New to Archery.

[fox1990]

Hi Im kind of new to archery did it as a kid I was pretty good at it. Im trying to find our the difference between a long bow recurve and compound. Im using a bow for targets small game and deer. What are some good bows out there. what do you guys suggest? Could i buy a used bow and just replace the string?

[jg-32]

Welcome to the site and back to archery. You should do a lot of research here and if you have some friends that have bows ask to try them out and see what you like the best. I have never shot a recurve but they seen to have about the same amount of people shooting them as people shooting compounds. imo compounds are more accurate and faster. You have a lot more options in regards to accessories (sights, rest, stabilizers,ect) I shoot a hoyt katera and love it, very fast but still very accurate. If your looking for a used bow I suggest ebay or craigslist. But like I said, try to shoot as many different bows as you can and see what fits you the best.

[dbdcougar]

Traditional and compounds are 2 different worlds. Compounds are indeed easier to hit with, but traditional has a certain factor. It is very difficult to switch back and forth so pick which you prefer and stick with it.

[red44]

Compounds with sights and using a release will be the quickest to attain accuracy with. Longbows and recurves take more time but I agree with the factor if you can get good with one. If you don't have friends with bows find a bow shop or club and get some hands on. Just buying a bow without some dirrection from others first hand might be frustrating. Look in the phone book or on line for an archery shop or gun club and start calling. You don't have to be able to pull 70 lbs to do what you want. A 40-45 lb recurve or longbow or compound will take most critters. It is all about hitting a spot.

[red44]

Could i buy a used bow and just replace the string? Yes....but
you need to know if you can easily draw whatever weight the bow is first and know that it's draw lenth fits you. Get to a shop, club, or friends with bows and experiment first.
Should'nt be too difficult. local phone book first. Then web search. A web search for either of Mathews, Hoyt, PSE, Bear, Bowtech should turn up a dealer close enough to go talk and try a few. Just be honest and tell them you might not be buying but need to find out what you can draw and what your draw lenth would be. Honest is a good place to start.

[Howlindawgs]

I'm brand new too. Being a small, female, distance runner type person all my strength is in my legs and not a hell of a lot in the upper body. I had trouble drawing a compound bow so I have a competition style Hoyt Excel recurve because I just want to target shoot too. My husband ("Mr. Howlindawgs") has a Hoyt Reflex compound. His is 65 lb draw, mine is only 25 lb (like I said, spaghetti-armed marathoner here). He hunts with his, I don't know if someone would generally hunt with a recurve. I started with a youth longbow but found it difficult to learn how to aim because there was no "landmark" on the bow to line up with the target and apparently I really suck at sighting down the arrow. On the recurve there is a screw sticking out on the riser that I can line up on the target making my crappy aim more consistent. Is this a bad way to do it? I apparently don't have a lot of natural aiming skills (hadn't picked up a bow since 9th grade PE). Also does anyone out there think shooting a recurve without a sight is a better way to learn and a sight would be like cheating? Sorry for the wordy post. Thank you.

[red44]

In my opinion there is nothing wrong with using a sight on a recurve. There are sight mount holes on your Hoyt right? If you youtube target archery/recurves you'll see tons of sights on recurves. If you brouse ebay for recurves you'll see alot of older bows with sights mounted on the bows. They been using them forever. Go for it. Depending on where you anchor, a typical compound sight with not go low enough to be usefull for you, so if your going to buy a new sight, make sure it's compatable with recurves, or shooting with fingers.

[Howlindawgs]

Thanks! I appreciate your patience with my newbieness the archery expert at the pro shop near my home is going to find a lefty recurve sight for me. We're going with a SureLoc.

[MFCEO]

awesome!!!