Compound bows - In today’s world of archery hunting equipment there are so many selections from which you can choose from for the compound bow, not just for hunting but for competition archery and hunting targets. I personally can not express enough to you as a friend that, cheap is not good and good equipment is not cheap. Compound bows vary in price ranges, from about $100 for the smaller or younger people to about $700 for the avid user. Remember this is for the compound bow without accessories. You can easily, for the compound bow, have another $100 to $300 in accessories not including the arrows.
Arrows for instance can cost up to $150 for just the blank carbon shaft, then nocks and inserts for the screw on points, and vanes or feathers for the fletching. Then when you get into buying broad heads(hunting points) You can expect to pay anywhere from $30 to $100 for a half a dozen. Just remember if you are serious about hunting or target competition, you should be serious about your archery hunting equipment. My personal hunting equipment that I use today, (2006) cost me roughly, $1000, 12 years ago. But this equipment is still in very good shape, due mainly to the maintenance I perform or have someone else do. In the next year or so, I will purchase all new bow hunting equip., thinking this may be the last compound bow I will need, due to my age. I’m not saying I will have to give up the sport of archery, but I may have to use a different technique. These different techniques I will explain later.
When purchasing new archery hunting equipment, I have a technique that I will suggest to you. First you go to a local archery dealer who has a shooting range and allows you to try out the equipment you are trying to purchase. A good example is when purchasing a new or used compound bow it is important to try it out, making sure it has a smooth draw and at the point of the bow letting off to its minimum pull, there is no jerk or unnecessary movement that may be detected by the prey.
The next step is to make sure the bow is quiet when released. Sometimes this can be solved with minor adjustments, such as a bow string silencer or a stabilizer that fits to the front of the handle, which is already equipped with a threaded hole just for this purpose. The next step to check out is, how forgiving is this bow. Forgiving simply means, when a slight mistake that you make, does not alter the shot too much. The shot remains as straight as possible. Some compound bows are so fast (about 300 to 330 feet per second) that the slightest error could send the trajectory of the arrow off by as much as a foot at 30 yards. This means a complete miss or even worse, a wounded animal.
My personal compound bow shoots approximately 275 fps and is very forgiving and very adequate. Do not be afraid of trying out a half dozen or so different styles or makes of compound bows or other types of archery equipment. Then you can make your best decision and get your best buy from either at the dealership or go on line to make your purchase of archery equipment. Sometimes the dealership has giveaways or a better warranty or free tune-ups for a year or two, you have to make that decision of where you want to purchase your archery equipment. I buy most of my archery hunting equipment online. More about bow tune ups:
Archery Bow Tuning
After purchasing or even before you made your purchase, find yourself a good local archery shop and or archery club or organization to join. This is a good way to learn and get excellent information about new ideas or new archery hunting equipment. I will always be updating and getting into full detail on many of these subjects such as making your own bow . Do not be afraid of asking any questions, no matter how slight or small they might be. If I do not have the answer about archery hunting equipment on this site at the time, I will do my best to get you the correct answers. Your questions could lead to new discoveries or ideas that I need to mention on this web site so everyone can benefit from the information you have to share or ask about. It could be a simple funny story that came from you or a friend that you would like to share with the rest of the archers. Remember some of the biggest success stories started out being the biggest failure stories.
My father, I can remember telling the story of how he in the 1950’s was hunting with a recurve bow and at that time he was using a quiver that was attached to his bow without any guard over the razor sharp broad heads. That, at this time was a big improvement from carrying your arrows in a quiver on your back. The only problem was my dad was walking through the brush and accidentally stuck himself with his own broad heads. He then told his friend, Fred Bear about this problem and Fred and his archery company came up with a solution to correct the problem. They simply made a built in cover for the broad head end of the quiver. A simple idea or a simple question could be a simple solution to a great archery hunting equipment idea.
Maintenance and your equipment: Maintaining your archery hunting equipment is as important as maintaining your car or truck. Going without maintenance will mean a sure failure at some point of time. You just never know when it will happen. It could be at the most inconvenient time of your life, maybe when that big ten point buck steps out in front of you at fifteen yards or that 400 pound black bear is only ten yards from you looking the other way and you have a failure because of a maintenance problem you put off. The problem could be as simple as a loose knocking point or your bow sight has come loose. A quick check list could save yourself a lot of problems down the road to success. I am always checking my archery hunting equipment out. Whether I do it myself or I have it done. It could become a critical problem if I do not do it or procrastinate the problem.
I recommend a yearly tune up be done by a professional. They will give you any suggestions of what could be a serious problem, such as, a badly warn bow string or a fractured bow limb. These may not have been discovered by yourself through your own archery hunting equipment maintenance check list. Problems sometimes come from warn out parts or possibly a new archery product to correct a previous problem. Hey, who knows better then myself. I’ve had my fair share of failures due to lack of maintaining my archery hunting equipment although it does not happen hardly at all anymore. If you get to know your archery equipment and maintain it, it will give back to you a good and quick response when you need it most.
KEEP IT SAFE!
Good Hunting!
Ted Lake
About Archery and Archery Hunting. In depth information about archery target shooting and archery hunting for the beginner to the most avid archer. Tips on maintaining all your archery equipment. Also many valuable tips to help you get the most out of your hunting experiences, whether it’s small game hunting or large game hunting.