Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Bowhunting Newby....looking for a bow

The summer is coming to an end, and ive made around $1400. Im almost 17, about 6-2 and weigh about 160#. I want to start bow hunting for deer this year, or maybe next year if i dont feel capable in the amount of time remaining b/f bow season. I will be shooting 95% WTdeer, but if a hog walks out I will shoot that also.

Ive been trying to decide what to get for hunting, and my uncle reminded me that a good bow would be the most beneficial. I really dont want to spend all of my money on this one purchase. THE MOST I would want to spend to have the ENITRE bow complete how I want would be $800. (BUT THAT IS THE ABSOLUTE MOST)....I would much rather keep it around $600, but if the extra $200 really is worth it, then ill pay up.

Im thinking I will prob. get a Mathews or a Hoyt. But there are alot of other options out there.....

Accessory wise, Ive heard that a Whisker Biscuit is a must?? (i think thats the correct name?!), and I want to get a swonging pendalum sight....im not sure what else i would need as far as the bow goes?

One thing I am scared of is not being able to pull the bow back consistently and with comfort, so im really not sure how much #age i want.....probably between 45-65?

Im up for suggestions. I have no clue about bows.....to me almost all of them look the same, but im sure there are major differences.

Thanx and i hope you all can come through for me on this one!!

PM Sent.

Hard to go wrong with either a Mathews or a Hoyt. Wiskerbiscuit is good, pendalums are not. Being 6'2" and 160#, buy a 50 to 60# bow. Start out with 50# and if you find it too easy......... move up!


X-VERMINATOR

xverminator, whats wrong with pendalums??

There is more to this then just deciding you wish to become a bow hunter and dumping 800 bucks into it. It's not at all like using a gun. You may or may not like it, or the practice needed to get through the sport. Yet you will have spent 800 bucks getting into it.

One thing you will need is a target backstop as well as the shooting equipment. The "Block" is the best value because you will not likely wear it out anytime soon!

As far as bows go it's nice to hear all the hype and decide what you want before hand but you really need to shoot a bit before you spend that kind of money(in my opinion). For the money Martin makes a hella lot of good stuff and it's far more affordable. My bowfishing bow is a Martin Jaguar which you should be able to pick up on Ebay for about 200-250 bucks. You can buy one brand new for about 260-280 set up to your needs by a pro shop. They also have a wider draw weight range then most bows. You can get one from 55-70 pounds which covers everything from beginner to heavy hunting.

Yes My preference if absolutely for the wisker Biscuit and I have never even once had anything even remote done to my fletching, nor have I had to change the fletching due to the "wrinkle effect" some guys have experienced. I don't know what to say about this other then I don't know a single person using one who would switch to anything else now! It's just the most perfect hunting rest made. If there is a problem with the fletching it's because my groups are so tight that I shoot the fletching off of the arrows in such a small group!

Pendulum sights are a bit of a gimmick or maybe I should say a Specialty item that might be OK for you some time down the road. Stick with a single pin sight that has an adjusting lever. Then just select the distance and move the pin up or down to meet the need and shoot. Never any hold over, confusion about which pin to use, and never a stack of close pins blocking your view of the target.

Go to a proshop and have them set you up with your gear if possible. They can certainly walk you through issues that you will not understand at this early stage. They can solve a lot of frustration for you. I have used 3 Martin Bows in the last 25 years. I still have all three. A Warthog, a Cougar Magnum (mid/late 80's) and a new Jaguar for Bowfishing. I shoot a Mathews Legacy for big game but I have a lot of experience and shot a lot of Bows before I chose this one. Make sure you really want to do Archery before you spend 800 bucks of which 700 will be for the bow if you choose Mathews or Hoyt! I'm sure there are other good affirdable bows but this is the gear I have used myself and can offer first hand experience with.

Thanx JJhack. I understand what you are saying about spending alot of money on this, but im 100% positive im going to love this sport. Thats 1/2 the reason I hunt.....i love the challenge....hunting with a gun on a food plot is too easy....i need/want to spice it up.....also, it gives me something to do when im bored, and i love to shoot.

