I'm thinking of picking up a cheap new or used bow to carry when the conditions aren't quite ideal. Last year I totally destroyed the finish on my Zona during the JLMBH and had to have it refinished. I don't want that to happen again and I also don't wish to carry it in poor weather conditons either(snow/rain etc..). Being my only bow I can't afford to replace it if something were to happen.
I was looking at the Martin jaguar takedown from cabelas for $140 figure with the $20 off coupon it would be a good choice. What say the gods of Trad??? Thanks SKippy
All my bows are beater bows.
I look at them as tools. I don't buy and sell, so I let what happens happen.
I don't see how hunting is going to hurt a bow.... unless you fall on it or something.
Not a bad idea I guess....but I've been draggin' bow thru the brush at Shawn's for years and never ruined the finish on any of them....sounds like maybe the finish wasn't up to parr to begin with bud...thorns shouldn't really scratch the finish of a bow.
Like Keith said...bows are tools...scratches and such are character and proof that the bow is doing what is was made to do. Guess that's why I like hunting with my old time/field proven old bows....
That said...that Martin bow sounds like a good deal...it would do just fine....
Nobody laugh at my beauty here :D .I have this one for getting in the brush after rabbits. I dont take it all the time, but we have a couple of spots that are very thick and this works great. Ben Pearson Superjet. Its 40# and tough as nails.....Roy
(http://i479.photobucket.com/albums/rr151/bones61427/100_1567.jpg)
If your bow has a professional finish, you won't have that problem. Zona has changed his finish to one that is much more durable recently, I do believe. I know he was using a ratttle can finish previously, and they don't hold up nearly as well to Fullerplast, Thunderbird epoxy, or Krystal. The only bad thing I've heard about the Jaguar is that they are poorly finished. Maybe that has changed.
Right now I use my Martin X-150 for everything. It's pretty reliable and pretty tough considering where I've taken it. I think that you can't go wrong with the Jaguar. Everyone I've talked to about it says that it can't be beat for the price. You'll probably want to get a different rest for it as the one that it comes with is cheap plastic. New string too I think. I'm thinking of getting one for bowfishing this summer.
One more thing, you may just want to get some limb skins. Would be cheaper.
If you decide on a second bow, I'd suggest a used Bear, Martin, Wing, Pearson, etc. for the same money. You'd get a better bow, IMO.
i use an howatt hunter alot i love it just for the fact that i can beat it to pieces and no really care that is my go to bow for rabbit hunting or stalking deer in very thick brush(unsucessfully might i add) its nice to have bow around like that its also my backup bow
They're not scratches they're scars-badges of honor incurred in "battles" with the elements and fond reminders of great hunts! :thumbsup: I hunt with one of those $1200 bows and still prefer to block flung branches with it rather than my face! :D I love the look of a well worn tool or Willie Nelson's guitar with the hole in it. Seriously though, I don't mean to make light or fun of what you are saying: I agree that a good finish should protect a bow in the inclement weather etc. and Bowdoc will do an awesome job refinishing it for a fair price if need be. Just my thoughts.
I use an old bear 76er. they are takedowns fiberglass limbs, mag riser just about indestructable, and they are cheap
I had Rob at Bob Lee take may Riser down and he refinshed it looks new so when she get to ugly I will send it back and get a face lift or not as long as she shoots.
I got tired of toting $1000 bows thru the briars and woods. I always worried about scratching them. Got myself a Quinn recurve. $250 and it shoots great.
Nothing wrong with having a spare, I have several. I bought my bows to hunt with, no matter what conditions, if its not up to it I'll find one that is.
Eric
I don't have a beater bow for hunting, but I do have a bear 76er I bought off the big auction site for $50 shipped that I use for bowfishing. I don't mind if my bow gets a little roughed up while hunting, like Westbrook said, that's why I got'em. However I just can't bring myself to slime'em all up and let'em get beat around the boat while bowfishing.
Well said by all. Bill makes some real nice bows and yes he was using an inferior finish when he built my T/D. I beleive Krystal is his new finish of choice. Bill has become a good friend of mine over the past couple years. Both of my Zonas are ser #1 therefore they have (as gay as it sounds)sentimental value to them. I will eventually buy another one of Bill's T/d's for daily use and that will become my go to bow so I can retire this one. I think in the mean time I'll start cruising the classifieds to hold me over. Thanks for the input. Skippy
Does Willie Nelson use a beater Guit-picker? I agree with No-Sage on this...
