Buying a Longbow

Bow_hunter16 · 05-31-2007, 08:01 AM

I am currently hunting with a compound bow and would like to get into something more traditional. I heard that I should start out with a cheaper lighter bow and practice form. What do you think of www.bowstick.com? They have some fairly low priced bows there. Or do you think I should stick with Ebay? Thanks.

BobCo19-65 · 05-31-2007, 08:06 AM

Never dealt with either before. But I have had good experiences buying/selling used bows at tradgang.com.

05-31-2007, 08:51 AM

I should have took the advise on some on here. But I seem to be happy with my purchases so far. I would look at this guy

http://rudderbows.com/

Very affordable.

Bow_hunter16 · 05-31-2007, 12:02 PM

I had a look at rudderbows.com, and the bows are definitely in the price range that I had in mind. I am not sure on which one would be the best for what I would be using it for, primarily deer hunting. If you could give me some more info or tell me a little about the purchases you've made there, it would help alot. Thanks.

05-31-2007, 01:25 PM

I haven't made a purchase from rudderbows. But wished I did when getting in the sport. I thought I had to have a 600 dollar longbow when starting. I of course lost alot of money getting what I figured out I liked.

I am eyeing rudders' bamboo backed hickory right now.

Bow_hunter16 · 05-31-2007, 03:50 PM

What is your oppinion on their hickory backed bows? Would it be reliable and accurate?

Bow_hunter16 · 05-31-2007, 04:22 PM

have you heard of http://www.wolf-archery.com? Their bows are also reasonably priced, I wondered how they compared.

05-31-2007, 05:10 PM

I have seen some of his bows for sale before. Never handled one. They look to have a deeper shelf than rudder bows, which might make them easier to find a good spined arrow for. With these wood bows, seems every one of them is totally different. Also seems the wolf migh be easier to start out on with teh pistol grip. Traditional straight gripped longbows can be tough for some to hold.

I used to think I wanted a solid hickory bow, but performance is lacking. I have seen some nice bamboo backed bows that shot well however.

Bow_hunter16 · 05-31-2007, 05:43 PM

There are several different opptions for the wolf bows. If you have a chance, would you take a quick look at http://www.wolf-archery.com/longbows.html
and tell me which one you think would be the best? It looks like the same design, only different woods. Thanks.

LBR · 05-31-2007, 07:17 PM

Here's my opinion, for what it's worth. Wet your feet with a good used recurve. You can generally get a good (maybe old, but good shooter) recurve for the same or less than a cheap longbow. I've yet to find a cheap longbow that I'd reccomend.

All wood bows have their place--I have one, compete with it, and really like it, BUT....like wood arrows, they require a bit more understanding and may be a bit more than you want to deal with starting out.

In my experience, and from talking to several selfbow fanatics, the dang things are picky and have a break-in period where the tiller may change quite a bit (rendering earlier tuning useless, maybe even requireing re-tillering).

There's a lot of great longbows on the market, and some can be had for a lot less than others, but I don't know of any I'd call both "good" and "cheap". That's coming from a guy that's shot longbows almost exclusively for the last dozen years or so.

Chad