Before I offer my thoughts on my week with the Tuktu I want to remind everyone that I have almost always shot a metal riser recurve along with an elevated rest and plunger. For the past 10 years or so I have been shooting a DAS riser with various high tech recurve limbs. So I was curious to see how this bow stacked up to them and to my now deceased buddy, Stan Levy, who had an original Tuktu that I really liked.
The bow is beautiful and a hunter's dream. Craftsmanship was superb, woods were beautiful, it's finish was so flat that it seemed that it had only been sanded, and it shot quietly. The real issue was…"How does it shoot"?
I set the string at a 7.25" brace height which Abe recommended. At a higher brace height it just did not perform well for me at all and I was initially not impressed. Once I got the brace right the bow was surprisingly very accurate. It only took me a couple of shots to feel comfortable with it. Partly, I think, due to the offset grip on the riser which made "pointing" it very easy and natural. I have osteo arthritis in the base of my left thumb and had to modify the grips on my ILF bows to shoot comfortably and with the doc's approval and the grip on the Tuktu was not a problem for me at all. It had a different but very comfortable feel to it.
My ILF bows have lots of preload in the limbs. I did not put the Tuktu on a scale to check that but subjectively it seemed more like an "ordinary" recurve on the draw. It was smooth to pull, no finger pinch and upon release several things happened. One was that there was no handshock. Second, there was very little sound…very quiet. Third, it was fast. I shot one of my Axis 400's with a 200 grain point (29" bop) and held and shot it with the same sight picture I use with my ILF bows. Fourth, and most importantly, it was accurate. Hit the spot or very close to it every time! That really impressed me. Everyone wants to get the arrow where they want it and I had no trouble doing that with this bow. In particular, it was always on line. Right and left arrow flight was not an issue at all.
The bow, for me, was very reminiscent of a 50's style recurve but it's shooting qualities where more like the high tech limbs I have been shooting for some time, now. It is sort of like a super up Kodiak or Red Wing Hunter.
We have 5 acres at the house so I was able to wander the orchard and woods shooting at anything I wanted to. Hardly ever missed and if I did it was high or low….never right or left. I doubt that I will be giving up my DAS risers and ILF limbs any time soon but if I had to pick one bow to replace them I would have to say the Tuktu would be at the top of the list. I loved the offset grip….didn't bother my thumb at all and it made it easy to point, as I have already said. It is one of the easiest bows to shoot accurately "out of the box" that I have had in my hands. Reminded me a lot of my old Groves bows but without the stack at 28". The feel of the bow is different than the ILFs I have been shooting but the feeling of having that arrow go where you want was the same. And that is the most important thing. The bow gave me confidence that I did not expect. Abe has done a great job on this design and his workmanship speaks for itself. Anyone investing in one of these bows will not be disappointed at all.
Topic: Pass around Tuktu Ex TD (Read 4115 times)