With the exception of my Dryad fishing longbow all of my bows are top quality works of art.I dont intentionally beat them but if something happens to em while hunting, my feelings dont get hurt too bad.Its what theyre for.I remember one day a cousin of mine telling me as we passed a nasty brushy area at the side of the road saying"That Looks Good But I wouldnt Hunt That With My Big East Bow." My other cousin and I beat him so badly he didnt speak to us the rest of the way home.
Well, I have my #1 bow (my Mikuta longbow) and a few old 1960's Bear recurves.
Acualy, my "beater" bow is my Mikuta!!!!! It's made of all actionwood and practicaly "bomb proof"..... I probly take better care of those old Bear recurves LOL!!!!!
I have a Ben Pearson cougar that I have owned for 35? years now. I bought it at a store closing as a boy. It was the only bow I have ever hunted with until this year. I bought a Fischer 3pc long bow at Mojam from The Nocking point. I guess I have never owned a "good bow".
I remember watching the Fred Bear hunting shows on TV. He would just throw his bows on the ground where ever he was. I suppose it was marketing, but That is pretty much what I've always done and I have never damaged my bows. I do use tip protectors and on occasion cammo bow socks.
I recently bought a PSE Coyote, has not arrived yet but got a great deal. Heard good and bad about them so I figure I give it a try for a "beater" bow. I don't hesitate to take my favorite bows (all of them) but I would like to have one for a throw around.
bows are meant to be used no matter how much they cost.i wouldn't buy a bow if i wasn't gonna hunt with it in all types of weather,like said before they are tools of the trade,use them and replace them when the time comes or refinish them when they need it.just my opinion.
I use a "beater bow" for bowfishing since I don't intend to beat my good bow around in mud and rocks.
Before I bought a New beater, I would find a used bow on the classifieds that was cheap and would fill your needs. I have seen lots of good bows that were a bit rough but still shooters for $100- $175. Even If you have to clean it up a bit you might be better off. One of my beaters is a Black Widow, I paid less than $400 for it. That bow is just a good hunting bow that is not very pretty but shoots like a dream!
What no-sage said. The bow I used this year was made in early 2000. First week I had it I left it on the roof of the truck strung. Lucky I saw it bouncing down the road at 55mph. Had to re-tiller and tried to refinish several times. Now just wipe the scratches with floor wax once a season. Hunted with that bow through a 4 day soaker this past fall with no ill affects.
Just for bowfishing! other than that, my silvertip is my constant companion! Jason
I bought a Super Kodiak for exactly that purpose, but it became my favorite bow, and I ended shooting it for a whole year
I love it. Expensive bows that have to be refinished after a year or two. What the/???????
Must be using that $1.12 Color Place Spray Paint.
Oh wait.....I have used that and it wears pretty well 8^).
If I want art, I will buy art. If I want a bow, I expect it to be like me in time; scratched, dented, a little wrinkled, but still able to get the job done with character.
There are bows showing up all the time on the classfied as being refinished by so and so, and the bow is only a few years old? Waddup wit dat? Is it bad finishing work, or are we so particular that we just can't stand a little scratch or two? If that's the case, you sure don't want me in camp, uglying up the place.
Well, I started out with a custom bow and over the years it has started turning into a bit of a beater. It's still a gorgeous bow but it's been dropped a couple times, dry fired a couple times and this past season I drove over it in a gravel parking lot with a '98 Expedition!!! :eek:
Still going strong and like some of the guys have said, it's just character scars. I'd like to do a refinish this year at some point but may or may not.
We make are "Mountain bow" just on that request.There are alot of hunters across the nation that like to hunt from boats.The Mountain bow has a camo finish.There are alot of guys out there that would rather have a workhorse bow over a fancy finished bow. For them we make the Mountain bow.For me I like a fancy bow with a nice finish.Like mentioned above the finish that most pro bowyers use is a very tough finish.It will hold up for years.
for most hunting my plx is my beater bow, witch can be unfortunate when like a month ago I drop it 25 feet out of a tree with my rattling horns and put a huge ding in it :banghead: I do however use a junker for bowfishing, that can get real messy.
all my hunting bows are beaters in a way but not intentionally. bows are tools and when you use them they get dropped, dinged and scratched and I refinish them usually once a year or as needed to keep them looking nice and protected. Even my bowsfishing bow started as a nice new bow. my new takedown tomahawk that I got this past spring has already been refinished once due to scratches and ding from use. just never about how they get used. dino
To each their own.
