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This article is mainly for newbies, but also for those just interested in basic trad archery tackle criteria and selection. The focus is on barebow archery as used for traditional bowhunting, with longbows and recurves. The best thing a budding archer/bowhunter can do is to seek help from a qualified mentor or coach. One on one assistance will insure acquiring the right tackle, the right setting of of your gear, and learning fundamental archery form. Doing so can save enormous amounts of time and money. Seek out help via archery clubs and shops. In a hurry? Here are the key important points ... 1. Identify your dominant eye. 2. Seek a knowledgeable archer to help with your gear selection and setup. 3. Read ALL of the text below. 4. Have fun. The very first thing to learn is what is your dominant eye - the one eye that focuses directly and clearly on an object. Hold a hand about a foot in front of your face, make the "OK" sign circle by touching thumb and forefinger, use both eyes to center a distant object within that circle, close your left eye - if the object is still within the circle, you're right eye dominant; vice versa if the left eye centers the object. If you're right handed and right eye dominant, or left handed and left eye dominant, no problem. Generally, right eye dominant people should enter shooting sports as right-handed participants. Left eye dominant people should participate as lefties. Exceptions can be made to this general rule, but most of these exceptions have to do with physical adversities. PREAMBLE As a budding new trad archer, you will undoubtedly have many things to learn. Covered below are all the gear/tackle basics. There is much more. However, it is strongly suggested to avoid anything that will only complicate your learning curve. Stick to the items listed below and do try to seek local one-on-one personal assistance with choosing a stick bow, finding the right arrows for your bow, learning proper archery form. THE BOW We should all strive to employ a trad hunting stick bow that has a holding draw weight we can manage. That is, a comfortable holding weight that allows for consistency, which leads to accuracy, which leads to accurate shots and quickly killed game. This is a cornerstone of trad bowhunting, and there are no exceptions. Minimum bow draw weight will be dictated by the bowhunting laws in the area(s) you'll hunt. However, you may quickly find that a hunting weight stick bow for medium game such as deer or hogs is too much to control, and if so, a much lower weight starter bow will absolutely be required. You simply can not learn the basics of good archery form if the bow has too much holding weight that can't be controlled. Longbow or recurve? Doesn't matter. Pick one that makes you happiest. What is the difference between a recurve and a longbow? Here's the general consensus - if only the bowstring loops touch the limb nocks, it's a longbow - anything else is a recurve. Recurves are very efficient stick bows that typically promote faster arrow speeds than longbows. There are essentially two types of longbows - straight and hybrid. "Straight" longbows have limbs that are basically straight or perhaps with a bit of overall tapered reflex. These are "classic" longbows that form a "D" shape when braced. Think: English longbow, Howard Hill longbow. "Hybrid" longbows have both reflexed limb ends and deflexed risers. This improves the overall efficiency of the bow, for faster arrow speeds, while still imparting a large measure of bow "stability" during the shot. Mild r/d longbows typically have that "D" braced classic longbow limb look when braced. Aggressive r/d longbows will typically show some reflex near the limb tips when braced, and allow even faster arrow speeds. The milder r/d longbows are typically somewhat more stable than the more aggressive variety (aggressive hybrids are closer in performance and aesthetics to recurves). Stick bows have a number of measured qualities, such as "stability" during and after the shot, "energy/speed" imparted to the arrow via the limbs, "noise" created during the shot, and "hand shock" after the arrow clears the riser. Stability - the ability of the bow to remain as neutral as possible in the bow hand after the string is released. Energy/speed - how much energy is imparted to the arrow as transmitted via the bowstring and bow limbs. Noise - the decibel noise level after the string is released and as the arrow clears the riser. Hand shock - any amount of energy that is not transmitted to the arrow is absorbed by the bow limbs and riser, and is transmitted to the bow hand. No matter what type of stick bow you choose, be very careful choosing the holding weight! Bow holding weight is based on your draw length. For a newbie, trad bow draw length can