last bow I had was 43" and it was fine in the stand. Sure the new one at 34" is a little easier but I don't see where having a 37" ATA would be bad. I go back to if its the one you like get it. Although if your going to be doing a lot of hunting out of a blind you may want to think about it a little. I know the 43" bow was pretty very difficult to shoot in a blind and more than once when practicing out of the blind the top limb would go up and smack the top of the blind on the shot. Had to shoot from the middle of the blind where the ceiling was tallest. No such problem with my new bow. Just something to think about.
With the money from my b-day and what I've personally saved. Up to 900. But my birthday is mid march so I could potentially save more. Although I'm not sure i would spend that much more than that
dang it stick an string you beat me to it lol. 37 is a good ata i just tryed out the athens excceed an its 37 an love how it hit all the anchor points without any head adjustments.
