Switching to LH, looking for advice on finding a good quality recurve

[blueeyedmountaingal]

I am new to this site, found it while googling for some info regarding eye dominance issues and there seem to be a lot of knowledgeable people and great info in this forum.

Ok, here's the deal: I have been shooting a RH Martin Hunter 50#@28" for about 3 years now (and a loaner Martin Dreamcatcher before that), I'm RH but strongly left eye dominant. Until recently, I was able to cheat and squint my left eye just before releasing and shot well, but recently, I've had substantial distance/color vision loss in my right eye that is uncorrectable, so I can't cheat anymore and it really shows in my shooting past about 10 yards.

It took a few afternoons but I've been able to switch over to shooting pretty well LH with my rifle (except that my bolt is on the wrong side now, lol), so I'm sure I can make the transition to shooting LH for bow, with a little work.
 
I'm here looking for short bow suggestions, since I don't have the opportunity to try many, hardly anyone here stocks trad bows, let alone any LH ones and there are mostly compound shooters and no lefties in my club. I would go for another Martin (I love shooting the ones I have) but all of their bows are pretty long for someone my size and almost impossible for me to string, just the way I'm built, I guess. I hate to admit it but I run out of arm if the overall bow length is more than about 54"; any longer and I need a a hand from someone bigger or a wall stringer, and I need to be able to string/unstring for traveling. This coming season is when I'm finally going to get to bowhunt with my little brother, so I'd like to find something new soon so I can get used to it before October gets here.

I've only shot Martin's and a few Bear's so far and am fairly new to the sport so, if anyone has suggestions for short bows, please send them my way. BTW, my draw length is 26 and the grip is a little big for me on my Martin.

Looking forward to cruising around this site some more, looks like there's a lot I can learn from you guys!

[wingnut]

The 56" Orion static recurve may be just the bow your looking for.  Do a search here on Orion and you will get the reviews of our happy customers.  Recurves need to be strung with a stringer and we send one with each of ours so you shouldn't have any trouble getting it done.

If the Orion is not your cup of tea so to speak, check out Black Mtn. Bows (sponsors list). Brent has a couple of shorter statics that would also work well.

Good Luck with your quest and welcome to the campfire.

Mike

[hormoan]

Welcome to the    

Considering new bows, almost any of the Bowyers can out fit you.

Depending on how much you want to spend, will more or less dictate your choice.

You can usually pick up very nice Bear Kodiak Magnum's which are 52" bows. Very reasonably granted you stay the the mid-later 70's green wooded version's. They are what I would consider med\\lg in the grip area. But make great shooting bows, for people with shorter draws.    

[GJG IN CT]

I went through the same change.  After shooting right handed for over 15 years I made the switch to left handed due to being left eye dominate.

I've been shooting that way for over 5 years now and it feels very natural.

I would not suggest going out an buying a new bow right now.  Try to find a used lefty (cheap) at a very low poundage.  40# would be perfect.  The length of the bow doesn't matter.  Just going through the motions of putting an arrow on the string and pulling it back will take some time. Get used to shooting at that weight before trying to pull back 50#.

Good luck.

Gary

[maxwell]

I would be looking for a bow at least 60" they are easier to shoot especially as you transition to lefthand.  As far as stringing your bow use a good bow stringer and one you like - you should have no problems.

[bayoulongbowman]

I fined used light weight bow 40 pounds...get ur form down , ur left side has to learn , I did it and Im glad I did, people say it dont make a difference..BS...good luck with the switch..Marco#78

[blueeyedmountaingal]

Just to clarify, I do have a stringer (I at least know that much!!).    : )
I found a used Black Widow PTFV Ironwood that I shot for the first time yesterday and it fits me great, I was late to a work party at my range because I was literally waiting around for the UPS guy to show up so I could have it in time to shoot the same day! Thankfully, all the guys understood my lateness once they saw the new bow. It was a little awkward at first but I think we're going to get along great. My groups were good, but I know it will take some time to get strong on that side.

Thanks to you all for your input and suggestions!