needabow

The wife finally grew tired of playing with the dog at the park while I went to the archery range, and now she wants in. We went out looking yesterday and found a couple of bows that are suited well for her. My concern is that of buying something of good enough quality that it will be a pleasure to shoot for her.

Two of the youth bows we looked at are the Alpine Micro and Browning Adrenaline. She is petite and not all that strong - can pull ~35lbs. She couldnt draw 40 at the store, but I am not sure if that is because she was nervous (being her first time shooting a bow) or if she really could not do it.

I couldnt find any stats on the alpine micro as far as speed ratings, but the browning is a surprising 280fps at 50# and 27" draw, which is actually pretty respectable. My other thought was to ditch these 'youth' bows and instead look at getting her a Bowtech Miranda which is pretty similar to my Tomkat. All the bows mentioned are light and fairly inexpensive, but the Miranda has a MUCH more generous brace height. Anyone have an opinion?

The other finding is that she is R-handed but truly L-eye dominant. I unfortunately share that trait with her, but I haev already gone down the path and bought a R-handed bow. She has a hard time mentally forcing herself to close the L-eye, and this explains why she looks so damn funny trying to shoot a scoped rifle: She is trying to look down the scope with her L-eye! Is it hard to adjust to shooting a L-handed bow as a R-handed person?

We used to argue a bit about how much time and money I spend at the range and on gear, so I really want this to go over well. I was pretty surprised when she expressed interest on her own, as I never even tried to push it on her. For those of you that have been there before with your spouses and/or kids, please share your wisdom

Paul L Mohr

I bought an Alpine Micro for my girlfriend and she seems to like it. She even picked it out. It shoots pretty well, but like you said it is not the best bow on the market. However it was only 190 dollars. If you want better you need to jump up to the 300-400 dollar mark or higher.

Hers is set up at 30 lbs of draw at 25 inches of draw length. It will shoot a 286 grn 1813 aluminum jazz arrow at 189 fps. I would like to know what weight arrow was used with the browning to get 280 fps. I have a bowtech mighty might that has an IBO speed of 322. At 26 inches of draw and 51 lbs I get 244 fps with a 315 grn arrow. If you buy a browning I would not expect to see numbers any where near that with your wifes set up.

Does the speed matter that much though? What is she intending on doing with it? Is she going to hunt or shoot 3-D competively? If not I would not worry about the speed, it has nothing to do with how well she can shoot the bow or how much fun you can have with it. If anything some of the faster bows might be harder to shoot.

We looked at a hoyt rintec when we were shopping and it is a great little bow! As would be the bowtech you are talking about. The rintec was 299 at my shop, and I don't know what the miranda goes for. They also have a rascal I believe which I think they said was around 400, I could be remembering it wrong though.

How much money are you looking to spend and how serious is she about it? There are a few really nice bows that would fit her rather than going the youth bow route. They just are not very inexpensive is all. I would suggest going with the alpine or a genisis to begin with. And in a few years if she is really into it throw down the cash for something nicer.

The parker challenger is another good bow for you to look at. Or even a genisis Pro.

I would probably get her a 40 lb peak weight bow and turn it all the way down to begin with. My girlfriend struggles a little with 30 lbs on her bow.

Look at this link.

Another link.

Good luck with what ever you decide. Just make sure she is happy. I would have picked the rintec hands down if it was my choice, but my girlfriend liked the alpine. She shot the browning as well.

Paul

Lady Arwen

The advice I am going to give is just based on my own experience. I think that an Alpine or the Browning would be a good choice because they leave a little room for experimenting when it comes to draw weight and length. Of course if they aren't comfortable for your wife then keep looking. I don't like the Genesis because from what I understand it doesn't have a solid wall which can lead to all sorts of frustrations when you don't anchor the same every time. For a small framedwoman just starting out I don't see how you can go too wrong with the youth bows. If she eitherdoesn't like archery or decides she does like it and wants to upgrade you haven't spent too much money and should geta decent amountback on resale anyway.I'm probably gonna get yelled at here, butI'm not sure a new shooter is going to notice the difference between the starter bow and a bells and whistles bow anyway.

Wapiti Slayer

I have just run into the same problem. She got tired of keeping score for the kids and myself and wants to start shooting. Like you, my wife is left eye dominate, right handed and can only pull a 35-40 lb bow right now, however her draw length is 29"( she's 5'11), which eliminated alot of bows. I finally ordered a Bowtech 50#, LH, Liberty.I shouldreceive it this weekend.I figure with it turned down, it will bottom out @ around 38#. She should be up to the mid 40's after a little shooting.Part of my thinking in getting her a higher end bow, was that she would have a solid, quality bow which would aid in her enjoyment of shooting and if one day she decides that it is not for her, I can put stronger limbs on it and still getdescent resale value from it.

PABowhntr

I think the Miranda would be an excellent bow for her. You are correct in your summation of the potential forgiveness factor. Many times bow manufacturers utilize shorter brace heights on their "kids and women's" bows in order to continue to post higher speed ratings. Though BH doesn't have as much of an effect on a shorter draw length, IMO, it still can make shooting errors worse.

Good luck and let us know what you end up with.

mobow

Take her to the shop and shoot them all. Even though bows are marketed "youth" and "Ladies" I would truely suspect any shorter a-t-a bow could be made to fit her perfectly.
As for the eye dominance issue, have you tried placing a patch over her left eye?

Paul L Mohr

I agree with you Lady Arwen, that was one of the reasons we got the alpine. I was not sure if the price for a more expensive bow was a good investment at the time. And the less expensive ones do not really shoot any less accurate than the ones for 3 times the money. They can all be shot well.

By the way, the Genisis Pro has an adjustable draw stop and a higher poundage.

Most of the youth bows have a lower brace height because of the shorter draw lengths. At shorter draws a smaller brace height is not that difficult to shoot well. I'm not saying a larger one wouldn't be better though. Honestly I would have liked to see my girlfriend shooting a heavier bow with at least 37 inches of axle to axle and around 8 inches of brace height. However I didn't see any bows that fit that bill for under 600 bucks. If money was not an object I would have gotten her a pure target bow, but I'm poor.

I agree with the eye patch idea. I was going to suggest that as well but forgot.

Paul

The Rev

I agree with Mo. take her to a bow shop and let her pick what fits her. Like a good pair of shoes, even if they are the best, they won't do,if they don't fit.