I guess I can see what most of you guys are saying. But I guess I haven't been in the world long enough to remember 1975, or even the early 80's. I started with a Hoyt MT Sport, which I thought was HI-TECH(!!) when I started shooting. I remember bringing it home and bragging to everybody who came by the house. A lot of guys had old or older compound bows that looked archaic and like something that Robin Hood himself owned at once. Well, I thought I was the stuff and started ranting about that 'junk' that they had, and how much better my MT Sport was. We had a shooting match one time soon thereafter, let's just say I got whipped. Changed my thinking about those old 'junk' bows. I was astonished that those Bear Whitetails, Pacers etc could put arrows in the tight groups like that.

Since then I have moved on to higher end bows, mostly Hoyt, but a few Mathews, whatever feels good to me, and probably will always shoot the newer up-and-comings. But I have never lost my respect for the veterans of bowhunting and their 'vintage' equipment. As far as the higher priced bows, a well tuned $300 bow, shot by an experience archer, will kill a deer just as well as a well tuned $700 bow shot by the same fellow. If you can't shoot a bow to begin with, a $700 bow isn't going to make you a pro, 300 shooter. I think sometimes I end up paying a little more for the Hoyt or Mathews on the side of the bow than the materials that went into it. Admittedly, I like the high end bows, I'm a big fan of the Cam and a 1/2 system that Hoyt makes, but archery is my only hobby and I like to see and feel the new gear that comes out each year. Buy a new bow in January or Febuary, sell the old one on eBay in October and break even every time.

It's all in what you want to put into it. If you feel tough and dangerous carrying around the highest of the high, newest of the new bow and are willing to foot the bill - by all means go for it. That's what drives the economy. If you just want a basic, dependable bow - spend whatever it's worth to you. With practice and skill, you'll be just fine either way. But I'll never make fun of the older guys, I learned that the first time.