I have bows that I bought for performance and looks. I like to keep them in the best condition that I can.
Strictly for hunting, I buy for performance, but if they happen to look good with a nice set of snake skins; that is what I enjoy.
I was thinking of the same thing and said to myself " just use it, it can be refinished and you know that switching around is not the best"
I put a good coat of wax on in the fall and leave it on till after the season.
I need to hunt in all kind of weather or I would not get out much. Even less than I did this year.
Shoot it. It is a tool. JMHO
Tim
DEATHMASTER
Sorry could'nt think of having a bow and not carrying it hunting or shooting..So don't have to beat the briers for rabbits with it.
I have an old PSE Blackhawk I use in rough weather as a beater bow. I love my old classic bows too much to risk damage, and the PSE shoots "almost" as good...LOL!
QuoteDoes Willie Nelson use a beater Guit-picker?
As a matter of fact he does. You ever see Willie's guitar, autographs all over it and a 6" hole scratched through the top where his fingernails rub.
I have an old single carbon Palmer that is beat up and faded. It was that way when I got it. It's a good shooter. I call it DUB-Darned Ugly Bow. Jim
Modern bows are very tought,and few scares make just character you can use hardly your bow without damaging it,just surface issue easyly fixed.But if you need a beater bow go with a Bear,Howatt or Shakespeare of the old they are cheap but great shooter and they can easyly become your faforite.
I have a 60lb pronghorn and a 60lb PLII that I use for beaters and general hunting bows. Both had been hunted before I bought them. Funny, I don't think I have put a scratch in either one yet.
I use an old Shakespeare for bowfishing that I sealed up real good with super glue. Except for that I use 'em all. I quit using my BigHorn for awhile 'cause I was thinkin' it was too pretty, but I started using it again...I love that bow.. :archer:
Not everybody is a bowyer or wants to be but whats nice about it is you can knock out several wood bows and put on a good bit of tung oil finish. Might even rub on some wax and the weather won't hurt them, or you can melt some pariffen into the wood. If anything happens just make some more. Costs little or nothing.
I shoot the same bow clear exclusively thru huntin season,so if it takes a beatin, so be it!! LOL
I do have a beater bow set up for bowfishing. But at the end of a long season my bows have a scratch or two and maybe a dent. I refinish them or not depending on my mood. LOL
Mike
Bunch of girlies 8^). I'll be back in a minute, have to go iron and crease my hunting pants so they don't get a wrinkle till next week. 8^))))))))))))).
QuoteOriginally posted by George D. Stout:
Bunch of girlies 8^). I'll be back in a minute, have to go iron and crease my hunting pants so they don't get a wrinkle till next week. 8^))))))))))))).
I don't iron mine, but I do occasionally have to wash out a blood stain or two. ;)
All the custom bows i own are used for hunting and sometimes they just get scratched. I have found that when my hunting items get that used look to them they just get better.
When they get that used look to them i seem to get better use out of them.
I read this thread...then I was down stairs putting the finishing touches on the giveaway arrows,looking up at my trusty bear grizzly on the rack.Then at my silvertip.I really sat down and thought about which one has more value to me and which I'd take through a briar patch for bunnies.I value them both.
Then today as I was trashing through the briars with my silvertip,I thought about this thread,and I looked at my bow.I'm not the kind of guy that has a bunch of stuff to look at.I buy my equipment to use it.Why pay 750 plus to have a nice bow if it's going to sit home while the "beater" bow gets all the war wounds.
May as well just get a beater bow and sell the rest if I was that worried about them.JMTC.
I bought my bows to use.I get them scratched up so be it.
Heck George has more scratches and dents then any beater bow.
LOL
Mike
im gonna be doin the same as you skippy. im gonna bring my rer to the bunny hunt, but i plan on pickin up an older bear takedown hunter for the actual hunt itself..
plus, i figure it gives me another excuse to buy another bow!!
gaff
Great Thread! I use my beautiful bows to hunt with. If I had to take a bow on a hunt that I knew was going to be extra tough on it, I would take my Quinn and put some limbskins or something on the limbs to help protect them a little.
QuoteOriginally posted by Guru:
Like Keith said...bows are tools...scratches and such are character and proof that the bow is doing what is was made to do. Guess that's why I like hunting with my old time/field proven old bows....
That said...that Martin bow sounds like a good deal...it would do just fine....