Thanx everyone

whisker biscuit is good, i have although had some wrinkling of my fletching, currenty using a drop away rest. i happen to like the pendulum, i guess it's what you get accustomed to. shooting a mathews now, really nice bows. don't get hung up on the speed thing. get a draw weight that you can comfortably pull, and shoot accuratly. arrow placement is everything. cabelas has a new peep sight that clamps on the string, no need to separate the string to install. they work great. i did the carbon arrow thing, then came back to aluminum. i totally agree with the one sight pin thinking. practice at different ranges and figure out your comfort zone. just something i've learned also, i no longer take shots at dark or close to dark. that's a little different than gun hunting, but i'll force myself to leave the tree when i feel good tracking light is gone. i'm one that follows up on the blood trail fairly quickly (10-15 minutes) so i won't shoot if it's going to be dark in 20 minutes. all these are just my preferences and observations from about 25 years of hunting, and countless bucks. and does for that matter. at any rate, good luck, bowhunting is great. usually the deer aren't spooked yet and the weather isn't brutally cold.

Probably nothing................I just don't like moving parts on a hunting rig. I like to lock stuff down and then forget about it. When the time comes to make a shot on game the last thing I want to think about is wether a friggin pendalum is "pendaluming" <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> properly!


X-VERMINATOR

check out www.archerytalk.com they have a ton of info there as well as a classified section where you can pick up some great deals. I just bought my Switchback off of someone there and saved about $200.

I went to the pro shop today.....what do you think about the Hoyt UltraMag for $419? (Also, It has to be lefthanded)......(the shop doesnt have mathews)

Doesn't matter what I think. Hoyt makes a good bow. How does it shoot for you?

good answer, what we think is not relevent. How it fits you and feels in your hands plust your ability to shoot it is what really matters. At 6'2" don't short change yourself with too light a draw weight. Get one that adjusts from 60 to 70 that is the most popular and probably the most functional range. Unless you can find 55-70!

Don't let a salesmen set you up with a "deal" on a bow that is only 50-60 pounds because he can't sell it. 60 pounds is OK but I promise you at your age and height a bow that goes to 70 pounds will really do what your looking for in a big way as you get better with it. You can always leave it at 60 but having room to crank up is always a benifit as you get better with it.

I would second most of what JJHACK has said. I would also recomend talking to other local archers,that have been at it a while, and find out who really is the best pro shop in your area. We have one in this area that has been at it a long time and has a very good reputation by people that don't know any better. For your first bow stay with a pro shop to help lessen the learning curve of set-up and form. Shoot as many different bows as you can and pick the one that feels best to you. A good pro shop will encourage you to do this, a bad one may try to steer you toward the brand that he makes the most on. The one place that I do differ from JJ is the single pin adjustable sight. I do not know how good you are at judgeing distance or if you will be using a range finder, but I prefer 3 or 4 fixed pins. To me it is easier to shot the gap if I'm wandering if it's 34 or 36 yards.To each his own.
Don't get caught up in the brand name thing Hoyt, Mathews,Bowtech,PSE, etc. With todays bow there really isn't a bad choice of equipment (my flame suit is on) just that some may be a better choice for you and your style. On that note I will say that at least in this area Mathews does seem to have a better resale value with Bowtech a close second, but anyway you slice it a bow isn't a very good investment. Once it's used value drops drastically.
Good luck and good shooting,
Dave.

Yep a good used bow is probably worth about 1/2 (or less) on avearage of what it was new. I would agree that Mathews seems to hold the value a bit better though. Looking over the used bows at another archery site and on Ebay it seems newer model Mathews are still rather expensive even when used.

As far as the single pin goes I only use this with a rangefinder. I agree the guess work at various ranges would be much to hard. I typically leave that single pin at 25 yards and have only plus minus 3" from 10 yards to 30 yards. That works perfect as a default. When I set up a stand I range the area to get pre-measured ranges. When stalking I only carry my rangfinder and can quickly measure adjust the pin and shoot. Often I cannot see the anmal when stalking but I can hear it. I will usually look through the rangefinder as a monocular to help pick it out. I also click the distance to the expected location. This measure and shoot technique has worked very well for me.

Even without a range finder the single pin/ multi pin sight have the exact same issue. You have to estimate the range and pick the proper pin on the "multipin" or move the lever up or down with the single pin to the proper range setting. My HHA single pin sight has a lever that slides that single pin up or down with no effort and is marked every 5 yards from 10-70 yards. To shoot at 37 yards all that is needed is to split the difference beteen the 35 and 40 yard marks. It's a no guess work system the never blocks the target with a stack of pins and never lets you choose the wrong pin when in a hurry.

Everyone has their own comfort level. I hate string peeps, especially those with the silly rubber shock cord. I have never seen a more undependable level of dangling bush catching crap on hunting equipment. I prefer single pin adjustable sights too. Others I know use both and have great success. We eash have a level of patience and comfort. The main reason you really have to try several bows before you buy one. I'm guessing you will also have a tackle box full of crap you have tried and did not like a year after you buy this new bow! With the internet now you should be able to buy used sights and misc. stuff much cheaper to try it out. I know I have loaned and given stuff away to my friends to try before they buy thier own. I'll bet that I have 5 complete sights here at my house right now. I have 4 bows, two which I use regular and one as a spare. The 4th is a very old Martin Warthog and just waiting for a new owner to take it away.

