Ok, I've been bowhunting for 17 years and as stupid as this question is going to sound, I can honestly tell you guys, that it has never crossed my mind to dig into this subject. What does the brace height have to do with a bow and what should I know about it? I was approached by my g/f's brother about this and I had to tell him that I honestly didnt know anything about it and thinking about it, never took the time to get info on it. Again, sorry for the silly question. thanks in advance.

http://www.huntersfriend.com/bowselection.htm

I was going to say a little something about speed and forgiveness, but the explanation at that link is about the best you'll some by.

Thank you Rev!

I'm not sure brace height is as big of a factor to "forgiveness" as it used to be. The Hoyt Katera, for examply,is very forgiving - and the BH is pretty short.

Also there is not much forgivenessin bad tuning or just plain bad form. I've seen guys blame a bow, then after watching them shoot it's either the bow is not tuned properly or they just plain don't know how to shoot. Which happen more than you think.. There are a lot of bad habits out there, and the reason is they are learning for someone that doesn't know to shoot either. Being in archery a long time doesn't make you an archer

I agree with Roskoe. With parallel limb bows I don't feel BH is as much a factor as it used to be. I shoot a Pearson TX-4 and it is really not an issue as far as forgiveness or accuracy.

I don't know the equation but the longer the brace the shorter you have to draw the bow which reduces fatigue in more than one way. It also pushes less on the arrow which reduces the gas applied, which in turn should mean a less stiff arrow... and so on.

More forgiving is like compairing pregnat women, they're all pretty much huge. One maybe slightly smaller but it really doesn't make much of a difference. (Yes I did go down that rough road in my more niave years).

I'm currently shooting a PSE X Force; the brace height is a touch under 6 inches. The weird thing is I shoot it better than any other bow I've owned including those that had 7'' brace heights. The best shooters for me other than the X Force were the Mathews LX about 6 1/2'' and the Katera XL 7'' brace.