need a new bow? maybe not!

[340wby]

just a thought here....
I know Ill take a bunch of abuse over this but it needs to be said..
you can be a very effective hunter with most of the bows sold since the early 1980s with PRACTICE and DECENT arrows,you don,t necessarily need a new bow if the old ones work correctly, most guys I know who bow hunt are GADGET FREAKS, and spend a great deal of effort looking for the NEWEST GIZMOS, Ive purchased 7 bows in the last 30 years, BEARS,MATTHEWS,PSE, ETC. and I still HUNT with a DESIGN that by now is prehistoric, a PSE UNISTAR, and dispite the fact that theres newer,lighter, & faster bows available, the 31.5" draw, the cut on contact broadheads and smooth acurate shooting THAT old bow provides suits me just fine.
what IM saying is if you invest in several dozen matched,top quality carbon arrows and a decent release and PRACTICE a good deal youll kill just as much or probably more game than the guys with the newer bow designs, especially those that think gizmos and gadgets replaced skill developed with practice, speeds nice, consistant accuracy is better.
top quality matched arrows, and extensive practice are MANDATORY to getting consistant results

[Purebred Redneck]

340wby said:

just a thought here....
I know Ill take a bunch of abuse over this but it needs to be said..
you can be a very effective hunter with most of the bows sold since the early 1980s

You won't get an arguement from me

[jimiowa]

I agree there are a lot of guys out there doing just fine with "primitive longbows and recurves.
I don't bowhunt but my son does. I feel the same about bows as I do about cars. There are so many guys who trade every year you can buy last years model and save a bunch and not be losing anything in performance. My son Bailey buys used, takes them to the shop for a tune-up and has never failed to get his deer yet.
But I have never gotten used to the draw of a compound and prefer recurves so what do I know? ;D

[Purebred Redneck]

jimiowa said:

I agree there are a lot of guys out there doing just fine with "primitive longbows and recurves.

Now you'll get an arguement from me

[klsm54]

A couple guys I worked with were into the 3D archery shoots a few years back. I wish I had some of the money they spent on bows, I could have bought more guns.. ;D. Sometimes 2 new ones in a year, always trying to buy a better score. And after thousands of dollars spent they still placed about the same in most shoots as they did with the bows they started with. The only thing all that spending taught them was that more practice was better than new fangled equipment..

[Purebred Redneck]

I see that most with Matthews. It's almost a cult.
You buy a new one each year because they come out with a different model each year that is "better".

And that brand does retain value a lot better than the rest of the industry. You might lose 100 bucks or so by upgrading each year.
But you can ussually find a pretty good deal on a matthews that is 2 or 3 years old.

[jmarriott]

I still use my 1995 vintage PSE Maxus Bow.

I still use my 2117 arrows. I could get another but if it is not broke.

[sebastian]

I just bought a compound bow in Gillette last week. It's only a Parker. It is listed on the bow: 28" draw, 60 lbs, string 86", cable 33.75", custom built by B. Hoffman. I still don't know the let off etc, btw?
Included whisker biscuit rest, quiver (for 6 arrows), 12 nos Beeman 400 Hunter Elite, True-fire Buckle Camo (trigger), Muzzy 110gr 3 blade 6 pack 1 3/16" cutting, and a limbsaver S-coil 3061. Also a book "The Bowhunter's Guide".

I was still affraid to bring the bow & arrows to Indonesia since the local regulations has been not clear, is it considered as firearms or not etc. I am glad though it's okay/no problem.

Well, it seems that I will have a new hobby.... I will practice with the bow and will try to use it for deer & pig.

I am just new to bow...my question is, are they just fine, or a good/decent starting equipment?

[xphunter]

My bow that I had at the range is 16 or 17 years old and it wasn't a top of the line bow back then. The key is, does your bow have enough pounds for hunting and does it shoot good enough? The answer is, yes for both of our bows (yours is much newer).
Your broadheads have been proven through the years and the carbon arrows we are using are also better/lighter anyway than the aluminum ones I used to use.
The next bow Erik gets will be a used one, like yours. It will likely be an older/cheaper bow since he will be using his own money to buy it.
The key is practice, practice, practice.
The man that helped you set-up your bow is a avid bowhunter, whose judgement I trust.

[Purebred Redneck]

There's nothing wrong with Parker bows. I shoot a different brand but have a 28" draw and a 60 pound pull too. It's certainly not going to be a fast bow compared to others on the market (the smaller the draw, the slower the bow) so you are going to have bigger arc trajectory wise. You have to know your distance and it becomes even more important with a slower bow. For instance a person with a fast bow and 31" draw can pretty much use one sight and aim dead on at either 20 or 30 yards. The bows that we both have - the drop between 20 and 30 yards is about 9". So it's very critical to know if an animal is at 22 yards or 28 yards. And with this bow, I would limit shots to 30 yards --- and then only when you feel comfortable shooting that distance.

