Looking at a bow for target practice first, hunting maybe down the road

silenthunterstudios

silenthunterstudios

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I grew up messing around with making my own bows (horrible elementary school age jobs that didn't work out), and dry firing :o my fathers Fred Bear compound bow (got some nice welts out of that). I never really had more of a passing interest (always fascinated by the history of the bow and archers themselves, especially Mongolian bows etc). My sisters boyfriend used to be proficient with a bow, he is getting back into shooting. He has an old Fred Bear compound bow. He found an old longbow at a local junk shop, for an insanely low price, and picked it up. Now, I like compound bows, but haven't really done much with one. When he showed me his longbow, it was like something was triggered. I have been really interested.

Anyway, he loaned me his Cabela's archery catalog, and I am planning on picking up a copy of Traditional Bowhunter and Primitive Archer after work today. I am interested in picking up a longbow. I am a big guy, but new to this, so, I am not necessarily looking for the kids model, I guess you could say I am looking for the 20 gauge equivalent.

Where is a good place to start? I am in the northern Harford County region of MD. Anyone know of a good place I can test out a couple bows, just like at a regular old firearms firing range?
 
Most good archery shops have short ranges and will allow you to shoot multiple models before buying a bow. If they won't let you test drive a bow, don't buy a bow there.
Sorry, Not much help with which places are the best in that area.
 
if the archery store doesn't have a range (even 10m is fine) then buy elsewhere. go into a Cabelas or something and just hold/draw a bunch of different brands. what your looking for is the brand whos bow just 'feels' best in your hands, to you. doesn't matter what anyone says, if you find that a Bear is less comfortable than, for example, a Diamond, then go the more confortable option.

as a sugestion for saving some dosh: have a look for last years model bows on sale from a discount wholesaler. if you're prepared to go with a season or two old technology, you can pick up some awesome bargains.

for example, i found my bow (a 2009 Fred Bear Showdown 70lb compound) on sale, new in box, for $350 not long ago. that realy burns when i think of what i paid for it in '09. next time i'm looking to buy a bow, i'll wait for the new models to get released then look for a seasons old model in the bargain bin. bow technology doesn't advance so fast that you'll be making huge sacrifices in Kinetic Energy or arrow speed (the two are related, but not identical).

another suggestion is to have a look at the Martin Jaguar take-down recurve. it comes in 25-55lb draw weights in 5lb increments and is the best bang-for-buck bow on the market today. they're powerful enough that they can stick a pin clean through a goat.
 
Longbows tend not to be cheap but if you can find a decent used one you can save a little cash. The Bear Montana is a good production longbow and there are others as well. For not a lot more, you can have a custom made Howard Hill but that's up to you.

Anyway, have a look at 3 Rivers Archery online catalog.

If you dry fire your long bow, I hope someone gives you large welts before it blows up and you lose an eye or worse.



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Beckerhead #42
 
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