Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Bowhunting New Bows

Hello everyone one of my NCO's told me about these forums so I thought I'd come join you all. I have been a hunter, fisher, and shooter of both guns and bows my whole life curtousey of my father and grandfather. I am currently on my first deployment to Afghanistan, however I am stationed in Anchorage, AK, but I maintian residency in AZ for all of the incredible hunting that is there! I have only ever used Archery as a method of hunting with the exception of varmint hunting when I use guns to take out them yotes. Currently my bow of choice is an 08' Mathews Drenalin. I love how smooth and quiet it is. The only thing it lakes is some speed. Currently getting about 267 with my Aramid KV arrows.I have owned bowtech and hoyt and love their bows also. Being in Afghanistan its just about impossible to go try new bows. By the time I get back all of the 2013 bows will be out and I will still have to go try out a whole bunch of bows but am hoping to get a little ahead in my search. From all of your perspectives ( please no brand bashing) what do you guys feel is superior to the drenalin and will give me the same smooth pull and quiet release while adding a bit more speed. I am Left handed with a 28"draw. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Bowtech Insanity and Invasion.


For the last 6 or 7 years, I have been a Bowtech shooter. I've convinced everyone I shoot 3Ds and hunt with to shoot Bowtech too. I shot Dartons for over 20 years and woke up one day and realized my new bow looked exactly like my old bow. Son of a gun, it looks like my bow before that too. Why am I buying new bows? I bought a Switchback. I had problems with it. Four or five trips back to the dealer to get it fixed and I made him buy it back. I met a pro who told me that going to Bowtech will get me 30 feet per second more than any competitor's bow. Feature for feature. I switched from the Switchback at 270fps to a Allegiance at 298fps at the same poundage, same arrows... He was right and has been my pro for the last 6 years. I have brought him a dozen guys and he takes care of all of them.

In my group, we have two Invasions, two Destroyers, two 82nd Airbornes, three 101st Airbornes, and one Tribute.

I've owned an Allegiance, General, and 101st Airborne. I was going to get a new bow this year, but they didn't have a new bow for long armed guys. My pro said maybe this year. I bought a PSE Vendetta in the mean time. I shot it for a couple months and gave it to my Brother. Nice bow, nice features, but slower. I had to crank it up to 70 pounds to get 270fps out of it. My 101st shoots 280 at 60 pounds. It'll be another Bowtech or bust. The new bow, the Insanity is similar to the Invasion and it comes in an XL longer version. Two more weeks of deer season here, and I will own the bow.

Bowtech has impressed me over the years for changing designs and trying new things. In the last 2 years, they have completely redesigned models the Specialist, Invasion, and now Insanity from the ground up. Laminated carbon limbs, new cams, cable guards, and totally new geometry. My friend's Invasion is the fastest bow I've ever shot and it is smooth and absolutely quiet. Just a little "plick" and the arrow is gone.

You should talk to Bob at Bob's gun and archery in Webster, Massachusetts. He is my pro and knows more about bows than anyone I've ever met. My friend Rick was the archery pro for the shop I grew up in, and he also has never seen anyone like Bob.

http://bobsga.com/

First of all you have to realize that IBO ratings are crap. What a bow does with your arrow is what it will do. It reminds me of the horsepower ratings on V-8 engines in the 60's. Everyone is rating speed by an unrealistic measure.

I had a Drenalin when they first came out, then 2 years later went to the Z-7. This year I got the Mathews Heli-M and they are all improvements of the Switchback which is still a fine bow. If you like your Drenalin, you will love the Heli-M. I have mine set at 65# and get about 280 FPS with my hunting arrows.

The Heli-M is the smoothest draw out there, quiet and light, weighing only 3 1/2 pounds. Any advantage any bow might have in velocity isn't enough to keep a deer from jumping the string, and I doubt that would be the case as the Heli-M is quiet.

Get one and you won't be sorry.

Im still shooting my 2002 Legacy, so cant comment on the new ones. But I would like to thank you for your service and welcome you to the fire. Appreciate it!

I have been reading alot about the Helim and the hoyt vector 32, the new elite and the new bowtechs and surprisingly the new Bear. Definatly cant wait to be able to try out some new toys!

Thanks for your service to our country-----BE SAFE

I bought my first bow last year and bought a Bowtech Assasian that was all set-up and really like it, shot a bunch of deer with it this season,I picked up a new 2011 Hoyt Carbon Element on close-out this December and haven't got to shoot it a whole lot yet but that thing seems nice and smooth and quiet. Haven't got rid of the bow-tech yet either though! I think I will really like the Hoyt once I get to shooting it more

The question you are asking is only going to net you others opinions. You really need to shoot them all and decide for yourself which feels the best to you. I know it may sound harsh but it is the only honest answer to your question.

