becoming interested

[jericho]

I was looking at the archery section at cabellas yesterday. It must be fun....so....
What must I look for in a bow? How do you size one and choose one?

[nate-lab]

have you draw back some bows at cabelas while you were looking

[jericho]

No.They were all tied up and the shop attendant didnt look like he wanted to be there. I was weary of asking him seeing as I wasn't buying. They have an archery lane there too, but I really couldn't find anyone on hand at that moment. I will go back some time and try again.

[nate-lab]

ok good next time you go back draw back some bow and shoot them in the archery lane and see which one feels the best to you and that is the one you should get

[jericho]

Sounds simple enough. Will do that.

[Buffalobob]

First thing is to grab a pencil and write you name on a piece of paper. Do not let go of the pencil. Ask you wife whether the pencil is in your left hand or in your right hand.

Second thing is while holding the pencil in your hand hold it out at arms length with the point up and use it to aim at something with both eyes open. Have your wife put the piece of paper over your left eye while you are still aiming. If the aimpoint changes then you are left eye dominant and should have been drowned as a child. If the aimpoint does not change then you are right eye dominant.

If you are right handed and left eye dominant then I suggest you take up some other sport such as pasta making. Actually, after years of practice I can switch eye dominance at will. I am right handed and naturally right eye dominant but I shoot a bow lefthanded simply because I am self taught.

Now that we have investigated some parts of your genome sequence let us see how far you are advanced along the primate evolutionary scale. If you wear a shirt sleeve length of over 36 inches and have to wear gloves to protect your knuckles from dragging on the concrete sidewalk then you will have to be careful selecting a bow. At the archery counter there will be a plastic bow with a plastic arrow that passes through the hole in the center of the rise. It is used to check for simian characteristics such as draw length. Grab up the bow and pull it back and have someone read the length on the arrow. This will give you a rough idea of whether you belong to homo sapeins or to one of our predecessor. Draw length changes with use of a release and with the use of a string loop. I would guess that you can back down off of draw length by half to one inch with a release and string loop. Being as you do not know much about bows you will not know exactly where to anchor so it is going to be approximate at best. So we will assume that in the end you have a 28 inch draw length. Then you select 28 inch bows to shoot. Most modern cam bows have "modules" that screw on and off to change draw length so it is not a big deal if you are off by an inch as long as you are not at an extreme for the bow.

The Hulk- if you turn green when angry then you do not have to worry about draw weight. Other wise bows come in 10 pound increments. Typical hunters use 60 pounds and 70 pounds for deer and elk. A 70 pound bow will pass an arrow all the way through a deer and half way through your neighbors leg. A 60 pound bow is more than enough for any white tail deer you are likely to encounter. The pounds is the amount that you have to pull the string through at some part of the draw cycle. I have shot 70 pounds for so many years that I would not know what to do with less, however when my shoulder was hurt I could not pull that without extreme pain. The bow will have a letoff number usually somewhere from 65% to 80%. That is the poundage you hold back at full draw. If you do not turn green on occasions (other than after eating 3 day old potted meat sandwiches) then this number is of some importance. With a 60 pound bow and 65% letoff you will have to hold back 21 pounds while aiming at the target. With 80% letoff you would only be holding back 12 pounds.

Brace height is the distance off the ground you rise up when your wife brings your daughter back from the first visit to the orthodontist and tell you how much some baling wire is going to cost. Brace height used to be a very critical dimension but with modern cams, arrows, and rests it is no so important as long as you do not get too enamored of speed. Something about 7 inches is good for a beginner. Stay away from 6 inch or less until you are sure you can handle them. Along with brace height is an archaic term that is sometimes written on the walls of caves along with the numbers of mammoths killed. It is called "deflex". Having killed my share of wooly mammoths with a 0 deflex bow, I am partial to deflex. None of the young kids even know what it is any more.

ATA is one of those things like chromatic aberration that is largely ignored being as if you can't afford it then you don't need it. In general terms, target archers use bows that have long axle to axle length. Short bows are traditionally and generally hard to shoot accurately much as short barreled guns. They don't make many decent ATA bows any more because so many of the bowhunters spend so much time up in the trees. Try not to get any of the midget bows.

So what are we looking for. We are looking for a 308 winchester Rem 700 in a bow. Just a good utility middle of the road bow. Nothing extreme in any way. This will not be too expensive and it will be a good learning bow that will kill a truck load of deer with ease.

Bowhunting is about practice and more practice. I would say the ratio of bow practice to rifle practice is a ten times more practice is required with a bow.

[J E Custom]

Originally Posted by jericho

I was looking at the archery section at cabellas yesterday. It must be fun....so....
What must I look for in a bow? How do you size one and choose one?

Find a good archery shop and visit with the guy that runs the place (Not a clerk)
and tell him that you want to get into Archery and you don't want to spend a lot
but you want a decent setup.

The good shops know that if they treat you right you will return to upgrade when you
know more about the sport and the equiptment.

There are so many things to learn and so many choices of bows and shafts that you get
overwhelmed and at most "Good" shops they will measure your draw length and let you
shoot several different types and letoffs to find out what feels best for you.

Also these shops are a good place to practice and get help with anything that may come
up.

I have seen a lot of people get discouraged because they went to wally world and let a
clerk that new nothing about what you need to get started sell them the wrong bow
(Wrong draw length,Weight, wrong arrow spine, wrong broad heads and ETC).

Start right and you will love it start wrong and it will just collect dust.

PS: It is a great family sport also.

J E CUSTOM