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Thread: Bow Huntin’

  1. #1

    Bow Huntin’

    So I finally got lucky and pulled a buck tag (mule), however it’s for Archery. I’ve been hunting my whole life but have almost no experience with a bow.

    So give me the low down. What gear do I need? I’m going to an archery shop soon to get classes and the bow, but what other bow specific hunting gear is useful?

    Season is late August to early September in UT. Terrain is a mix of young aspen, sage, a little old growth pine, and desert. It’s an area I’ve hunted Elk in before.


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  2. #2
    Quote Originally Posted by Coyote41 View Post
    So I finally got lucky and pulled a buck tag (mule), however it’s for Archery. I’ve been hunting my whole life but have almost no experience with a bow.

    So give me the low down. What gear do I need? I’m going to an archery shop soon to get classes and the bow, but what other bow specific hunting gear is useful?

    Season is late August to early September in UT. Terrain is a mix of young aspen, sage, a little old growth pine, and desert. It’s an area I’ve hunted Elk in before.


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    Trad or compound?
    I was into 10mm Auto before it sold out and went mainstream, but these days I'm here for the revolver and epidemiology information.

  3. #3
    Compound.

    I once met a guy at a cigar lounge that was a traditional bow hunter. I still remember his quote, “Any Elk you see while hunting with a recurve bow is a trophy elk”.


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  4. #4
    K. I’m no help. I am a longbow guy.
    I was into 10mm Auto before it sold out and went mainstream, but these days I'm here for the revolver and epidemiology information.

  5. #5
    I bow hunted a couple decades, quit hunting a few years ago.
    Archery Talk would be a place to ask bow questions, quit posting there when I quit hunting.

    The bow, follow through is critical keep aiming till the arrow hits and movement (jerk/drop) while the arrow is still on the string affects accuracy.
    Shorter brace height (distance from grip to string) typically increases speed but typically less forgiving.
    Longer brace height typically less speed but more forgiving.
    For someone new to archery, a brace height of 7'' or more might is my suggestion.
    Length of bow, I hunted from a blind and the last bow I used was a Matthews with 37'' ATA (axle to axle length).
    Draw weight: standing upright on the ground in comfortable temperatures I could draw 70# - sitting on a ice covered tree stand and I could not draw that bow, saved a deer's life.
    I ended up with a 60# peak weight bow that I could draw when seated, cold, wearing bulky clothes.

    Fletching, I learned to fletch my own arrows and used both feathers and vanes.
    Feathers are lighter and improve FOC (front of center) but are noisy and less tolerant of wet weather.
    Vanes are quieter in the air and on the bow but heavier, reducing FOC.

    I would ultimately use the fletching that tuned best / resulted in broadheads having same point of impact as field points.
    Paper tune for a bullet tear is what I'm referring to, shoot arrow through wax paper trying to get bullet tear.
    Don't settle for broadheads having a different POI than field points.

    Broadheads: I used both fixed and mechanical. In a fixed head the Slick Trick 1'' four blade was good both in flight and wound on deer.

    I bow killed over two dozen deer but just lost my desire to hunt, best of luck.
    Strive to carry the handgun you would want anywhere, everywhere; forget that good area bullcrap.
    "Wouldn't want to / Nobody volunteer to" get shot by _____ is not indicative of quickly incapacitating.

  6. #6
    I do not have the experience of the others here, but one thing I will caution about is diving too deep into rabbit holes on forums. This place is not like AT and you might be more apt to get more extreme opinions. One guy will say you need an arrow that weighs as much of a truck, another might say it needs extreme FOC and another is going to suggest you need to draw 80 pounds and another will say you need huge broadheads. Am just kidding but not kidding, some people really seem to embrace things that can be in the fringes when it comes to archery.

    I will make a prediction that you will probably end up having a buttload of fun with it. In my life circumstances I have never even managed a bow kill, but have had tons of fun shooting thousands of arrows, mostly just in my basement.

    ETA: Be realistic about your draw weight, BEFORE you shoulder starts making noises... haha

    ETA More: Understand some people get focused on equipment performance for 3D competition, or long range shooting. Sometimes this results in recommendations for things like sights that will accommodate hitting at 80-100yds when you are not going to do that.

    Also there is a ton of fun archery stuff on YouTube.
    Last edited by mmc45414; 05-14-2022 at 07:39 AM.

  7. #7
    I'll leave the gear suggestions to those more with more current experience, but I'll be watching as I'm be looking to update to a modern compound myself. I've shot the same bow since the 90's, albeit it's been cased for the last 5 or so years. To date, every guy I've ever known that's dipped their toes into bows quickly found the joyous zen of the bow. My long time training partner is in his 40's and I watched him go full bowtard like all the rest. It's both addictive and good for you, IME.

    I'm taking my huge, heavy, 30yr old Gonzo Safari in for a tune up/safety check and I'll be thwacking my target bag out the back door in a couple of weeks, but the modern offerings are just fekkin wonderful and I'll be getting one. I've been advised to start my search with Hoyt, fwiw.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Lester Polfus View Post
    K. I’m no help. I am a longbow guy.
    Outside of tradition, is there a benefit to a longbow?


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  9. #9
    Site Supporter ccmdfd's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Southeastern NC
    Only ever bow hunted with a crossbow so can't really give good advice for compound bow equipment.

    But if you're going to bow hunt in the bow season around here, you best have some really good mosquito repellent of some form. Our bow season starts in mid-september when its 90-plus degrees everyday. So sweat control and hydration is important.

  10. #10
    Member Risto's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2016
    Location
    Big Sky Country
    I’ve only been hunting for about 6 years. And only the last 3 with a bow, but bow hunting was way harder for me because of the distances involved. I usually spot and stalked with my rifle but that was pretty much impossible for me with a bow because I had to get within 25yards. I got that close a couple times but blew it when it came time to draw and shoot. Lying in wait was really the only way I had success and was a new mindset shift—remember I’m new at this. It sounds like you know this area and will probably have a good idea of where to set up an ambush from concealment.

    If you practice a ton you will be able to extend your maximum comfortable kill range.

    When you get a hit remember to give them a good while to bed down and bleed out before you start tracking. I’ve read it’s pretty common for people to get excited and bump the wounded deer only to end up loosing it.

    Probably old hat for you, but these are issues I faced.

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