Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Bowhunting bow case decision

I need a new case to store my bow. Most of my hunting is done locally or I drive to to the hunt destination, so having something that is airline 'approved' is not currently a priority, but I hope to do an archery hunt our west at some point. Aside from the obvious considerations that come with a hard case vs a soft case, does anyone have any lessons learned with one or the other, or even reasons why you do or do not like a hard case or alternatively a soft case?

I've had a couple of hard cases.
Hated them..

If you have to store a bow secured at home, or are gonna put it in the back of the truck to/from hunting spot.........they're proly tolerable.
I drive an SUV..........bow goes on back seat...........no case.

I'm assuming you're shooting a compound
A soft case was all I used for years when all I did was shoot League and local 3-D.
I got back into hunting a couple years ago and these days I'll only use a hard case with the bow secured, arrows secured or in a hard case as well.
Everything for the bow in one place and nothing will get smushed if a cooler shifts or the truck or my hunt partner rearranges things while I'm bouncing into or out of camp.

I do not use any soft cases for archery equipment. I don't think they do any real protection for what is inside.

I used to strap my Blackwidow recurve to the rollbar of my CJ.

hard case, they usually afford more protection and carry arrows.............

For my trad bows its a soft case but for my compound its a hard case. Im a traveling hunter so my case has to protect my gear on flights or if its mailed, the rough handling of carriers or in the back of my truck or a trailer. I have a plain Jane Plano that I ripped all the foam out of and customized to fit my exact needs. You dont have to spend big dollars, just get a reasonably priced case and re-foam it . you can spend very little but end up with a fantastic, customized hard case.

I started with this.



And did this. When I fly or ship or drive to remote trips I pack some camo gear in the case as well to further pad my gear. You need camo shirts and even socks and briefs so use them as additional padding. (padding the bow with week old underwear and socks keeps TSA folks from spending a lot of time rifling through your gear)

Even if you dont plan to fly now, make a case capable of this level of protection just because your gear is worth it and it can be done at low cost.

SKB double-bow case is my choice.

I looked hard at the SKB single bow case, but the dimensions for the single case are only a couple inch less than the double, and the price was the same.

I do carry a back-up bow, so the extra space gets used. We've need the back-bow once, and it's 4.5 hours out of the woods one-way to anything that looks like a bow shop.

SKB has a life-time warranty for repair on their case, and they offer free coverage ($1500) for the contents if the case fails.

My current SKB case has three years of travel on it, no issues with the case or the contents.

Setch - PM me, if you get a chance.

I know folks that shoot tournaments all over the country.................they run SKB.

In the same predicament, thanks for sharing.

Had one of them Plano pillar locks for years and it seemed to do the trick. I have a SKB rifle case that has held up to airlines and such over the years, just wish the locking systems was more robust.

This is a nice setup

Thanks everyone for a couple good ideas

My hardcase rode in the pickup bed many times and held up fine, but it rode back there because it wouldn’t hardly fit in the back seat of my extended cab Chevy. A much less bulky soft case quickly became my favorite.

I had this same case. The baggage apes on Southwest managed to break 3 of the 4 clasps. I suspect part of the issue was that TSA did not secure the clasps properly after their inspection, Southwest did not notice (or care) and the clasps were torn off the case.

Next case will be a double case by SKB.