be tricky if not elusive. Changing your draw length changes the bow holding weight! Know your trad bow draw length! Seek one-on-one help from local, knowledgeable folks - there is no substitute for this! Try before you buy is always best, but not something one can do all the time (and one reason why there's a good turnover of used stick bows for sale). You NEED a light holding weight for your first bow, perhaps only 30 to 40 pounds for a man, and 20 to 30 pounds for a woman. This will make learning correct form much easier. If this first bow is a three piece take down, getting a new set of heavier limbs will be less expensive than buying an entire new stick bow. REPEAT: If you start off with more holding weight than your untrained muscles can handle, you will be weight lifting and not shooting archery. "Overbowing" (attempting to use a bow that is more draw weight than you can effectively handle) is a quick way to poor accuracy, learning bad form habits that will plague you a long time if not forever, dissapointment, frustration, and maybe even physical hurt. If you are a compound archer starting off in trad archery, be aware of two important things - (1) your draw length may shorten, particularly if you're going from a release aid to fingers, and (2) the holding weight of a compound can be between 25% and 90% of the compound's rated weight at your draw length and you must take that into serious consideration! If your current compound is rated at 65#, you could easily be holding 25# at full draw, and if that is the case you may have difficulty holding even a 45# stick bow at anchor! You should be able to hold your stick bow at full draw for at least a few seconds without shaking! Try before you buy! Bow length should be based on your draw length and the design of the bow. There are some really short length bows that are designed for longer draw lengths, if a short bow is a requirement. For the most part, there are bowyer recommendations for bow length. If yer up in the air (treestand) or dealing with lotsa thick bush (ground blind or stalking), shorter might just be better for ya. In the long run, there is at least a fair amount of subjectivity to bow length. When in doubt, go longer. A one piece, two piece or three piece bow? The real consideration for a take down bow is travel, and air travel in particular. T/D bows just make the bow hauling much easier for flying out to a hunting venue. However, the cost of a take down can be considerably more than a one piece. Take down two piece or three piece? Geez, more stuff to consider! There might typically be more inherent mass weight weight with a three piece, and they have their own aesthetic "look", particularly with a three piece longbow. Most two piece bows really do look like one piece once they're connected - a much more pleasing aesthetic look, but a tad more weight than a one piece. Some folks like the added mass weight of a T/D bow, others like 'em lighter. More subjective stuff. OK, you've got yourself a nice WhizBang stick bow, it feels comfortable to draw, you can hold it at full draw for a few seconds without shaking (well, not shaking too much - a little is fine and something you should be able to correct as your muscles become conditioned). Now learn how to shoot. Again, seek local assistance, or better yet an archery coach - there is no substitute for this as well. Whether you employ split finger, or a three fingers under the nock string grip, that's your subjective choice. "Subjective Choice" - this can only best be based on experience. Do not "think" something is "best" for you - go out and try it, if at all possible. This subjectivity applies to both archery tackle and shooting form/style. FINGER PROTECTION Pulling back a bowstring, even one on a light draw weight bow, will hurt your string drawing fingers. The principle form of finger protection is a leather glove or tab. Subjectivity rules here - try both styles of finger protection and employ the one that feels best to you. Typcially, gloves will have less "string feel" imparted to the fingers, particularly if the glove is a made from thick and/or stiff leather. Thinner gloves made with very supple leather have really good string feel, and typically a higher price tag. Even a cheap leather tab will typically have good string feel, and perhaps a better perceived "connection" to the string. Choose whatever feels best for you. THE STRING Modern stick bows are almost always crafted to use modern low stretch, low creep string fibers. The High Modulus PolyEthylene HMPE fibers (Fast Flight, DynaFlight, 450+, etc) have trade names such as Dyneema, Vectran and Spectra. Older bows aren't built to handle HMPE string fibers and should only use bowstrings made from Dacron fiber. Make sure that the brace height of the bow falls within the range dictated by the bow's