Draw Length

[ScottL]

This past weekend I was out hunting hogs on some public land when I ran into a couple of guys that were hunting with wheelie bows. When they saw I had a recurve, we got to talking and eventually I spent the evening hunting with them in their set up. Unfortunately no game was taken. We exchanged contact info and have been doing recon and keeping each other updated. Well, last night one of them emails me about wanting to look into a horse bow. I encourage him and direct him to this sight and a couple of others. I also sent him a link to an article that I had found a while back about switching from a compound to traditional. This morning I remember that his draw length was somewhere around 32". My question is: Will a horse bow be to short for his draw length? My draw length is 26" and most of my bows, even my "longbow" are 56" or less. I was concerned about him maybe having issues with finger pinch. Also, I know nothing about using a thumb ring to shoot. Would this be a possible solution to to his long draw? Or should I try to convince him to get a longer static tip style recurve?

[northener]

Do not know anything about horse bows and their draw characteristics.

Best advice for compounders going to stickbows is draw weight. They need to go down in lbs., probably a minimum of 10 lbs. to maybe as much as 20lbs. They are not used to holding all the weight and begin to snap shoot and short draw. Bad habits that are hard to overcome.

I have a 32" draw and longer bows are much more forgiving and comfortable to shoot. definitely stay away from the compound mentality of extremely short bows.

FWIW I shoot 66" recurves and 68" longbows.

[Orion]

Hmmmmm.  Horse bows have syahs that open up on the draw which makes for a less acute string angle at full draw than a typical recurve of the same length, for example.  Finger pinch should be less of an issue, however, there might still be some. He'll likely lose  an inch or more of draw length because of the different grip configurataion, straight low wrist on the horse bow. Still would recommend that he get the longest horse bow he can find.  Certainly would recommend shooting one/a few before buying.

[dnovo]

Another thing is that if he has a 32" draw with a compound, it will usually be a couple inches shorter with a stick bow

[ScottL]

Thanks for the input. I all pass this information on and maybe get him to sign up for the forum.

[KenH]

I shoot a variety of "horsebows" -- Bows shorter than say 54" with radical recurves and siyahs.

Like any other bow, Horsebows can handle 32" and 33" draws if they are built for it.  Not all are. Have him look at Kassai, Grozer and Toth bows in particular

Kassai:   http://www.horsebows.com
Grozer:  http://www.grozerarchery.com/index_m.htm
Toth:   www.sevenmeadowsarchery.com