Mother in law is gonna buy me a new bow
01-12-2007, 09:22 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location:
Posts: 156
Mother in law is gonna buy me a new bow
I am going to be the receiver of a new bow to my desiresas a payment of some tough chores that I am to do for her No more than $450. Here is the catch. I have never fired a compound bow over three times in my life. Since I was wanting to get into bowhunting due tomy disgust of some gun hunters( not all), I really wanted to step in to this ring. I am a complete beginner and know almost nothing about them. Could someone recommend a good bow for me to learn to shoot and keep shooting for years ahead?Iam determined to bowhunt 100%
01-12-2007, 09:42 PM
#3
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Wayne Co. Michigan
Posts: 203
RE: Mother in law is gonna buy me a new bow
The best thing you could do is go out and shoot every bow in your price point and find the one that makes you feel the most confident and the one you shoot best. The only way to find your bow is go out and shoot as many as you can. There are alot of good bows out there that dont cost a ton of money. Good luck on your search
01-13-2007, 07:03 AM
#4
Fork Horn
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Georgia
Posts: 376
RE: Mother in law is gonna buy me a new bow
ConstructionWorker:
I second jonnyslim's reply, just wanted to add thatif you get your bow at a pro-shop the folks there, in general, can be very helpful with getting you set-up properly, at least that was my experience.Welcome to the art of "BOWING". I've found it to be very relaxing.
I second jonnyslim's reply, just wanted to add thatif you get your bow at a pro-shop the folks there, in general, can be very helpful with getting you set-up properly, at least that was my experience.Welcome to the art of "BOWING". I've found it to be very relaxing.
01-13-2007, 07:14 AM
#5
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Heaven is my home, temporarily residing in WNY :)
Posts: 6,679
RE: Mother in law is gonna buy me a new bow
Construction worker .... mkae sure you do what the boys are tellin' ya. Shoot alot of boys. I did, bothe upper range and mid range, and I will tell you, for me, Bear's new Truth bow was the best mid range one I shot. But you judge yourself.
01-13-2007, 07:41 AM
#6
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Blissfield MI USA
Posts: 5,293
RE: Mother in law is gonna buy me a new bow
I am going to highly caution you from ordering a bow over the internet or getting one from a large retail store like walmart, Dicks, Dunham's or something like that. Cabela's or Gander Mountain might be ok depending on who works there. I have both in my area and the set ups I have seen come out of there are sort of hit and miss. And cabela's prices really are not that much better than most of the local pro shops in my area to be honest.
Is what I do suggest is finding a good pro shop in your area, two would be even better. Go down there and be straight up with them. Tell them you have very little knowledge and experience, but you do belong to a website dedicated to archery where you can research things fairly easily. Tell them how much you want to spend TOTAL, not just on the bow. If you spend 400 bucks on a bare bow you could easily spend another couple of hundred setting it up with rest, sights, stabilizer, release and arrows. Not to mention a target and other little things. Heck if you wanted to you could spend a couple hundred on one of those items
]
Most shops will have some package deals that would fall into your price range. You might have to kick in some of your money by the time you are done though. I would suggest looking at Diamond, Reflex and Parker bows. There are others though. To be honest there really are not that many "bad" bows out there anymore. However there are wrong choices.
For your first bow try not to get a really short bow, or a really fast bow. Look for something with 34-35 inches of Axle to Axle length (over all length of the bow) and around 7 or 8 inches of brace height. This should be a fairly forgiving bow in most cases.
DO NOT buy the first bow you look at! Look at a few and like I said try to find another shop as well that carries different brands. Even if you have to drive a ways. You may have to drive 60 miles to find a decent shop, maybe more in some cases. If it is a good shop it will be worth it, especially for you first purchase.
Most places will give you a few lessons as well.
Here is a pretty decent site you can look at for terms and how things work. You could even order a bow from them if you wanted to, but I don't recommend it. Nothing wrong with the company, its just not a good way to get your first bow is all.
Hunters Friend
If you find a bow you think you like have them set it up in your draw length (if they didn't do that already, a good shop will) so you can shoot it that way. They should loan you a release as well if you are going to shoot with one. You really can't get a feel for how a bow feels if it is set up wrong. They need to be the same draw length and draw weight in order to compare them properly. If they are not they will feel totally different. What might have been a great bow will feel wrong and worse than the others simply because it didn't fit you or the draw weight was too high.
