Bow recommendations for a newbie

[skulls&bones]

I had a thread yesterday about being a newbie to bowhunting. The thread seems to have disappeared. I hope I didn't break any forum rules . . .

I received some pretty good advice, like getting fitted at an archery store. I'm 5'7, a tomboy female, and hoping to target whitetail deer. Eventually, moose, which means a higher draw weight, but why don't I focus on whitetails for the next couple years? I'm in southern Ontario. Let me know if anyone you know is selling a used compound bow with gear and arrows.

I'm baffled at why the thread disappeared. I wanted to thank people for the advice. I think my plan is to save up for something nice like a Hoyt recurve compound. It seems to be a pretty reputable brand? Anyone else have a Hoyt bow? What do you shoot and what brand are you shooting with? What about draw weight and axle length?

I'm currently living in the country. The backyard is all field, field, and more field. Plenty of space to set up targets and practice distance shooting. I can visit Toronto to get fitted with a bow. I've never heard anyone say hunting is a cheap hobby.

[Snowwalker]

You did not do anything wrong. The system has been having some kind of grandiose stroke every few months, and we lose about three to four weeks of threads every time.

Since your are 5'7" your too tall for a Bear Apprentice. It's a big kids( old enough to really hunt) or smaller ladies bow.

For your first bow, I would say to get a compound. The recurve is a good second bow. Nothing wrong with the hoyt or any other one like PSE, Bear, etc.

You'll find you can shoot a heavy draw weight compound better to start, as the let off will let you hold it at full draw longer. You'll develop tight groups, and be good hunt sooner.

But having said that do not pass up a nice recurve in a weight you can draw and hold. It may not be heavy enough to hunt deer, but you'll find there are lots of sod piles, dirt banks, rotten stumps that need to be shot. A few good arrows with judo, or blunt( hard rubber heads) arrow points will kill those nicely. They also work good on small game like rabbits, Raccoons, skunks, ground Squirrels, Ground hogs.

[Snowwalker]

Some examples of small game arrow heads
Judo point. ( wire fingers helps to not lose it)
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Good for rabbit/hare, and things that penetration is not needed to dispatch.
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These work on all the above, good for larger jackrabbits/hares. The second you place behind your field point.
They will penetration and quickly put the animal down.

[Snowwalker]

One last one.2070686_1.jpg
No it is not an explosive head, but when it opens/expands inside the animal it may as well be.

This is good for raccoons when you do not want to use a broadhead and a collar.
This is what they do inside....
2070353_open.jpg

[Jeff Kavanagh]

The most important thing starting out is making sure you're not over bowed with the bow you get. It's so important that you can control the bow and your shot sequence and not the other way around. Developing a good solid shooting frame, with a good shot sequence, and proper back tension is the key to success.
Also, if you can develop this properly, it makes it easy to go back and forth from shooting a compound to recurve and back as the exact same fundamentals apply for both.

[Snowwalker]

The most important thing starting out is making sure you're not over bowed with the bow you get. It's so important that you can control the bow and your shot sequence and not the other way around. Developing a good solid shooting frame, with a good shot sequence, and proper back tension is the key to success.
Also, if you can develop this properly, it makes it easy to go back and forth from shooting a compound to recurve and back as the exact same fundamentals apply for both.

X2.

I will add that you do not want a tight grip on the riser/handle. When you draw your bow, it should rest in the space between your thump and finger. If you are worried about dropping your bow, you can add a wrist sling, or a finger sling.

This is a wrist sling. Also this NOT how to grip the bow. It looks like he is trying to choke it to death.
Compound-Bow-Sling-Adjustable-Wrist-Sling-Braided-Rope-and-Metal-Parachute-Cord-Hunting-Archery-.jpg

This is a finger sling. Also see the relax grip. That is how you do it. Your fingers don't have to be wide open, just relaxed.
fingerslingers-1.jpg

And look at Jeff's picture and you can see an example of a good anchor point.

[mosquito]

... augh ... long reply flushed....

OK,summary ....spend some time learning and reading reviews, some shops have ranges and offer courses and let you try them. There are clubs like Archers of Caledon where you can take more lessons and practice.

There are traditional, modern, compound and then the crossbows (Excalbur would be my pick by far). For traditional archery Malta Archery has alot of videos and reviews, not sure where to point you for compounds. Lots to learn, probably 40+ years ago I got my first bow.... I just got a Hankyu bow and am trying to learn things like the correct grip, thumb rings, bracers and what arrows work best for them.... and for me the wandering learning the history. Learning and wisdom are irreplaceable!

For an upright bow I would say think about getting a lighter one to train, practice and learn with, the heavier one can be practiced on once you get experience and before the actual hunt.

Get a bow that works for YOU, not for someone else and don't skimp on sh**y arrows .... makes for sh**y shots!

