Long Story Short

[Ben A]

Long story short, my nine year old daughter who happens to be a little athlete has expressed an interest in bow hunting for the last couple of years.  Well in my infinite wisdom I made the decision that she was to young (small) to be effective with a bow and put her off and told her when you are a little older I will get you a bow.  Im writing because there has been a change and I kinda gave in.  I bought her what amounts to a toy bow just to see if she would really be interested before I made the plunge and bought her a real bow.  It turns out she is pretty good.  A couple of weeks back I decided to to have her shoot at a surveyor's flag and to my suprise at about 20 feet she started hitting the flag and tore it up.  Looks like I'm in the market for a good bow for a small girl and would like some suggestions from the Trad Gang family.  

[youngarcher1]

maddog bows has a model that should be well suited for her, and i believe he is a sponsor on here as well

[owlbait]

Heard good things about maddog. St. Joe River Bows makes a fine youth bow. If you could find a Windstorm youth bow in good shape they were excellent performing small bows!

[JamesV]

Mad Dog is the go to guy for kids bows

[Flingblade]

I don't know what draw weight you are looking for but I have two recurves I would sell if you are interested.  One is the Martin Prodigy 15# @ 24" and 48" long and the second is the Martin Rebel 35#@26" and 40#@28" that is 52" long.  The Prodigy would be for a small child and the Rebel would be for a preteen to teen.  The Rebel would be a bow she could bowfish or hunt with as well when the time comes.  I think Martin still makes the Rebel so you might check it out on their website. If your daughter shows an interest in archery go with it full steam and be thankful.  I bought these bows for my oldest son and he never developed any interest in hunting or archery and is now 18 and planning his college career.  I have only been able to get him to hunt with me twice and he seemed very bored.  IMO, don't do anything to hold your child back as I am envious when I see fathers and sons hunting together.  If interested in the bows PM me and we can work something out.

[jamesh76]

I too suggest mad dog.

As a reference My son is 8 and his pup longbow is 17@22. He has had it for 2 years and pulls it easy.  I would think that your daughter could be in the 20 lb range @ 22"

The following link has a few pictures of my son shooting his. Just posting so you can see what they look like.

 http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=102888;p=2

James

[straitera]

That's good solid stuff! Glad for you both.

[Ben A]

Thanks guys for the info. I'm researching and will let you know how it turns out.

[ronp]

Ditto Mad Dog!

[scedvm]

BenA,  I have heard nothing but good about Maddog.  I have 4 daughters of my own and I am always trying to find bows to keep them interested and I am thinking of a Maddog for 1 or 2 of them.  I think he is about 12 weeks out so you may need to find something used while you wait for her bow.  Good luck....Shawn

[hvyhitter]

I went through this with my daughter and young muscles build fast. She out grew her first two bows pretty quick and by 11 she was shooting an old BP target bow that was 40#@28 (40.00 pawn shop bow), she was drawing about 23 at the time. That bow lasted about another 2 years then we started upgrading (used customs,longbow and recurves). Shes 23 and still shoots with me and now has a new bear grizzly (she likes recurves better). Its a blast to have your kids shoot with you.

[LONGSTYKES]

Ben, My 9 year old Grand Daughter shoots a 46" long 20# @ 24" 3pc T/D recurve. She is tall and lanky 4' 6' at 64#, but she shoots it very well and absolutely loves it. Keep her shooting, good luck.