bow advice for beginner?!

[forrestdweller]

during my years of travelling i came quite often accross opporunities to hunt (for the pot!) BUT often enough lacked a weapon to do so... . i have tried several ideas but for various reasons dismissed most of them in the end. the IMHO best solution would have been a bow BUT i did not manage to find anyone to teach me the basics + too often lacked a suitable place to practise... . last year however i met someone from whom i could learn some basics and shortly after had on another place opportunity to mess around with modern copies of the traditional korean bow and got hooked on archery.

as i'm currently settled down (for some time) i plan to get a bow in spring (=too cold here right now for that...) and shoot holes in old tatami mats (==free targets)

my requirements for the bow are: --value for money but decent quality
--take-down recurve (for easy transport and change of limbs)
--powerful enough to hunt smaller game with it (!! in countries where bowhunting is legal! AND after i'm good enough to hit what i aim for and make a clean kill!)
-- capable of ""digesting"" various types of arrows (i will start with factory- made ones but plan to make my own at some stage from timber/bamboo as well...)


i already did some research and it seems that the ""samick sage"" is a good bow for beginners... . so unless someone knows of a better alternative that's what i'm planning to get (i still try to find out which place is the cheapest/best to buy one as shipping costs to japan can be hefty...; i plan to buy bow, arrows and a spare bowstring as on package)


my questions are: how many pounds draw weight should i get (bearing POSSIBLE hunting or bowfishing in mind- the largest animal i'd go for would be goat-sized or an adolescent pig)?! the korean bow i used last year was marked with ""#46 "" (which i guess means the poundage; i fired a few shots from a 50lbs bow which was a bit too heavy for me (beginner) but i was comfortable with 46 lbs(=the bow i used in korea))..
what type of arrows would be best for beginners: fibreglass/aluminium/carbon?!


thanks ahead!

 

[Stevie777]

A 40lb bow will blow thru Deer if...and i stress if you hit the sweet spot.
Dont know much about Recurves myself but Samick seem to be a reputable company though more Target than hunting.

Making a Bow from scratch is quite a trick to pull off, though i have seen Bows made from PVC Pipe that would easily have enough punch to take deer down. Carbon Arrows are sturdy and generally straight, but can be expensive, If you plan on Hunting i wouldn't cut corners.

If anything i would advise you to practice shooting Broadheads. All well and good hitting a target with field points from 60 yards, but a broadhead is generally heavier than a field point and shooting one from a 40lb bow there would be a massive difference on where the arrow ends up compared to a field point over distance.

Just Makes sure you are experienced and confident enough to take a Animal down with that first shot. I can Hit a Target at 100 yards but I wouldn't and dont shoot over 30 yards and there is a reason for that.

Hunting with a Bow is not the same as Archery. You will be ending Life, Make sure nothing suffers unnecessarily. You owe it to your prey.

 

[Wayne]

You will need to check out the rules in the areas your planning to hunt. Generally there is a requirement for a bow to be within s specific weight and or speed limit to be allowed to hunt with it. A lot of hunting in the states will be from tree stands with a compound. Samick make some nice bows from cheap to very pricey.

 

[Stevie777]

What yer man ^^^ say's.. Checks the rules.

 

[santaman2000]

Exactly: check the local laws. The minimum legal draw weight here (in most states) is 45 pounds. That might be a bit heavy for a beginner TBH. I'd plan on getting two bows at least. The first at or under 35 pounds to play with for a few months to a year and then move on to a heavier one to practice a bit more before trying to hunt with it. Also wait until you move to the heavier one to practice with real hunting tips/arrows (be they broadheads for bigger game or judo tips for small game) If you're going to try wing shooting fowl you'll also want to practice with flu flus (and you're a better man than me!)

 

[forrestdweller]

thanks for all the replies so far!
as i said: i was planning to concentrate on target practise first and not just grab a bow and see if i can hit anything by chance... . i had some opportunities to go hunting small game with (powerful) airguns in NZ and with .22 rifle in OZ and i always made sure i stalked close enough for a clean kill! (and the meat was eaten afterwards!)
bowhunting (in general) on introduced species is legal in OZ and NZ- there even guys who go after feral water buffalos with bow and arrow:yikes: but i will NOT join them!- but i would have to check on the details first and @ least in the near future not head back there anyway! (i believe bowhunting would be a total ""no"" here in japan and i'm not planning on hunting here anyway....)

i was quite comfortable shooting the 46lbs (?!) horse bow in korea, but i have no clue if a 46lbs (or rather 45lbs with the ""sage"" ) recurve bow ""feels"" the same like a horse bow- hence my question.... (good thing with a recurve bow is that you could start out with lighter limbs and then upgrade to heavier ones once you're getting better)

 

[Stevie777]

(good thing with a recurve bow is that you could start out with lighter limbs and then upgrade to heavier ones once you're getting better)

You can do the same with a compound. There are certain exercises you can do to increase your drawing power. When i first started..(70lb compound) I thought the cams where locked....A couple of weeks of exercising the correct muscle groups and i could peel that thing back like butter. My Friends, some of whom are a lot bigger than me cant pull my Bow back.

