Bear Kodiak Magnum & Other Shorties

[YosemiteSam]

I'm looking at some of the shorty bows for hunting.  All of my hunting is on the ground and always in rather brushy areas.  Figured it might be easier to carry & move around with while sitting or still hunting.  I'm curious about other people's experiences with these kinds of bows.  Read some good & some bad things.  Warped limbs, delams, etc.  The idea of not having a second gap system while sitting on the ground is appealing, for sure.

My draw length is about 28" if I measure to the back of the bow.  It's only about 26.5 or so if I measure to the deepest part of the grip.  So, as I understand it, I'm either okay on stacking or right up to the edge.

At any rate, any personal experiences, good or bad?

[Sam McMichael]

It has been a long time since I regularly hunted with a short bow, as I have been using the long bow since the 1990's. I have no problems with my 68" longbows. I can sit on a hunting stool and the lower limb does not hit the ground. I do have to watch out for overhead limbs, though.

As for the shorter bows, they are quite easy to use while sitting in a tight place. Warped or delaminated limbs have never been an issue. Just use normal caution in handling your bow. The only short bows I have ever used have been recurves, and I would recommend always using a bow stringer with them. Some even say to store them strung, even though I never did. Under hunting conditions I saw no problems with short bows and would encourage you to have total confidence in them if you are proficient with them.

[Ray Lyon]

There are a lot of 56” bows out there now that would be a great compromise.  I have a 28” back of the bow draw and could shoot a kodiak magnum but much preferred a 56” Super Shrew classic hunter or Bear A handle take-down with #1 limbs that makes a 56” bow.  There are a good number of full handle recurves 50’s style recurves and forward handle longbows like the Super Shrew to choose from.  

A simple investment in one of the old Bear kodiak magnums woulld be a possibility to test if you would get along with a 52” bow. You could probably find a beater one used for $150 if you search hard enough. Just remember the older ones are not fast flight compatible so if your comparing to a newer short bow that is fast flight compatible you’ll notice a performance drop

[LostNation_Larry]

Just got a 52" Sierra Blanca in to our shop.  I was pleasantly surprised by the speed but had a hard time shooting it with my 29.5" draw length.

[YosemiteSam]

Originally posted by Ray Lyon:
There are a lot of 56” bows out there now that would be a great compromise.  I have a 28” back of the bow draw and could shoot a kodiak magnum but much preferred a 56” Super Shrew classic hunter or Bear A handle take-down with #1 limbs that makes a 56” bow.  There are a good number of full handle recurves 50’s style recurves and forward handle longbows like the Super Shrew to choose from.  

A simple investment in one of the old Bear kodiak magnums woulld be a possibility to test if you would get along with a 52” bow. You could probably find a beater one used for $150 if you search hard enough. Just remember the older ones are not fast flight compatible so if your comparing to a newer short bow that is fast flight compatible you’ll notice a performance drop

That would make sense if I was sitting on a stool, kneeling or standing for a shot.  But, when I'm seated, I'm seated on a 1" foam pad.  I'm wanting to get my bottom limb off the ground & have the same sight picture on the ground and standing.  My kids have 48" recurves (15#) that I've played around with.  Amazingly, I can shoot perfectly vertical while just seated on the ground.  That's what I'm looking to replicate & don't mind giving up a little performance or accuracy to achieve it.  I'm just curious if bows like these, which are pushing the limits of size, can hold up to many years of shooting.

[Ray Lyon]

My kodiak magnum, which someone else is shooting now, was a 1962 version.  Perhaps find a Super Magnum from Bear. That’s 48”, similar to what you’ve tried.

[dbd870]

I have a SuperMag and it shoots fine, you do have to do your part as it will let you know if you made a form mistake. I had an injury a handful of months back and so far I'm really struggling with it at the moment; we'll see how it goes

[limbshaker]

The shorter bows never seem much shorter when walking through the woods or maneuvering in a blind and still smacking the limbs on things. But the shorter bows ALWAYS seem shorter when I'm trying (struggling) to hit what I want consistently.

It's kinda like you rarely bump your head until you put on a hard hat or helmet, then you smack it on everything until you get used to it.    :D

What I mean is, a short bow never seemed short enough to be a noticeable advantage in the woods, but they always seemed short enough to be much less forgiving on the range.

They were never worth it to me for this reason, but someone who is a lot better shot than me may not have a lick of trouble. And there a lot of folks who shoot better than I can!

[Babbling Bob]

Had a '62 K Mag with a screw on bow quiver I bought new in '62 and shot it for years. Best hunting bow I ever had.  Smooth, fast enough, good looking with its interestin Brazilian rosewood grain pattern, and it shot woodies or even aluminum target arrows very well.  

