I've always been a gun hunter. My friends are alwasy telling me about how much fun they have bow hunting. I know it's late in the season, but I'm going to get going before long. How about some advice on a good setup. I'll spend some $$, so long as it's not too much

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Well as far as I'm concerd there is nothing better than bowhunting. I have loaned a bow to a friend to see what he thinks, but told him to buy one alot more forgiving. I would sugest fing a good bow shop that would let you try diferent ones out and then buy a cheaper one (meant lightly) Okay forget what I said after you buy a cheaper model and rig it up you have got a ton of money tied up, why not go a step futher and get a good bow spend the money and hope you enjoy it as much as the rest of us do. I shoot a High Country Carbon 4 Runner but that doesn't mean it will feel right for you. If you enjoy hunting and you like a challenge give it try, there is nothing like it.

First of all, bows need to be precisely fitted to your draw length and weight. If you don't get those right, your accuracy will suffer.

If you know your propper draw length and weight, you can pretty much order a bow out of a magazine if there aren't any good pro shops in the area or if you want to save money.

I once was told of a way to get your propper draw length measurement. If I remember corectly, it goes like this.
-Put your hands flat together and extend your arms out away from your body.
-There is a "v" in the bone between colar bones in the base of your neck.
- Take a yard stick, and rest one end in the "v" at the base of your neck, and hold it between your extended hands.
-Your draw length will be where the tip of your middle finger indicates.

That ought to give you your draw length. Now as for draw weight, go draw your friend's bows to give you an idea of what you can comfortably draw. It is important that you don't get too heavy of a draw weight because your accuracy will be impacted. Don't worry about penetration because a 45 pound bow will get a complete pass through on whitetail deer size game. Just get a draw weight that you can comfortably draw and hold for a couple minutes. I've heard stories of guys who ran up a hill after animals and didn't have the strength afterwords to draw their bow. I guess their draw weight was too much.

Next thing you need to decide on is if you want to shoot high speed light arrows, heavy arrows, or mid-weight arrows.

Personally I prefer mid-weight arrows. I get about 220 fps and my first pin is good out to 20 yards 2nd is 25, 3rd is 30yards. Fairly simple. The Easton Hunting Arrow Shaft Interactive Selection Chart at http://www.edersbow.com/catalog/easton_chart.htm and that will give you a good mid weight shaft size.

So what are you looking for? A high speed / high tech set-up, a finger shooter set-up? A a mid weight simple-but-accurate set-up with sights and release aid?

I like PSE bows but the Reflex Prowler is also a good bow. In the Cabelas Archery Catalog, The Prowler comes with a package for $269 wich includes the bow, quiver, arrow rest, Sights, peep sight and more. It's a good finger shooter set-up but any arrows you get should have feathers instead of fletching because the type arrow rest that comes with it doesn't allow for perfect fletching clearence. The AMO Speed rating is 226 fps which is pretty fast. That is the speed you will get if you use the arrows suggest in the Shaft selection chart linked above. With light carbon arrows, you can get 293 fps with this bow but if you plan to do that, you would also have to get a different arrow rest. To start out in archery, you would probably be looking at around $300.

If you want to be as accurate as possible, your gonna want an arrow rest that allows for perfect fletching clearence, a release aid, and a peep sight.

My friend has that bow and it is fairly quiet, fast and is a good bow for the price. There are many cheeper bows out there but that bow is a good one. You can order bows right off the internet too from Cabelas, bass proshops and other online archery catalogs.

All you need to know is your draw length and draw weight. Some people don't like to buy a bow unless they can hold it and shoot it to compare how good it is so if there is a good archery stores that you have access too, it might be better to buy from them.

You won't be able to hunt this season because archery takes some practice. Thousands of shots.

You could always just start off with a traditional bow too. They take much more practice to achive great accuracy but they are simple. Low end Take down recurves aren't too pricey either. And the satisfaction you get from taking an animal is much greater. And they are fun to shoot. I like to roll tagets with my foot and shoot them as they roll away.



Nic

I've been using a PSE Nova. It's a low end Bow made by PSE, I think I paid a package price of about 240.00 I kill deer with it and have no complaints. As long as it shoots an arrow and you can hit your target thats all that matters. I know some people that spend over 500.00 just for a bow. Not necassary. Maybe in the future if you start getting picky.

Take a look at the "Bow Comparison Guide" and "Compound Bow Selection Guide" on this site...very informative.
http://www.huntersfriend.com

Trushot }}------>

Thanks for all the good information!!! I've since visited a local store where they sell sporting goods (Galyans). I normally don't by anything there because they are more expensive, but wanted to stop in to see how helpful/knoledgable there staff was. To my surprise the fellow that I spoke to took plenty of time to talk to me. I left without a bow only because I want to read some more reviews before I make any decisions + gun season is coming up the week after next ;-).

I think youstarted in a good place but I wouldn't buy my first bow from a {chain store} Find a good pro shop and they will set you up right the first time and probably let you try out several bow till you find one you are comfortable with and that fits you right. One more thing don't try and be macho and buy a high poundage bow you won't like it in the long run buy one in the 60 pound range Good luck

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My nephew just got into bowhunting this year and he bought a HighCountry Powerforce and for around $400 you can get a fully rigged bow with carbon arrows.I read in one of the bowhunting magazines I forgot which one but it said that for the money, this is the best bow out there. I shot it myself and I think it is a great bow for a beginner or an experienced archer. I may be wrong but once you start bowhunting you will never look back. GOOD LUCK