Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Bowhunting looking for a new bow, suggestions?

Hey Valad,
Wanna shoot a bow? Buy a recurve.
Wanna shoot a deer? Buy a compound!
With a compound and the normal componets you will have a front sight, a back sight, a trigger and with minimal instuction, be shooting groups at 40 yards that the recurve folks shoot at 20 - after years of practice!!!
Get real! "Go to a pro shop." Try all the bows of interest in your price range and buy NOTHING until you find the bow you want.
Hey Valad...wanna shoot a deer......? BT53

Mostly, you've received good advise. I'll add a few comments.

Everything in archery is a trade off.

Lighter is better......to a point. I have an old High Country bow that I would really like to trade as it's heavier than I want to carry and my arm tires when at full draw for an extended time. May be a little harder to hold an extrememly light bow steady (but I would like to try it <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />)

Easier to shoot a bow with longer axle-to-axle length accurately........but not as easy to manipulate in a tree stand or carrying through the brush.

Don't get a bow with the brace height too short (at one time short brace height was used to increase speed). This makes bow set up critical which in turn can affect accuracy.

Compounds are more complex (and simple is better) but shoot much faster. Faster means flatter so judging distance isn't as critical. Big deal to guess 37yds across a ravine and it's actually 27 with a slow bow (no backstraps tonight). Also, if you need to draw on an animal and hold for an extended period of time, you will appreciate the reduced draw weight the cam action breakover yields.

Quiet is a big consideration for me. Pay attention to your add-ons as they can add considerable noise. Pay attention to the noise made by the arrow sliding across the arrow rest (want backstaps tonight?) Actually shoot the bow your interested in and see how much noise it makes. (my brother's Matthew was the quietest bow I've ever heard)

I believe I would get 6 carbon arrows to start with.......3 for practice and 3 reserved for hunting (of course more if you have the money). Many folks use white fletching to help follow the flight of the arrow when shot at game which may help identify a good hit or not.

Vertical limb movement seems to be a good thing (when arrow releases, limbs move up/down instead of forward). The force from the movement of the two limbs in the opposite direction should cancel each other out and the bow will not jump in your hand as much.

All in all, something along the lines of the Matthews Legacy would be an outstanding bow. They are expensive though. I'm guessing some of the other mfgs have pretty good "copies" of that design so check out other options.

Have fun! If I had the extra dough, I would replace my bow with a Legacy.

keep it simple learn too shoot without pins or sightes a good bear or pse from ebay will do a compound bow of 70 or75 pounds will take a dear at 50 yards or more depending on how good a shot you are .
it all depends on you not how much you spend on youre bow.

One of the biggest problems I see with guys getting a first bow and sometimes, not their first, is getting more than they can handle. I don't mean how much you can pull at the shop or on the range. Try shooting at odd angle, crouched, sitting and at cold temps. If you can't sit on your butt, draw and shoot accurately at least a half dozen shots, I think your pulling too much weight. I'll admit to being a late season wimp, my favorite January bow is a Parker set at 58lbs. My normally smooth as silk, 70lb Hoyt is a bear to pull at 10 degrees.