manufacturer. It doesn't matter at all if the bowstring type is Flemish or endless. It's more in a newbie's favor to use a modern stick bow since that will allow the use of modern string fibers. As mentioned, HMPE strings are more consistent and stable and that means both better accuracy and less to blame on your equipment when accuracy and form issues arise. THE STRING NOCK POINT Use a bowstring square or a sheet of folded newspaper to find where the bow's arrow shelf lines up with the string at 90 degrees. Roughly 3/8" above that is a decent starting point for the arrow's nocking point (arrows nock under that nocking point). Adjust the nocking point up or down until there is no up/down ("porpoising") of the arrow in flight as it leaves the bow. Use a metal nock point for ease of adjusting purposes. Later on, replacing that metal nock point with a tied-on and glued thread nock point will make for a tad faster string, and one that's less likely to chew up your shooting glove or tab. THE ARROW Of all archery tackle, the arrow is absolutely most important - certainly far more important than the bow. Whatever your holding draw weight, you want an arrow that will fly well out of your bow. Arrows that don't fly straight and true are less efficient and less accurate than ones that do fly well. Efficient arrows with sharp cut-on-contact broadheads that fly true to the spot on an animal will kill that game faster than any other type of arrow criteria. Read that again. Matching an arrow to a given bow is a task not for this article. Arrow shaft materials are wood, aluminum, fiberglass and carbon. It's recommended to at least initially stay away from wood arrows - they will be too inconsistent and require constant straightening, not to mention they are just not as durable as man made material arrow shafting. Use either aluminum or carbon arrows. Aluminum arrows will be the easiest to tweak for matching to a given bow. However, carbon shaft arrows are the most durable and consistent, and can be fairly easy to match to a bow (see note below), and offer the greatest range of weight and spine for any given shaft size. Yes, there are LOTS of folks that would argue differently - but day in and day out, carbon shafting has more than proved itself for bowhunting. An extremely important aspect of carbon arrows is shot after shot consistency in terms of shaft straightness - no other shaft can compare in that quality. This is a very important factor for a newbie archer - the more consistent your arrows and other tackle, the more you'll know where the blame goes when you have accuracy issues. Note that whatever your draw length, the arrow needs to be between 1/2" and 2" longer. Note - when it comes to carbon arrow shafts, do not rely on manufacturer's "spine charts". Carbon shafting is just different than aluminum and wood, when it comes to stiffness ('spine'). Going lower in carbon shaft spine is almost always better than the chart recommendations. There's a reason why carbon shaft spine ratings are very broad for any give carbon shaft (i.e. - 55#-70# spine rating for one shaft type). Getting an arrow to fly well out of a bow begins with choosing a completed arrow that's as closely matched to both the bow and archer as possible. Newbie archer/bowhunters should always seek knowledgeable help in arrow selection. This is extremely important. Attempting to excel in archery/bowhunting with less than optimum flying arrows is a sure way to fail, or at least make your journey unnecessarily hard. Please read that again. THE BROADHEAD For traditional bowhunting, choose a twin, triple or four blade cut-on-contact broadhead. Lots of popular brands and models. If they're super sharp, they'll kill well if you do your job. Lots of info abounds on broadhead sharpening and attachment methods. Screw-in or glue-on? Glue-on broadheads allow point weight adjusting due to different point adapter weights, thus adjusting the overall point weight, which allows tweaking the arrow's GPP and FOC. THE FLETCHING Feathered fletches say "traditional archery" and are the easiest, most forgiving, and perhaps the most efficient to use. What wing (left or right), what length (5", 4", etc.), how many (3 or 4 or ?), aligned on straight or offset or helical, how they're stuck on (glue or tape), all that is just personal subjective stuff as all will work one way or another. Personally, the benefits of fletching tape feathers far outweighs fully glued on feathers in terms of time and durability, but to each their own. Practice does make perfect. Roving is great practice for bowhunting. Use judo points and take shots at varied objects (tree stumps, bushes, cow pies, grass clumps) at varied distances and angles. The only game better than roving is BOW HUNTING! Above all, have fun! Please feel free to PM or email me for further assistance ... |