I recently purchased an '08 82nd. Airborne from the classifieds here from Josh Keller. First thing I need to say is "thanks" to Josh for giving an honest description of the bow and for very fast shipping. He is a first class guy all the way.

I took the bow to a dealer about an hr. away from my home. I have been "disappointed" to say the least in our closest dealer, so I did a search on the Bowtech website and came up with the place my wife and I visited tonight. The name of the shop is Henkel's Hook & Arrow located in Carlyle, IL. From the moment we walked through the door I knew I had made the right choice. The owner, Steve, was extremely helpful and very cordial. I needed a rest and decided to go with a Hostage bow since this bow will be used mostly for hunting. After setting it up, Steve took me back to shoot through paper and through a chrono. At 61# the bow consistantly launched a 365 gr. arrow at 301 f.p.s.

I can't get over how quiet this bow is and how "shootable" it is for a speed bow. I prefer longer ATA bows and this one is no exception, it holds like a rock at full draw.I can't wait for spring turkey season to get here. I think this one will be in the stable for quite some time.

I ended up going with an HHA slider and a 10.5" Doinker to complete the set up. I will definitely be adding an Octane quiver, but I am having a hard time deciding between the one pc. or two pc.

A couple of interesting side notes. One, Steve told me that Bowtech is going to offer owners of '08 82nds. the option of sending their bows in the be upgraded to '09 specs. For $100 Bowtech will replace the roller guide, thread the rear stabilizer mount for the new style string stop, and install the new string stop. This should address the concerns of owners who had issues with the '08 roller guide/string stop. Two, I made the "mistake" of shooting an Admiral while I was there. All I can say is "WOW!" It is by far and away the most quiet, dead in the hand at the shot, bow I have ever fired.

Sorry for the long post. Here is a pic. of my "new" set up.