dstubb

I have hunted for years with a compound and have taken a wide array of game with it. For some reason this year i don't feel the intense excitement that i normally have during deer/archery season. For the first time on my life i have decided to end my season early due to the fact that my freezer is full and i just don't have the itch to go back out. This is very odd of me, i have always been a bow hunting freak and i spend a ton of time over in the bow hunting forums. This may sound arrogant but i think that it has just become to easy to go out and take deer every year with my compound. I have always been intrigued with traditional shooters but i never really gave much thought to actually trying it, probably due to the fact that i didn't want to limit my yardage or accuracy. I need something new and challenging and i think that i could really come to love traditional hunting and maybe even become a traditional only hunter. It would be really nice to not have to go out every 2-3 years to purchase the latest and greatest technological advancements in archery. I want to give this a shot and i don't really no where to begin. I understand the difference between longbow vs. recurve but i am not sure which one is for me. The bow for me will be the one with the most amount of speed and range. What style/brand names do you guy's recommend? Oh, and i am looking for a moderate priced bow!

buckbuster99

It's not about speed. It's about putting the arrow where your lookin'. Moderately priced is subjective. Those new training wheel bows are waaaaayyyyy overpriced. People feed into it so they buy it to one up the next guy or feed their own egos. Now you get your hands on one of the elite recurves with some gorgeous woods and veneers, throw in some overlays and you have yourself about $1200 worth of art. 170fps of stik n' string beauty.
BTW- I'll sell you mine...I want one of those $1200 'curves.

buckbuster99

Sorry about the rant..Talk to Chad. He can get you a fine bow at a good price.

dstubb

Goes to show how much i know. I am thinking below $400 for my first bow. With that price range what should i be looking for?

dstubb

Also what kind of poundage should i be looking at if i normally shoot around 65-70 lbs. on my compound? My draw length is around 28" if that matters.

Redneck Bowhunter

With that price range I would be looking at a commercially made bow, other than some of the customs that can get more expensive with exotic woods. I myself am looking to get into trad like you and am going that root. Some of the companies that make them you probably have heard of, because they deal with compounds as well. The two I know of are Bear Archery and Martin. I shot a MartinX-200 tonight that I really liked.

You can probably expect to lose about 15 pounds in draw weight for your first trad bow that you can draw, hold, and shoot comfortably for the length of your practice sessions. I think mostly in traditional bowhunting the arrow weight is more important thanthe speed because of the kinetic energy heavier arrows produce.

Nowwether you should buy a longbow or recurve that is up to you. Go out to a qaulified shop and shoot a couple of each and see which you like best. Longbows are ussually slower, more forgiving, and less stable. Recurves I believe are faster, more stable but less forgiving. Each have their pros and cons and it is all up to you which you shoot best with.

Ebay is another option for buying a used bow and there are ussually good name brands on there. The only thing you have to watch out for is twisted limbs, chipped nocks, delamination, and cracks. Now I am not the most knowledgable about traditional archery, but hopefully some of the pros on here can fill in some other questions or suggestions I may have missed.

burniegoeasily

Yea, speed is not an issue with trad bows. They are much more quiet than compounds and you compensate for speed with heavier arrows and heads. You can find a fine bow for 400 bucks. Checkmate makes a good one, bear, hoyt, etc.for around that price. You can also find many used ones for that price and less.

As for poundage? Not sure what you draw is, but i would not go over 50lbs to learn with. Most people start with 45 to 50 lb bows. If you go to heavy, you will never learn. Dont go with the notion; "I can pull back an 80lb compound, so I should be able to shoot a heavy tradbow." That is the biggest mistake ive seen people make. A bow from 45lbs and up will work to hunt with and is easy to learn on.

BobCo19-65

Dustin, sounds like the trad bug bit.

Just a couple of suggestions. For the first one, I'd say go the used route. Get into it for a while then start looking around if you wish to. Usually a used bow will hold it's value and you won't loose much $$$ if you decide to sell. At first you will probably not even know your exact draw length.

I usually advise people to look at older Bear Recurves that are common in the 45#@28" range and are usually in the 60" length. They are usually fine bows that will take a deer down. Just be sure to ask about stress cracks and limb twist. Cracks are OK if they run parallel with the limbs and do not meet. Limb twist can usually be fixed. But some will have neither which is best.

BowHuntingFool

Yep, you got the bug, and its a good one! Here is a link to the Tradgang.com classifieds for you to do some window shopping for a good used bow.

http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=forum;f=5

buckbuster99

BobCo,

That must be your bow on there eh?. Whats the riser wood?