I'm also in the market for a bow, and have a few comments to make. First off, if you are just now buying a bow, please don't plan to hunt with it this fall. Give yourself a solid year of practice to know what you can and can't do with a bow. A few months is not enough time to be ready to hunt big game with a bow. Spend this fall hunting small game, it'll make you a better hunter and archer.

As far as cost, I figure a bare bow will require an additional ~$400 for rest, sights, release, airows, tips target etc. One of the better deals out there is the Bowtech Tomkat, if it shoots well for you, but you're still looking at around $600 and change to put on whisker biscuit, add a release, arrows etc.

Don't try to start off with a #60 bow, recurve or compound.

Consider getting a reasonable takedown with two sets of limbs. I recommend the Jeffery custom, under $300.00. This bow has won many championships.

Get a set of 30 or 35-lb limbs and a set of matching arrows for practice. This is light enough for you to build correct form and get in a lot of shooting.

Don't try to build strength off the bow.
Buy a set of dumbells, and do slow, controlled bent over rows, supporting yourself on a bench, with lots of warmup, for 10 reps per set. I am 55 years old, use a 55# recurve, and do rows with 35, 45, 60, 75, 90 and 110 lbs in each hand.
Pulleys seated from a bench are great.
A single pulley in your draw hand with a bow-handle sized pipe for your bow hand is even better.
Remember, you have to build up triceps strength to match your pulling strength.

After you get the form down, use the light bow for some field archery, rowing, stump shooting, and small game hunting, like rabbits. Rats are good with blunts if you have access to some urban areas. Baited pigeons on the ground from a blind or tree stand are good practice for deer, if that is legal.

After you have it down, and have the strength, buy a set of 50 or 55# limbs ( which will kill any elk, moose, black bear, hog, goat, sheep or deer).

There is alot of B.S. out there when it comes to archery. Just buy the bow that feels comfortable to you. Pay close attention to the draw cycle and how easily you can hold steady at full draw.

Here is where I got to dissagree with JJ. Though I respect him tremendously, don't try to shoot too much pounadage. With todays technology a 60# bow will shoot plenty fast and have plenty of St$t to take any game in NA. The key is to be able to shoot it accurately.

It is well known that bows perform best when maxed out. If a #60 bow is within factory spec, most will max at 62 to #64..................plenty of bow for what ever walks in NA.

I say [email]Fck[/email] lifting wieghts in order to get used to a bow. If you want to get in shape, lift weights. If you want to learn how to shoot then shoot. Buy the friggen 50 to #60 version and shoot the damn thing untill you get used to it. Lifting weights never made me a better shot but shooting a bunch with a comfortable bow did...................some peoples mileage will no doubt vary.

BTW, shoot your butt off and by all means hunt with it this fall!



X-VERMINATOR

Goose,

I agree with the guys on this post. Get a bow that you feel good with. I too am left handed, and finding a good bow is hard to do.
Martin has a lot of good bows, as does PSE, hoyt, Bow tech and Golden Eagle. Either way you go you won't go wrong As long as you like the feel of the bow.
I would also say to get a bow that can reach 70#. Start off with say 60#'s and just increase the weight as your muscles adjust to the pull of the bow and the weight of the bow. Lifting weights will help a little, but when you pull a bow you use different muscles than you do when lifting weights. Shooting your bow will strengthen you enough. It is easier to grow into a bow than out of a bow and have to get a new one. With all this new technology, pulling 70 is almost nothing.

I keep my setup pretty basic: 3 pin sight, whisker Bisket rest, 5 arrow quiver, 4 inch stabilizer, string leaches, peep sight, string loop for my release. I shoot Carbon/graphite arrows with 100 grain tips.
My old bow shoots 258 FPS (chronoed) and yet it has taken elk sized game with no effort.

Good luck with your new bow hunt. Let us know what you get and how it shoots.

Enrique

Most men shoot a 45 to 52-lb recurve bow in Olympic archery at a 80 cm bullseye 70 meters away. It it was advantageous to shoot heavier bows, they would.

There are lots of good vintage target bows for sale cheap in the 40-lb range. It is dumb to make the decision from an armchair to buy an expensive heavy bow that you cannot yet handle, when you can buy a proven bow, use it for 6 months, and get 95% of your money out of it.