i have a bear archery black bear recurve with 45# @ 28" but my draw is about 30" give or take a half inch. what spine should i shoot, what kind of arrow (wood,alum, etc), and is the extra 2" or so of draw gonna hurt the bow any. or should i find a bow more suited to my draw lenth.

Depends on its length. I am not sure how long the black bear is. But with a 30" draw, I would not shoot anything less than 62". I have a 29.5, and won't shoot anything less than 62"

You should be able to shoot 2016 Alum thru that or a 60-65lb spine cedar

is the 62" string on or off

62 inch with string off should be roughly 4 inches shorter strung depending on brace height

should i measure straight down the face or along the spine of the bow

You should see some numbers on the bow. AMO62 is what I am talking about. So your string should be 58-59". You can measure the length of the bow nock to nock with a loose piece of string following the contours.

From my experiences with Bear bows, you are going to get some stacking at that draw length. From 28 to 30 inches, mine really stacked, thats why I got rid of it. Choice of arrow material is personal perference, shoot what you like and have confidence in. Nothing wrong with shooting all types of arrows, its always fun to play with differenct arrows.

ok i looked, the amo length is 60" should i stop shooting it?

I don't think you are going to hurt it. But its going to be rather unforgiving and have finger pinch. Do you think your getting to full draw? Usually with trad bows, you lose an inch compared to wheels.

my draw is noticeably shorter than my compound. maybe i should go get my draw length measured with my recurve?