I recently had a compound bow given to me as a gift now over the years I have only ever used crossbows so I am basically at a loss about this one. I'm interested in finding a site where I might learn a little about the parts and acessories for them most sites I have found are get telling you to use something or buy it but don't explain what the part is and does. Does anyone know a place i can go that will explain not only with words but pictures so I have an idea of what they part they are talking about is and where it is located? As I said I have a basic understanding of the prinicpal of the compound bow but no experience with one and I'd like to know a little before damaging it through ignorance or hurting someone through stupidity.

 

Hi gard

Congrats on the new Bow

First thing I would do is toss the paper users manual, back in the box & find their Company website. I have always started with a new gun, or tool by reading the manual first. Untill I built a PC that is

Today, with large complex Company websites, you can read the manual online, & read so much more than a paper manual can hold. Register your Bow, sign up for a newsletter, & they may even have a Forums, like many are doing today to talk with other owners.

Many times the Company will offer free tutorials & tips plus links to 3rd party sites, for even more information & after market parts etc.

After that if you want to learn more, try doing a search on Compound Bow, Archery, Bow tuning etc.

By shooting the Crossbow, you understand the nature of imparting energy into the shaft with a string. Archery is all the same, if you see, the hows & whys.

I have tuned and shot Recurves for over 3 decades & when I got my first Compound, I was told I now needed Sights, a mechanical release, like a CrossBow trigger works.

I settled on my Recurve as my primary Bow & the Bear, White Tail II as a backup, I can hear it now Antique, Dinosaur. Ha Ha, I can't say i'ts a much more than a recurve, with tips replaced by wheels & 3 weight settings.

The point was, I had tried all the Over Cam, sights, release, & got to where I was shooting them, bare bow with glove again + thinking about how light to carry that Bear White Tail II was to carry. So simple yet rugged & ugly by todays Compounds.

That Bow could be 20 or more years old, it was, one of the early wheel bows I read. However I applaud you, on you choice to become proficient with your weapon for safety concerns. Now if everybody would do that, we would have less mishaps.

I hope I pointed you in the direction you want to go, & I also hope my story of the forever finger shooter, who could still hit my mark, without all the bells & whistles.

My Bows are for hunting, when most people are inside trying to stay dry. Without ever learning to use sights I can hit my mark in the dark as long as the target can be seen.

I don't dislike sights, some Iron sights I have on my Target Rifles, cost 3 times as much as my bows. That's for a Game, not after Game & those Rifles never see the Woods.

Like you did with the CrossBow, learn the Basics of stance, sighting, propper release & follow through. I don't know what make & year your Bow are, but you may want it tuned 1st by a Pro.

When I was shooting the tuneable Compounds, I found the guy who tuned the Hunters Compounds in our County, & left the Bow with him. After getting the Bow back, I could count on the hit being true, & it was me who missed a shot, because I did something wrong. Not because I had a Bow, that was fireing curve balls LOL

Take it slow & have fun, don't take just anyones word that you need this our that. Perhaps if I had been introduced to sights & releases slowly, one at a time I may use all the do dads today.

I don't mean to imply that the sights & releases with small shafts set up as an overdraw has given the CrossBow with Iron sights a run for it's money out to 100 yards.

I have always stalked Deer with a Bow, & I can say it has worked well for me. Like a heavy brush gun(45-70) may be better equiped with Iron sights, for a 40 yard charging Hog shot, than using a scope.

I take most shots well under 50 yards, so I just consentrate on where I will hit, & release. I may do all I need to do, and have an arrow in the target, before many have the sights lined up.

Best of luck to you gard, I hope a current Compound shooter will post, and give you some more up to date info, on the state of modern Compounds. However the MFRs website is a good place to start.

 

Thanks for your reply I tried the manufactures website and it is informative to a point but in all honesty there is a couple of things on this bow that it didn't show on any pictures and I don't have a clue what it is for I have deduced many items on it and I can most likely figure out a few more I was just hoping for a little information. I will be taking it to a pro to have it tuned I had already planned on it. I have shot recurves when I was a teen I even have a series of trophies for different shoots I entered back then before I got lazy and went to crossbow. I don't hunt I have always been strickly into archery for competitions, the not hunting was due to where I grew up and the terrible hunting in the area, now just don't have the heart for it. But if I have my way I will learn the compound and I will be competing with it someday. As soon as I learn the basics. Thanks for your answer and if anyone out there has any more information I would very much like to hear it. The trick to winning is not always being the best with the equipment it is knowing the equipment the best.

