Hello, I am sure this has been covered more than a few times on this site, but I'd like some personalized insight on the matter. I'm going to start bow hunting for deer this fall. My main reason is to extend my harvesting season, bow hunting will give me an extra month or so to get my deer. I've never hunted with a bow, though I did do a lot of small game with home made slingshots as a kid. (not quite the same but i'm sure some skills are transferable, the hand-eye coordination is there, I hope. ) I have also done a bit of target shooting with a youth recurve bow, maybe 100 arrows or so. So I have the choice of either a compound or recurve. I've read up on the differences and all that but I'd like some help figuring out where to go from here. Money is a huge factor as I hunt different game almost all year and my hunting cash needs to stretch out and cover all that too. I'll start with my idea of a plan as it is now, and then you tell me its crazy. I'm looking at the Samick Sage 62" recurve at 60 lbs. I'm not going to shoot anything further than 40 yards, I just won't do it. Maybe a scoped rifle out to 60-80 yards, but I have never seen the need. I normally shoot open sight rifles or shotguns when hunting. I figure I'll have trouble drawing the bow at first, but I can toss a 50 lbs sack of potatoes pretty far with one hand, I don't think I'm far off working a 60 pound bow. I can train up to that in a few weeks if needed. My main concern is how long realistically will it take me to learn to shoot this recurve well enough that I could adeptly plug a deer in both lungs out to 40 yards? Is this plan, to hunt this fall with this bow being a non-bowhunter too far fetched? I can always go compound and have no worries about learning to shoot there, but the price and also the style of a recurve has me leaning that way, it's really about getting the deer with as little cost possible. Lay it on me straight! thanks, Mugz.
If you want it straight: Shooting/hunting any bow out to 40 yards is NOT a good idea. With a compound and practice it's not unheard of. With a recurve FORGET IT! I've been shooting recurves for over 50 years and my max effective range was 30 yards at my best, 20-25 now. The Samick Sage is a good bow but you'll need to start practicing with a 35-40 pound bow anything more and you'll be over bowed. That will hurt your form and accuracy if you go too heavy to start. If you started tomorrow you might, MIGHT be ready for next season. You'll need to be able to consistently to put your arrows in a 6" circle from your hunting distance. If you hunt from a treestand you'll need to practice from a treestand because the angle changes shot accuracy. Then you need to learn about arrow spine, point weight and how it effects spine, tuning to brace height, how your broadhead will fly compared to field point, choice of arrow material (aluminum, carbon, wood), will you be shooting off the shelf or with an elevated rest, do you want your quiver on the bow or off (this effects accuracy too), will you use a tab or glove and a lot more. If your going to kill an animal you owe it to do it right, quick and clean Sent from my iPad Mini using Tapatalk Bows, Broadheads and Backstraps
60 lbs is much to heavy to start on. Its not about being able to pull it to full draw. It is about being able to do it correctly. I can pull a 60 lbs bow back no problem... yet I still choose a 35 pounder, why? Form and consistency
Thanks Bowbender. Good to know about the distance. I guess I'll figure out all the details as I go along here. As you may have guessed from my OP I know next to nothing about archery. As for all the gadgets and arrow types I'll really have to defer that until later, as I'm really interested in finding the best path to start off on. Huntandbushcraft, I'm only going to buy one bow and one set of limbs and where I am it's not legal to hunt with bows of lower draw weights. I'm going to be honest I'm not interested in watching a deer run off and bleed to death. I'd rather have the animal drop dead like a duck. I'm going to use the most powerful bow I can afford and learn to shoot it. I know you can argue 45# is all you need, but 60# will do it better, taking the laws of physics into account. I do respect the idea that its easier to learn and shoot a lighter bow... but if a deer is going to die from a bow in my hands its going to be from one in the 55-60# recurve or 70+# compound or you won't see me out there. Mugz.
Just as an after thought, I think when it comes time to draw the bow on a deer any form I practice on a range is going out the window as I'll likely be in a spur-of the moment position, maybe sitting on a tree stand bench or crouching in a blind... hunting for the last 25 plus years I know that not many kills start from a perfect vantage point. I know my limits with rifle, won't shoot open sights past 40 yards at an animal, even though I can hit a 10" plate pretty consistently at 75 yards, the chances of a miss are too great. I'll get to know my limits with a bow once I get to shooting. I'm just unsure I'll get to the point where I'll be comfortable shooting a bow like the sage at a deer by fall. I suppose there is only one way to find out. Another reason for the 60# draw weight is that there are moose in my area... and if one walks by while I have a tag in my pocket... i'm not passing it up. Mugz.
Mugz, first of all no arrow shot animal ever drops like a duck, you'll have to blood trail almost all of them. An arrow DOES NOT kill like a bullet does it kills by hemorrhaging. A 60# bow will not kill game any more dead than a 45#. It's all about shot placement not power, that's how a bow works. You need to change your mind set. A 50# bow will kill any animal in North America. I shoot no more than 56# and the arrow passes right through the animal and into the dirt on the other side. What the heaviest bow you've ever shot? Can you even pull a bow as heavy as you talk about? Where are you located? A 45# bow should be legal anywhere in the U.S. Sent from my iPad Mini using Tapatalk Bows, Broadheads and Backstraps
Va bowbender is right on all accounts. I think it all comes down to practice. Well, good shot placement, as a result of practice. It took me a year of intermittent practice to feel confident taking a twenty yard shot with my recurve, and even then I waited for ideal conditions and deer position. With a compound I felt confident at that range inside of a month, and after three months have better patterns at forty than I do with the recurve at twenty. That said, within your comfortable range, any bow over 30-35# matched with the appropriate arrow and broadhead will kill a deer! a double lung or heart shot deer dies just as fast, whether its shot with an arrow at 350fps or 180fps.
