Hello. I'm brand new to this forum and to archery as well. After reading about bows , bow hunting and all the fun that can be had shooting them , I think I'm ready to buy a bow. I just don't know which type to go with. For now , It's strictly for target practice and fun but I DO NOT want a low grade bow. I want a high quality bow and gear from a high quality bow manufacturer ( maybe Browning , Diamond , PSE or Barnett ?). Also , I'm not sure if I should go with a compound bow or recurve. Long bows don't appeal to me. I don't even know how much of a draw weight I should go with (?). I'm 36 years old , 5'11" , 225 lbs and muscular. What do you guys recommend ? Any and all advice will be greatly appreciated since I don't know very much at this point. I just want to get started in bow shooting the right way and with the right bow. Thanks guys.
I have a bunch of fun shooting compound bows but you have to go with what appeals to you more. I really dont know much about recurves so i cant help ya there. What i would reccomend you do is go down to a pro shop and shoot some bows. I would reccomend shooting a Bowtech, Hoyt, Mathews, Diamond, PSE. I would think you probably would want a 60-70 lb bow for the draw weight and draw length the pro shop will figure out for ya.
If you shoot recurves, DO NOT shoot 60-70# bows.....lol. Try something in the 40-50# range. That's also PLENTY enough ass to kill most any NA game animal. It's all personal preference.....and how much time you're willing to commit to becoming proficient. Your learning curve (becoming proficient) will be MUCH shorter, with the compound. Good luck with your search.
So a compound bow would be require a shorter learning curve ? Good to know. I'm beginning to lean toward compound bows. I like that fact that they are much shorter (axle to axle) than recurves and pack a great (and fairly accurate) punch. I've been looking at RTH and RTS (ready to hunt and ready to shoot) packages from Cabela's. The PSE Deer Hunter Package has my attention since it's geared toward novice archers and PSE seems to be a reputable company. I also like the PSE Nova NI package (on their web site). Any suggestions on which bows/bow packages would be good for an adult to start out with ? I'd prefer a RTS package for now. Thanks.
JMHO, but if quality is a great factor in your decision, you may want to aim a little higher than a PSE Nova. PSE makes some very nice bows, but the Nova is(and always has been) very mediocre IMO.
Buttonbuckmaster , for someone in my position (adult beginner archer) which bow packages (RTH/RTS) do you recommend ? Do any stand out as the "standard" for quality and power ?
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/t...parentType=index&indexId=cat600266&hasJS=true http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/t...ct&cmCat=Related_IPL_419315&id=0063505418746a http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/t...parentType=index&indexId=cat600266&hasJS=true Just a few I would choose over the Nova.
Recurve or Longbow shooting is a heap load of fun , and with practice can be as effective as any compound .... try the all out , only then can you decide I started Compound and moved onto Longbow quite soon after .
Bails-UK , do you have any favorite recurve bows ? The appealing thing about recurves (to me at least) is that there isn't a ton of adjustments and mods needed to just go shoot. And recurves are , hands down , much more attractive in the looks dept. I'm split between recurves and comps. Do recurves come in a any RTS/RTH packages ?
I only shot a Bear kodiak and a Samick Hunter T/D , I honestly prefer the Lonbgow Myself ( IMO they look better ) , I f I do get another recurve it be a Hoyt Gamemaster 2 . Always wanted to own a Hoyt gamemaster , although the Bear was nice . Just don't go big poundage stick between 40-50# to start with .
For the compound packages, take a look at what Parker has to offer. I think they are some quality stuff. Re: the compound vs recurve…If you want to come out of the box and actually hit stuff, go with the compound. If you don’t care whether you are accurate or not at first, the recurves are fun to shoot, but can lead to a lot of frustration for a new guy if your accuracy doesn’t follow in a timely fashion.
How much maintenance is a compound bow ? It seems like there is a lot of things to tune , tweak and prep. I def want to shoot the bow right out of the box without any significant adjusting. And why exactly would a recurve not be so accurate as a compound bow ? So Parker is a decent name in bows ?
My brother calls compound bows "The sport of constant adjustment" It ain't quite that bad but it can be. I spend much more time adjusting my compound than I thought I would. If you're looking at recurves, check out the Martin line. I like every one of their recurves I've shot. I own a Hunter, Mamba, X-200 and Rebel. As I said I like 'em all but really like the Hunter and Mamba. Good luck with what ever route you take...
Carpsniper , so you prefer recurves over compounds ? I will def be checking out Martin's site tonight.
A compound bow doesn't have to very much maintenance at all, especially if set up properly from the start. A lot of guys like to create maintenance though. Yes there are things to adjust, but once its set, just about the only thing you move with any regularity are the sights and rest, and even that isn't often. Set it and forget it is very applicable. A compound has sights, typically things like a kisser, peep sight and release aid that make every shot repeatable....which leads to great accuracy. A recurve has no sights or release aid and for many, many people takes a lot of practice to develope repeatabilty from shot to shot. Parker is decent of the companies I know that have package bows, I'm not sure who all puts together packages, so I may be missing some.
rybo , so you would go the compound bow route over the recurve ? I like that compounds are much shorter than recurves (@ 28"-38" compared to 60"). PSE seems to have some entry level compound packages that seem alright. I've been looking at Cabela's and Bass Pro Shops for bows and dif packages. Any other sites that I should look into ?
