Need help: Bow for a 10 year old

[BelegStrongbow]

Hey guys, need your help on something. My brother in law texted me this morning asking for help choosing a bow for my 10 year old niece and one for him.

My wife and I took them both out stumping several months ago and we let my niece use my wifes bow, and she hasn't stopped talking about it. I guess she caught the itch.  So with Christmas coming up my brother in law decided to get her set up with a bow she can actually use. And I guess the disease got him too since he's wanting a stick and string as well.

So here's my question. Which bow and arrow combo do you recommend for a 10 year old girl? I'm a huge fan of Mikes Maddogs and I know he makes youth bows, just curious as to what else is out there. For my brother in law figured he could borrow my starter bow or if he wants to own one then the samick sage as it seems to be about the best bow for beginners.

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.

Alex

[danbow]

St. Joes River Bows makes a nice youth bow.

[Bow man]

Before you go to far in your search be sure what his draw length is, not all 10 year olds are the same.

[Bud B.]

Maddog Archery

7Lakes Archery

St. Joe River Bows

Used older bows (Bear Cub, Bear Ranger, Pearson, Shakespeare, etc..)

I have both a Maddog Pup and a 7 Lakes Hill style for my grandson. He's adopted a 30# 62" Shakespeare Wonderbow recurve from my bow rack. He's 9. With the longer limbs he draws it easily and draws to maybe maybe 22-25# on it @ roughly a 24" draw length.

New is good, but older can be just as good and just as fun.

[double eagle]

I still have a love for the green/white and brown/white Pearson Jets and Bear Red Fox  and Yellow bows.  I must have shot a zillion willow branches out of mine as I grew up.  I thought they were the best ever.  I still have them and as a kid couldn't have destroyed one if I tried.  My granddaughters use them all the time.  By the time I was 12, I could bow hunt in Michigan with my 45# Irish Spring Pearson, wooden arrows with razorheads.  No need to go all out, the basics are great to start with.

[D. Key]

Look at Bob Sarrels sponsor page. He makes a great starter bow for kids.

[Izzy]

Toelke and Howard Hill make great kids bows. My son started out with a HH Bobcat.

[Elk whisperer]

I have a nice pearson colt 20lb

[Fletcher]

TG sponsor Black Rhino specializes in youth bows and equipment.  Excellent bows with a buy back program to help as they grow.  Chuck makes excellent adult bows as well.   www.bows.net

[Hud]

Check RMSGear, 3Rivers, sponsors, archery shops, and some retailers. Send an email, and ask for youth bow for a 10 year old. It is better not to over-buy at that age, because 15# is more than you think. They may want something different in two years as they grow. If it is too heavy, they will struggle and loose interest.

[ebeard]

For my girls' birthdays this year, I made them some selfbows.  The one I made for my 5-year old was made from an $11 Hickory plank and took 3 evenings to finish (I have since made her some better arrows).  

 

The one I made for my 8 year old is from a red-oak plank I bought for less than $10 and is backed with a pair of my sons old blue jeans.  The tillere is a little stiff through the middle, but it shoots well.

 

The benefit here is that they LOVE having bows made by their dad, and it's awesome as a dad to always have them telling me how much they love shooting the bows I made for them.  Very rewarding experience, but takes a little time.  They shoot really well too.

[BassBow]

My boys have a Maddog pup. Great bow!

[tecum-tha]

A much as I would like to recommend a sponsor here, when it comes to price/performance and adaptability, it would be the Ragim Matrix Junior 48".
Now girls usually develop a little bit faster, but with limbs available in 12,16,20 and 25# @24" this bow will be able to grow a bit. It also really depends on her size and strength. Depending on the height of her parents/grandparents, she may outgrow 48" quickly. Really depends.
With some cedar youth arrows from Wapiti Archery, this bow is a combo that can shoot in the top 3 in the IBO Trad World Cub Class. I train the IBO Trad World Champion who won two years in a row in the Cub Class. Good equipment will go a long way with keeping at it. Important with the Ragim Matrix Junior: ditch the factory string, replace with an 8-10 strand B50 string with padded loops and wrap the string ends with some wool and put small wool silencers in there for the joy of a quiet bow. The brace height should be around 5.75-6" with the new string. You will be surprised. I would recommend starting with the 16# limbs, most 10 year olds should have no issues, unless they are really tall and have a longer draw length. Black Rhino is probably also a good address wit their buy back program.
Now, the Ragim Matrix is made in Italy and not in the Far East.

[Petrichor]

Bear makes a beautiful little kid bow..... But I may try one of these self bow things.

[reddogge]

After teaching 5 grandkids to shoot bows both boys and girls I found out at 10 years old they are beyond kids bows. In fact all of mine moved into a Browning Spartan 62" and 30# @28" but their draw lengths were considerably shorter so the weight was much less. They all handled an adult sized bow easily and the bow grew with them until they owned their own bows. Don't be lulled into a "kid's" bow at 10 years old.

[tomsm44]

You're headed the right direction with Mad Dog.  Their youth longbow is around $100.  What I'd do though, depending on her height (my kids are all really tall for their age), is get her a Prairie Predator at around 58" and 20-30#@28" if he can stand the price.  It's about twice that at just over $200, but it would fit her from now on, and would be manageable for her now.  He could get the same model in 60-64" and his desired draw weight for the same price.  It's considered a mid sized bow, but lots of grown men shoot them.  Not too much more expensive than the Sage and it'd be a nicer, hand crafted bow.  Not necessarily "better", but definitely nicer.  I'd like one myself actually.  Show him this thread:

 http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=147036;p=1

[BelegStrongbow]

Hey guys thanks for all the replies and info. There are definitely a lot of choice to choose from. I am going to link up with him next week and go over all the input you all have and see if we can't get him on the right track.

[dirtguy]

You might want to consider a take down recurve like tecum-tha mentioned.  Mohegan, ragim, samick all make a decent riser that can take different sets of limbs.  Its nice to have one that can grow with them.  I teach archery and have watched kids step through from 16# up to 28# on the same riser.

Oh - also get decent arrows.  One a kid has good form, it can be discouraging to watch them have poor groups due to low grade arrows.

[Dee Kennedy]

I started all 3 of my boys off with OMP Explorer 2.0 . It has been something they have grown with.

[JMR]

Maddog gets my vote. They could both get brand new, excellent quality bows for around $500. I also agree that a "kids" bow may be to small for a 10 yr old, depending on the size and stature of the kid of course.