Monday, July 15, 2013

Basics Of A Compound Bow

By Justin Phillips


The beginner is strongly advised to use a compound bow rather than a traditional long bow or recurve bow. The compound bow is characterized by eccentric wheels or cams on the upper and lower limbs. The maximum force necessary to draw a bow to its full extent is called the draw weight. The cams allow a compound bow to be held at full draw with only a fraction of the draw weight. That fraction expressed as a percentage is called the letoff. The letoff of most compounds is between 50 and 80%. In other words, when you draw a compound bow you have to use the force of full draw weight, but suddenly the draw weight falls off to the letoff fraction when fully drawn. This is very useful in hunting situations where you may have to wait after drawing the bow for an animal to move into range or favorable position to shoot.

When you draw a bow in your right hand you aim with your right eye. The opposite happens with the left hand and the left eye. People say to use your comfortable eye to aim, and to buy a bow. Of course you know better which bow you should be using, and what is most comfortable. If you close one eye and the other opens by accident, you most likely know which is the dominant eye.

In deciding on a bow, the draw weight is one of the main factors to look at. The minimum draw bodyweight for hunting deer must be 45 lbs. Although you possibly can kill a deer that has a weaker bow, you will end up wounding many that you do not recover. Most bows used in deer hunting have any draw weight of 50-70# and are somewhat adjustable in attract weight. Bows tend for you to shoot best when from maximum draw weight. The major benefit of a higher draw weight bow is the arrow trajectory is flatter. You have to estimate the length to game when looking, and a flatter trajectory makes errors less of the problem. When choosing a bow you must choose one with a draw weight you could draw quickly and smoothly. Also keep in head that a bow that one could easily draw in practice could be too hard to attract smoothly after sitting inside cold in a tree indicate an hour or more. To build up my personal strength for hunting When i set my bow from maximum draw weight for practice then adjust it down 5 lbs . for hunting. This requires changing the sights in the bow.

Shopping for a bow means considering the draw length too. The draw length is when the limbs are fully drawn. You will find that most bows today have adjustable length. I'd recommend using an expert to adjust this for you if you are not familiar. Cams and cables can break otherwise. When shopping for bows check with the staff for holiday sales, or hunting season sales.

Unless money is not a consideration I would purchase a used bow to start out. A reasonably nice used bow can often be purchased locally or on E-bay for about $50-$150. This is especially true in the off season. Before you do this though, be sure to try a few bows to find out the draw weight and draw length that suits you best. Also, remember that bows come in right and left hand versions so be sure to get one that is right for you. You can bring a used bow to the technician of a sporting goods store to have it set up for you. They can adjust both the draw weight and draw length over a limited range.




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