I’m currently switching from rifle hunting to bow hunting and was wanting to get some advice. I would love to hear your recommendations on bows and different sights. There are so many out there to chose from it can be overwhelming.
Congrats on making the switch. For some recommendations, your best bet for a bow or a sight will all depend on your price range. If you aren't too worried about the price, than you should find a good archery shop in your area and go down and test out some of the higher end bows. Bowtech, Diamond, Ross, APA, Hoyt, PSE and Matthews (I'm sure I'm forgetting some brands) all have very good bows, and a few in different price ranges that all would do a good job for hunting. Check out the bows that look the best to you and ask to test them out. Just feel the way that they shoot in your hand and how comfortable they are. You will be looking for something that is fairly smooth and quiet. As for specs to look for. I would recommend looking for anything that shoots over 300fps IBO speed. (IBO speed is the rated speed of the bow shooting a 350grain arrow at 70lbs and a 29" draw, or a 300 grain arrow at 60lbs with a 29" draw). It just gives you a good idea on the speed you will get. For hunting if you are shooting around 65-70lbs I would personally recommend using a arrow no lighter than 400grains. The heavier the arrow the more kinetic energy your arrow will have. You will lose some speed but if you don't go outrageous on weight than it won't be overly noticeable but the extra punching power will be well worth it. For a sight, I personally shoot a AMP sight. I find that the pins are nice and bright, the housing is a good size that is easy to center in your peep sight which helps big time for insuring that you draw and hold your bow at the same spot everytime while shooting to help with accuracy. Also the pins are designed well as they have a rounded back with a groove in it to hold the fiber close to the pin to help prevent the fiber optics from getting caught on things and breaking. there are lot's of simular sights to this one that would work well for you. I use a 4 pin sight, one for 20, 30, 40 and 50. fourty and fifty are just for target shooting, but I find if you have more pins than this than things just get too busy and it's too easy to accidentally use the wrong pin. Also your bow should be able to use the same pin for any shot from 5-20 yards. I hope this all helps, there will probably be a fair bit more helpful posts from others aswell.
Good advice jay, I would like to clear a few things however, IBO is measured at a 30'' DL and the heavier you go in arrow weight will not always increase Kinetic Energy. First off, well to the site rebeccal! I couldn't agree with your statement more that archery is overwhelming! it's entirely intimidating when you first get into it. In our bowshop we used to sell a lot of beginer type bows. I use this term loosely however as most "beginer" bows will down the biggest of game out there. Its not about speed, rather arrow weight and broadhead choice. Depending on your price range I would look at the Diamond Razor Edge or Mathews Passion. I have seen a few of the mathews but have not done much with them, great bows though. I have set-up and sold easily over 75+ of the Diamonds. There a great bow for a $340 set up package! 19-29.5" of DL adjustment and 30-60#'s. Great for deer or elk, or whatever else may take your fancy. The bow comes with a sight, rest, quiver, and wrist sling. The componets leave a little more to be desired, but it's a great platform to add onto. You can also buy the bare bow for around $290. However, it is somewhat difficult to find The biggest advice I could give to anyone in your position, however, is too shoot as many bows as you can. You need one that feels good to YOU, not anyone else. Sight recomendations can run rampant. There are alot of choices out there. The AMP sight by Montana BlackGold, that Jay spoke about, is a great sight! I use there flashpoint and love it! They have the best customer service and warranty in the industry IMHO. Use the internet to your advanatge. Read consumer reviews before you buy anything, cabelas is a good place to check for reviews. As well as anything you may find on the site here. First hand experience is best though. Good luck with your decisions and new sport! Don't be afraid to ask anything!
Thanks for all your great advice! Here’s where I’m at so far: I bought a used Hoyt Alpha Max on e-bay with 40lb draw weight. I can’t wait to get it set up and shoot!!! My local archery shop sold me on a QAD drop away rest. My last decision is on the bow sight. I’ve looked at everything from Spot Hogg, Tru-Glo and the SABO sight. What are your thoughts on these? I’m going to research them all further, but wanted some feedback on the three sights. Thanks again for all your help.
Welcome to the forums. Here are a few things (some previously mentioned, some not) that I would take into consideration when purchasing a sight. What kind of hunting will you be doing predominantly... whitetail, western game, etc.? 1. Determine your price range as sights can get expensive. 2. Sight house and pin construction... is it metal or plastic? Metal is my favorite by far. 3. Microadjustable sights allow you to adjust the sight in very small increments as opposed to loosening the screw and sliding it over just a bit. 3. Ease of adjusting individual pins is something that's very important to me, the more precisely you can move each pin the more fine tuned of a setup you can achieve. 4. Dovetail mounting vs. fixed mounts. A dovetail sight has a bar that slides in and out that is attached to your bow (generally target sights), while they are easy to remove for travel a fixed mount has much less opportunity for error. I personally shoot a Spot Hogg and probably will for a while... but there are lots of good sights available. A few other brands to look at include Axcel, Copper John, eXtreme, Sword, Trohpy Ridge and the list goes on.
I say buy a package and then you can learn from that. Go to www.huntersfriend.com and look at the ready to hunt bow packages. This will be set up but you can learn how to tinker with it before you go to being able to switch all the parts yourself. They are great and that is where I bought my bow from. Good prices too!
