I would like to pick a bow for my wife and daughter to shoot. I have pretty much settled on a Great Northern Fieldbow for its simplicity, shootability, and price. The caveat is what pound range to get. I know I should take them out to someplace to get them both to shoot and see what works best but in all honesty that will never happen. I will just be lucky to get them shooting at all even though they have finally expressed a slight interest in archery (not hunting).
My daughter is 5'1 105 lbs and my wife is 5'2 and about 115. Neither of them are what you would consider body builder strong but they both run and do pilates(sp) and are in very good physical shape. Neither will shy away from good hard physical work.
I am figuring their draw length would be in the 23" to 24" range based on Great Northern's chart. That would mean subracting about 12- 15 lbs from any standard poundage at 28". A 35lb longbow at 28 inches would then be about 20 lbs at their draw all things considered. Am I on track here? Anybody else with females in the same size range who shoot have any suggestions. I do not want to overbow them and hunting right now is not an issue so I want something they can be comfortable shooting and will not fight them on their learning curve.
Is this a long enough first post? :)
Thanks in advance,
Rich aka twistedlim
Welcome, I think you are right on target with the weight.
I'm always surprised at weight boys or girls find too heavy.
20 to 25 max at their draw would work well.
If you get light weight skinny arrows they will fly fast enough to impress them.
My 3 kids have been shooting 35#@28" bows for several years now. None of them draw more than 24" or 25" so the poundage has been a great fit for many years for them. I put much thought into this before I settled on the 35# bows and it turned out great.