Check this
I'm sorry, but I don't agree with trying traditional archery with junk.
I'm with you 100% on this one Terry. I think i'd recommend going to some large event bow shoots and trying different products, and have the experienced archers at those events help you figure out your draw length and draw weight that best suits you. Another option is to check out a local archery club, or an archery shop that sells Traditional bows to get the basics down with help from experienced archers.
When getting started in archery it's real easy to form bad habits being self taught without instruction and recommendations from experienced archers. Especially developing your alignment. Those habits are harder to break than you might think. When i switched from a compound to a traditional bow i struggled a lot with it until i started shooting with experienced trad archers. And i was an excellent archer with a compound bow too.
It's a different ball game in many respects.
my .02 cents Kirk
My first "attempt" at traditional archery for hunting (I shot a 30# Howatt Catalina for target in college) was a Bear Kodiak at 55 lbs. I returned it for a Bear Kodiak Hunter at 45 lbs when I realized a 70 lb Martin Cougar II ment s#it for any real muscle development. Still have that Bear and it is the cornerstone of my go-to bowfishing rig.
I'm fortunate enough to have my dads and granddads bows . When is a bear and one is a pearson. Original strings and all. I can't believe the strings are still in the shape that the reum.
Agree with the comments above if your cheap bow breaks it just ads that cost to the next one. Some things are worth spending a little money. You can buy a used bear for about the same cost.
Looks like the original post is gone.....but I imagine it was a link to something incredibly cheap.
For a first bow, you only need to look as far as the "Classic" used bow market. While at the Kalamazoo Expo last week, I helped a friend find an AWESOME old Bear recurve. We then went to an arrow vendor and hooked him up with 6 Gold Tips that matched the bow. My buddy was ready to shoot for less than $300.
He was drooling over one of my Bighorn Legacy bows, but I literally talked him out of it. :biglaugh:
I think the original link was to his youtube channel where he had just posted a Youtube topic with the same name as the OP on Tradgang. He discussed several ways for a beginner to get started; used bows being one of them.
Chinese bows...something seems terribly wrong when someone can build a bow a 1/2 a world away, pay BIG tarrifs, and ship it around the world...then sell it for less than $100. Might as well throw those $35/dozen carbon arrows in the same discussion. But with that said, I've shot them at 3-D shoots and they ain't half bad. I know Big Jim's sells a chinese brand that he inspects before he ships.
I know Jeff Phillips and Robert Carter (respected you tubers) are shooting and promoting them which sort of surprises me. I do think that more beginners will buy a traditional bow at a lower price point than a higher one. The argument being made is if a fellow starts with a cheaper entry level bow, he knows more about what he wants by the time he is ready to spend money on a truly custom bow. Without mentors, too many people buy bows the first time that are too heavy, too light, too short, too long, etc, etc.
I don't think the overseas cheap bows are good for the bowyer market overall though. Used bows and custom american made bowyers alike have to be feeling the pressure of the thousands of bows likely flooding the market. Like others, I wish overall that they weren't being sold here in America. That's just my opinion which doesn't carry much weight.
I started shooting this year and bought a cheap OMP Smokey Mountain Hunter from a local shop. Fell in love with shooting trad again and went today to another local shop to look at longbows and looked at a Striker Classic.
Does anyone have any experience with the Striker Classic?
I look at it this way. Big picture- the more people that try traditional archery, the more likely it is that the number of them that end up becoming hooked, (as we all did,) will grow. If that means that they start by buying a "cheap overseas-made" bow, so be it. How they get here, (and ultimately stay with it,) isn't important.
Started with a Bear Grizzly in 1971 I think
You might think about a 3 piece T.D bow
Start with lighter limbs.You do not want to be overbowed when learning how to shoot.You will develop bad habits tht are hard to break and it wont be as fun and wont be able to shoot as many arrows as you tire.
You can add another set of limbs later for the same riser thats heavier poundage if you desire.
Advising on a particular bow is hard to do.Shop around and think on it hard.TRy and go to a shoot where you can try many bows to get a better idea of what you might lean towards in purchasing your 1st bow.
If you cant go to a traditional shoot with venders.Try and start with a reasonable quality bow with some good reviews.Does not have to be a 500$ to thousand $ bow
Interesting subject.. I admit I kinda hold my nose at the idea of Chinese products for our archery endeavors..My way of thinking is if you have a little skin in the game it's not as easy to back out at the first obstacle you encounter..doesn't have to be a new bow for sure, and even a used few hundred dollar bow that you know was much more expensive when new, might hold your attention longer.