Black Stick

The guy swears by them.

drockw

^i shot one on my general even during hunter class 3d. It shoots great, but there is no way its as consistant. If he does good with them, more power to him.
Derek

Black Stick

A local pro shop owner up here says that he would rather throw the arrow at the target than us a WB. I'm right in the middle on this one. I think that some people can use them effectively, but I know that I and many other people would have an easier time hitting the X with a drop away.

dave37

I am sure once i started shooting my dropaway i was more consistent. its kinda funny being on here and then standin around the garage with the guys i hunt with...... the both shoot reflex w/ wb etc. and they givbe me **** for havin my (fancy) fallaway.

wait a minute...............

they both shot a buck this year.............. hmmmmmm ? reflex ? lol

brotherbdc

Has nothing to do with more knowlegable employees........

Black Stick

That was the only reason I could come up with. What is the reason?

brotherbdc

lol......Well that might be part of the reason, but its more to do with marketing, think about it keeps prices high and their dealers in buisness. I worked in a local shop for years, we mostly dealt with main line bows and not pro bows, just the Idea of Bass Pro comming to town shut the doors of a few shops including the one I worked at.Now if a huge company like bass pro could sell Pro bows we could wipe out all the dealers in town....(I work full time at bass pro, and part time a a local pro shop) Since Bass Pro opened we now have 2 shops left, a Hoyt/Mathews/Pse dealer and a VERY small Bowtech dealer. Now I will agree with ya that the average Basspro archery employee is not the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to the equipment but I really doubt that has much to do with it......Just my theory though

Black Stick

Well, it's a good theory. I am the only gander tech that can tie a d-loop. Pretty sad huh? That's why I thought we never got to sell pro bows. I still work on a lot of them, but it's tough for me to convince someone to buy a Diamond Marquis when they could buy an Admiral for a little bit more. I still do it, and do it well, but I feel kinda bad about it.

brotherbdc

Yeah Ive done the same.

SwampCollie

Thats the real reason We have a bass pro shops less than 10 miles from us. It is one of the top grossing bass pros in the country... yet it is the 4th SMALLEST with regards to square footage. They have some good bow guys and some terrible bow guys. We have a good relationship with them. That said, our shop is one of the top ten Mathews retailers (by volume) in the country.

The whole point behind big-line/pro bows not selling to big box stores is that dealers have to put up a right large chunk of change in overhead to carry that bow line. I think BT this year has a minimum of like 25 bows of something like that. Thats a lot of coin, even at wholesale prices. The reason you have geographic restrictions and covenants in your dealer agreements is to ensure that you can make a profit. Diamonds have MAP pricing just like a lot of big name bows. So the price BPS and those guys sell at is of course MAP... pretty much everyone has the same price... our price on Black Diamonds and all that is the same as BPS. They sell a pile of them too, because those top diamonds are their top bows... right next to the diamonds on our shelves you've got Mathews, Hoyt and BT... all within about $200 of each other. Ain't no margin's in this business... believe me.

I've seen my share of "pro-shops" that had some dummy's working in them over the years. The issue with a lot of bass pro's and big box store's is that employee turnover is fairly high... so its almost impossible to establish a good customer base and a solid reputation.... its a gamble everytime you go... might get the ace... might get the joker. There is usually very little if any professional archery tech training, and all that is required is basically an interest and maybe a little bit of experience in the sport... and we all know there is a HUGE gap between shooting a bow and working on one. With a long standing pro-shop, you have someone on hand, dang near at all times, that has a direct vested interest in your business. If BPS runs you off or messes up your bow... that tech is still getting paid at the end of the day just the same. If a small business owner messes it up... its coming out of his wallet... and reputations cannot be replaced or even really repaired.