Buying first compound bow

GO TO A BOW SHOP!

A good one with someone who will help you and care about YOU. There should be someone to encourage you to try different things, draw weights and lengths, releases, help you with form, adjust your peep sights and draw length. Bow are somewhat custom fitted to you.


there is no better piece of advice I can give you. If a good shop exists for you go to it, there is no substitute. Don't buy a bow until you have gone to a bow shop and tried a lot of different bow. You have a lot of options as far as size, cams, brace height, price, and just personal feel.

Yes you need specific length arrows. Your bow shop will custom cut them for you, and install the fletches for your setup.

As for vanes, there are different things for everything. I shoot feathers exclusively and reccomend them over vanes. 4" is sort of standard nowadays.

Finger shooting is a whole different discipine, and requires a whole different setup than release shooting. Do what you want but for any beginner I Strongly recomend you shoot a release. And you NEED a peep sight or a no-peep too.


practice practice. this is usually not a problem because people get hooked on it

I'm with zahc. Go to a shop. A bow is a very personal thing that really needs to be fitted to you properly. And if you have wrist and shoulder problems definitely go to a shop. I suspect you'll find 50 pounds will be too heavy to start out with. Look for a 45 to 55 pound bow. Nearly all compounds adjust.
Your draw length is the length of arrow for you. It is possible to use a shorter arrow with an overdraw fitted to your bow, but when you're new think KISS. The fletching controls the flight of the arrow. The shape doesn't matter much but you do reach a point of diminishing return on the size. Eventually, the drag caused by too big a vanes slows the arrow. A release eliminates your hand as a source of inaccuracy. Releases are really friggin' expensive. At least, they are up here. I don't have one but want one. Not paying over, well over, $100 for it though.

You should be able to get a caliper release for like 30-40 bucks. I reccomend you buy a good one. Scotts are good, carters are good.

See my original thread about the Firebrand Technologies Intensity bow.

I too have shoulder problems, and decided on the Intensity because of it.

Considerations were:

Adjustable drawweight within my limitations (bad shoulder that needs to go under the knife)

O- 90% letoff

Be able to take care of any breakage in the field.

Simplicity

the thread:
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=53299

Discovery bowhunting's site:
http://www.discoverybowhunting.com/home.php

You've got to go to the movie section and watch him throw it in the pond, then dryfire it.....

Drop it from a treestand and dryfire it....
THEN DRIVE OVER IT WITH A FRIGGIN TRUCK!!!!!!!! NOT ONCE BUT TWICE!!!!

Then dryfire it!

And all his bows are covered for breakage for 5 years!

here's the link:
http://www.discoverybowhunting.com/movies.php

No matter what you get....

Put limbsavers on it.

Actually the intensity is the quietest bow I've ever shot out of the box!
I have no string silencers on it. I did however put limbsavers, and the SVL handgrip on it for insulation purposes.

Wow...this is a REALLY old thread. However, I've been doing a little research on THR in prep for bow season here in Texas with my trusty old Hoyt UltraSport (still fires fast and true) and just couldn't help throwing in my $0.02 for anyone who might run across this thread here in 2011.

I have had the same T.R.U. Ball caliper release since late 2003 and it still fires like brand new (after thousands and thousands of trigger pulls on a 70lb bow). I can't recommend any release company more highly.

My advise would be (assuming your new to archery), if possible, to get an inexpensive but decent recurve, and learn to shoot on that. Back when I shot the bow and arrow a lot, I noticed that the best guys were the ones that started out with a recurve. Spend some time at the range shooting a recurve, with a fingertab, and no peep sight. Then, when you pick up a compound, and it has a trigger release and peep sight, you'll feel like your shooting a rifle, and you can put that arrow anywhere you want to.

Of course, thats probably overkill for hunting. I wouldn't buy a kit. You need to find what combination of sight/peepsight/arrows/trigger-release/arrow rest works best for you, and chances are a kit isn't going to include all of that. Again, that may be overkill.

Sorry, I shot for score, not deer (although I hope to change that ) Wish I could be more help...

Chris "the Kayak-Man" Johnson