And Lord forbid, do not cheat on the draw length to eak out a few FPS. Or pick a bow that has too much draw weight. If drawing 65 or 70 lbs does not feel comfortable to you then don't get a 70 lb bow. And for a first bow I doubt 70 lbs will feel well, at least not for long anyway. And to add to that when you sit out in a stand for hours and then have to draw the bow it is twice as hard. Been there, done that. 60 lbs on any modern bow is more than enough to kill deer at moderate bow ranges.
Good luck and let us know what you decide.
Paul
Is what I do suggest is finding a good pro shop in your area, two would be even better. Go down there and be straight up with them. Tell them you have very little knowledge and experience, but you do belong to a website dedicated to archery where you can research things fairly easily. Tell them how much you want to spend TOTAL, not just on the bow. If you spend 400 bucks on a bare bow you could easily spend another couple of hundred setting it up with rest, sights, stabilizer, release and arrows. Not to mention a target and other little things. Heck if you wanted to you could spend a couple hundred on one of those items![
]Most shops will have some package deals that would fall into your price range. You might have to kick in some of your money by the time you are done though. I would suggest looking at Diamond, Reflex and Parker bows. There are others though. To be honest there really are not that many "bad" bows out there anymore. However there are wrong choices.
For your first bow try not to get a really short bow, or a really fast bow. Look for something with 34-35 inches of Axle to Axle length (over all length of the bow) and around 7 or 8 inches of brace height. This should be a fairly forgiving bow in most cases.
DO NOT buy the first bow you look at! Look at a few and like I said try to find another shop as well that carries different brands. Even if you have to drive a ways. You may have to drive 60 miles to find a decent shop, maybe more in some cases. If it is a good shop it will be worth it, especially for you first purchase.
Most places will give you a few lessons as well.
Here is a pretty decent site you can look at for terms and how things work. You could even order a bow from them if you wanted to, but I don't recommend it. Nothing wrong with the company, its just not a good way to get your first bow is all.
Hunters Friend
If you find a bow you think you like have them set it up in your draw length (if they didn't do that already, a good shop will) so you can shoot it that way. They should loan you a release as well if you are going to shoot with one. You really can't get a feel for how a bow feels if it is set up wrong. They need to be the same draw length and draw weight in order to compare them properly. If they are not they will feel totally different. What might have been a great bow will feel wrong and worse than the others simply because it didn't fit you or the draw weight was too high.
And Lord forbid, do not cheat on the draw length to eak out a few FPS. Or pick a bow that has too much draw weight. If drawing 65 or 70 lbs does not feel comfortable to you then don't get a 70 lb bow. And for a first bow I doubt 70 lbs will feel well, at least not for long anyway. And to add to that when you sit out in a stand for hours and then have to draw the bow it is twice as hard. Been there, done that. 60 lbs on any modern bow is more than enough to kill deer at moderate bow ranges.
Good luck and let us know what you decide.
Paul
01-13-2007, 08:39 AM
#9
Typical Buck
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location:
Posts: 508
RE: Mother in law is gonna buy me a new bow
Listen Construction worker if I were you I'd do what I did this year I bought a Parker Buckhunter with the package deal and it cost me around 400 bucks and its the best bow ive ever shot Mine shoots at 250 feet at 52 pounds and thats all you need to kill any north american game
01-13-2007, 08:53 AM
#10
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location:
Posts: 95
RE: Mother in law is gonna buy me a new bow
I agree with everyone else except one thing. and a small suggestion.
If you know anyone who has a bow, try shooting theirs if they will let you.
I shot my brother's Bow which is a Hoyt Ultramag.
Three days later we went to one of the best pro shops in our area and they had a 2005 UltraMag Used that was shot maybe ten times. I had them add some vapor trail strings and a Cobra Sidewinder LX. All this came out to be about 500 bucks.
I could not be happier with my bow, as with everything else there are little things that I want to do here and there but there is plenty of time for that.
I personally don't like going to proshops and shooting bows, I feel pressured and don't care for that. So it was nice that my brother let me shoot his.
I am starting to ramble here and wondering if any of this will even help...
If you know anyone who has a bow, try shooting theirs if they will let you.
I shot my brother's Bow which is a Hoyt Ultramag.
Three days later we went to one of the best pro shops in our area and they had a 2005 UltraMag Used that was shot maybe ten times. I had them add some vapor trail strings and a Cobra Sidewinder LX. All this came out to be about 500 bucks.
I could not be happier with my bow, as with everything else there are little things that I want to do here and there but there is plenty of time for that.
I personally don't like going to proshops and shooting bows, I feel pressured and don't care for that. So it was nice that my brother let me shoot his.
I am starting to ramble here and wondering if any of this will even help...