Have a Head Ski Red Wing Hunter (52-inch now) and it shoots as good if not better than the K Mag. Not a bow you can sit and just look at and think it's a work of art like the '62 K Mag, but I don't worry too much about it getting a scratch either.  Of a rack of eight old recurves, the RWH is my go to hunting bow.

[Longtoke]

My favorite short bow is the toelke Pika.

I find short hybrids to be more forgiving of over horsed draws and releases than short recurves that i have tried.  Must be adrenalin, bows don't seem to have any weight to them when shooting at game.  One of my main reasons for sticking with longbows.  I had a 50" Browning Cobra that I thought was a great bow up to 28", I did get a couple of odd fliers when shooting at game with it, that scared me away from taking any game shots over 20 yards.

[mahantango]

I had a '64 Kodiak Magnum that was absolutely beautiful, shot it ok, but not super consistent and the performance, I thought, was just not there. Really wanted to love that bow. My son shoots a 54" Wing Thunderbird, which I find to be vastly better, but what really changed my mind about short bows was a 56" Kanati that I stumbled onto a couple years ago. Unbelievable performance and handling. Quickly became my go to hunting bow.

[mahantango]

Forgot to add, my daughter shoots a 52" Pearson Mach I,  and I have to say, it is probably the best shooting 52"er that I have come across. My draw length is 27" but I have no doubt it would be good to 28" and the Kanati probably to 29 or 30".

[TGbow]

I had a Kmag back in the 70s when I started bowhunting.
I now have a Bear Black Panther, same as the Kmag but a different shape riser.

Short bows are as accurate as you.

But, you can't get away from the string angle, if that doesn't bother you then it doesn't matter.
I have found that I prefer 58-62 inches for hunting out of natural blinds.
Nothing wrong with short bows though.

[Dao]

I'm usually on 1 inch form on ground too. My actual draw is 26.25 which makes my AMO draw to 28" (it used to be shorter, but my DL changed by about 1/2 inch last year).

with that said, supermag48 worked for me few years ago until I sold it. (because I got shorter bow)

I also Have several 52" vintage bows and they perform well enough from ass on the ground, although I do have to cant them a little.(I'm short)

if I absolutely have to keep the bow vertical, any of the bow I have shorter than 48" works.

....haven't had any bad experience with all the shorties I have.  but i'm biased toward them.

[Steelhead]

Thier are many situations while hunting where I find the short bows more convenient and utilitarian.

You mentioned the K-mag at 52".One vintage bow that I found to very stable and accurate is the Red Wing Hunter 52 incher.Another that is more costly that I liked was the Toelke 52 inch recurve.I shot both at 29 inches draw.

[Tucker]

52” Browning Nomad Stalker is another vintage bow to consider. Mine has a larger grip than my Kodiak Magnum..

[B-AIR-O]

The last bow my grandfather shot was a Kmag, he’s 95 years old; so I’m a third generation old-school bowhunter.  I’ve bought several, well maybe more than several, Kmags.  But also many Super Ks and Browning Nomads, and a few +1 Bear TDs.  And some other misc Bears w/ wicked beautiful old African hardwood riser layups.  Anyhow, I’ve not been back to Trad Gang in awhile, life had some other priorities thrown my way.  But, back, and it took me awhile to dig up this thread; I was searching for shorties, particularly Super Mag 48s.  Which I’ve recently become infatuated with (I now have two vintage, and one modern repro).  

I’m interested in finding any other buried forums/threads/archives in Trad Gang dealing with Super Mag 48s (and Kmags too).

All that said, in the past several years I’ve been shooting mostly 60” Super Ks.  BUT – recently got a 1969 Kmag with crazed surface finish, and decided to slap on a Selway slip-on quiver and just go stomping in the woods with judos.  Damn, that bow shoots on its own – unreal.  Every shot was sweet, no less accurate than any of my choice Super Ks.  Just thought I’d throw that in there.  And lastly, for those of you who have read Munger’s, “Trailing a Bear,”  you might recall that he was drilling huge African big game with a Super Mag 48 when hunting with Papa Bear back in 60s (my memory’s not what it used to be, so I might be slightly off; probably not much though).  And that book is worth ever cent you can muster.

[KodaChuck]

Look at a Super Necada by Shakespeare. 54"so they are 2" longer than the Kodiak Magnum but I find they are easier to draw past 28" than the equivalent Bear.

[Wyowhere?]

I really like my early 70's Kodak magnum, I'm not a really tall guy and I find that it's a lot more manueverable than my 62" recurve.  Also for some reason while carrying it I find it easier with the higher brace height to locate my knock point without looking at the bow.  I have noticed that form is more important with the shorter bow but Since when is paying attention to form a bad thing?  I have been in positions before that I simply couldn't turn enough with the longer bow to get a shot and cant help think that if I had been carrying the kmag I might have been able to pull it off