First Venture Into

Archery - Part 2

by Lenise

“We had more book learning, now it was time to actually handle some bows.” email: MsAdventure@abzorba.com

Shopping Around

On Sunday, we headed to Capra's; their website said they were open. When we got there, Capra's was closed; "New Store Hours". Update your damn website. Kip decided we could go to Bwana's, an archery shop in Little Canada; they were open on Sunday. A bit of a drive, we were out to look at bows. When we got to Bwana’s, we ended up talking to Junior and had him look over the bow Kip had given me. For a free bow, I got a good deal he said. The string needed to be replaced - about $10. The arrows were good, but needed new fletchings; no cost on that, that I can remember. I guess it would depend on what type of fletching.

More Talking, More Questions, More Learning

We had a great conversation with Junior. He was not much of a "junior" at 6'2" and late 40's to early 50's. He had just returned from the big bow convention in Indiana(?). He was very knowledgeable and straight forward about what types of bows might be good for us. He was also impressed by the fact we had come in so early to figure out what types of bow we wanted to used for Elk Hunting in 2012. He liked what had chosen for bows, though he didn’t know of the Anderson Bows brand listed on the sheet and suggested to steer clear of it. Here’s the spreadsheet of the 11 bows Kip and I researched: 2011 Compound Bow Data. There are Comments on the Bow Spec Comparison tab. Junior said the Diamond Razor was a youth model and for a few a dollars more we could get a better constructed bow and more features. And the Ben Pearson Legend was a good bow, but may be out of our price range. I don't think Bwana carried that brand. He also suggested to add Hoyt to the list. Hoyt was realizing they needed to make less expensive bows and there were some good ones in the Hawk Series coming out this year. There was also a good package they were putting together for the Hoyt in the next couple of weeks.

More Looking, More Seeing and More

Handling

I got to touch the Vendetta; the grip was very narrow, but other than that it was a very nice bow. Apparently, higher end bows have narrower grips. Next, the Assassin, the grip edge bothered Kip's hand but it worked for me. Junior said Kip was the first person to mention an issue with the grip and showed Kip that maybe he was holding the bow incorrectly. Kip wasn't so sure and was leaning toward the Hoyt. I, on the other hand, am leaning toward the Assassin. The Quest Primal was the best balanced bow, but a little out of my price range. Junior mentioned there is a less expensive Quest bow coming out; I don’t remember the name, but we should keep an eye out for it. Bwana will have a package deal for ~600 bucks in a week or so. [Note: I remembered later: G5] The best thing I hear from Junior was Bwana's layaway plan; ~$100 down, they fit the bow to you, reasonable payments per month and you get to use the bow anytime you want at the onsite range. I got really excited about that; I calculated the $125 down on $600 package would be ~$40 per month for 12 months.

Still looking, seeing and handling

A few days later, we stopped back at Capra’s when they were open. We met Greg, a construction worker working at Capra's for the winter; avid bow hunter; owns Mathews bows. Greg was fairly knowledgeable, but did not give good answers for a couple questions Kip had. Two questions being why was the Mathews bow so top heavy, and what's the difference between fixed and non- fixed broad heads. One piece of information that was very helpful; for arrows an ideal weight is 5 grains per pound of draw weight. I'll have to ask Junior if that is a good measure. Junior mentioned this is a minimum weight. You could go heavier or even lighter, but for hunting Elk you’d need at least that much. Capra's sold almost exclusively Mathews and Mathews' Mission bows. - Mission bows are Mathews middle of the road bows with a price range of $239 to $699. - There were only two other makes bows, Browning and Parker with only a couple models form each brand. We saw "Bow Bill" who we met at Gander at Capra's. He was there to practice with his bow. Also from Greg, he mentioned a few other bow manufacturers: - Hoyt - Mathews - Bowtech - PSE I'll have to revisit Hoyt Prohawk, Quest and PSE Vendetta. Okay, I found okay that G5 is accessories brand, actually an engineering group that also builds bows, Quest bows.