Budget Bow shopping, looking for experience/input/guidance

reply to post by DaddyBare


I bought a rabbit pelt and made a fur silencer for my string. My red oak is 72" ntn and shoots 55#@30 inches. I haven't done a chronograph yet, but I bet I'm get upwards of 160 fps and the silencer keeps my target from hearing it.(Edit - I meant to say I think I get faster than 180 fps - this bow is a fast one)

Just a thought if you want to get away from cams and try a lighter rig. Although that compound bow is a sweet one... bows are damn near religion, and that one is a real tempter to change churches....

Nah, I'll still worship at the Church of Selfbow. :-)

I am considering plunking a coyote that's been raiding my trash lately (versus just reporting it to the city) to make a pretty coyote quiver. I'd get a taxidermy form for the head, and cure it hair-on, and put a wide PVC pipe to keep my arrows, and stitch the pelt around it and use the head as the lid to the quiver. I can prolly carry a dozen tip-down with a cork liner at the end of the PVC cap to keep the tips sharp.

Originally posted by DaMod
reply to post by DaddyBare

 

Bare... you and I have already had compound bow conversation so you know darn well how jealous I am of that particular thing of beauty...

Why not rock a dual cam though?

edit on 26-7-2011 by DaMod because: (no reason given)

The simple answer is price...
Being semi-retired doesn't mean I'm rich or sitting on a huge wad of cash to spend on every pretty toy that comes my way... most of my archery equipment was getting pretty old....my old bow was starting to deglaze (Fiberglass deglazes when you get that white powder)... so I went shopping... I had my eye on a number of bows including a few dual cam rigs... but in the end it was this one... with a 20% off tag... that made me break out the check book

reply to post by MagoSA


Great edit on your last post-I like it!

Thanks for your tips on wood for bows as well.
I have used yew and ash so far to make bows-ash is ok,but not too springy-but Yew is magical,and very forgiving in terms of bow making,and makes very fast quiet bows..
Plus its where my ancestors souls reside,according to the old Celtic way of thinking.
Now my more recent ancestors-the Welsh,would use Elm wood to make their bows with which they fought the English King out of Wales,under the leadership of Owain Glyndwr in 1400.

These short Welsh Elm bows were so effective in close range ambushes,that the English elite at the time developed the idea into a longer bow which became the military standard-whats now known as the English longbow.

One of the things I love about archery is that pretty much all cultures and peoples have got their own special bow making skills,handed down from the old times.
What a great time we live in where we are able to share tips and skills across the globe,keeping the old ways alive and learning the ways of others.
Long may it continue.

reply to post by Silcone Synapse


I completely agree with this comment. That is an AWESOME piece of gear you have there. If I had the money, and I shot bows seriously then maybe I would have a reason to invest in a piece of gear like that.

That being said, I am looking to get started and it seems like getting a recurve is a much lower introductory investment into the sport of archery than is a compound. Dont get me wrong, I have been shopping for both on ebay hoping I can come across an awesome deal. I may have to start going to as many yard sales as I can. If I can get a decent compound bow for under $300 ready to shoot I would spring for it. It is just that recurves are generally cheaper to buy up front, and also cheaper to maintain.

Again, I definitely like the self sufficiency aspect of a recurve, especially the take-down models that allow you to break it into pieces ( like a fishing pole. I am hoping to get into hunting, but ive never killed a furry animal in my life. I am an avid fisher though, mostly spin tackle I know how to gut and fillet most native fish, mammals are a different story... I am dabbling into fly fishing lately which is immensely fun. Gun laws SUCK here, but archery seems to be universally accepted, not to mention the cost of maintaining the gear, getting ammo, take down power vs cost, etc...). Sorry for the run-on parentheses.

I am planning on getting to the post right below Silicone Synapse right after this, but I still appreciate all the conversation that has taken place in this thread. I still havent bought a bow, but I have shot two recurves I am looking at, in addition to a family friends compound which I mentioned above. Still shopping.

PS: I have looked at some videos of making my own, but I think I would prefer to spend a few hundred to get a 'real' bow before I try to duplicate it. I need to learn the 'true' art of archery before I attempt to replicate anything. Most that have told me to make my own are probably at least 5-10 years experiences in shooting bows. for all I know I would tiller my hardwood stock, string it up, do the whole thing wrong... as long as it sends an arrow down-field I would think I did a good job. I am thinking I need a good baseline to compare homemade work against. Another reason for foregoing a homemade bow, and instead shopping for a budget bow. Thanks for the recommendations though, I will end up trying it in the future.

Maybe I should have incorporated these last to replies as a single post, but there is so much great information coming to me here that I am having a hard time to reply to anything.

MagoSA, DaddyBare, and Silicone Synapse in particular have kept a very interesting 3-way conversation going. I have definitely been keeping up with this topic, but being such a beginner I dont have much to add.

I definitely appreciate all the stimulating conversation here though, and I owe a special thank-you to MagoSA for the link provided detailing the different wood types used for various bows. This is definitely a link I have to at least bookmark if not save on my hard drive in case something happens to the information in the future.

Still I am shopping for a 'budget' 40# @ 28" minimum (or 40# at min pull compound), because I am so new to the sport. I need a decent example to compare my 'homemades' against.

Some additional info. My draw length for a recurve is 30"-31" pretty long... My bowyer told me to take 2-3 inches off this draw for a compound to accommodate a release mechanism. Is this 2-3 inches standard? The reason I ask is that the family friend who let me shoot their compound has a draw length of 29" yet he is not quite as tall as me (and I have been told I have gorilla arms, lol, genetics). I am 6 feet, almost 6'1" with arms between 6'2" and 6'3"ish. Just looking for agreeing/conflicting information.

Thank you so much again!
II