Bow hunting is just a trickier sport than rifle hunting.
Certain shots with a rifle that would put an animal down in it's tracks could result in a lost animal with a bow - shoulder shots for instance.

Shot placement and avoiding shoulder bone is the key to success. On a perfect shot, a animal should go about 40-50 yards and collapse. In that case, you can go after it immediatly. If shot placement is not so great, then you have to wait hours before going after it and it's still likely to be alive. And if it's hot, you take the chance of spoiling meat so sometimes you're forced to go after it earlier than you want.
You want to have two holes in order to make sure you aren't on your hands and knees looking for blood the size of a pin drop every 10 yards... done that - not fun

I'm thinking it's pretty thick where you hunt and the vegatation could make it almost impossible to track if the animal got off a game trail.
If legal (or at your disgression) you could use dogs to track the animal a hour or so after the shot. In fact, I think that's a great idea.

I don't want to discourage you, I just want you to know what it's like.

[jimh]

my bow is a '83 vintage browning nomad II that has never been released. by that i mean i have never relaxed the arms, they have been under tension since the day i bought it. unfortunately i can't find a new rest for it as the new stuff wont work with it. because of that i'm thinking about getting a newer one, but one thing i hate about bows is they loose value almost as much as a car does.

[Purebred Redneck]

What kind of rest are you looking for?

If you're looking for those old screw-in plastic flipper rests, I probably have one laying around.

Edit
Geez Jim - you have a medical problem with your back/neck and you won't even take advantage of it.
Go to your doctor, have him sign the conservation dept's form, and buy a parker crossbow.
I killed a deer with dad's at Weldon in Dec of 06 and the thing was nothing short of amazing.

[sebastian]

Thanks for the inputs guys.
I felt comfortable when practice to shoot at 20yds in Gillette before. I still remember that I shot about 3" group or so for 3 shots without a bullseye to aim (the target was just plain white, I only aim the center of the target).
For sure is I will practice in different distances and to understand the trajectory etc. After that, I will then try to shoot deer/pig under 30 yds range, with treestand method I think.
I believe that I must find/buy a laser range finder again because mine was sold 3 or 4 years ago. I am not aware/did not know before if the drop would be as much as 9" or so from 20 to 30 yds...

[Purebred Redneck]

Good Lord
After one day you already shoot better than I do


Each bow setup is going to be different. Some bows are advertized like 320fps, other 300 or 280. They are all different. If I knew the speed, I'd be able to tell you a lot more. From that, we then look at your draw lenght (because its so short there's no way it's going to get the advertized speed). And then we look at accessories - with the biggest thing being arrows. Did you get carbon or alluminum?

With the setup I have (which was only about 280fps advertized, then deduct for draw, and alluminum arrow [because I'm cheap]) it does drop 8-9 inches between 20 and 30 yards.

I don't know if this is the case with yours or not.
If so, you have a few choices
1. Have a 10 yard, 20 yard, and 30 yard pin (10 yards are sometimes optional)
2. Have a 15 yard and a 25 yard

I like a 15 and 25 yard pin
Under 20 yards, I use the 15 pin
Over 20 yards, I use the 25 yard pin
You just just aim a little high or low
If you accidently mistake 20 yards for 30 yards OR 30 for 20 --- you're really only about 4" off which may or may not be a big deal...of course we're talking about an extreme misjudgement there.

[sebastian]

I used Erik's bow at that time. It's actually too small & short for me, but it shoots very well. Ernie teached me how to shoot the bow and I was just follow his instructions. He is a good mentor, not me.

The arrow is carbon, Beeman 400, 8.4 grains per inch. The gentlemen in the store cut the arrow at 28.5" long. It amazed me that the arrows weight about the same (at 307.4 - 307.8 gr).
The "point tip?" (for practice purpose) weight from 96.8 to 99.9 gr. The three blades (for hunting) weight from 98.2 to 98.5 gr...so they are about the same weight/balance along the arrow.

I am not sure for the speed, but it must be under 300fps or so.

Quote:
"I like a 15 and 25 yds pin...Under 20 yds I like the 25 pin...etc"

What is "pin", btw?....Is that the "fluorescent dots" inside of the front sight?

I plan to change/fine tune the "fluorescent dots" soon I have the time to practice. But first I will make a target from foam/rubber layers, maybe about 2 x 2 feet and 1 feet thick.
Or maybe make other target with pig or deer shape (in 3D).