Anyone hunting with a NON custom bow?

[Stoutstuff]

I still use my Browning Backpacker II a lot.

[Stumpkiller]

PS - what do you consider a custom bow vs. a small-run production bow with various minor options?          

A lot of the production bows were very much hand laid-up and crafted.  Still are.  And last I knew a lot of "custom" makers used outsourced mass-produced laminated limbs.

[njloco]

Hey Charlie,

What was that bow you brought with you to this past stump shoot up at Ken's, You know, the one you kicked our butts with ? I think that was a so called production bow.

[Swiftspeed10]

custom bows are like custom guns, they are very pretty and fit your personal likes whether it be color, styling, weight, grip, etc etc.  A 200 savage kills deer just as dead and accurately as a 10,000 custom rifle.  The same can be said for a 140 ragim bow or a 1500 custom bow.

[illianabowhntr67]

A bear kodiak hunter and martin savannah are what I'm using now.I'd love to be able to order a custom bow but I'm happy to be hunting with what I have.

[SS Snuffer]

I just got a 69' Bear Grizzly 56" that just seems to shoot great! Will likly shoot my 1st deer with it this fall than switch back to my longbow.

[Stumpkiller]

Originally posted by njloco:
Hey Charlie,

What was that bow you brought with you to this past stump shoot up at Ken's, You know, the one you kicked our butts with ? I think that was a so called production bow.

LOL!  I had my share of boot-prints to sit on for the ride home.

That's the Browning Explorer.  Pretty darned good shooter for 1966 design & glass.  Five laminations in the limbs.  A Harry Drake design.  Paid a whopping $110 for it but it took a while to find.  THE ADMIRAL has instructions to have it cremated with me.

   

It cost someone $64.50 in 1966.  So figure at today's prices that's about $1,050 to $1,200.  ;-)  I had a VW Beetle that was a '66 and it cost $1,400 new!

[ron w]

Not right now ,but I have in the past. Ben Pearson, Bear Kodiak, Grizzly and Montana,Howatt Hunter. Still have a Kodiak Hunter[1967]and a Grizzly[1974]. All good bows that will get the job done. I still would like to find a light Martin/Howatt Mamba sometime!! Not that I need one...lol!!!  

[Uncle Buck]

Many bows have come and gone, but one I have hung on too for over 20 years is a Hoyt 3 pc recurve made in Korea by I believe, Samick. 58" and 55# at 28. after I reworked the shelf it just feels comfortable to shoot and it shoots where I look. although The only thing  pretty about it was the price.

[McDave]

Picking up on what Charlie asked, I'm not sure I really know the difference between a custom bow and a production bow.

Oh, it's pretty easy to tell the difference at the ends of the spectrum: when a factory mass-produces bows out of the same materials to the same standards, those are production bows; when a bowyer carves a bow out of a yew stave, allowing for the individual knots and bends in that particular stave, that is a custom bow.

But what about a bow that is cut out by a computer-controlled machine to exacting tolerances, such that if you want extra limbs later on, all you have to do is order them?  That bow may be made out of wood lams you personally selected, have a custom grip, and be tillered to your style of holding the string, so by the time you get it, it may not be exactly like any other bow in the world, except it may have the same tolerances and limb fit as a thousand other bows made to the same specifications.

I like 'em all, if I like the way they shoot.  I'll probably never sell my DAS Dalaa or my Strunk self-bow, which are on opposite ends of the custom spectrum, but I've bought and sold plenty of bows in between that looked real pretty to me at the time I bought them, but I ended up not liking the way they shot.

[The Black Spot]

I hunt with a pearson stallion.

[David Mitchell]

The way I see it, a bow is only "custom" when made specifically for me, to my specs, and the dimensions, etc. that I want.  If I then sell that bow to somebody else it is not "custom" for them, but rather just one made by a single bowyer (maybe).  Maybe others define it differently, but that's how I see it (and I'm right 99.6% of the time).   :D

[COLongbow]

My first trad bow was a 2009 Bear Grizzly, about as production as you can get, I guess.

If I hadn't stumbled across this site and seen all the goodies I would probably still happily be shooting it as my only bow!

[Don Stokes]

Never had one. Production bows have always been good enough for me- I'm too hard on them to pay big money for custom.

[Terry Lightle]

My youngest son hunts with an old Damon Howatt Rosewood Diablo and will not even consider a different bow and it is beautiful

[K. Mogensen]

I love my Lost Creek, but I also love my Savannah equally. I really learned how to shoot on that bow. I bought some good arrows, got my Savannah, and shot that target at 15 yards everyday. When I started breaking nocks, I moved back to 20. That bow is directly responsible for the shooter I am right now, and will never leave me.

On Friday, I hope to shoot a Martin Hunter at Cabelas and I can't wait! Had my eye on one of these for a while but haven't had a chance to shoot one yet... So excited...

Custom bows are awesome. Like I said, I love my Lost Creek. But you really can't beat some of the production bows out there. It's the shooter who makes the shot, not the bow.

[rdoggsilva]

This year I do not know if I will hunt with my Pearson Hunter or the Astro II. The Pearson is my first bow, got it back in 1967, just before I shipping out to Nam. Had to wait until I got back to hunt with it. The Astro I got in 1974, still enjoy shooting it. Both bows have taken deer, hog, elk and rabbits. So I am stuck on a hard decision, as I enjoy both.

[Shifting Shadow]

To my surprise my favorite is a production bow.  Whatever makes you happy.

[jamesh76]

Yip. I got 4 of them.