Guns, Bows, Shooting Sports, and Hunting I am now a new bow owner

[sarj]

I've been interested in a bow for a while now. I went to a fund-riser for a good 2nd-Amendment Sheriff candidate in these parts, and walked away with a new bow from a silent auction. I figured if nothing else, it's a good starting place to try my hand at it.



The bow I won was a Bowtech Captain. We have a pretty good shop a few miles from here (from where the bow was donated), and I was fixin' to to go in and get it fitted for my draw. They have an indoor range as well.



I was looking for any comments or tips for someone totally new to archery, and wondered if anyone had a line on a good archery forum where someone could get some reliable information and opinions.



Any comments or tips are appreciated.

 

[KLauber]

Is this a blowin off steam bow or a meal gittin bow? Either sounds like a good time. Keep us posted!

Cheers,
Ken

 

[sarj]

mostly target, but a couple of friends do some boar hunting, which I'd be up for.

 

[TRAMPLINEMAN]

Opinions on bows/bow accessories gets about as heated as transmission threads. My opinion to you on a sight, get a single pin adjustable sight. Don't bother with a multiple pin sight, too confusing to a newbie and harder to adjust. With a single pin adjustable sight, yardage adjustments are a snap on the fly. Very easy to understand. HHA makes a very good adjustable sight.



For an arrow rest, there are a few different options. Again, for you, I would stay away from a drop-away rest and lean toward a Hostage or a Wisker Bisket. My opinion, for a newbie the Hostage or WB is way easier to use. You place your arrow in and the rest holds it there for you. No worries about the arrow falling out of the rest as can occur with a drop-away.



You will also need a release. The release is what you use to pull the string back with. There are quite a few different style releases. I would recommend a release that you attach to your wrist and let your arm do all the pulling. With one of these there are basically two different trigger styles. There is a spring style trigger and a rocker style trigger. With the spring style trigger, the jaws of the release are always closed until you pull the trigger. Once you let off the trigger, the jaws automactically close. The rocker style trigger acts similar to a rocker switch. When the trigger is opened, it stays open until you push it back to the closed position. My opinion, go with a spring trigger, way easier to use.



HHA sights

These sights are probably the easiest to work with. To adjust, you loosen the dial on the right side the the arm and move the arm up or down. The arm has a white paper strip that you mark your yardages on. It's a piece of cake to use. My eight year old son mastered it in about an hour.



Hostage Pro

Probably the easiest to use rest you will find.



TruBall release

My wife and I both have a Sniper II and my son has a Hornet. We have nothing but good to say about these releases. Last Saturday, my son shot for 4 hours with his Hornet and never complained of any discomfort.



Congrats on the new bow!! The Captain is an excellent bow. We are a Bowtech family, we own three of them.

 

[SRath]

You will find more opinions on archery equipment and accessories than with firearms even. There is soooo much to choose from, and trial and error can be expensive.

My boys and I shoot Mathews. Bowtech makes good stuff, too, but nothing beats the real deal. The boys use the same accessories as me because that's what I bought them because that's what works for me. No other reason than that.

Our choices for reliable, easy-to-shoot equipment:

release: Scott Sabertooth. Forward-designed trigger compensates for lost draw length due to string loop. Scott quality cannot be beat.

string loop: today's short axle length bows develop severe string angles at full draw. A loop helps prevent pinch and saves your serving. Avoid the screw-on Ultra-Nock metal loops. Have an experienced technician properly fit and attach a braided loop.

rest: Ripcord dropaway. Extremely reliable. And NOTHING should touch your fletchings if optimum arrow flight is important to you. Whisker biscuits are like crude training wheels, but are popular and work better than they should most of the time, which is not good enough, imo. A Ripcord can either be easily pre-cocked with the thumb of your bowhand or left to self-cock as you draw. It, too, captures the arrow to prevent fall-off, which is NOT a problem anyway, so a Whisker Biscuit has zero advantage over it, while it has a huge one over a biscuit.