[Mellifluous89]

Hey & Welcome! =]

I'm pretty new to hunting & Archery, and went with a Mathews Vertix, the switch weight cams called out to me since i knew i wasn't going to be able to pull a ton of weight at first with it being something im not used to, then expected to be able to start going up after practice as i found my comfort zone. and just having to swap out a small piece and not having to change the limbs or cams or need a bow vice, or head into the shop to do so was appealing. its crazy quiet, and feels awesome to me, but dont have much experience so my word means nothing...
You have 10lbs of play in the limbs down from the peak weight, the switch weight on the vertix can go from 60 > 75lbs in 5lb increments with a mod piece.
https://www.mathewsinc.com/product/vertix/
Running a 8" front flatline stabilizer and a 6" off the back/to the side & with a Q-Lite quiver
also went with a drop away style rest.
im 5'9", 28" draw, and have a 65lb set up backed out to 62lbs
theres a bunch of ways to measure yourself, but one ive heard alot is closed fist to the wall, in a release stance, straight shoulders aligned with hips, sight facing the wall as if you were shooting and measure wall to corner of your lips

Sight: went with a Spothogg The Hogg Father 5 pin, but its a beast... many other light weight ones out there haha might have just gone with it cause of the sick name! but i like it!
http://spot-hogg.com/sights/

The bow shop i got it at really left me hanging on arrows, well everything in general.. draw length was short, recommended the wrong spine for arrows, and set the rest height wrong so the arrow wasn't sitting level, peep sight so big i couldn't understand the concept of how to aim had what looked like a 2" gap between the sight ring in the peep outline just guessing where the middle was..... but being new i didn't know any better. =/
Went with Easton Deep 6 FMJ's, but im leaning towards getting Victory VAP TKO's when i get the right spines
also since the FMJ's i went with are micro diameter, had to get half-out collars which converts the threads to accept a standard threaded heads, but I didn't know that up front, so just a call out if you go with micros!
https://www.victoryarchery.com/vap-tko-hunting-arrow/

Heads: I went with Thorn expandables, really liked the concept of being able to practice with them! they have a little plastic clip that stops them from deploying for practice, and they're fully enclosed just like a field point! so thought they were pretty neat!
https://www.thornbroadheads.com/store/thorn100compound
But interested in playing around with a fixed head with a more weight FOC (Front of Center) and leaning towards a 200 grain Valkyrie Jagger
https://valkyriearchery.com/shop/jagger-broadheads/

Also got some judo tips, blunts and G5's for small game like Snowwalker mentioned

Release: the shop said they wouldn't sell me a thumb one since i was new and they're dangerous for yourself and the bow, but thats what i wanted at first =[
I started off with a Spothogg Keeton, which is a wrist strap and has a handle like a thumb release hybrid, liked the concept cause i messed up my shoulder way back when and was bothering me at first when i was building up the strength, and having that full grip really helped. then upgraded to a Spothogg Wiseguy, and later picked up a Synapse thumb release and love a thumb release, but really do think building up to that was a safe bet! Although i dont like the reset on the Synapse, its all awkwardly manual, so still looking around for one to try next.

I just did a lot of research and browsing around, definitely wasn't cheap at all, but pretty happy with what i got, some things i listened to recommendations and regretted it, like the arrows
but that was fluke for the shop leading me down the wrong path for reasons unknown, they definitely sounded like they knew what they were talking about, and other things i didn't listen to the recommendations like the keeton release they said dont waste you're money its terrible, but really liked it for what it served me! so i would also say get what you believe will work for you like mosquito said! =]

I asked the first shop about paper tuning, and they said its a waste of time. The other shop preached paper tuning, and going through the process i really seen a huge difference! and the concept totally made sense. I dont have a yard to practice in, but they told me the best place to practice is 6 feet into paper, so i set up a paper tuning place in my garage, use this small roll of i believe 3m floor cover dispenser paper from home depot and built a stand with with metal strapping brackets and magnets to hold it.
and looking to get the perfect bullet holes through paper consistently, any knock offset will show an inconsistency in your anchor position when releasing, and he explained when your groups aren't tight further out you might start trying to compensate, or adjust pins to fix it, when it might just be you not locking into a consistent anchor point which will open up your groups, but practicing into paper and dialing into your anchor points consistently, will help your groups further out, and if they're off then you can start playing with arrows and weights, fetching and bow settings to correct if something actually isn't working right, but being able to trust that it isn't you if your consistently anchoring the same. (hopefully that made sense, probably a better way with words to explain but!)

another note was when practicing, go further distance down to shorter! mostly common to start short and work your way out, but as you practice you get fatigued, and as you work your way out its less forgiving and groups open up. doing it in reverse its easier and more forgiving on shorter shots after you've flung a ton of arrows! =]

but anyways! just thought id share! =] hopefully i didn't just add confusion =/ if you ever wanted to connect to shoot or any questions just send a PM, im around the GTA!
but i also wouldn't classify myself as any kind of expert at all so! haha =]

best of luck! =]