Poundage hurting my form?

[love2hunt]

I bought a Bear Montana Longbow last fall and have finally been practicing  shooting it. However, I have become very frustrated trying to get consistency with my shooting. After looking through a lot of the threads, and especially the clock diagram, I realized that my draw arm is not nearly as far back as it should be, and I think it is because I am overbowed at what should be my draw length. The bow is 50# at 28", but my draw is 34" (it seems very long compared to some of the draw lengths I've seen here, but I am 6'6" and have long arms), so I am trying to draw back an additional 6" worth of poundage. Am I correct in my conclusion that dropping to a lighter weight draw length would do the trick?

[moebow]

Taylor,  I'd bet money that you are over bowed -- especially if you are just starting out.  That Montana is being drawn SIX inches past its rated poundage.  That equates to 18 pounds additional IF the bow isn't stacking badly by then.  If it is stacking you will be way over 70 pounds.  Your very long length will take a specially made long bow to handle the draw length.  Even with a recurve you will probably need a 70" bow.

Yes, you will want a lower poundage bow and you will need a Long (in length) bow to handle you requirements.  I recommend that you find and talk to a bowyer to get a bow that will handle your draw.  Otherwise, you may want to look into a long riser and long limb target style recurve, they probably can handle your draw length.

[McDave]

If you actually drew 34", you would be drawing about 68# on your bow.  Very few people could shoot that bow accurately for more than a few shots.  You would also need a commensurately long bow to accomodate your draw length, like maybe 70" in a longbow, 66-68" in a recurve.  You would also have problems finding arrows that long.

I recommend you work on modifying your form so you can come to full draw at maybe 32".  You can probably shave an inch off your draw length by using an open stance, and maybe another inch by shooting with a bent bow arm.  The idea would be to still end up at full draw, such that your drawing forearm is in line with the arrow, viewed from above.

In the end, if you want to learn good archery form, you need a bow where you can shoot a lot of arrows without your form breaking down.  You need to be able to draw a bow and hold it for a 10 second count without shaking, even better if you can repeat that 4-5 times without shaking.

[McDave]

You beat me to the punch again, Arne!

[moebow]

War is heck Dave   :D  
By the way, thanks for your "Rod Report."

[love2hunt]

Wow! No wonder I couldn't get it back to full draw! But this is also a little depressing, because I have looked at custom bow prices and they are not what I have in my college student budget. Any recommendations for a reasonably priced bowyer who could help me out?

[ncsaknech1ydh]

Hey 'love2hunt' I to was overbowed for years, and now am shooting better then I ever have. I am 6'4" and I was shooting bows around 55 to 65#@ 28" drawing about 28" and not even close to being in alignment.

Now I am shooting bows, quite a few that I picked up on this site under the 'traditional bows' section that are between 39 to 47# @ 28" and I am now drawing 32" putting my true draw weight somewhere between 50 to 59# at my new draw length and in much better alignment (notice I did not say perfect alignment...always room for improvement...Ha!)  

So in answer to your question, watch the traditionl bow section of this site and you will be able to pick up some very nice bows in your draw weight range for very reasonable prices from very good people.

One final thought, watch also bow length, because of my long draw length, I am only shooting bows in 62" or 64" length, with your longer draw length I would stick to bows of 64" or longer, they will be much more forgiving.

I am a big Bob Lee advocate, and that is most of what I have picked up on this site, and have several I have had built new from them, you won't go wrong with a Bob Lee, but in your situation, I would try out whatever quality bows I would come across for now to fit your long draw length and weight range.

Also, spend alot of time on this site under the 'Shooters forum' there is alot to learn abot shooting, things I never even close to knew about before I found this site. DK.

[ncsaknech1ydh]

Oops, I did miss what moebow said and I agree, the longer the bow you can find the better as for your extra long draw length. If you are only able to find a bow in lets say 64" or 66" for now, then lighter poundage within your range would be better.

I only mention this as you stated you were on a college budget, and I think you will have a tough time finding a quality bow over 66" although you might get lucky!

I think a bow on the lighter side poundage wise in the lengths I mentioned above will serve you well for now, that is only my opinion.

You might want to give JJ at BobLee bows a call, I know him very well, and if you wanted to call him and bounce ideas off of him as far as your height, draw length, etc... I know he would be happy to give you advice from a professional bowyers stand point, and he would not expect anything in return as far as making a purchase from them or anything like that. He just loves talking bows. I have the highest regard for the guys at Bob Lee in their willingness to help new comers to our sport.

[hvyhitter]

There are a lot of high quality used, inexpensive, "target" bows that are 66" or longer and around 35 to 40 lbs out there that would work perfect for you and give you a hunting weight bow. Finger pinch alone when developing your form can hold back any consistancy for a long time.

[love2hunt]

Man, this info is great! So as a summary of what you guys have said, I need to look for a bow that has a draw weight of around 40# @ 28" that is about 70" long to avoid stacking at my draw length? Thank all of you for the helpful replies!

I can't tell you how much dropping down in bow weight will help your form. I spent years (and a lot of $$) on bows that were 5# too heavy, couldn't ever develop a consistent style or any degree of accuracy. Finally, I stopped trying to "build up" to the weight and dropped down 5# and now-- solid anchor, confidence in accuracy. Don't wait another minute to make the change. BTW, if you are pulling that drawlength, your arrows will have greater kinetic energy anyway.