Here's tip..lay flat on a raised surface and lift a weight up and down like you would if you were draw back on a bow. and practice. I dont know what build you are but i have seen skinny kids draw 70lbs with ease where man mountains fail.

there's a Kid on Youtube who cant be pulling back more than 45lbs score two deer with one Arrow. blows through one and pins the other behind it.

 

[forrestdweller]

You can do the same with a compound. There are certain exercises you can do to increase your drawing power. When i first started..(70lb compound) I thought the cams where locked....A couple of weeks of exercising the correct muscle groups and i could peel that thing back like butter. My Friends, some of whom are a lot bigger than me cant pull my Bow back.

Here's tip..lay flat on a raised surface and lift a weight up and down like you would if you were draw back on a bow. and practice. I dont know what build you are but i have seen skinny kids draw 70lbs with ease where man mountains fail.

there's a Kid on Youtube who cant be pulling back more than 45lbs score two deer with one Arrow. blows through one and pins the other behind it.

compound bows are not my thing- i prefer something (more) traditional but the weighlifting exercise sounds good! so you basically lay on your back and lift weights up and down-- kinda like push-ups in reverse?!?!

""skinny"" descibes me well --despite the fact that i can shovel food down all day i simple cannot put on any weightuppy_dog . (funny thing is that about 3years ago in korea i stayed a few month on a farm which offered ""experience programs"" for city slickers- including ""grab a bow, two arrow and try to hit a target 5m away""; my job was to watch them and to make sure we had no accidents...(let's NOT get into details reg. what some ADULTS were trying to do... DARWIN AWARD ALERT!) first thing i did was roping off the range to prevent folks running accross all time in order to take pictures... the bows were low-power (ca 25lbs i'd guess) but i saw guys with arms MUCH bigger then mine who were unable to draw them... )

but after a few days of sore muscles i got on quite well with the 46LBS bow mentioned in my first post...

 

[Stevie777]

compound bows are not my thing- i prefer something (more) traditional but the weighlifting exercise sounds good! so you basically lay on your back and lift weights up and down-- kinda like push-ups in reverse?!?!

.

No, Lay one your Stomach and pull up the weight like a drawing action.

 

[forrestdweller]

ahhh- you mean like laying on a bench with your arm hanging down?!

 

[Stevie777]

ahhh- you mean like laying on a bench with your arm hanging down?!

Yes. pull straight up. make sure your arm is parallel to you shoulder. you are trying to build up a certain muscle in your back/shoulder that you dont normally use day to day.

 

[forrestdweller]

somewhere i saw an old drawing of mongol / tartar archers training their muscles by pulling a rope with a heavy weight at the end which was hanging over a tree branch... but laying on a bench sounds easier

 

[samharber]

This is the sort of exercise: http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/BackGeneral/DBBentOverRow.html

You'd probably want to modify it a bit, so you're pulling across your chest rather than up into your shoulder.

 

[forrestdweller]

THAT sounds easy- now i need to find a heavy rock or lump of metal...

 

[santaman2000]

Think of rowing exercizes.

 

[dwardo]

There is no substitute exercise for drawing a bow than, drawing a bow. Its a strange old set of muscles that come into play that are rarely used in other tasks.
Brute strength is no substitute for form either.
Beware that muscles develop quicker than the bits that hold them together. Pulled muscle will heal quicker than the other bits.

I have a cheap compound boy that I call an exercise bow Dont use it for awt else.

 

[The Cumbrian]

I bought a 50lb American Flat bow at the end of last year, which was a big step up from the 38lb recurve that I'd been shooting. It's taken me a month to get used to it ( ie, I felt that I could pull it all day rather, than just for an hour or two). I did a 40 target field round on Sunday, had a great day out and had no problems pulling the bow. Tonight I've fallen over on a ski course and dislocated my shoulder, so it's probably back to the drawing board in a couple of weeks....

Cheers, Michael.