I have been away from bowhunting for ten years. I went into an archery shop and felt lost. I saw a lot of short, single cam bows, thin carbon arrows, and all kinds of releases. I am used to recurves and an early compound. I use finger release and no sights. My question is, what would be a good bow/arrow/sights/release combination to get up to date on equipment? I really like the concept of the short bow.

Why not hunt with a recurve?

Todays bowyers are building very efficant bows that can deliver an arrow @ 200fps.

Old Elk Hunter,

It is a complete difference than 10 years ago. The Equipment has become much more High Tech. The Bows are not only Shorter, They are Quieter, Much Faster, Flatter Trajectories, and Far less Hand Shock.

Another problem w/ the short bows is you are probably not going to be able to shoot w/ fingers due to the very sharp angle of the string while at full draw.

I would suggest you go to several different bow shops and find a bow and a Release that is comfortable in your hands as well as a comfortable draw weight & draw length. I really can't suggest a certain bow because what is comfortable in my hands may not be in yours. I can suggest a couple of Manus such as BowTech and Mathews on the High end and Pearson/Mcphearson & PSE on the Low end. All of the above bows are built well and carry liftime warranties on the limbs, cams, and risers.

The PSE Carbon Force Extreme Arrows are great as well as Beeman, Easton, and Carbon Extreme too.

On Broadheads, its hard to beat the Ole' Thunderhead and Muzzys for fixed blade and the Spitfire and Wasp SSTs for Expandables.

Oh, I'm sure you noticed, it's a bit more expensive than it used to be as well. It cost about as much as buying a rifle.

Good Luck!

Reloader

Thanks for the input Reloader. I have already noticed the prices. I will selling an AR15 tomorrow to pay for a bow. That should make the die-hard bow hunters here cheer. To tell you the truth I am a bit bored with rifle big game hunting. I shoot thousands of rounds all summer at varmints and when deer/elk season rolls around I have zero concern about hitting a animal as big as a deer within 300 yards. I used to bow hunt and I learned a lot about hunting from that. I think of rifle deer hunting as shooting season, not hunting season. I will try elk hunting with a bow this year and see if I still like it. It will be nice to go hunting and not
have to worry about chaining-up the rig. No snow or ice to contend with. Now I will try and find an archery shop. They are getting as rare as gun shops anymore.

I don't know much about wheel bows, but I do know that if you plan on shooting with fingers and instinctivly you shouldn't go for the high performance models they are too unforgiving. Maybe you can find a good used one from a few years back that will suit your purposes, and it MIGHT be more forgiving and easier to tune etc. If you can find one with a shelf that you can shoot off of I'd recommend that. We've had this discussion in here before but it helps to get the arrow as close to your hand as possible. Pick up the book instinctive shooting by G. Fred Asbell he has a good chapter on shooting compounds instinctivly. I still hunt with a gun so you don't have to appologize for shooting at 300 yards etc. I have to admit though that there's nothing as exciting/primal as bow hunting especially if you do it on the ground rather than sitting in a tree all day. I'm putting in for my hunting draws today soooo hunting season is coming!!!!!Man I can hardly wait, I wonder if I'll see the bruiser whitetail that I missed last year???

the chef