Need Some Advice

FamousAddiction · Jan 26, 2009

Hi,
I am new to the site, and need some advice on buying my first bow. I've hunted elk, deer and antelope since I was 12 here in Colorado (25 now), been pretty successful, but now have this urge to bowhunt instead using my rifle. I'm looking at a PSE Bow Madness XL and was curious if anyone else has this bow, and if so do you like/dislike? Also any other advice for a novice archer like myself would be greatly appreciated. I look forward to being a part of this awesome community.

Brandon

BigPig · Jan 26, 2009

It's a good bow, but so is most of everything else out there. Try as many as you can possibly get your hands on and see which one you, and only you, like the feel of best. All are perfectly capable of taking came and quality is comparable. It comes down to personal feel.

blazingsaddle · Jan 27, 2009

+1 on what bigpig said

Another thing to consider is what are you after in your bow? Strictly speed? Forgiveness? Low hand shock? Smooth draw? With many bows out there you get most of the things I mentioned, but typically, I have found that most speed bows are not as forgiving as some other bows out there.
To me brace height and axle to axle length is one of the first things I look at even before shooting it. Personally I would rather hunt with a forgiving bow (long brace height) over a faster less forgiving bow (small brace height). Speed is no good if you can't control it.
But in the end, it all comes down to what feels good to you. If it feels good, you will shoot it more and be more proficient with it. Shoot as many bows as you can to compare them all.

FamousAddiction · Jan 27, 2009

Thanks for all the great feedback. What I'm mostly looking for is forgiveness with a smooth draw. I know there are alot of "fast" bows out there, but I'm just looking for a bow that I can become very accurate with, but still have some pretty good speed at the same time. So what would you recommend as far as brace height, and axle to axle length, also what kind of FPS am I looking at with this kind of combo if I decide to go with a 70# draw weight?

BigPig · Jan 27, 2009

I would recommend something in the 33"+ axle to axle range, with a 7"+ brace height. You'd probably be looking at IBO speeds in the range of 310-320 ish with such a rig. IBO is just a standard that means speed at 30" draw with a 350 gr arrow at 70 lbs. You typically wouldn't hunt with such a set up so real speed will probably be in the 265 to 290 range with a 400 ish grain arrow, give or take some grainage.

Lots of great bows in this range. The Mathews Drenalin, Mathews S2 or Switchback, the Bear Truth II, the Hoyt Alphamax 35, Hoyt Katera XL, Bowtech Guardian, Bowtech Captain etc. You'll find that some of the ones I mentioned are previous years' bows so you may be able to find one at a great deal.

Stay away from the speed bows that are all the rage today if you want forgiveness.

FamousAddiction · Jan 28, 2009

BigPig and blazingsaddle, I really appreciate your help and insight and will use it for my upcoming purchase. Hopefully here in a couple of weeks I'll update you on which bow I went with, and am SURE I'll have more questions. But until then I appreciate the help.

YukonDall · Jan 31, 2009

YES.....THANKS BIGPIG.....YOU HAVE HELPED ME ON THE BOW STUFF A BUNCH AS WELL.............(I'M STILL WORKIN ON IT).....YD.

JLTD · Jan 31, 2009

another great bow to consider would be the mathews Reaszen it is a good combination of everything as long as you dont have ape arms like me and have to have a 31' draw

Just Living The Dream