give me some tips.
 

I have been in the market for a bow. None of my friend or family are bow hunters. Can you give me some tips on buying a bow. what should i be looking for, what should I look out for. Should I get carbon arrows or aluminum. Overdraw or not. I will be hunting mostly in northern Minnesota. Any help i can get would be great

RE: give me some tips.
 

jklein:
You will see many people posting here, that reccomend you buy the bow that feels best to you. I have to agree. find a couple of reputable proshops in your area (I drove as far as 50 miles to find mine), that carry a good variety of brands.

Any competent proshop will encourage you to shoot as many bows as possible, and help you keep track of which ones are which, and how you felt about them.

Be sure to look at BowTech, Parker, and Mathews, as they seem to be top brands, and all shoot exceptionally well.

I've also heard from a lot of hard core Hoyt fans on these boards, so I'd have to say that they must be pretty good bows, though a little heavy for my taste (anything 4 lbs or over is more than I want to lug up a mountain after sheep. Mine weighs in at 3.6 lbs).

The four most important things to look for in a bow, are smooth/quiet shooting, weight, accuracy, and finally, speed.

Many of today's shorter bows offer all of the above, plus are easy to move around in heavy cover. The down side is that they may be a little less forgiving.

The easy way to find out if a short bow is for you, is to see if you can shoot one with any degree of accuracy.

You don't need to be splitting knocks right off the bat, but they should at least be able to group a few arrows in about a 3-6 inch circle.

Good luck in your quest.

Thane

<img src=icon_smile_tongue.gif border=0 align=middle> If You Ain't Hunted Alaska, You're Still Just Practicing <img src=icon_smile_tongue.gif border=0 align=middle>

RE: give me some tips.
 

There are a lot of other good brands too, so don't quit with the short list given above. Also look at PSE, Darton, etc etc. Pull it, shoot it and find what you like that feels right. Of all the questions ask I'll just answer one. You don't need an overdraw for hunting. The couple feet per second faster speed you get from one is sacrificing something else. Shorter lighter arrows translate to more bow noise, more wear and tear on the bow and a setup that's just a little more finicky to shoot. MHO

RE: give me some tips.
 

jklein..those other guys are right on the money,find a good pro shop, one you feel comfortably with and go from there. Like the other guys said don't worry about speed right now.
Trust me that will all come later as you become more addicted to this madness.
I would stay with alum. arrows just my preference, and stay away from real radical cams for a beginer. Welcome to this twisted state of mind we lovingly call bowhunting.

RE: give me some tips.
 

ya if you make it to St Paul much swing by the Compound Dr. in White Bear Lake...ask for Mike, tell him his nephew from ak sent ya! Bwana in Lil Canada is also a great place..I think John Jr is in charge now and his parents are helping out, either that or they are working the other store, not sure though.

Best advice I can give is shoot as much and as many different bow-arrows-setups as you can. Dont buy because one says something about it as I may love it and you may hate it. Mike can hook you up, they have plenty of bows set up that you can shoot!

I dont know of anything north of Forest Lake, there used to be one in Wy, last I heard it went under and it looked like it was a pet store/hospital now....? Still water has/had a shop also. Nothing in Hincley. Possibly Pine City, been awhile since I went through town. Shoot a nice big doe out by cloverdale last fall...anyways enough ramblin. Nice to see more Minnesoootans on <img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>!