Jenny,
It sounds like you and your new hubby might be new to traditional archery. I would like to make a few suggestions to help you get started. Do you know the difference between a longbow and a recurve? If not, look through the Bear Archery catalog for a quick look at the difference between the two. Below is a link to their traditional archery catalog:
http://www.beararcheryproducts.com/bows/traditional The Ausable, Patriot and Montana are styles of longbows. The others are recurves.
Your husband may know what type of bow he wants to shoot. If your husband’s friend can keep a secret, you may want to speak with him about what kind of bow to get for your husband and what draw weight he would recommend.
If you are undecided for yourself, find a local archery shop that carries traditional bows if at all possible and find one that “feels” comfortable in your hand. Not all bows will fit your hand the same way; some bows will fit your hand better than others. Feeling uncomfortable will distract you while trying to shoot, so comfortable matters.
For most people, a lower draw weight bow works better with which to learn to shoot. The reason for this is that if you have to struggle to draw the bow, you will not be able to concentrate on form. Unlearning bad form can be harder than learning good form to begin with.
In my experience, 30 to 35 pounds for most women is a good starting draw weight, while 40 to 45 pounds is a good range for most men. Needless to say, some people are much stronger than others. You can build strength pretty quickly with regular practice, but it is better to start a little light than a little heavy until you develop good form.
As you practice and develop upper body strength, you might decide to upgrade to a new bow with a heavier draw weight. For this reason, I recommend that unless you know pretty much exactly what you want, you may want to be a little economical to start. If you decide you want to continue with archery (and/or bowhunting), you can upgrade to a heavier draw weight and maybe a nicer bow. Plus, once you have shot awhile, you will have a better frame of reference as to what you may want in a new bow. Then is the time to consider spending a little more money to get what you want!
Also, in my experience, most people have an easier time learning to shoot accurately using a recurve, rather than a longbow. But if your heart is set on a longbow, by all means, get a longbow.
There are many good bowyers (bow builders) that are sponsors on this site, but custom anything is generally not largemart priced. There may be some bowyers on this site that make a very good bow at a price within your range so I encourage you to do some searching. Certain makes of bows, such as Samick, make a decent bow for the money. You can even start out with a used bow. I have purchased several used bows from the classifieds section on Tradgang with good luck. This lets me try bows that I can’t find locally. I also know I can resell them and try something else if I want to. Keep in mind, you may be buying two of everything. If price is not a matter, you will have a much bigger pool of bows from which to select!
The draw weight you choose will help determine what arrows to buy. Other equipment you will want to invest in are a glove or tab (another choice, yeay!), an arm guard (many different ones) to protect your bow arm from being struck by the string and to keep a baggy shirt sleeve out of the way, and a quiver in which to carry your arrows.
Also, I would like to recommend a few books for the beginner in traditional archery. One is A Beginner’s Guide to Traditional Archery by Brian J. Sorrels.
Another is G. Fred Asbell’s Instinctive Shooting, which you can buy from several places but can buy it directly from his website at the link below:
http://gfredasbell.com/GFA_Books_Videos.php Remember to have these sent to another address if you do not want your husband to see them right away!
I would also like to recommend one video in particular. It is called Masters of the Barebow. I strongly recommend you get volume 3 first and watch it. I have one, two and three, (not 4 yet) and enjoy them all, but volume 3 to me is an exceptionally well-done instructional video. It can help you develop good technique right away and save a lot of headaches.
Hope this helps. Good Luck!
Topic: new to bows and arrows (Read 196 times)
