Archery

i need to know how powerful a bow is before i buy one. my garden is only about 25-30 yards. so i dont need a very powerful one. Thanks
Yeh yeh! i know the bow doesn’t go anywhere, thank you all for mentioning that. but i hope you know what i mean

I know what you meant to ask, so I won’t even bother with jokes about bows not going anywhere….

Each bow is rated for how much force is needed to pull the string back to a specific point — i.e., "40 lbs @ 28 inches" means it takes 40 pounds of force to pull the string back 28 inches. As long as your aim is spot-on every time you send an arrow towards the target, it doesn’t matter how "powerful" the bow is. **For all those who say that a "kid’s bow" doesn’t have enough power to send an arrow more than 10 yards — I have personally witnessed a 40-year archery veteran using a 60 pound-draw compound bow lose out to a 15-year-old using a 20 pound-draw fibre-glass longbow — at 30 yards; yes, the kid really was that damn good, and he really was using a REAL BOW. I’ve seen a 20 lb bow send arrows more than 80 yards, and with a fair amount of accuarcy, considering.

Now, before you go out and buy yourself a bow, you need to check with your local authorities as to whether it is legal to practice archery in your yard/garden (go to the County courthouse/City Hall/Mayor’s Office/etc – don’t ask only the police, because they don’t like to do the paperwork and they might just say "no" regardless). If you live in a city, it will most likely NOT be legal.

IF it is legal for you to practice archery in your yard/garden, I suggest that you start with a low-poundage bow, around 20 lb draw; regardless what others might say it is much easier to learn on a light-weight bow than on a heavy-weight bow — simply because the light-weight bow is easier to control (if you can’t control the bow, you won’t gain any real skill as an archer). As you gain strength and skill, you can increase draw weight (easy to do with a compound, but you will have to get another bow if you decide to get a "traditional" bow – a bow without "wheels").

Beware of using only hay bales or straw targets — arrows have a nasty habit of passing clean through them due to "soft spots" in the bales. You need to have a good backstop BEHIND the bales/target; the target is attached to the "front" of the bale(s). A good backstop can be made by hanging discarded carpeting between the bale(s) and the fence; do not attach the backstop to the fence, or it will never keep the arrows from hitting the fence; tightly woven carpeting has been known to stop even broadheads. (Don’t hang it tight, hang it loosely; the carpeting will "catch" the arrow, absorbing the impact, and allow it to simply drop to the ground). Wooden fences generally do not make good backstops, by the way, because the arrow can break when it hits the fence; metal fences NEVER make good backstops, for what should be a very obvious reason.

Targets can be made out of cardboard boxes, stuffed with more cardboard or plastic bags; pre-made styrofoam cubes sold in archery shops; burlap bags stuffed with plastic bags and/or paper bags; paper plates; a piece of cloth; etc. If it can be placed in front of or attached to the target butt (the hay bales), and it won’t damage your arrows as they enter/pass through it, it can be used as a target. If you keep the target(s) low to the ground, you won’t have to worry too much about arrows going too high — but sometimes arrows will "skip" when they hit the ground, too, so be careful; about stomach height is good for placing the target(s).

Now, for those who say that a huge amount of space is required for archery (no matter how "powerful" the bow is), it is more than merely possible to practice indoors at home — say, in an apartment; just hang a tight-woven blanket in a doorway (fasten it down ONLY at the top, leave the sides/bottom loose – just like with the carpeting backstop above) and use blunt-tipped arrows (rubber blunts work really good for this). You shoot at the blanket, the blanket "catches" the arrows — and the arrows drop to the floor. Yes, it really does work……

In all cases, make sure it is SAFE to practice archery. Be sure of what is behind the target/butt at all times; one of the worst experiences in life is to kill someone — perhaps a child — because you didn’t bother to make sure it was safe to shoot. If you use the blanket-in-the-doorway method, use a doorway that you KNOW will not be used while you are practicing — and when in doubt, ***block the path to the doorway*** on the other side of the blanket. SAFETY — FOR YOURSELF AND OTHERS — SHOULD ALWAYS COME FIRST IN ARCHERY.

Make sure it is legal to practice archery in your yard/garden first, and if it is — have fun.

I love archery but i don’t have a bow or arrows. And i want arrows that just penetrate the target and aren’t the ones with the sharp edges! So where can i find that type but cheap?!

Look on craigslist.com you can always find good used bows on there. The "ones with the sharp edges" are called broadheads its not the arrow its just the tip but you want field points. Just make sure the bow is sutable for you ie: pounds you need to be able to pull it back and the draw length you need to be able to pull it back all the way. You can go to any archery store and they will measure your draw length. But craigslist is probally a good place to get a bow cheap.

my dad got me a used compound bow made by blue mountain archery ,it is bright purple which makes me think it may have been made for competition target shooting.I cant find any info. on this company.Thank you for any help!

they were really popular in the mid to late 90′s with the Wolverine model bow. It had a machined riser and dual hatchet cams. It was a 300fps+ bow for $350. Really a great bow and you will see one on ebay every once in a while. I had one with rollerbrink cams on it for 3-D and it was a shooter. They were great hunting and competition bows. Good luck.

With bows, is a 25 pound pull easier than a 35 pound pull, strength-wise?

Yes. With bows the draw back is equal to the amount of weight it would be if you were lifting a dumbell. So a 25 pound would’nt be that difficult, and a 35 pound is still rather easy, but it’s harder then a 35 pound.

Hope this helps hon, God bless.

I am planning on buying a re-curve bow, but have not used a bow in a few years now. I have forgotten the rules, on which type to by, right or left. I hold the bow with my left hand and draw with my right. I assume this means that I should purchase a "right" bow. Am I correct about this? Thanks in advance-

Hi gary shey,

Targetbr has the right test to follow. You use your dominant eye as the test to determine whether you should shoot with a left or right handed bow.. Most of the time, if you are right handed, you will also be right eye dominant and require a right hand bow. However, there is a decent minority percentage of people who are not so it is worth doing the simple test he recommends. If you are right eye dominant as I suspect; then, the technique you mentioned in your post is absolutely correct.

Now, if you really want to get a lot of different answers, ask what is the best recurve bow? You will find that everyone has their own favorite.

Best,
Jim Smithson