I want to get back into bowhunting after 15 years and was wondering what are the components of choice?
1. Bow? Im guessing Mathews. Any particular model stand out? Switchback?

2. Arrows, fletching, broadheads

3. Rest. Whisker biscuits look like a good idea??

4. Sights?

5. Any other components yall recommend

Thanks, KP

1) Mathews Switchback

2) Redhead Carbon Supreme Hunter (same as Carbon Express Terminator Hunter), 12 grains/inch. I add Bohning 5 inch vanes when the originals get damaged.

3) QAD UltraRest www.qadinc.com


4) I like this single-pin. I use thebiggest peep

I like fixed 2-blade broadheads.

quote:

Originally posted by Don_G:
1) Mathews Switchback

2) Redhead Carbon Supreme Hunter (same as Carbon Express Terminator Hunter), 12 grains/inch. I add Bohning 5 inch vanes when the originals get damaged.

3) QAD UltraRest www.qadinc.com


4) I like this single-pin. I use thebiggest peep

I like fixed 2-blade broadheads.

I concur with Don on the above.

I bought a Mathews Switchback in large part because he recommended it. I am TOTALLY impressed with it.

My bow was fitted with a RipCord Rest because the QAD Ultra Rest was going to take to long to get in (not great selection in most small places in Canada!). I like the RipCord but I have tried Don's QAD and like it better.

I have a Spott Hogg 5 pin site on my bow and its fine, but again, Don's setup on his Mathews Feathermax with a single pin site suited me better too. Could be the trad background and resultant bent for simplicity.

For that reason also, I am a big time advocate of fixed two blade broadheads. I use Journeyman and Zwickey BH's with my trad bows, and am itching to give the SteelForce and Magnus BHs some field time with my Mathews.

I have a 3/16" peep on my bow and I think I like the 1/4" peep on Don's bow better.

I use a Fletcher Flathead release and have grown quite fond of it.

For arrows, I use the Easton ST Axis Obsession shafts (11.9 gpi). I quite like them so far.

Cheers,
Canuck

Thanks for the replies! I will check these out at the local bowshop.

I was going to buy a mathews switchback, untill I shot a Ross. I'm not knocking Mathews they are great but the ross is just as good or better and they come with winners choice strings and cables plus they are at least $100 to $150 dollars less than the mathews. Either bow you choose you won't go wrong.

www.rossarchery.com

Hi Mississipian,

While I wouldn't call myself an expert on this subject, I have been shooting a few years now and offer up my experiences and opinions, Lord willing!

1. Bow: In my experience of the few bows I have owned, I would class the draw length, draw wall, grip, hand shock and noise level of the bow to be the most important factors in choosing a bow.

Draw length: This is probably the most important. It is of paramount importance that when you draw that string completely back, it rests in a position where you are comfortable. In fact, it is a great idea to shoot a few different bows with varying draw lengths and see which one you like the best. A bow with about 1/2 inch of fine tuning within the cam eccentric is a nice feature once you get close or feel comfortable in case you decide to change draw weight substantially which can have an effect on the draw. Also keep a nocking loop in mind when you are buying a bow, that is going to add length. I settled on my last bow which had a permanent draw length and adding the loop made it perfect for me. One point to mention in the use of a serious hunting rig is the use of a shorter draw length vs. a longer one when given the option. It is a rare hunter indeed who does not get nervous when they see any game, let alone a big trophy. Many archers have failed to reach proper let off on short valley bows while large amounts of adrenaline was coursing through them and there range of motion was inhibited. Keeping the draw length a tad shorter is a better trade off then longer if a compromise must be chosen. Amen?

Draw wall: This is one thing I can not stress enough, even though it has become a very standard feature on many of todays modern bows. 10 years ago, many bows had soft draw walls, meaning when you pulled the bow back and it came to the end, you could still pull harder and creep the string back and forth. The beauty of having a solid wall, is that you can keep pulling a have a consistent hold. Whenever shooting, you must continue to pull back or else your arrow will creep forward slightly, and if the bow has a short valley, you may even reach the let on point and weight will increase again forcing the bow down, in turn forcing you to have to pull it back again. Not good for the shoulder and especially not good when holding on game. Having a solid wall also keeps consistant draw length and draw weight for each shot = consistent force applied to the arrow. Having a solid wall with just make you an all round better shooter.

Grip: Okay, another thing I learned, and that is to have a grip that fits you comfortably. I am on my 5th and probably last bow I will ever by in years and the grip of it was the main decision. In fact, I walked into the archery shop to buy a Switchback but after picking up and shooting my bow I decided to buy that one. Nothing wrong with the Mathews bows but I prefer the grip of mine. Actually you can buy a replacment grip for a Switchback that turns that bow into a real comfortable shooter. I forget the name now but they cost about 50 dollars. Anyways, I love the feel of a nice, narrow grip that doesn't torque in my hand.

