Thread: Any Archers out there??

There's a great book called "The Great War Bow" by Robert Hardy (All Creatures Great and Small tv show fame) and Matthew Strickland. Great on the history of the bow in many forms, and then concentrates on the ancient bows recovered from the wreck of the Mary Rose. I think some of them were 180Lbs and up. Amazing. BTW, I got a copy with Robert Hardy's signature - cool...

was shooting the bow with my friend this weekend..cant wait to order a new bow once the summer is over for my birthday!

Had these made by Jim Johnson, Legend Bow Co. of New Bloomfield, MO (not affiliated w/ Legend Archery or other) in 2002. Jim made superb custom wood/glass laminated traditional bows f/ nearly 15 years beginning in the early '90's.

My longbow is 64"/44#/27" w/ yew front and back, 2 thin bamboo layers as the core, and a leather covered ebony grip. My wife's recurve is 60"/35#/26" "actionwood" w/ a couple super thin red accent stripes in the grip area.

Lots of gun folks on here, which is cool but as for me, give me a bow and arrow any day! Any other archerers on here as well?

I've been somewhat into archery for hunting. I use a recurve with about a 45# draw weight at my length. I have a shoulder problem that makes it hard for me to use a higher draw compound. I started on a 50# compound with about an 80% letoff... now my collarbone pops out of place whenever I get to about 50# draw. I'm decently accurate to about 40 yds with the recurve... after that, my shoulder shakes too much to get a good shot.

I'm looking at crossbows... I can manage a 160# crossbow better than a 50# compound, just cuz of what way the tension is going on my shoulder.

I just started getting into archery for hunting as well. Got a Hoyt Xtec used that I'm really enjoying. 70# draw and I'm entirely confident of my ability to hit a barn at 50 yards. Haven't found the opener date for barns, but should be good to go for deer soon .

Been shooting bows since about 1972. Started with recurves, shot compounds for 20 yrs. so, now shooting traditional longbows and recurves for 14 yrs. or so. My main focus is bowhunting with trad bows, absolutely obsessed with it.

I'm jealous of you guys with the recurves and longbows, I stopped practicing for a while and now I'm only accurate from about 10 yards.

@phoenix, sorry to hear about your shoulder man, definetely a problem when it comes to archery. A lot of guys feel it in the fingers too. But 40# is still a powerful draw weight. Crossbows are really cool too!

@jba, 70# is pretty strong haha and the fact that you're still new at it and pretty accurate is impressive.

@southpaw, trad bows are the best in my opinon, none of that stabilizer/sights junk on the new compound bows. Is it just simply practice in order to get good at instinctive shooting with trad bows?

I love shooting bow! I have myself a nice Hoytt - cost me a fortune here 9-11 years ago . I loved shooting the thing. I got really good at that thing if I can say so myself. But more importantly, it was an exercise in Zen for me.

Last summer I went out to a range.... My bow is now considered both HUGE and heavy lol. Man have things changed here in the last little bit.

I haven't gone back, as now I want the smaller bow lol... and the prices haven't gone down in the past 9 years lol. But now that I am writing this... maybe it's time to get back at it!

70lbs draw XI recurve. I never got into it for hunting, never really hunted. I picked it up because it involves accuracy, and I was really intrigued by the meditation and peace that easterners have found with it. Just target shoot; slow, steady, fluid motions.
Nothing against hunting, I just don't have a deep freeze nor the family to feed.