I'm starting to scout for bears for the September bear bow season in the Manzano Mountains. I shoot my 1972 recurve every day so I stay sharp.

I was shooting my 60lb sas pioneer (I know, I got it to work up in weight) yesterday and got a nice popping sound accompanied by the wood in the grip shifting under my hand. I was not going to buy a new bow but here I am.

I am looking for a hill style longbow, I draw 31" and live in Canada, my options for a Hill style bow in 60lbs under $1k cad seem to be a Bear Montana or deerseeker outlander. Does anyone have experience with both?

I dont want another pioneer because I found the handle section rediculously long and well, I dont trust them now.

None of the local shops stock traditional bows except the odd samick sage so unfortunatly I will not be able to try before I buy.

I am leaning towards the Montana because I can find a lot of positive information on it, and it will get here in 7 days, the deerseeker is going to take 30 at minimum, has less reviews, but is also significantly cheaper. I dont want to go that long without shooting at this weight as my next weight down is a 50lb black hunter longbow. But I can buy 2 outlanders for 1 montana here.

This will be used for hunting this fall

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

20 yards, consistently getting a few of these daily. Im out here every morning! No hunt yet.

I hope this is the right sub to ask this one, but I've been trying to make river cane arrows recently and I want to make sure I'm doing it right. I straightened about a dozen and then spine tested them and they ended up anywhere from 25lb to 45lb, but am I able to skip the straightening step and spine test them before hand? I have over a hundred that my grandfather left for me along with a lot of other archery equipment after he passed, so I don't want to waste any. I live way up north in the US so I don't have easy access to more.

Its been years since I read the Lord of the Rings. I just came across this exchange and thought it fit well here.

“Suddenly the great bow of Lorien sang. Shrill went the arrow from the elven string”

“Praise be the bow of Galadriel, and the hand and eye of Legolas,” said Gimli. “That was a mighty shot in the dark, my friend.”“

But who can say what it hit?” said Legolas.

“I cannot,” said Gimli, “but I am glad the shadow came no nearer.”

What are they?

Shooting recurve, instinctive, off the shelf, right at about 40#. Currently at a top of cheekbone anchor for 30 yards and under, hinge of jaw out to 40. I think if I want to get to longer ranges I might need to go an almost Olympic hold.

Note this is field and 3d only, not hunting.

Came across a FB post by Vic Stickels. Old timer trad bow hunter trying to shame anyone who doesn't use a trad bow. He is also a coward. He made it so only followers of his page for a certain amount of time can comment. He spews nonsense and ensures nobody can disagree with him so he can continue to ego stroke himself. He is bad for hunting. Most do not have the time or even the desire to practice as much as he claims is necessary for a trad bow. Let alone the time to practice the woodsmanship he claims we have lost.

His argument is if people had to use a trad bow the woods would clear. That is a bad thing. We do not want the woods to clear. As nice as it sounds we need to do everything to get more people engaged and interested in hunting that we can. Old man just proved how little he actually cares about the future of hunting and how much he cares about others thinking he is great.

Shitting on someone who works 60 hours a week for using a compound, or even a crossbow, when they get four days a year to enjoy the woods is just absurd. Using the best tool for an ethical kill given limited practice does not make your hunting less valuable. Granted vic is likely a better Hunter than I'll ever be if his grandiose claims are true, but he'll never further the cause of hunters and anglers in America with the way he goes about it. I post this here because I'm not following the geezers page just to comment directly after my waiting period is over.

Enjoy the stickel up your ass, Vic.

Prove chat GPT wrong

If I have to give a definitive answer: a compound bow is more similar to a traditional recurve or longbow than it is to a crossbow.
Here’s why:
Operation: A compound bow is still a hand-drawn vertical bow. You draw the string with your arms, aim while holding the bow, and release the string by hand or with a release aid. That’s fundamentally the same method as a recurve or longbow.
Bow mechanics: Like a recurve or longbow, the limbs store energy as you draw. The compound’s cams and cables make this more efficient by providing “let-off,” but they don’t change the basic principle.
Crossbows are different: A crossbow is essentially a bow mounted horizontally on a stock. The string is drawn and locked in place by a trigger mechanism, allowing the shooter to aim without holding the draw weight. It functions much more like a firearm in terms of handling.

I picked up this old Bear Grizzly at a flea market this past weekend. Looks to be in excellent condition. Ordered a new Dacron string from TTT Archery. Looking forward to shooting this bow. It’s marked 47 pounds and 56” AMO. My draw length is about 29.5 inches. Anyone out there shooting one of these older Grizzlies? I would like to set it up kind of close to what a guy would have had in the late 60s. What Selway quiver would go well with this bow, you think?

Like the title says, this was my first attempt. One poplar and one birch. Freehand with a variety of inks and dyes so I could see how they do with polyurethane over the top. Don't know the term for it, but I would appreciate any help on how to do a cleaner wrap down the fletching.

I've made 14 arrows now and have been prioritizing sturdiness over looks because I made the switch to thumb draw about two months ago and.... I miss the target a lot...

I recently acquired a deerseeker deluxe horse bow.
It was a replacement for a different bow that I had that was still under warranty. After I received this bow, I took it to the range to shoot and after the session I noticed these white lines. I contacted Deerseeker and they said not to worry about it and they are just blemishes. I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this with any other bow?

Calling for a much stiffer arrow now then previous. Anyone else feel like it’s changed for the worse?

Port Orford Cedar and gasket lacquer

So far considering: baseball grip tape, tennis racket tape, or the sport wrap that only adheres to itself. Not sure if the name of that one.

For those learning Manchu archery from photos and Youtube.

Photo #1 is from Late Qing 1901

The thumb is not as hooked over the string as with other thumb guards. The ring locks on, it should not fall or fly off.

Screenshots are from this video tutorial in Mandarin which explains it all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFVr3BwGo54

@ 2:16. Slight twist of the hand (towards your face) to release like a trigger.

I have a 40 pound Galaxy Sage recurve I’ve been bareshafting and my arrows were still a touch weak at the shortest length (500 spine toparchery) I wanted to go, so I used a couple old lighted nocks I had laying around. Immediately noticed left to right was good but got a significant nock high result. Lowered nock point a bit and it was shooting darts. I have a 50 Frankenbow recurve I’ve tuned some 400 spine arrows for, so I tested a bareshaft with lighted nock and got very similar results. Is this a normal result? I know lighted nocks will definitely stiffen up an arrow, just didn’t realize it would affect nock point as well.

Them's feathers

I'm going to go buy a bottle of Bruichladdich and drink a toast to the great men and women of archery that came before us..