Hand shock: This is basically the amount of vibration or motion you feel in your hand, at the shot. The poorly designed bows will have lots of movement and irritation, while the good designs will literally feel like silk in your hand. Some bows have lots of jump to them, some just feel downright nasty to shoot. Again this is something that has come a long way in todays bows and with many companies using things like parallel limbs and breakthroughs in riser design and sound absorbing materials, this isn't as much of a problem as before. Praise Jesus, the technology afforded to us in bow shock is quite remarkable. A stabiliser can help with bow jump to some degree but the good ones also are not cheap. I prefer a bow design with very little hand shock as a bare bow, then adding an inexpensive stabiliser to provide slight forward balance and/or add weight for better aiming.

Noise level: This, and hand shock usually go hand in hand(LOL) although not always. If you bow is loud it is going to spook game and annoy you when shooting it. Again advanced designs in parallel limbs as well as strategic placment of absorbing dampners has greatly helped this problem. The Switchback is great for noise and hand shock. Personally, I don't get caught up in what manufaturer XYZ does to get rid of the noise, as long as it is gone AND I don't have to spend a fortune on replacment products to keep it quite. Some companies put spongy stuff in the lims, others dampen the string as it closes, other have weighted dampners with rubber etc. Again, shooting a few bows will really seperate the good from the bad. I prefer a bare bones bow with a good limb and riser design for inherent quietness. Then I can even add my own inexpensive aftermarket goodies like NAP or Sims products and really get stealthy! Amen! You know if your bow is whisper quiet when you yourself shoot it, it is a lot quieter 5 feet away and the much needed deer jump zone of 20 yards.

The Switchback is an excellent choise of the above mentioned attributes. Again, I prefer a narrow grip and would replace the Mathews grip but some people like the stock grip. Each his own. I shoot an AR bow and that company also makes good bows for the above mentioned features. Actually PSE has adopted the AR grip in many of their bows lately so they have a great feel as well.

So in summary, in my experience, I can recommend a bow from Mathews, PSE or Archery Research(AR) lines. I have also heard good things about Bowtech, but haven't shot one myself. Not sure about Hoyt or lesser known, exotic brands. Amen?

2. Arrows etc.

Well, I don't put much emphasis on arrows or fletching as much as I do on the broadhead. In my experience, there are many good arrows to be had by the makers and they all make great products. Again, I am speaking about general hunting, 3D and recreational shooting. I would guess that professional target archers put great emphasis on arrows much like bench shooters do on their reloads.

Most arrows are straighter than what I can shoot, so I don't get caught up in that stuff myself. In my experience, an arrow is good untill it gets either lost or shattered! LOL
With that said, I would buy a generally good brand of affordable price. I have shot only aluminum and carbon. I have not shot the hybrids. So in aluminums that pretty much leaves the Easton brand. I have been out of the aluminums for a while but used to shoot the XX78 simply because they offered a much better nock design than the XX75's. That alone was what had me paying the difference, not because of the type of aircraft metal or straighness.

I now shoot carbon arrows and like them. I presently shoot Carbon Express and also have had good luck with the Beman line. The CX line or the ICS Hunter line are good, solidly designed arrows in my experience. I just can't justify buying the top of the line arrows, nor can I afford them! LOL

Vanes: Well, I used to own my own fletcher untill it got borrowed one night and never returned! I really don't have much to say about vanes except to say that I like to pick a nice color that looks good in my bow quiver! No, seriously, a good 4-5 inch vane with a proper fletch job is important, but if you have a good quality arrow rest, coupled with todays high clearance risers, fletching becomes a boring subject to me very quickly! Amen! Although I will make mention of the Bohning Blazer vanes. My archery dealer swears by them, I haven't tried them yet buy Blazers look promising.

Broadheads: Oh no! Out of all the choices of gear, this topic seems to draw the most heated discussion. Much like calibers for guns. So I am going to make this really simple, and lay out my rules on this subject. The biggest thing for me in a broadhead is accuracy/flight toughness/penetration:

Accuracy/flight: This is the biggy for me. My main deciding factor in choosing a broadhead is whether ot not the thing can fly and hit where my field points are hitting. I take this attribute over all others and today, this is achiveable in a few brands. I just have no desire to shoot a broadhead the flys like a tadpole! Amen! I dunno, it is kind of like shooting a gun. When I reload, I first look at accuracy before I determine bullet weight etc. If I can't hit the animal in a vital spot, then it makes no difference what other quality my broadhead has IMO. Okay, I had better quit! I will say that I don't put much emphasis on the diameter of the cutting head either. Mostly because hunting Elk with a really big expandable may not be the wisest choice and Elk is my favorite game to eat besides moose! Amen!
Toughness/penetration kind of go hand in hand. If your broadhead is tough, it still must penetrate so there is a line to heed in the design. Actually I really have my eye on the Sonic Broadheads by ABC. They look really promising to me.

