Any archers in the house?

[ScorpioVI]

Nice setup Al!

 

[dmaxAl]

thx scorp.

last call going to stevens creek tomorrow 10am with stick bow. Gonna ride there with my new invention, so no press.

 

[Overcomb3]

Chris,

If this is your first bow I cannot recommend enough going to a proshop and trying a few different bows. Draw weight is only part of the discussion. Some bows are smoother than others. The peak/valley characteristics of the bow (at the end of the draw cycle when let-off kicks in) can make the difference between a mild shooting bow and not so much.

Setting your draw length is pretty critical. Your body will have a natural point where your shoulders have formed the T, and your draw hand falls naturally to the same location against your face/nose each shot. A proshop should have the various cam parts on hand to change the draw length if required from the off the shelf bow.

Remember the spine of your arrow (how stiff it is) needs to be matched to your draw length and arrow/pull weight. Ordering online might get you a dozen arrows that don't actually work very well for your bow!

Thanks for the response Al.
I've been trying to shoot as many bows as I can. I'm pretty sure on my needed draw weight & length so I have that info.
The reason I was looking at Huntersfriend.com is they set you up so well. They set your desired draw issues as well as build arrows to the specs of the bow. I'm gonna head over to Fat Shafts in Benicia this week to try & look at & shoot a few more bows to help me finalize my decision.
I appreciate your advice & wisdom.

Good luck

 

[Overcomb3]

What Al said above is valid, but the good thing with buying a PSE is everything is inherently adjustable (draw weight and draw length), without the need to change cams like some primitive (non-PSE) bows. I have two PSE bows, we are vastly superior to everybody else.

I've not personally shot the Drive but reading the specs this seems to be a good middle-of-the-road bow. At 31" axle-to-axle it should be pretty mild shooting.

What you really need is for an expert eye to look over your form and make sure you're not over/under-drawn, and to correct bad habits right from the very start. That's the benefit you get from a pro shop. I know Pinole is a long way from Gilroy but Mike Pierce over at Predators is an EXCELLENT coach. Start right and you'll save a lot of frustration and keep yourself from getting hurt.

Hey Alan. Thanks again for the help. I will be trying a local shop this week to see if there is any other info I can get but I'm pretty sure on buying the DriveLT thru Huntersfriend.com. They're package deal seems like the best I can find. Your & others endorsements of PSE are the reason I'll be getting one. Great reviews, endless adjustment & best bang for the buck as far as I can tell. What more could I ask for? Perhaps after I purchase it I can set up a time to get down your way & get some shooting time with ya. Either way, I do appreciate your help.

 

[ScorpioVI]

Nice shooting with you today Al!

We shot an Unmarked 3D competition at Black Mountain Bowmen today. The rules are simple, there are 14 targets scattered around the woods. Find them, guess the range (no rangefinders allowed), shoot. You can only shoot one arrow. Scoring is 12, 10, 8, 5, 0. If you miss the animal completely, it's a 0. Hit the animal anywhere outside the vital zone, it's a 5. Hit the lungs, it's an 8. Hit the heart it's a 10, there's a 1" bonus circle inside the heart that's worth 12.


Some pics:

Target 2:

I think I shot this for 40 and was 6 inches high, probably closer to 36-37 actual.

Target 3:

I shot this for 40 again and I can't remember where I hit. Scorecard says I'm outside the killzone but in the animal.

Target 4:

Jackalope at 17 yards, lung shot for me.

Target 5:

Turkey at 10 yards, on the money.

Targets 6,7,8.

Ranged it at 37, 42, 52. Hit high on the neck for for the first two (standing cubs) so dialed it down two yards for mama bear and was on the money. Actual range 35, 40, 45.

 

[ScorpioVI]

Target 9:

This one was a bitch, there's a ditch/depression directly in front of the firing point, puts you a lot higher than the target and it's an optical illusion. The target looks a lot further out than it really is. I shot this for 53, it was probably at 45. Shot well over and my only miss.

Target 10:

Turkey at 20 yards. Lungshot.

Target 11:

Fox at 27 yards. Lungs again.

Target 12:

Honey badger do care. Honey badger dead at 10 yards. On the money.

Target 14:

Ain't no gators in this part of the state. No matter, still dead.

Hmm I'm missing a target somewhere. I know I didn't take a pic of Target 1, probably forgot to take a shot somewhere. Oh well, I'm tired. Going to bed.




Oh, one last hero shot of dmaxAl (look at that perfect form):

 

[dmaxAl]

That was a great way to spend an evening! Definitely going to keep this up and see if some regularity (and honest score keeping ) can get my scores up.

Poor wee bear, it had it's hands up n all

bloody lancaster archery dot com down tonight

 

[fawndog]

Nice, hats off to you recurve shooters !

 

[ScorpioVI]

Forgot to post my scorecard. My best 3D score at this range was 118 so I'm off. Not a bad start to the season though.

 

[dmaxAl]

not posting mine

 

[ScorpioVI]

not posting mine

Dude you got nothing to be ashamed of. It's a hard world for trad shooters.

 

[dmaxAl]

Dude you got nothing to be ashamed of. It's a hard world for trad shooters.

Alan I'm just glad I actually damn well hit some of the targets

These compound bow shooters - 'Ohhhhh, look, how cute. Training wheels'



jk man I had a blast, looking forward to next week..

For everyone else, I would highly recommend giving this a try. It really is appropriate for archers of *all* skill levels, especially as a training aid.

Yeah some of the shots are on the tricky side and yeah you might lose an arrow, but the presentations make each shot a bit different and more challenging than a regular field range walk around. Add the non marked yardage and no rangefinder rule, you need to work on yardage guestimation also. This is invaluable for any archer, especially if you are hunting.

 

[dmaxAl]

Turns out my shaft was too stiff

Never had that problem before. lol.

On retuning my recurve, decided the arrows were a little stiff. Any excuse to buy new stuff, got some a.c.c 3l-18's which spine at .620 instead of the carbon express' at .500.

Tried out the shrink wrap crests for the first time as well. I quite like them, should make refletching much easier. We'll see how well they hold up.
Also hoping that white/yellow combo is easier to hunt out in the brush when I miss

 

[ScorpioVI]

Thought you recurve types were supposed to whittle out your shafts out of saplings...

 

[kiwi_outdoors]

now I gots me a bow

PSE Brute X, or something like that.

50 Lb compound, with fancy sights

bought 6 arrows from Archery only - ouch $$$$

 

[dmaxAl]

Thought you recurve types were supposed to whittle out your shafts out of saplings...

I did build a flemish string jig and bought some material to have a go at string making. What could possibly go wrong?

 

[dmaxAl]

Fabbed up a bracket so I could attach the bowcase to the luggage rack of the wee. Reuses all the mounts that the topbox usually use. Doesn't stick out more than the mirrors, so not tooo side

I might need to get a wide load sticker or something. Hoping it helps wheelieing.

 

[ScorpioVI]

Was your last 3D score so bad that you decided to switch to compound?

 

[dmaxAl]

Was your last 3D score so bad that you decided to switch to compound?

Ahem,

Targets last Wed were tougher I think than the first week, was down 8 pts. But at least I'm not just missing high/low, I think I got the windage figured out on the recurve.

 

[Sharky]

Ahem,

Targets last Wed were tougher I think than the first week, was down 8 pts. But at least I'm not just missing high/low, I think I got the windage figured out on the recurve.

Yeah, with te speed of the recurve arrows you have to factor in the rotation of the earth...