Howdy, Been lurking awhile. Picking y'alls brains secretly. Apart from having a recurve as a kid I am new to archery. At 60 I was thinking it a bit late to take up new things. ( dumb, I know ) I manage four deer leases and a large ranch in SW Tejas. We have a real pig problem and that plus the urging of friends pushed me over the brink of decision. The probability of being able to kill more than one pig at a sitting is very appealing. Most of my guys that bow hunt tell me that you can shoot the sow and within minutes the littluns often come back. I need to kill a lot of pigs. So after much study and cunsultation with one bud who is a bow hunting expert I bought a Hoyt Maxis 35. Going against what I knew to be best practice I was unable to shoot other bows. I just can't be driving 150 miles to do that. So I bought from a hardware/sporting goods outfit only 100 miles away. They had one guy who seemed to know what he was doing and he DID set the bow up well it seems. Very accurate and has required very little adjustment. I did shoot one other bow. A good modern hunting bow with parallel limbs. Short A to A though and I just felt that I wanted a taller bow. Its not particularly light but I like the feel. I dialed it down to about 55 lbs and plan to increase a couple turns each week as my body adjusts. I can pull a 70 lb bow but it is tough. When I get up to my max ... 60 lbs and can hold steady on a target I will go after some of these piggies. I am pretty accurate for a nube I feel. Hardly ever more than 3 inches off the mark. However I really have a thing about making a clean kill. I have always wanted an animal to die quickly. Softy I guess. Plus having doled out significant bucks for shafts and broadheads I want my arrow back. Dang pigs are good at disappearing. Well that's my overly long intro. Nice to be here and I look forward to yakking with y'all. I will have ?? and will be asking for help. In fact I have one now: How bad is an extra inch of draw length? I'm not eager to order new parts for the Maxis and get these guys at the hardware store to change stuff out. I'm behind the point of my jaw, under my ear and it seems to work. I've taken to using my middle finger on the release ... gently squeezing with the meaty part between the first and second knuckle. For some reason I also want to turn my hand palm out, away from my head. Is this bad? Thanks for any help. Glad to be here. :D:D
Welcome. I would say if you can consistantly group arrows and the bow feels good and comfortable than your draw length should be fine. If you like turning your palm out and it works for you that is what you need to do. I have seen several people shoot that way ... typical when shooting a thumb release. For me being comfortable and relaxed makes shooting much more enjoyable and leads to better consistantcy. Good luck with your new bow/sport!
Welcome to the forum! If you can shoot comfortably, I wouldn't worry about it. However, I'd choose too short over too long. I changed releases and shortened my DL and it tightened up my groups. I was drawing back far enough that I'd lose a little strength in my drawing shoulder, when I changed, I was much stronger in my anchor and much more steady.
Thanks Fitz. I should probably get it shortened up. I'm probably taking an extra two secs to line everything up without that solid jaw contact AND my peep is now so close to my eye that its too big.
its a strain on yah pulling too long. I would say the soone ru could fix it the better, that way you could sling some arras and not develop any poor habits! Welcome to the board! if you ever need help killin pigs, i am sure there are a few of us who would oblige xD
Sounds like you got the right mentality starting out lowering the draw weight good job and welcome to the site
That could work out. I'm setting up tree stands (platforms in oaks) and feeders now. We have a central valley with live water to this big ranch that is not leased and is the playground of my employer family. I've convinced them the way to deal with these pigs is to bring in bow hunters. They would only allow it when they are not here at the ranch but that's like 40 weeks a year. We also have at least 150 Axis deer that are more pest than asset.