Yes, I do know how an arrow works. I never said I expected to drop a deer dead with an arrow, just that I would prefer that it went that way. What you expect and what you prefer are not the same. I'm in Canada, and I think the laws are around the same as most anywhere. I don't think they can make laws that would exclude certain demographics from the sport. i.e youths, small framed people or the disabled thus we have a fairly low draw weight as the law. Much the same as it is legal to hunt geese with a .410 shotgun. It's not very adequate to the job but still legal. Just because it's legal doesn't mean it fits in my moral compass. I've done enough math to understand what to expect with respect to draw weight, arrow weight and arrowhead size. I doubt you're going to convince me to waver on the draw weight. I have my reasons. I also mentioned in my OP that I expect to have trouble with the bow to start. I'm not that naive, though maybe stubborn. Fact of the matter is, a 60# bow will deliver more energy than a 45#. I'm 6'2" 190 lbs with a 34" waist. I'm not worried. When I was told to split wood as a kid I wasn't given a small axe. There was only one axe and I learned to use it. Life has pretty much been the same since. The reiterate my question, what can I expect the learning curve to be like? You can't tell me I can't do it because eventually I'll get there. Is it really that far off to say I could become at least pretty good at 20 yards by September? Another thing is I'll have to take a bow hunters ethics course and pass a practical exam.. hit a few targets at certain distances... so the authorities wont issue me a bow tag till I get good enough for that... though I can always use a compound for the test. LOL. Mugz.
Ok, 50 years of shooting recurves and many students. I'm also a Master Hunter Education Instructor and a National Bowhunter Education Foundation Instructor. But you can disregard what the others and myself have said here. Why did you ask advice if you were going to ignore it anyway. You said "lay it on me straight" Sent from my iPad Mini using Tapatalk Bows, Broadheads and Backstraps
Indeed I did. Though my question has yet to be answered. It seems there is always at least one person on every forum who is all too eager too point out faults in a persons beliefs or opinions and never addresses the OP's real question. I'm not seeking your approval and I quite frankly don't care what you teach. I didn't ask for advice. I'm looking for insight to specific plan. I asked a question and mister Master Instructor you have done very little to help. There is a thirteen and a half year old boy out there holding his grandfathers bow that could use some encouragement towards a rewarding sport rather than some list of do-not's and can-not's. If he says he can then he damn well can. I'm done here. 60# sage in the mail. Mugz.
If you are just getting into bowhunting I would look into a compound. You can find some good deals on a used one or even on a new one that will still perform at a high level
I predict him becoming incredibly frustrated after about of month because he will not be able to hold any kind of group at any distance. For someone who has never given archery a real try, he will indefinatly have terrible form from the getko...and once you develope that form it is damn hard to break yourself from it, especially if half the reason you have bad form is because your attempting to learn on a way to heavy of a bow in the first place. START light, develope good shooting habbits, and work your way from there. Some people just dont get it.... So to answer your original question.. "My main concern is how long realistically will it take me to learn to shoot this recurve well enough that I could adeptly plug a deer in both lungs out to 40 yards?" answer: A very long time
I understand you can throw a sack of potatoes a good ways but when it's freezing cold and a big buck comes out in front of you 60 lbs especially at full draw is gonna be more than you think..
I did answer the question. If you started tomorrow you might, MIGHT be ready for next season. Sent from my iPhone using TapaTalk
I shot a deer in the heart from just inside twenty yards about a year after starting. But, I bought a sage with 40# limbs first. I shot three squirrels with those limbs on the bow, and practiced a lot. starting with a simple eagle eye pin sight from 3rivers helped give me more confidence before I switched to instinctive shooting. I bought 50# limbs (70$) for the sage a few months before the hunting season, and continued to practice, probably 45 minutes to an hour, 5 days a week. Just before bow season I bought a used custom 55# recurve on ebay for 150$. Luckily, it was awesome. I was shooting easton axis 500 arrows with g5 montecs when I got a shot at a mature doe the third week in September. The shot looked good, but a little back maybe, and I found very little blood trail, although the shaft of the broken arrow had good dark blood on it and some bubbles. so I waited until the next dawn to go find her. Turns out she sprinted about sixty yards and went down. She was quartering away a little more than I knew, I got heart and one lung, and the broadhead lodged beneath the skin on the opposite shoulder, so there was no exit wound and virtually no blood trail. I was very happy with my self. By November I had a doe completely jump my string just inside twenty yards, and then shot a beautiful buck in the ham at fifteen yards on a cold windy day. No penetration, and I hope he survived. Then I decided to switch to a compound for the rest of the season, partly due to missing the buck, but also because with the weather it was becoming increasingly difficult to stay warm enough to feel comfortable drawing and shooting the bow competently. Now I shoot a 65 or 70 # compound! and I know I can draw it with gloves and release, sitting down, in almost any temperature! and make a good shot out to thirty yards on a deer, fifty on a target. I hope that answers your question. If I were you I would get a low poundage recurve to play with and learn the basics of, and get a decent entry level compound for hunting. Good Luck
Oh, incase this helps, I also grew up splitting wood with a maul, and now I am a stonemason and woodsman. I'm 5'11", 180. I can pick up my wife with ease. Lol.
I think if he went to TradGang or Leatherwall he'd get all the same answers and advice. He wouldn't like them either. Sent from my iPad Mini using Tapatalk Bows, Broadheads and Backstraps
