Beginner bow - compound or traditional?

[SAFalconer]

OK. Thanks.

 

[Wynand Rohde]

May I add my little bit of experience. The Feul is a good value for money, someone mentioned the Assasin, Great bow. Shoot them all before you buy one. Go for the best bow you can afford.

 

[Paolo Mauritania]

Hi Falconer,
Having shot longbows all my archery life, unless you are prepared to go a long way to root the correct technique, you are a couple of years away from your first serious hunt. I would not recommend a recurve (here I might get some critics) unless you are cast in concrete with your form, recurves are way less forgiving than longbows owing to their thin limb configuration.
A well tuned compound could be the answer, the difference with traditional bows is that mechanics takes a lot of load out of the archer. This doesn't mean you need to have proper form, but peep-sight, pins and let-off all helps.
I would suggest a compound that has an ample range of draw weight, being overbowed especially at the beginning, wreck havoc in your form, and a good let off. I have seen the Bear Cruzer, decent set up at a reasonable price and ample draw weight/draw length range, let-off 75%, speed (being a traditionalist I don't put all my faith in speed) but is a reasonable 310 IBO, which in practice translate in something less depending on your draw length/weight/arrow weight/bla, bla.
I shot with either a 70# or a 80# depending on the animal, but it took me a long way to work the poundage up and almost never failed to shoot at least 3 times a week, if not more frequently, and still I do not shoot over 25 yards range unless I'm in perfect mental and physical conditions (not after a long day hunt in the heat).
Here I leave it to the most experienced compound shooters.

 

[Wynand Rohde]

Paolo, no crits on very wise advice. I also wanted to go the recurve way and people adviced me in going for the compound, and I am so glad that I listened. I was acurate within a week with my first compound. Don't get me wrong, I have a lot off respect for poeple hunting with a long/recurve bow. Again very wose words.

 

[Paolo Mauritania]

Wynand,
Thanks. If Howard Hill himself once said "Why I do not shoot recurves? I'm just not that good" there must be something to it. They are beautiful bow to shoot, however many pick them up thinking about length as opposed to the LB, at around 28" draw, you'll likely end up with anywhere between 56"-60" to have a decent string angle for a consistent release. A LB at 68"-70" is not a major penalization, however with the proper arrow weight I found the LB way more silent and way more forgiving of "real" hunting situation shots (just try to twist the tip of a LB's limb and do the same with a recurve). I would suggest that if anyone wants to shoot traditional to start training in parallel, while enjoying the compound. It will take sometime and is a complete different style of shooting (aiming included) but once mastered is very satisfying, is amazing what can be done with a wood pole, especially shooting from the most unconventional positions. If anyone wants some suggestions please feel free to ask at any time.

 

[Paolo Mauritania]

Just a little tribute to our masters of the longbow and some typical daily training shots (for form) in the garage of a friend in Italy few months ago with the HH "Tembo" 80#:

 

[Wynand Rohde]

Wow, thank you for sharing.

 

[Paolo Mauritania]

Welcome.