sights: Here is where you can really spend money trying to find what you like best. After 30+ years of bowhunting, I have yet to find "the perfect sight". We do like Trophy Ridge vertical, multi-pin, fiber-optic sights, though. Single pin sights, both adjustable and non-adjustable, have advantages and disadvantages. Every sight does. Just find something solid and tough with very bright pins if you plan to hunt.

arrows: Gold Tip carbons with Montec G5 broadheads are the best value and effect I have found. I don't like or trust mechanical broadheads at all. I do like arrow wraps and Blazer vanes. The wraps make refletching easy and the Blazers fly great. Just as with serious gun shooters/reloaders, building your own arrows is both satisfying and better than pre-made. Remember this name: Bitzenberger.

Overall: Keep your equipment very basic and solid. Be wary of gizmos. If you plan to hunt and really want to have year-round fun, get involved in 3D archery shoots.

 

[sarj]

I appreciate the comments & suggestions from a group of guys I trust. It didn't take much cypherin' to figure out the wrong choices on the add-ons could get expensive. I don't might spending a dollar, but I hate wasting a dime. I heard the shop I'm going to is good, but I didn't want to get sold on things that where unneccesary or overkill for a beginner. At the same time, I don't want to waste money on junk.

 

[AMink]

I don't shoot a bow, but I have a friend who is very into bow hunting. Every day, different times, different weather, different distances, he starts shooting about two months out from the season. Like firearms, a great bow will only go so far if the archer isn't up to it. It takes a lot of muscle memory. He also practices holding the arrow back for extended periods of time because he might have to during a hunt. I keep thinking about getting into bow hunting, but I have enough hobbies!

 

[MSkajem]

I have a 2009 Bowtech Admiral and I love it... Congrats to you... The Bow is addicting... Buy the best stuff you can afford for it including the arrows... good luck w it!!!

 

[mfburns]

Practice! Practice! Practice! Set up a terget in the yard and shoot every day to get the mechanics down. Feel comfortable with your equipment then you will know better what else you want to improve your skill.

 

[SHobbs]

I know that if the string gets a hold of your forearm it hurts like you know what.

 

[SRath]

It does. I've seen many erstwhile archers call it quits after getting filleted by the string just once. That is a very strong argument for learning proper shooting form in the first place; particularly the grip. That way you won't have to "unlearn" bad habits later. And an armguard is cheap insurance.



Another thing to consider is draw length. Absolutely critical. Nothing builds speed faster than an increase in draw length. Not even draw weight. However, more is not always better. I used to shoot an 80lb bow with a 31" draw and anchor back by my ear just to get that blessed speed for a flatter trajectory while target shooting. After having a few hunting shots ruined because of it, I went to a much shorter draw.



In a treestand, or on the ground, you will often (always?) have to compromise your form and twist around a bit to get the shot. The tree trunk also gives you very little elbow room behind you. You need elbow room to draw. Heavy, warm hunting clothes are bulky, and a "full wingspan" draw will cause your chest to protrude in the string's path.



So shorten that draw. Anchor at the corner of your mouth. Build your arm strength so you can arch your bow arm away from the string, especially with those bulky hunting clothes. Use an arm guard to compress that sleeve down, too. This all goes hand in hand with NOT trying to shoot too heavy a draw weight, either! Ted Nugent kills dangerous wild African game with a bow set at 60 lbs or less. Ted is a big, tall, powerfully built man and could easily shoot much higher weight. But as he says "Why sacrifice steadiness and accuracy?".



Sit on a treestand for hours in bitterly cold weather as motionless as possible. You can't feel fingers, toes, nose, ears, or even your butt anymore. After awhile, you don't even need to make an effort to "hold still"; you are frozen like a statue. Now watch that monster whitetail you have been passing up lesser bucks for all season come into your killzone. Finally! Now try to draw that monster bow with a long draw back and see what happens... If you get it back at all without audibly gasping in pain, you'll be "shakin' like a dog sh#@ing a razorblade" as my buddy likes to accurately describe it. :-laf