What compound bow to use?

[mjones83]

NEW TO ARCHERY AND WAS WOUNDERING WHAT EVERYONE THINKS ON A GOOD STARTER COMPOUND BOW I SHOULD USE?

IM 6'2 250LBS IF THAT MATTERS, IVE BEEN LOOKIN AT THE Bear Archery Charge RTH Bow and Bow Package 60-70ILB FROM CABELAS. GOOD CHOICE?

[MonsterBuck48]

for starting out bear bows and pse are a good company to start with, they have lower prices that dnt slack on dependability. with purchasing a new bow find a friend if youve never shot a bow before and see if you can shoot theres a few times to get a feel for it, then go to a local archery shop, whether that be cabelas, gander mt, bass pro or a locally owned shop and set youself a price range.shoot a few different bows to see which one fits your style. hope this helps.

bryan

[redkneck]

for starting out bear bows and pse are a good company to start with, they have lower prices that dnt slack on dependability. with purchasing a new bow find a friend if youve never shot a bow before and see if you can shoot theres a few times to get a feel for it, then go to a local archery shop, whether that be cabelas, gander mt, bass pro or a locally owned shop and set youself a price range.shoot a few different bows to see which one fits your style. hope this helps.

bryan

Outstanding advice. Welcome to the forums!

Don't get hung up on brands, they all make good products. You'll find plenty of great shooters well under the $500 mark, many already loaded with accessories. The expensive rigs have features we all want, but they all kill the same. Good luck to you, you'll get hooked with your first hunt.

[dbHunterNY]

It depends on what your price range is. Get the best bow you can afford, that feels comfortable to you, and stick with it. A couple things to keep in mind is what local archery shops near you carry. You can order or buy the bow anywhere, but you're going to need it serviced eventually. Another thing is brace height. You're just starting out so try and look for a bow with a brace height around 7" try to stay away from the raw speed bows with 5 1/2 - 6" brace heights. Also, a drop away full containment rest will be one of the most forgiving for form mistakes, as well as keeping your arrow on the rest the whole time. All you have to do is make the shot count.

[m gardner]

A 50-60 pound bow will kill the largest deer or elk. Don't get overbowed. You want the bow to be easy to draw so when you get cold or are in a sitting position you can draw it easily. Try any bow sitting in a chair with your feet lifted off the floor. If you can draw it without a problem then it's okay. If you struggle at all stay at a lower poundage. Bear Archery makes good hunting bows. If you can afford it Mathews or Hoyt makes the best.

[abear491]

Starting out you probably don't want to spend a lot of money. I started out on a Martin and really liked it. It was a easy bow to figure out and could find stuff for it if needed. I recently upgraded to a Matthews and I love it as well. My advice would be to go to a local archery shop or a small dealer and see maybe if they sell used bows. There are many people who trade in there bows everyear so you would get a brand new bow basically probably at a cheaper price. But in the long run bowhunting is not a cheap thing so if you could save a little there it might help. Its all depends on how much you wanna spend

[TnLungBuster]

My advice is go find you a Archery Pro shop with nice folks, shoot the bows that are in your price range and walk out of their with the one that fits you the best. Good luck on your search, and welcome to the money pit

[bloodtrails]

Bear makes great bows! but there are alot of great bows out there! go and try out as many as you can. The more you draw back the more you will realize what you are looking for. The biggest thing about bowhunting and bow shooting in general is being comfortable and confident. But you can't be confident without being comfortable. Have fun!

[ckrich]

Which to use? The one that fits you. If at all possible, go shoot a couple different bows that you are interested in. From bow to bow you'll notice a difference in draw cycle, grip, and balance in the hand. Pick the bow that YOU are most comfortable with, not the one your buddy/pro shop guru/salesman is more comfortable with. It's going to be your bow so it better fit you. If you're like the majority of new archers you'll get addicted and will be wanting to shoot all the time, and the more that your bow is comfortable the more you'll enjoy shooting it.

Bear definitely makes a quality product, as do most mfgs. Just a thought, you might take a look at the Hoyt Turbohawk. It's great entry level bow that shoots like it's high price tag brothers.

Good luck and let us know what you get!

[johnf]

Shoot as many bows that you can. There are lots of good bows out there Diamond, Martin, Bear, Mission and the Red Head bows from Bass pro are good bows. My first bow was a Diamond Edge youth bow that cost all of $200. It killed 3 deer last year and was plenty accurate. I upgraded to a used Bowtech Guardian this year. I got it for $325 but shopped around quite a bit before buying. You can find great deals if you shop around.

Good Luck

[mjones83]

Thanks everyone for the replys. Great information!!

[RangerClay]

I took one of my hunting buddies to BPS in July. He bought a Bear Charge. I'm telling you right now, it's hard to beat that bow for the price. You get bow, a Wisker Bisquit (sp), Trophy Ridge sight and Trophy Ridge stabilizer for $399. The pro staffer at BPS had him set-up in about a half hour. I shot the bow when we got back and it is a real tack driver. One piece of advice, do yourself a favor and invest in some Simms string silencers and vibration dampeners for the limbs to reduce what little noise and vibration there is. This is very nice first bow!!!

Edited September 15, 2010 by RangerClay