 

gard, the accessories on the bow may be after market, take a look at this online shop. http://www.lasarchery.com/ to see if you can find them.

I am a certified Archery instructor, so if you can describe the items I may be able to help.

Do you plan on usin a release or a shooting glove? Will you need a Bow stablizer what length? Do you have a sporting goods shop near by that rents VCR tapes on shooting Archery etc?

What brand and model Bow do you have?

 

This is a link to an archery forum on the Usenet:
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=e....sport.archery

Usenet was the original name for a "chat room" back when the internet was the sole domain of the Gubmint. There are a bazillion different forums- it's similar to the DIY website, but less user friendly.

In case you're not familiar with the Usenet (please forgive me if I say really obvious things, here):
*The regulars will prefer you to do a search before asking questions. From the link above you can perform a keyword search, and if you need clarification or don't find your topic, post then. This is just a point of ettiquette. (Hint: people are more likely to respond if you include in your post "I'm a newbie" and "I searched but didn't find my topic".)
*You'll be asked to register (it's free) in order to post. When you enter your email address, enter it in such a way that a human can figure out your address, but a spambot cannot. For instance,
username_AT_aol_DOT_com or
NOusernameSPAM@aol.com
The reason for this is that the commercial spammers have programs that go out into the usenet and search for text strings in the format username@aol.com. By adding extra characters or replacing the @ with _AT_ you can avoid some spam.

 

Thank you I will start my search tonight after work. But it looks interesting

 

Hey, Marturo, what did this tuner do that made so much difference? Is this something like sighting-in a rifle?

I'll have to pick up a bow to see if my shoulder is rehabbed enough to draw it...

 

Hi CycleZen

Well as I said, I dropped it off so I did not get to watch. As it was explained to me, a good Compound has adjustments for more than just poundage adjustments. Also most off the shelf Bows, are far to sloppy in it's parts.

The upper limb is set at a certain angle & draw timing than the lower. I know that there were quite a few tweaks that he did, & the Bow was a PSE Phaser II. I think you can tune the Bear Whitetail II, by changing the nocking point on the string, a real basic Bow

To be honest with you CZ, I was still in shock, at learning I could no longer change my string by hand. I just said uh huh when he suggested replacing, & shimming the cams, sorry I don't know all he did. For $30.00 I feel he did what he said he would, it shot where I aimed. It weighed more than my MK-X 30-06, with Buris 12X scope woof!

I should just say, I prefer the freedom and lightness of the Recurve for hunting, & if I shot a 3D course. If I shot Comp, I would chose the compound, for it's flatter trajectory. Also I have seen some today, that were much lighter than the Compounds, of just 10 years ago.

Did it work? Oh yes indeed, it shot hard & fast @ 70# with a 50% let off, I was impressed. I was still shooting bare Bow, yet it was much easier to get good groups, than before the tune-up.

PS: I just found this. http://www.archerysociety.org/archinfo.html

 

Very cool- I had no idea there was that amount of tweaking to be done. I'm always amazed when I find out there is so much more to know about something that on the surface seems simple and direct.

Something you mentioned- "most off the shelf bows are too sloppy"- reminds me of a bicycle truism: some mountain bike manufacturers design their bikes to ride well in the parking lot of the bike shop, since that's where the mainstream customers will ride them. Never mind that they're supposed to be mountain bikes, and supposed to be ridden in the dirt.

If I was going to get a bow, is there a brand of bow to look for that is less sloppy off the shelf?

 

CycleZen I am going to have to hope a cutting edge Archer will give your answer the import it deserves.

Once an Archer reads, I use the Bear Whitetail II as my back up, bare at that. That old bow Well I would buy a Martin Compound Bow, & still have it tuned.

I am on my 2nd Bear Super Kodiak Recurve, the first Bow lasted 2 years & separated. Not broke but came apart, that's not good it shows poor workmanship from Bear.

I wrote Bear & told them my first Recurve ( Super Grizzly ) lasted 18 years of hard hunting, before the limb snapped in half. They sent me another Bow and it looks like a wood lamanate Ruger stock in colors YuK! What happened to that nice dark Brn & natural hard rock maple BOW?

Perhaps I will trade it on a Dream Weaver, one really nice Recurve. Back to you CZ, sorry just dreamin

Let's see if we can find a site, that rates Archery equipment, I'll do some searching & if anyone has a link, well post it, & well all have it.