I am not even going to get into the expandable vs. fixed debate!

Rests: Wow, are you blessed sir. If I could have bought the rests available 15 years ago I would have been very happy. I remember my first rest was a spring type and it ripped off my fletching.

Todays drop away rests are very dependable. The Whisker Biscuit has gotten great results, great hunting rest although I haven't shot it. I have shot TM style and drop away and I prefer a good drop away. I shoot a Ripcord and have also heard great things about the QAD Ultrarest. I think the Whisker Biscuit, QAD, Ripcord or any other of the solidly designed dropaways will make your life and your freezer happy. Amen.

3. Sights/peeps:

Well, I have a few considerations in a sight. One very important one is whether or not I can align it with my peep consistently. This is very important to accurate shooting. I prefer a sight with a round guard for this very purpose. Many sights today will actually have a white ring painted around the guard so you can center your peep in it, then go from there. Unless you get consistent alignment between the peep and sight, you will be all over the place. Next I like the correct number of pins. I prefer 4-5 pins. Actually 4 pins is ample on a beggining setup because accurately shooting out past 50 yards is no small feat! You would then have a 20, 30, 40, and 50 yard refereces in the 4 pins. Having that 5th pin can get you to the 60 yard mark but practice is required to feel confident enough to harvest animals at 60 yards.

Another nice feature in todays sights is the fiber optics which illuminate the pins for you. I also wanted to mention that some manufacters offer a couple different size pins so you can choose a smaller size pin. I like a slightly smaller pin size because when you get out to 60 yards, the pin can seem quite large. A fiber optic pin is great in that shooting distance, then you can focus on the animal.

Trophy Ridge is popular, I also shot a PSE sight, and I currently shoot a Cobra Sidewinder 5. Does all the above for me and is built tough.

Peep: Not much to say here. Tat Gentleman provided a good link on a good peep. Actually I don't have much experience with different peeps. I shot the Pete Shepley peep for years and think I will check out the one Canuck linked. Bless you Canuck! Thanks.

Other things to consider are the strings etc. but I would recommend getting to feel comfortable with you bow and putting a few hundred arrows through it before you get into advanced stuff. A good release is important. I can highly recommend the Winn Free Flight for hunting. I have shot Scott and Fletcher releases and even though my Fletcher has a better trigger, I prefer the Winn for hunting.

I want to close by mentioning a few tips I believe are important on shooting form. First off, it is important to grip the bow the same, every time you shoot. I also like to lift my bow up and sight up before I draw back, using my back muscles to pull. Many a shooter take out there shoulder because they pull the bow while it is facing the ground or the sky. The largest set of muscles present are your back muscles while the bow is level. The elbow should be out and you should be pulling with the back. If you can't do this, or you have to heave and jerk the bow back you are shooting to much weight. 60-70 pounds is ample for North America with a perfectly tuned bow and excellent broadheads.

Like I said above, I center my peep in the sight guard then choose my pins and move from there. I also shoot my bow like I shoot my gun. I squeeze the trigger and the bow goes off as a complete surprise for me, every time, even hunting. I never had good luck punching the trigger. It is really fun to shoot like this because the shot is a surprise and there is no stress of anticipation. Many a bowshotter have a flinch just like many a rifle shooters. The added stress of having the adrenaline surch while punching the trigger always moves the bow or gun slightly and puts undo stress on the ligaments and tissues. This is because the adrenaline cause the shooter to exert force into the bow draw even though it is not needed. The shooter at the shot may exert the force of 120 pound draw when only 70 pounds is being shot. This creates a whiplash effect and really can hurt the bow arm elbow and shoulder tossues. Much like throwing a very light stone and putting all you have into it. You "throw out" your arm. Amen?

Hope this helps and I pray you will be as blessed in your archery endevours as I have been.

God Bless,

Corey

I just read this article by Chuck Adams and want to say that I would disregard everything I have said about hunting arrows above in this thread.

Not only am I going back to 23 diameter XX78's, but I am going to get a roller. Thanks Chuck, Thanks Jesus!

http://www.eastonarchery.com/articles/aluminumaremyfav.asp

God Bless,

Corey

i shot the 2007 Mathews Drenalin yesterday, and it was one of the best shooting bows i've shot.

you should at least try one out before you make your final decision

I never shot the Drenalin, but pulled it back, or should I say, barely pulled it back. That is one brute bow to draw back. Had the adrenalin goin!

Corey