Newbie getting back into archery

[ragough96]

Hello everyone,

I am new to this forum and joined with the intent to learn more about archery as I have recently acquired a renewed interest in it. I shot a mission bow when I was in high school, about 6-7 years ago, but that ended when I took up shotgun sports competitively.

Anyways, I am looking into different bows to purchase, but cannot afford a new one. I have been looking in the $600 range on ebay and in local shops (cannot access the classifieds yet). I am just wondering what used bows you would recommend in the 33-35" ATA for general hunting and 3D shooting (but mostly hunting).

Thank you all for taking time to view my post.

 

[ragough96]

Quick P.S.

For the most part I have found Elite ritual 35's for around my price. If anyone has any comments about that bow, it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Billy Goat]

I have found I shoot the Bear Legend series bows about as good as anything. But that's just me, everyone makes a good bow anymore. I'd say anything within the past 10 years from the mainstream brands is pretty good.

It's a lot like a shotgun, it's more about fit than anything.

 

[ragough96]

Thank you for your reply. I am trying to gather as much as I can so that this bow doesn't get traded yearly for another one. Maybe down the road .... haha

 

[Billy Goat]

Shoot as many as you can. Different bows feel and handle differently. It might be you need to shoot some more for a little while before you really developed a taste for what you like.

 

[ragough96]

Thank you,

In you bowhunting adventures, do you favor longer or shorter ATA bows? It seems the 30 ATA is aimed more for treestand/blind hunters.

 

[bjfoxhoven]

Definitely shoot a few. You will know what feels right. Hopefully you go to someone good who knows good form etc and gets you in the right size bow. Just a thought... since you do a lot of shotgunning, you can’t really shoot a compound at flying targets (suppose you could but it wouldn’t be too easy), but you can with a recurve. Much larger learning curve to shoot Trad well, but it is addictive. And $ wise you could get a decent set up for less than that. Shooting those flying targets was honestly the most fun I’ve had practicing archery.

 

[Billy Goat]

Thank you,

In you bowhunting adventures, do you favor longer or shorter ATA bows? It seems the 30 ATA is aimed more for treestand/blind hunters.

Generally a longer ATA is more forgiving and easier to shoot at longer distances. I have always liked a longer bow. I have drawn back a few 30" and shorter and can't stand them. Again that's me, you might be different, draw length will play into it some with your string angle. You are correct in generally the shorter bows are geared towards the tree stand/blind hunters. Again it's going to be what you are comfortable with.

 

[bjfoxhoven]

When I do upgrade my bow it will be with a longer ATA bow. More stable and forgiving and I think a few lore inches won’t hurt in a tree or out of a ground blind.

 

[ragough96]

That's what I was thinking about the longer ATA. For a more forgiving bow, I can work around a little bit longer bow.

 

[406unltd]

Archery talk usually has a ton of great deals. I’d check them out too.