I had an opportunity to shoot one of my old bows that I sold to a friend about 2 years ago. It was an interesting experience. The bow is a Darton Model 45, with Darton' s magnesium high energy wheels. It also has a cast magnesium riser. Totally obsolete equipment!
Well, we shot some at my friend' s place, and the bow was quiet enough to hunt whitetail for sure. My friend hadn' t shot for a while, so I was helping him get things dialed in, form wise. I let him shoot Frankenstein for a while, and I shot the old Darton. It was shooting pretty well, not bad speed, and not much noise. My friend was curious about the Whisker Biscuit rest I was using, and I offered to let him try one to see how he liked it. I took the bow home, and installed the rest, and made two small adjustments to get bare shafts, fletched field points, and broadhead arrows to shoot in a very tight group, then shot a few groups that were darn close to what I have been shooting with my Bowtech. I came away wondering a little how far ahead I really have gotten. Don' t get me wrong, I really am impressed with my Bowtech, and my other two bows are quieter than this old Darton when shot in my basement, but I' d bet I could hunt for quite a few years with this bow, and not really suffer too much. I wonder if anyone else has had a similar experience.
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The difference between genius and insanity is that genius has its limits!
That " Darton" may be an earlier compound, but definately not obsolete, nor " totally" obsolete.
Diecast magnesium risers are heavier, but usually quieter. Such risers were commonly a " deflex" riser and often less sensitive to form errors than a machined alum. with a " reflex" riser.
After years of advanced technology with bows and gear, deer hunting is still a close contact sport with the average kill yardage being 5 to 23-yards, with limited number of shots being taken the entire season....the same as it has been for many years.
Great post JOE PA.
I had a slightly similar but opposite experience.
After moaning and growning about my bowtec giving me fits for weeks (until I made my own 29.5" module out of a 30" module-2002 model). I finally grabbed my 6 year old mathews and flung some arrows through it. What a difference.
When I first bought the bowtec and was shooting them back to back the mathews still felt great to me and made me wonder why I spent $600 on a new bow. But after 2 or 3 weeks of strictly shooting the bowtec And then picking the mathews back up I could definately tell a difference in bows. The bowtec just felt a lot smoother. I' m sure it' s not a brand thing as any new bow should feel better than a 6 year old bow, but at first I couldn' t tell a big difference between the two.
Maybe it' s the alpine glide slide I put on my mighty mite, sho is smooth drawing it now!!
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Disclaimer- I am not now, nor ever have been a paid bow technician, any advice given is just my opinion.
Dang...that' s not a bow that' s a broken rocking chair with a string!
I had a 97 Martin Cheetah that I sold to a buddy...I still love that bow. It' s plenty quick and plenty quiet, just a little rough around the edges. I' ll keep my Bowtech, but it' s nice to have the others to play with too.
Geez, a guy takes some time off and all the Mathews guys come out of the woodwork and start bashing Hoyt. Go figure!
Seriously though Jeff, I do not think you are very far off the mark. At some point we really have to ask ourselves how much some of the recent advances really benefit us to any signficant extent. I, for one, would be willing to bet that I could still shoot one of my old Martin' s with very similar overall performance to what I am shooting now....
....just a heck of alot slower because of all the string silencers I had installed to quiet it down....and with a bit more recoil since the limbs release more forward than up and down...
joe, good post as well, had an old bear compound, that was loyal for many years
and alot of venison, discided to up grade couple year' s back, solo cam, split limb' s
high letoff, well you know, thought I would keep the old bow for a backup,
after 3 season' s with the new bow, and 2 P&Y buck' s, discided to shoot the old one,
couldn' t hit the broad side of a barn, felt like trying to write my name backword' s
with my left hand it was a total shock, gave it to a newbie
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Blast from the past!
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