New to Hunting

New to Hunting?

OK, so if you are new to this grand sport, what is your first question going to be? Well A good place to start is with the bow. There is a mass of high quality bows out there, the more popular bows are called stick bows, there are also recurve bows and also compound bows.

An extremely important consideration when purchasing a bow is the draw weight and its draw length, also you need to know if your going to be shooing a compound or recurve, your draw length is of significant value to this.

Select a bow in the weight range that is comfortable for you, its very easy to make the mistake of many and select a bow that is too over powered in the vain hope that you will grow into it. Shooting with an overpowered bow will result in bad shooting style and bad habits will form that will be hard to break down the line. Why not ask a Local shop or store if you can demo a bow, if possible demo as many different bows, with different weights, lengths etc. All things being equal, the individual feel of a bow will make a huge difference in the way you shoot it.

If you are going to go for the stick bow, or recurve bow, think about one within a 50 to 60 pound draw range. It is excellent initial point with plenty of growth , it is what you would call an all intention weight, it will achieve most tasks.

If you are going to a compound, you might think about a bow in the 60 to 65 pound range. Typically, if you can handle a recurve of a certain weight, your compound should not me more than 15 pounds more weight than a recurve. If you are selecting a compound bow, find one with a higher brace height, that is the distance from the string to the riser of the bow.

A bow with a higher riser will be a more lenient bow. It will not embellish your form errors quite as much as a lower riser height. A higher riser will normally not be the fastest bow, but for the new archer will be a better starting place.

Establish what you will be using your bow for mostly. If you want to be rustic with your bow, cedar shafts are the best choice. If however you are into a compound, you will probably need to consider either carbon or aluminium. Typically, carbons are more durable, and lighter resulting in a flatter trajectory.

Aluminium are less expensive and a little weightier, allowing for slightly higher kinetic energy. If you will be hunting Elk or Moose, for example, choose a heavier aluminium shaft. For whitetail deer, or turkey or even bear, a lighter shaft would be fine, either an ultra-lite aluminium or a carbon arrow. If you will be shooting at long distances, a lighter shaft will help reduce distance judging errors.

In most occasions any properly tuned arrow will work. Carbon arrows are more expensive, but will generally take more stress than aluminium, but aluminium are a lot cheaper to loose.