Well, lets make a long story short, I shot a half-rack buck when I was 16 with my bow. After that season, I just ran out of time to bow hunt with sports,college work etc. Speed forward to 2008. I am 34 and told myself I would make time to bowhunt this year. Still used the same bow and arrows from nearly 20 years ago, (I did have it restrung and serviced and such). Spent the late part of August and most of September flinging all 3 of my Aluminum GameGetter arrows as often as I could. Felt comfortable shooting 25 yards in. Well guess who tagged a 120 class 10pt on his second day in the stand!!!!

Needless to say, I am hooked and will no longer have to make time to go bowhuning from here on out. Problem is time has passed my equipment by. Sure it ultimately helped my harvest a deer, but my Martin Lynx Magnum is pretty dated. I spent a little on it this year to get me started and see if I was really into bowhunting as much as I was gun hunting and turkey hunting. I am ready to make the step into the 21st century and get me some modern equipment. Money is not really a barrier, but I am not looking for top of the line equipment either, just a quality hunting bow.

Now since it has been 20 years since I was involved with bows, there has been massive devlopments in technology and terms that I need help with. My Lynx was one of the shortes bows on the market 20 years ago with an ATA length of 40 inches. Can you even get a compound with that length anymore. What are pros and cons to short vs longe ATAs. What is brace height and the pros and cons to different brace heights. Arrow selection might require another thread.

Basically, if you were gonna look for a bow regardless of name, what features and characteristics would you be looking for and why??

Thanks in advance

The larger your ATA, the more forgiving your bow will be. The larger your brace height, the more fogiving it will be as well ( Unless I have that one backwards...but I am sure about the ATA.) A lot of people like to get a little bit of a shorter bow for convienience. My bow is only 30.5 ATA. I would see how smoothe it shoots. Really I would go with what feels best to you.

I don't know about that length...but I think you can get pretty close. Like for instance, the bowtech 82nd airborne is 36.5 ATA. That allows it to get phenomenal(sp?) speed. But really you will just have to see what you like best by shooting around a bit. Also this will depend on your price range. A lot of the 'better' bows will cost you $650+ at least.

Great to see your back into the archety world! You are gonna $#!% when you shoot the newbows for sure. If you are looking for a good hunting bow shorter ATA will probably be better for you. 40" ATA is considered a target only bow in todays age. For a quality bow that will last along time like your previous bow i would suggest you go and shoot the hoyt alphamax. They are available in 32" or 35" ATA and the brace heights are forgiving enough. It is a good shooter adn will do what you want it to do.

ATA being longer will help the bow stabilize easier, but that doesnt mean in the right hands a short ATA bow cant perform just as well as a longer one, so its really all about personal preference and feel.Some say its easier to hunt with a short ATA bow. I owned a 31" ATA bowtech and hunted with it, and hunt with my 36" bowtech now and i really dont feel that the length is a disadvantage.

What is your draw length adn what draw weight do you plan on shooting?Most 60# bows today will give you plenty of speed and KE to do whatever you need it to.

For hunting arrows, I would suggest the easton axis series arrows. they are very consistant and fly well. They are quality arrows and will be great for hunting.

there is much more help you can get on here, i just dont have anymore time to type lol!
Derek

Bow - ATA Length
Bowtech Sentinal- 36 3/4"
Bowtech 82nd Airborne - 36 1/4"
Mathews Drenalin LD - 37"
PSE Shark X - 38"
PSE Bow Madness XL - 36"
PSE Nova SU - 35 3/4"
Martin Firecat Pro X - 37"
Martin Warthog - 35"
Diamond Marquis - 34.5"

This is all I could find so far....I would consider these the 'longer' bows of today.

Hoyt Alpha Max 35 - 35"
Hoyt Katera XL - 36"
and a couple more hoyts.

From what bvcd mentioned -- I have a Diamond Marquis and absolutely love it. Smooth as can be on the draw. Great shooter, little to no vibration, and no hand shock. Just my .02

I recently retired my 1990 model bear whitetail hunter, for a 2008 martin saber, it is short, fast, quiet and shoots like a dream. It has the Mpro cam and it draws smooth. I love this new bow and wouldn't trade it for any other. just my .02 cents worth as I am in no way shape or form an expert

I recently upgraded to a bowtech general and love it personally. This is my 2nd bowtech and they have both been great. Just my .02

Got to a shop that has several brands and shoot as many as they will let you shoot. If you have a Bass Pro or Cabela's near you, go to one of them and shoot everything you can, focus on how the draw feels and how they feel on the release, how the "wall" feels, etc. EVERY bow you shoot will feel better than that dinosaur you have right now, but a few of those bows will feel a touch better to you personally. If money is NO OBJECT, the Hoyt Alphamax 35 is the BEST bow I've ever shot, great SMOOTH draw, shock free on release, the BEST wall of any bow I've ever shot, and LIGHT, something MANY guys have complained that HOYT didn't know how to do.

If money is a bit of a concern, there are numerous used bows on line many places, but the BEST online classifieds I've found for bows is on archerytalk.com. We have some decent ones here, but there are a BUNCH of bow on there, and some of them are damn near give-aways. Don't get wrapped around the "Brand" name too much, they're ALL GOOD BOWS. If buying NEW, they almost all have LIFETIME warranties to the ORIGINAL BUYER, so it will be a bow that you can have confidence in, and IF something does break, it will be warranteed. Also if you go to a shop, have someone measure you and make sure that your DL is correct. This is a great place to "bounce" questions off of people, and you may be far ahead of where many guys "new" to archery specifically because you have this resource at your finger tips.

Good Luck, and whatever you buy, SHOOT STRAIGHT!!!