+1

Just need to see what you like better than your current Mathew's

Not sure how you define smooth but i would suggest that you find an Elite dealer and give it a try.

I agree, a bunch of guys will tell you that whatever bow they happen to be shooting at the moment is the best bow under the sun until they buy something else then it will be the bow to die for (the only bow made in their humble opinion) when I see these posts I have to laugh at their stupidity any reasonable bow shooter will tell you that there are many great bow makes and models out there and go try several out for yourself and see what you take a liking to, with the bow market flooded with great products right now you wont have any problem finding several you like..............Good luck in Afganistan and watch your azz.............Hb

Ya obviously! but seeing as how im in afghanistan for another year the only thing i can do is attempt to get some opinions from other people since there are no proshops that i know of out here in the middle of the sandbox

my internet here is extremely shotty and 99% of the time i use it to skype with my wife or family so i dont have time to research whats going on too much in the archery world. that is why i asked for peoples perspective. I was asking for peoples opinions on this subject, when a lot of people give the same answer though then generally that is prolly a pretty choice to try out as a top contender. like i said i know im gonna have to try out a TON of bows when i get back to the USA in 2013 and then i will have another year to try out also, thats why i said i wanted to get a head start on seeing what people are thinking and saying is the best out there right now

HOYT Carbon Matrix if you shoot release

HOYT Vantage LTD if you shoot fingers

Dan Toelke XX Whip if your looking for a long bow

Again just my opinion for what it is worth. But I can tell you I have shot damn near them all PSE, Bowtect, Mathews, and a few others.

If you wont be back for a year the bows we are talking about now will be old news, new 2013 bows will be out by early Fall so I'd not worry about it now and wait and see whats coming if you want the latest and greatest..............Hb

I shoot a 06 Mathews Switchback XT and probably will never sell it,but I am looking hard at the Bowtech Insane
bows are a personal thing,you have to shoot several and
decide which shoots best for YOU.

First and foremost, Welcome to "the Fire", and thank you for defending our freedoms !!

I am with the others in that whatever we tell you is subjective and dated by the time you get back. There are a lot of nice bows out there now and more coming everyday.
Having said that, I never went for the "fastest bow is the best bow" ideology. I always wanted fast enough, but dead quiet. I have had great luck with Hoyts for along time now. They are not the fastest but most of them can be quieted down to minimum noise level which I feel is much more important on making a good bowshot on game. In this day of affordable rangefinders and the most accurate bows we have ever seen, pure speed is just not the most important factor.
You mention hunting in Arizona. 300fps and a noisy bow will not take more Cous Deer than a bow that shoots 270 fps and is dead quiet. Particularly if you have to shoot at longer ranges at smaller spooky targets. I discovered this hunting in the swamps of South Carolina at really spooky deer. I found that I had greater success with my recurve and heavy shafts inside 25 yards than my louder compound. Often, I was able to take a second shot on a miss or a second animal from the same group as the bow was so quiet that there was no response to the shot. The recurve also completly eliminated "string jumping" which was a real eye opener.

This is the basis of my "fast is good but quiet is better" theory. I am not alone on this, Roost495 and others will be along shortly and offer the same point of view. I am coming up on 30 years of bowhunting and competitive archery target experience so forgive me my subjectiveness as I am pretty "set in my ways". I, like you, was a bowhunter first and learned the hard way what worked and what didn't through trial and error. What works best for 3D shoots is not necessarily the best for hunting and visa/versa, IMO.

I completly agree that quiet is better, my drenalin is pretty much dead silent, just hoping to find something that is just as smooth and quite but possibly with a little more speed. You cant blame a guy for trying to find out whats going on in terms of bows even though a whole new set will be out before i get back, having a 12 hour time difference from my wife makes contact a lil hard so in the spare time i dream and think about the stuff i want when i get back

I personally don't think your missing out on much with your present setup. I shoot an '03 Hoyt Ultratec - it shoots about the same speed as you and I've killed a pile of Deer, Elk and Antelope with it. I don't care for the hard drawing speed cam profiles that are common to get the big IBO speeds. I'd rather pull a couple extra pounds on a nice drawing cam and net the same speed. I say keep what you have and spend your money on going hunting. Stay Safe and Thanks for your service.

Great advice right there centershot!