 

As the others have said, we need to know the brand and model of the bow you have to answer any specific questions you may have. Recently the trend has been to single cam bows. The cam is on the bottom and an idler wheel is on the top. These are supposed to be more accurate to shoot, more forgiving, easier to tune, and quieter than the older 2 cam bows. All compound bows will have these parts regardless of age, model, so forth. 1)riser- This is the part of the bow where the limbs will attach. Also where the grip is located and where you will mount your rest, sights. stabilizer, and possibly a quiver. 2) limbs- just like the crossbow. They attach to the riser and hold the eccentrics. Another word for the cams or cam and idler wheel. 3) string and buss cables. Now for some accessories. Stabilizer. This is for adding weight to better balance the bow. The stabilizers of today are usually hydraulic or of a vibration absorbing material to help make the bow quieter to shoot and to reduce vibration. Sights. As on the crossbow, used to aim at target. I reccomend also using a peep sight mounted in the string. Will help you be more consistant in lining up your sights on the target. Stay away from the peep sights that require the use of rubber tubing. Yes it helps align the peep(make sure it is turned properly) with your line of sight but the tubing has been known to break or come off and can put your eye out. So stay away from it. Rest. The arrow rests of today come in many shapes and range from simple in design to needing a college degree to properly adjust them. I use a rest called the whisker biscuit. Very simple in design. Easy to adjust for center shot( making sure arrow is in straight adjust ment left and right. ) Also easy to adjust elevation to make sure up and down is right. You will also need some arrows. I reccomend carbon arrows. They will last longer than aluminum arrows and seem to penetrate better in hunting situations. As for weight, the arrows should weigh at least 5 grains for each puond of draw weight. For example, a complete arrow(shaft, fletching, nock, insert, and tip) should weigh at least 300 grains for a bow with a 60 pound draw weight. The compound is fun to shoot and fun to hunt with. I hunt very hard during deer season and always prefer to kill deer with a bow rather than a gun. Hope this helps. Any more questions, just ask.

 

Right now the 2 best bows on the market are hoyt and mathews. Those are the 2 I reccomend. They are not cheap but they are the best you can buy as far as compounds go. after these I would reccomend bow tech, AR(archery research), martin, PSE, and storm archery. The mathews is by far the most popular and is shot more for competition than any of the other manufacturers.

 

Thanks, Harlon, for that download- now I know how much I don't know! Marturo, I think we've found that cutting edge archer you mentioned.

I'll keep an eye out for those brands and features when I'm shopping.

 

Thank you, Harlon

I know you brought me up to date & then some. CZ do you have a shop where you can look at, & maybe try out some of the Bows Harlon suggested?

My Recurve was selling for a little over $300 & I found a great deal on mine through a gun dealer. Her Supplier had BEAR & I got it for Cost + lunch

Many times it pays, to buy at 1/2 price, by ordering your Leupold Spotting scope through a Bird watchers supply, instead of a firearms supply.

In 1972 I was working in Marion Ohio, after just getting out of the Service. There were acres of Military Depots just outside of Town. Across the road was a Huge Military Surplus Sales & Sporting Goods (Good Location) store as well.

One Sat I was driving by & saw a banner saying Archery Demostration Today. I really wanted to hunt with a Bow, & this was the day.

Once inside I could see a group of people with BEAR everything to give away & & That's Fred Bear & he just shot a Ping Pong ball.

I read every book by and about this living legend & here I was about to be taught how to shoot a Recurve Bow by Fred Bear .

With all the accessories & a 60# 58AMO Super Grizzly Recurve bow. Oh and 1 Dozen brand new Port Orford Cedar Arrows.

By the time I found the 8 arrows I lost over the next few days, well the wood shafts had swollen and cracked. So into the world of Archery club I went, & that's where I learned the secrets of the Bow.

My Wife who had a 45# Grizzly & I, would walk and shoot every 06:00 the 19 stations with pieces of Cardboard, backed by straw bales 1D LOL. 3D then was hunting the real thing, & those targets were unpredictable Targets to say the least.

Choose the weight of your bow carefully, it's easy to choose a bow that will kill a Elephant LOL. Fred bear said & I see no reason not to believe him. A 40# Recurve Bow will have the power to shoot through a Deer at 40 yards.

Recurves Cast heavy Arrows, so if you shoot a lighter arrow I would go up in poundage to get good penatration. Now I still use the Easton XX75 shafts and fletch them with real feathers. The Carbon arrow is new to me, & I think they are thinner for better penatration.

