Dakota Bows/Rick Welch- Dakota Pro Hunter???

[Arctic Hunter]

Looking forward to your review. I ordered a Dakota Pro Hunter back in December and should have it next month. 9 months is a long time.

[The Night Stalker]

You will fin fit it to be the most shootable bow you own.  The long will not perform as well as the recurve but it is very easy to shoot. They are very easy to set up and tune if you know Rick's methods.

[beaunaro]

I have the Pro Hunter in Marblewood and Curly Maple 58"( Recurve).

I like the extra center mass.

It's the most accurate bow I own....bar none.

I am not sure why I keep trying others, but now that I know he builds a longbow....hmmmmm.

There's a guy in TX that has quite a collection of them.

Almost sold mine to him.

Glad I didn't.

Enjoy yours.

[59Alaskan]

FloridaLime - LOL!!!!

I look forward to the review. Rick's recurves are exceptional.

[nineworlds9]

Review will be forthcoming.  Want to spend some time with the bow first.  

Initial thoughts, this thing is massive!  Its like a Bob Lee 3pc longbow on steroids hahaha.  Its actually 68" nock to nock and I threw a 65" string on it and ended up with a 9" brace height.  I have an email in to Rick to confirm if this is correct?!  What is interesting is the limb profile.  Kinda looks a little like a Stewart Multicam type deal almost.  Double bend and the tips are slightly flipped.  Working portion of the limb appears to be very short kinda like other longbows geared toward accuracy/target shooting.  What's strange about that is even though it ended up at a 9" brace height, if you study how the limbs attach and bend its almost like its a forward handle design.  Very unique.  I wonder what I'll find out from Rick.  Shot it a few times this morning, pretty easy shooter, pretty quiet, seems pretty quick but not a screamer.  Pleasant to shoot.  We'll see what what more shooting and tuning yields...more pics will accompany the review.  Lemme just say that this much bocote is crazy.  Its a bocote explosion hahaha.  

 
 

[59Alaskan]

Chuck,
Looks like a shooter to me!
What is the official statistics on the bow?

If you talk to Rick, I wonder if he could make recurve limbs for the same riser?  Just curious as I know that wood isn't purty enough for you, but it is for me!  But I tend to be a recurve guy

 

[nineworlds9]

Here's what I measured this a.m. :

68" NTN unstrung
BH 9" w/ 65" string
Limbs 1.5" wide at the fades, 3/4" at the nock grooves

Marked 57#@29.5".  No length marking on limb.

Very smooth linear draw.  Comfy grip.

Its a 'big' bow.  It kinda vaguely reminds me of that bow Arnold Schwarzenegger built out of tree branches at the end of the movie 'Predator' LOL.  

I will ask Rick about recurve limbs Ceme.

[59Alaskan]

Ahhhh....you just made this easy on me.  There is no way my arthiritic shoulder is dealing with 57#!  Enjoy!

I do look forward to the write up.  Rick is a big guy that makes big bows and shoots them very well!

[nineworlds9]

It's probably about 54@28 Ceme, but you draw 29" like me right?

Honestly with as long as this bow is with all the leverage and as high as the BH is its actually a real easy pull, but I know how physical issues can affect comfort (read: battled tendonitis for 2 years)

[joe ashton]

Dang I wish you all would stop with the threads about new bows... I can resist anything but temptation.  and..  well... now my imagination is in lit up and I've got to go look at Ricks web site.

[tecum-tha]

Pretty darn ugly bow form imho, as ugly as a ILF 3 piece LB, but pretty wood. I see no elegance in this form at all. I am not a big fan of 3 piece longbows anyways, but the Wapiti Spike III looks elegant compared to this bow.
As a comparison, it looks like my first flintlock rifle I built compared to my original rifle from the 1740ies.
This first built rifle shoots great, but lacks elegance and grace to make it feel 100%.
Would I build it like that again? Hell no!
With this long length and this much mass, it is no wonder this bow is accurate. I would try to lower the brace height to about 7" and see how it shoots then.
Just to make an experiment:
Shoot this bow and your favorite longbow. Each around 30 arrows, each arrow at a different target/or from a different position.
Weigh the riser and weigh the limbs. Weigh your "best" one piece LB, deduct the Dakota limbs weight from it and calculate difference between Dakota riser and this value and tape a piece of lead weighing this amount just 1" below your grip on the one piece longbow.
Do the same 30 arrow shooting experiment again.
Does your favorite 1 piece now shoot any better?

[nineworlds9]

You crack me up Roland, you always tell it straight, and you have the engineering background to back it up, you are right on several points for sure.  I think a few others have admitted that function vs. form probably won out on this design.  Yes the length and mass certainly influences the ease of shooting.  I have done the weight experiment you mention before on some real light 1pc bows and it does work.  

To me so far this bow is 'interesting'.  I just find the approach intriguing.  I'm not sure if it will stay, but maybe it will if I keep finding it interesting.  LOL.  

Here's an unstrung profile:

 

[59Alaskan]

The unstrung profile is interesting for sure.  "Interesting" bows that shoot greater are just fine with me.

[nineworlds9]

Ceme Rick emailed me back and said brace on this 68" should be 8.75 - 9.25".  His reply was short.  He didn't really answer my questions on the bows design and interesting limb profile.  He may have been having a busy Friday though, so I'll follow up later.   I've got it at 9" currently, so smack in the middle.  Shot it some more and it definitely groups arrows easily, though don't quite have it tuned yet cause I keep grouping to the right with this bow.  

After seeing the post on the 'Centaurized' '71 Super Kodiak I think I may need to contact Jim Neaves about refinishing this Dakota and doing some stippling and engraving on it to jazz it up.

[R. Combs]

I haven't shot one of his longbows but I have a lh 61" 45@28" recurve that I have had for 2 years. They are not the prettiest bows out there but they are smooth and shoot where you are looking and have all the speed that i need. The first two hunting seasons I have taken 5 deer with it. I can't wait to see what this season brings!
  This is one of those bows that I don't think I will ever get rid of!

Rick

[nineworlds9]

Yeah I don't think the bow is 'bad' looking, its just 'different'.  

I'm excited cause I finally have it tuned!  I totally didnt realize that it was cut past center and it was giving me fits because I kept shooting right and thought I was over spined so I kept softening up my arrow and it just magnified the problem.  I'm so used to bows cut to center or slightly before center so I was beating my head against a wall and then I took a deep breath, looked at the bow and a light bulb went off.  Grabbed a .340 spine arrow and VOILA problem solved, adjusted my nock point a little and now I'm center punching the target  

I also figured out that this bow is designed for light arrows, aka 7gpp.  That's why it's so beefy and the cast isn't as flat with 9-10gpp arrows.  This is in line with what I've heard about Rick's philosophy.  Once I grabbed the .340 spine arrow and had it at 400g they were flying like laser beams and the bit of puzzling handle bump I had got reduced significantly.  Basically because I was underspined before the arrows were bouncing off the past center cut shelf.  

Having fun now!

[Brianlocal3]

Great write up as usual.
I like the bow, you've got another great one!!!