Well said..I agree. The scratches are "charcter", my "OCD" says different though :bigsmyl: :biglaugh:
I carry the same bow no matter what kind of hunting I'm doing I bought the bow to use so I use it. I do take care of my bows and try not to bugger them up. Widow
Every one of mine has lots of character marks but my favorite, a '62 Kodiak took a finish hit in the last snow storm. Where the finish had checked and crazed in the grip area, moisture got in and lifted the checked area. I scraped it down to bare wood and applied two coats of spar varnish to seal it but now I have a dark spot in the grip.
Curt said it for me!! I have dragged some bows worthover a grand on my bunny hunts and as you know, I go thru the thickest stuff known to man. I have been known to toss my bow a time or two to be able to get out alive!! Shawn
I don't get it. Just how do you beat up a bow while hunting? You must be purposely abusing it. I've been through brush from PA to TX and never once scratched my bow. Are you swinging it overhead to mow down briars or what?
I have done some dumb things with my bow and added "character marks". Like when I leaned my bow against a tree and it slipped into the rocks, and the time I walked into a barbed wire fence in the dark, and when I dropped it down my steps.
I'm careful with my bows but not overly protective of them either. Still, I've been using my bows hard for many years and never once damaged one by hunting with it. They all look the way they did the day I bought them.
I use the bow to push brush out of the way. They frequently get banged against the tree when being hauled into the treestand. Sometimes I stumble and the bow gets smashed into the mud or rocks. Sometimes I lean it against a tree and it falls. One time, a limb tip caught a branch on release and the bow fell 20 feet to the ground. Crap happens, especially when you treat the bow like a hammer. I haven't bought any bows new, but they are still pretty expensive. I only have one bow that I won't take hunting, and that is because it has a very glossy finish that I don't feel like messing with. Too pretty for someone like me. It's getting sold.
I purchased an old beater bow from Georgr D. Stout and a good man to deal with he is! It was an old American Archery recurve, green fiberglass limbs and all. My oldest son David fell in love with it, but I'll grant you it's being put to good use. He has 5 children and takes them to a local archery range in Lincoln to shoot. The kids bows are all prettier than his. My youngest son has an old Shakespeare Wambaw, but now, it's clean. And I just picked up an old Quillian Longhunter. Nothin wrong with an old Beater Bow. If you shoot something and it isn't dead, just hit em over the head with it. And I believe that quote came from Dan Quillian himself.
And George, I don't iron my pants either. Just fold em fresh out of the dryer and wear em til the wrinkles drop out.
Fred E. Arnold
I picked up a 58" Chiron (Great Tree) Volcano as a backup/basement/beater bow. I wasn't expecting much for $240, but when it arrived I was pleasantly surprised at it's beauty, shootability, and speed. It really feels good and find myself shooting it a lot. It almost immediately moved to backup status behind my 58" Lee TD Hunter, which I use for most of my hunting/shooting...
Also have a 58" Wing Red Wing Hunter I bought back in the early 80's for $50 from the local archery shop. Very pretty bow that I use primarily for basement shooting and bowfishing...
I like to emulate Pappa Bear and throw my bow and use it as a staff when I cross streams. Nothing like a solid osage self bow for whacking stuff! I put copper heads on my most recent favorite and hate the fact that they are thin and delicate, they are going to get beat up anyway.
My bows get muddy,bloody and everything else. I once had one fall out the boat and had to chase it down river a few hundred yards to get it back.I don`t skin one up on purpose but I hunt hard and would not own a bow that was to "good" to hunt.RC
Shawn's hunt is hard on everything, I have a couple old Bears and my Bob Lee to carry when the conditions are bad.
let the chips fall were they may.A bow is a tool when my grand kids pull my bow out of the basement an they see all the marks an dings an blood stains.they will be moved when it is in there hands.there minds will go into wander.there own journey may start at that moment.how many times have you picked up some old item an just wandered or put your self in deep thought over who owned it or what that person was like.ect.dreams an thought define people.All from a beat up bow.
How dare you call any bow a beater bow! I hope your bows aren't listening! :p
I am currently checkering my own grip, each time I fall it puts another dent in it :) .
yup i had a beater bow once if i missed with the arrow i would just beat the animal with it untill it gave up. :biglaugh: :jumper:
I have a beater bow set up. It's a Martin x-something, camo finish, vanes off a elevated rest, rubber string silencers, etc. I set it up to use in rainy weather and bowfishing. Turns out that I never went bowfishing and I pretty much stopped hunting in real rainy weather. Oh well, it's still here if I need it.