Anybody into bow hunting?

[TheOldSchool]

I want to buy a good beginner compound bow or crossbow for hunting. Do any of you have any recommendations? I've been out several times hunting with a rifle but my sister's fiance has a group of people he goes out bow hunting with and I think it would be fun to join in. He's going to help me buy a bow but I'd like to have some info to work with before we go to the store in about a month.

Anyone care to offer up some advice?

 

[Missourian]

Wish I could help you brother.

What I know about bow hunting could be printed on a bottle cap with plenty of room to spare.

I did notice that [MENTION=43863]XPostFacto[/MENTION] has a bow hunter avie...maybe he could give you some advice.

 

[XPostFacto]

I just saw this thread, or I would have commented earlier.

If you want to get into archery, you need to find yourself a good bow shop, a shop that specializes in not only selling archery equipment but knows how to help you decide what kind of bow you want and knows how to set up the bow for you. There are 3 types of bows, long bow, recurve, and compound bow. I chose the compound bow. Initially, I went to an outdoor shop that sold compound bows so bought a 30 lb bow for my wife. The problem was that nobody at the shop had a clue how to set up the bow. As a result, both my wife and if wasted a month learning how to shoot the bow wrong and not having a clue what to do or how to do it. Fortunately, we discovered a bow shop some 40 miles away that was listed as a gun and tackle shop, but its owner was an expert bow hunter and employed 3 bow techs. They got us back on track and informed me that my wife's bow was too small for me. I purchased a bow package, which consisted of the bow, front sights, rear peep sight, and sling. That bow cost $250, a Mission Menace, but by the time I bought target arrows, six for $36 and had the draw length and proper draw weight set up for me as well as the rear peep sight in the right place, the price tag had risen to over $500. That was a year and a half ago, and now I have put in an order for an $800 Hoyt Tribute target bow. Once the shop finishes tuning up that bow, I will probably have spent over $1,000. I'm a pretty decent shot and am considering going into bow competition. I couldn't care less about hunting. I concentrate on consistent precision shooting. Even now, if I turned to hunting, I worry about that first shot going off, meaning I didn't drop that deer dead, and I don't want the animal suffering. Hence, I have to be better than I am now.

I also bought a Parker 100 Lb draw crossbow with a red dot sight, but I prefer shooting the compound bow over the crossbow, any day.

There is a good archery supply catalog out called Lancaster Archery Supply based in Lancaster, Pa. I wouldn't order any bow from them, though, not until you know what you are doing. They are great for selling accessories, like arrow fletching, nocks, range finders, and the like, not to mention a good arrow fletching tool. I bought one of those, and it will save you a ton of money when you shoot one arrow too close to another and tear up your fletching. Just remember to throw the arrow away that you split by another arrow. I have already done 5 of those, and that gets expensive after awhile.

Here's the website for Lancaster:

http://www.lancasterarchery.com/

Lastly, I wouldn't go bow hunting if I were you, until I became very proficient with that bow. Otherwise, you are going to lose some very expensive arrows, and even if you hit the target, do you know you are good enough to make that killing shot? Also, don't set your bow for the heaviest poundage. Archery is a skill not a strength sport.

 

[XPostFacto]

Wish I could help you brother.

What I know about bow hunting could be printed on a bottle cap with plenty of room to spare.

I did notice that [MENTION=43863]XPostFacto[/MENTION] has a bow hunter avie...maybe he could give you some advice.

I saw your mention the other day, but when I went over to the hunting forum, I couldn't initially find anything so got side tracked with something else. Well, here I am about a month late. I don't post much at USMB, anyway, and that's the problem.