This is how DIY works we help each other

 

Yor main question is education, I learned a tremendous amount of knowledge by watching Easton arrow VCR tapes available at most fishing and hunting specialty shops, these are usually checking in stations,the ones that will weigh in a deer or band a turkey. A list is available from your state fish and wildlife office in your area. Also a good book is The Archers Digest(paper back), I would highly recommend joining a rod & gun club with archery facilities....in house experts are more than happy to help out. Arrows can get very expensive, good targets will help you make them last....warning...this is a very addictive sport...I purchased a Hoyt, Browning, Golden Eagle and PSE bow several years ago, took them to a range and fired them all. Chuck Adams, a famous hunter, backs the Hoyt line, and I wanted to try them, the others were all around the same level....When hunting the arm extended out can be very heavy while drawn I found by unsuccessful field experience, but after shooting them all the heavier Golden Eagle was consistantly tighter shot groups and very smooth shooting, I returned all the others and kept the one I liked. Some places may have a test range to let you try them... Paper tuning your bow is mandatory and must be matched to the shooters draw length method of release, right or left helical turn or straight fletch, plastic or feather...there are just too many variables, you'll love the sport. Olympic shooters bows that look like porcupines I've heard are extremely accurate but draw only abou 30-35#. PS My younger brother has a White tail II and got a buck with it....his biggest complaint was the weight and the way it conducts cold will freeze your hand off. Also if your in brush country it's very long. Its his back-up. He shoots a Martin now. My back-up is a Browning bushmaster. extremely short axle to axle distance, this makes it hard on the fingers, but excellent getting past vines or negotiating branches ect....

 

Thanks for the posts- I think I know of a range I can hang out at. Our county does a real good job with its parks- there's a county skeet/trap/archery range near here, and I thought I might spend a Saturday afternoon or two soaking up information and talking to the archers.

Now, if there were only 26 or 28 hours in a day...!

 

gard- Going on my 17th year of bow-hunting, the most important thing I've learned is to associate yourself with other enthusiasts like we have here. My dad was an archer so I got involved at a early age. I picked up on the archer language by joining him on trips to tournaments, the archery shop and the hunting lease. Set aside time to visit places like these and simply watch, listen and ask questions.
Guys- I'm no expert on archery, but know a few guys that are very close. 2 things we agree on.....we agree to disagree because ever hunter is different and what works for one may not work for another, and KEEP IT SIMPLE by not getting yourself confused by overloading your brain with the fancy language, techno-talk and innovations. Start out with the basics....visit an archery shop, contact your hunting buddies that are archers and sit down and talk with these folks and start discovering what some of your options are. Simply find out what it's gonna take for you to send a couple dozen arrows down range and hit a well located, consistent group. Just my 2 cents worth!
I have to get this off my chest, if I may.....I had a buddy contact me a couple of weeks ago because he wanted to start bow-hunting. Kewl! So, we started with the basics. However, he couldn't get the idea that he had to shoot 300+fps out of his head. I hear this soooo much. I just remind people that it's all about placement(My opinion, of course). I've been fortunate to take a deer every season for the last 10 seasons with my bow and have never shot over 260 fps. I, jokingly, asked him if he would rather double-lung shoot a deer with 260 fps or gut-shoot one at 300 fps. Also, I think that some new archers fail to realize that achieve 300+ fps(with most bows) it will take 70-80# at max draw length. First, I couldn't imagine having to draw 70# or 80# when I have P&Y buck standing 20 yds away from me and I'm trying not spook him. Second, I'm not fortunate enough to have arms long enough to acheive max draw length on the bows I choose.
marturo- I also have Whitetail II. It was my first compound and a gift from my dad. It is my bow-fishing and probably gets used the most in a season.

 

Hi tonybud

Welcome to our humble Home

You bring up some very good points in your post. I want to recomend some books for anyone intrested in the history & Spiritual side of Archery.

1. Shooting the Bow & arrow by Pope.
2. The Archers Bible by Fred Bear

Archery can be more than addictive, it can be a life experience for a Hunter, that can be so much deeper, than hunting with Firearms alone.

PS: I haven't taken my fishing rig from my Whitetail II in years & it may have something to do with the handle, not freezing to my wet hands LOL, that handle does get cold

Just surfing around I have found sites for every kind of Archery equipment being built & sold. Long Bows, Recurves, Compounds, Cross Bows & none of these bows are obsolete or forgotten.

We have more Archers today than ever before. As a young Hunter, I remember the " Be a two season Hunter" campain to get Hunters to think about other forms of Hunting than Firearms alone.

With all the Gun Control & noise control we have today, Archery is quiet & safe for populated areas with proper back stops. It's good to see so many people enjoying this ancient Craft.

 

This site told me alot.

http://www.huntersfriend.com/bowselection.htm#solidsplit

Rick