bow hunting

[nmk]

All right well im gonna try my hand at bow hunting this year i realy enjoy shooting bows in my friends back yard and have gotten realy good at it. i was wondering what would be a good compound bow to hunt with. I want something that will give me the most for my money and something that will last me for a while. i know that i should go to shops and shoot different bows till i find the right one for me but i wanna get some suggestions. also what does it mean when the specs talk about let off. much appreciated also are there any north florida hunters in here.

[HairyScandinavian]

How much are you wanting to spend? There's a HUGE range of stuff. Look at Bowtech and Mathews for the top of the line stuff. Other solid brands will be Hoyt, Mission, Diamond, Evotek, Fred Bear. Let-off is simply how much weight the cams reduce the felt weight of the draw after drawing it back, most are 65% or 80% but it can vary.

[nmk]

How much are you wanting to spend? There's a HUGE range of stuff. Look at Bowtech and Mathews for the top of the line stuff. Other solid brands will be Hoyt, Mission, Diamond, Evotek, Fred Bear. Let-off is simply how much weight the cams reduce the felt weight of the draw after drawing it back, most are 65% or 80% but it can vary.

alright thanks im thinking of spending around 500- 600 i heard alot about mathews and bear

[RatherBeLifting]

All right well im gonna try my hand at bow hunting this year i realy enjoy shooting bows in my friends back yard and have gotten realy good at it. i was wondering what would be a good compound bow to hunt with. I want something that will give me the most for my money and something that will last me for a while. i know that i should go to shops and shoot different bows till i find the right one for me but i wanna get some suggestions. also what does it mean when the specs talk about let off. much appreciated also are there any north florida hunters in here.

let off is the percent the poundage is cut when at full draw. say a bow has 80% percent let off, if you pull a 100 draw at full draw you would only have to hold 20 lbs. I would get a single cam bow as opposed to a dual cam so that you do not have to worry about timing, and also look for something with a mid to long brace hight which is slower then a short brace hight but way more forgiving, unless you are already really good then by all means get a brace. I would also look for a mid length (32" to 38" axle to axle). The shorter they are the less forgiving, and if they are to long they are very difficult to maneuverer in a stand.

http://www.huntersfriend.com/bowselection.htm

[HairyScandinavian]

alright thanks im thinking of spending around 500- 600 i heard alot about mathews and bear

Mathews and Bowtech are gonna be out of your price range unless you buy used. My brother-in-law and my wife both love their Fred Bear bows. Shoot a lot of different models for sure. The site in the link below can be a good reference for pricing for a fully setup and ready to hunt bow but I would recommend shooting/buying locally for your first bow.
http://www.huntersfriend.com/bowpkg2.htm

EDIT: RBL got good linkage, reps sent.

[Geno]

I shot a hand built takedown recurve for a while but have kind of gotten away from it since I married a pacifist lol.

I still have the bow - it's on a thread around here somewhere.

I've shot everything from a 1970's fred bear glass recurve to a bear compound to an eagle compoud to a mathews solocam. I'm not really going to say any were better or worse than any other. Practice with each made me accurate and deadly and I never had any shootability issues with any. I did have a top of the line crossbow that shot it's damn front site loose after about every dozen shots and I finally got it set and superglued it.

[nmk]

was searching through craigslist and came across this mathews bow doesnt seem to bad for being a used . what should i look for if im gonna buy a used bow




http://jacksonville.craigslist.org/spo/1290587277.html

[Geno]

was searching through craigslist and came across this mathews bow doesnt seem to bad for being a used . what should i look for if im gonna buy a used bow




http://jacksonville.craigslist.org/spo/1290587277.html

Take it to a bow shop and have it inspected. Then make an offer that is based on the advice of the bow shop owner.

[Cell-Tech Daddy]

[HairyScandinavian]

was searching through craigslist and came across this mathews bow doesnt seem to bad for being a used . what should i look for if im gonna buy a used bow




http://jacksonville.craigslist.org/spo/1290587277.html

As a general rule, I don't buy any used bows that are older than 2 years.

Take it to a bow shop and have it inspected. Then make an offer that is based on the advice of the bow shop owner.

Just be careful because most bow shops are going to want to sell you a brand new bow. We have one good shop with an honest guy here, the rest are all crooks.

[was140]

There are a few Diamond bows by Bowtech for that price. I have shot a couple I can't remeber which ones. I shoot a Mathews Drenalin and love it. You get what you pay for.

[HairyScandinavian]

There are a few Diamond bows by Bowtech for that price. I have shot a couple I can't remeber which ones. I shoot a Mathews Drenalin and love it. You get what you pay for.

Diamond makes a great bow. Few years back when I started bow hunting again after 15 years off I went into a shop and shot a Diamond Black Ice, 3rd arrow robinhooded the 2nd and the guy wouldn't believe me that I hadn't shot a bow in 15 years. That bow was very smooth and shot really well. If I hadn't developed such a boner for binary cam systems I think I would have gone with that bow.