Starvin Larry

Pic on top left is a Hoyt GamegetterII compound bow-old school,made in the mid 80’s or so.

Right pic is a 55# draw Bear Kodiak Magnum recurve bow,made in mid 70’s

Bottom pic is Horton Summit 150 crossbow-made about 2007 or so-it sucks that Horton went under,at least they were bought by Tenpoint crossbow,another Ohio company.

To get into archery today is expensive-if you buy new bow,quiver,sight/scope,and arrow rest,arrows,etc.

Unless you’ve got a lot of $$$ I would get used stuff,many archery shops sell used bows,pawn shops are another good source,as is the ‘net, and garage sales-if you have the time for that kind of thing.

If you do find a good used bow-of any kind-take it to an archery shop,or a gander Mtn,Bass Pro,Cabela’s etc. and have them put a new string on it for you,put a peep sight in the string,check the bow out to make sure it’s ok mechanically,and check the draw weight if it’s a compound-have them adjust it for you if it’s too easy to draw-or too hard…you’re doing PT every day,so it shouldn’t be too hard to draw,right?

The other thing you need is a target-bales of straw will simply not stop arrows from compound bows,or crossbow bolts.

A black hole,or similar foam target is the best target to use.

The easiest bow to learn to shoot is the crossbow,due to it’s similarity to a rifle. It’s also got the shortest amount of training time to be accurate enough to hunt-or defend yourself and property with.

All you need is the crossbow-bolts-that’s what crossbow arrows are actually called-and some target tips for each bolt. get your target tips in the same weight as your broadheads so when it’s time to shoot the broadheads you won’t have much adjustment to make to your sight/scope.

If you don’t have much arm and upper body strength,you can get a crossbow cocking device,that’s a rope and some pulleys,so it reduces the effort to pull the string back by half.

You shouldn’t need one of these because you ARE doing PT every day,right?

There’s not much maintenance to a crossbow,you’ll need string wax,which you need for any bow-some light machine oil for the cams,and some rail lube,which is generally some type of silicone. The rail is the part where the bolt is placed to load the bow,and where the bolt rides as it’s pushed by the string.

You should be able to hit the target from 10 yards,from there,adjust your pins on your sight,or the windage and elevation on your scope so at 10 yards,your bolts hit about 1 1/2″ high,then move to 20 yards,and using the same pin to aim with,your bolts should hit the bullseye,or very close to it.

I use a rear peep sight on my crossbow,scopes work great,I just prefer the pins,as you can see them for about 10 minutes longer than you can see through a scope in the evening.

Then shoot at 30 yards,using your 2nd pin,which should be placed right under your first pin-if you need your bolts to hit higher,move the pin up,if the need them to hit lower,move the pin down.

Once your are hitting where you should be at 30 yards,adjust your pin so you hit about 1 1/2″ high,then move back and shoot from 40 yards,your arrows should be right on the bullseye.

Put your 3rd pin just below the 2nd one,move back to 50 yards,adjust the pin so you are hitting about 1 1/2″ high.Then move back to 60 yards,and adjust the 3rd pin if you need to.

By sighting in this way-your first pin-the top one,is for shots from 10-20 yards,second pin is for 30-40 yards,and 3rd pin is for 50-60 yards.

Crossbows are accurate well beyond 50 yards,however,I will not shoot a deer beyond 40-50 yards,as there’s just too much chance for error,which could lead to you making a bad shot,and wounding a deer that you are not able to recover.

The compound bow is sighted in pretty much the same way,I only use 3 pins,and I use a peep sight on the string,there are sights available with 5 or even 7 pins,but I feel those are for target shooting only,the 3 pin system is better for hunting,and if need be-self/home defense.

Set your first pin for 10-20,2nd pin from 30-40,and 3rd pin from 40-50.

50 yards is about max hunting range for an older compound,which is what I use,the newer ones can effectively kill deer at 60-70 yards.

Arrows/bolts-when you buy them,don’t get junk. You don’t need top of the line real expensive stuff-get mid price range. The boxes they come in all have charts that tell you what arrow/bolt for what draw weight bow. Get your arrows cut to your draw length-the archery tech will measure your draw length for you-crossbow bolts go by the length that your bow is made for 20″ or 22″.

There are hundreds of different broadheads available for hunting,talk to friends,ask the archery tech,research it online-whatever you want to do-I use 125 grain NAP Thunderheads,they are a 3 blade fixed broadhead,with replaceable blades,and carbide tips-I have never had one not go all the way through a deer,had one go all the way through an elk once too. They work,they have always done the job for me,I see no reason to change.

You will need a broadhead wrench,they are only a few $$$,and it beats slicing the shit out of your fingers putting the broadheads on the arrows with no wrench.

The recurve bow is a whole ‘nother animal,it takes a hell of a lot of practice to become good with one. You can use a peep on the string,and a sight with pins,but many people shoot instinctively,using no sights.

A recurve bow is a good thing to have-for a just in case situation. It is possible to make arrows for a recurve,something that’s just not possible with a crossbow or compound,due to the speeds the bows shoot arrows/bolts at.

I do not believe it’s possible to explain how to shoot a recurve bow,it’s something that you need to learn face to face.

That pretty much covers the basics-at some point,I’ll do a more in depth post,and add some videos to help show how it’s done.

Read.
Learn.

Train.

Do more PT.