Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Bowhunting Working my way back

Was up north this weekend and realized how much I missed bowhunting.

When I was a kid - was almost a religion to me. Hunted with my Darton Trailmaster every chance I could. Went from that to a Matthews SQ2. Got out of it for a while and then went to the Reflex (Hoyt bargain brand). That was forever ago.

Used to be Hoyt and Matthews were the top 2 dogs. Still the case?

What's the hot bow these days? Not 2021 but 2020 edition - save a little cash rather than paying for "bold new camouflage' and marketing campaign.

Latest and greatest is big money these days and if you want to play that game every one or two years its gonna cost even more ( depreciation ).

Todays mid level bows are pretty sweet.

For the avg hunter of decent skill, I dunno if top end gear justifies the cost.

Hell, even for the really good shooters....I dunno.

If the Hoyt Torrex had metal limb pockets Id proly go for one even if the riser isnt billet. I shoot fine but not enough to justify the expense. Proly dont need to justify a diff limb pocket material either LOL.

Buy having shot for a while one can get kinda picky, justified and not justified.

There's a lot of good bows out there - Hoyt, Mathews, Xpedition are in the top of of most ratings - Bear, PSE, Prime are there as well, YMMV.

I'd look back as far as the 2015 models - there hasn't really been a major tech jump in the last five years - IMHO.

My Mathews No-Cam HTR is not as fast as today's line-up, but it's killed what I've shot at, stays in tune, and has been a great performer.

I picked a Mathews Halon 32 this year - used, cheap, in great shape and while I like it - it doesn't kill anything deader than the HTR.

Troll Archerytalk.com
Lots of used hunting bows listed in the classifieds. The parallel limb bows of recent years are a real nice rig.

Your No Cam is also smooth. And a little spongy at start of draw....which is IMHO more pleasant to my old bones.

If you can, shoot a few different brands / styles of bow to find what feels comfortable to you. There are smooth drawing bows all the way up to harsh drawing performance bows and everything inbetween. Find what you like. Join Archerytalk, do some reading and ask questions. Dont let people like Sharp_things "limb_bender" on Archerytalk, discourage you from asking questions. From there, Id watch the classifieds and get a used year or two old bow off the classifieds. Those guys buy and sell a lot of bows. Archerytalk also has brand specific sub-forums to research deeper into the bow(s) you like.

Shoot everything you can get your hands on before you decide. Currently shooting a Bowtech but Mathews puts out a great bow still. Hoyt isn't for me but can't knock the quality.

I agree!

In my opinion, Mathews and Hoyt are still top shelf. But there are other brands that are quite good.
Couple suggestions, go to a pro shop and shoot new and/or used bows and pick one that feels best to you.
Secondly, bows these days are a lot more efficient than years ago, so real high draw weight is not necessary for any game in North America. A 60 pound peak draw weight will do it all.
Good luck.

I'm doing the same thing. Except I never sold my Matthews. I still have it. It still shoots the same. It's not as fast as my sons new Diamond Pro...but I don't think the deer will care.

I have my set at the 60# max with 100gr tips/broadheads and I'm still shooting 260 fps. I'll take it.

Haven't bowhunted in 6-7 years but I do miss it. Looking forward to it when the weather and fishing cools off a bit here.

Not shot it much but am not displeased w my Hoyt Torrex.
Maybe overpriced for what it is.

Mine is set at 58# and 28" DL.
Arrows are 500 gr.
I dont think it a speed demon compared to other compounds

Itll kill deer fine.

I bought a bear species ld $ 499. I put an ez sight on it. With a big peep and this new sight I can shoot a compound bow again. I was using a crossbow. I know there are a lot of good crossbows out there. It seems around here they are all the rage. To me they carry like a club. Good luck on your adventure.

Teal, you can hardly go wrong with a decent bow. If you want a good bow for reasonable, a Mission bow is very good . Many say it's a "good " bow for the price. Not true, they are just good bows. I had one for 7 yrs. Two yrs ago I got a Mathews Avail. The reason was, cause I went from 232 fps at 56 lbs with my Mission to 252 fps @ 52 lbs. That might not sound like much , but that 4 lbs when I am half frozen in a treestand makes the different between being able to pull the arrow back and not. My rotator cuffs are so shot , that I shot 6 arrows about 1 hr. ago and after the 6 th shot I stopped cause I could feel the rotator cuffs getting a weird feeling. I did shoot 6 arrows in 3" @ 23 yds. however. Noew bows dont take that much practice, they really are forgiving. Tell us what ya get. PS, I am heading to your neck of the woods this weekend . Rapid River babay ,Big Bay De Noc might give up some big northerns for us.

I think I'm going to run my old Reflex another year - making some other changes in life right now, don't want to cough up the $$ for a new bow just yet. (Paid off my car 3 years early, I smell a massive correction coming - economically, I want to be ahead of it)

I remember looking at my Darton Trailmaster and thinking 180 fps was blistering - I'll be okay this year with the Reflex.

Good luck out of Rapid River - if you can, stop in at Rapid River Knife Works on 2 there. Great store, spent a ton of time there just looking at knives, talking and poking around at what they have. I always thought Little Bay de Noc had the capability of giving up a near record northern but then the walleye tour found it and the traffic went through the roof. Same now for small mouth fishing - lots of people.

Speed costs money, and other stuff.
Like how comfortable the draw is.
It aint just the poundage, its also how you get there.
Some bows at 60# hurt me when others at 70# are comfortable.

So definitely try before you buy.

Theyve damn near killed the vertical bow market.
Buy one w adj stock and everybody in the fam can use it.
My town was a hotbed for IBO winners.
Now we dont even have a pro shop.

Lots of good bows these days. Mathews and Hoyt are certainly top rung, there may be others on the top rung as well.
Shoot as many as you can and pick what fits/feels right for you.

I quite bow hunting in the 1970's as I moved to a state that required a choice of bow or rifle and my wifes family were all rifle hunters and it was a major family outing, everyone took off of work and spent 10days camping up in the woods. I divorce years putting together a grubstake for retirement and really getting into predator hunting. I got back in the game bow fishing to start and now looking a coyote hunting with a bow plus a Javelina hunt with a bow this year.

I started with a recurve bowfishing and advanced to Oneida powered Muzzy LVX for bowfishing. I got the itch to hunt with a bow and picked up a cheap compound and learned a lot of what I really needed. I went to a good bow shop and they set me up with a inexpensive bow that hit all my needs. A Diamond Infinite Edge Pro. I'm rather short and only have a 26" draw and I wanted something to kill smaller game(coyotes, jackrabbits and javelina) 45# is more than enough and it is easy to draw and hold.. It has been a fun journey, I built a 20 yard range in the back yard and try to shoot 100 arrows a week. For longer ranges I head out to the city park that has an archery range but you have to bring your own target.



It was pretty much wasted space in the yard, right behind me is a little 10' long leanto that I use for a fur shed and doublles as a covered shooting station.

Cool to take a wasted space and make it useful


Hank

I stopped chasing the fastest new compound and went to a longbow/recurve. I’m having more fun than ever and the bows are never “old technology” because they are all old technology