1 What is a reasonable price for it? 2 What should I look for on the bow? (For good working order) 3 What is the year? 4 Will it be suitable for beer hunting?
Bow info is a Bear Kodiak Magnum. 52’’ 50# R/H I will attach a few pix too.
I have been bow hunting for about 6 years with a compound and have been playing with the idea of going with more traditional equipment in the next year or so. I don’t want to sink a lot of money into a bow that’s not worth it. I know there is a lot of knowledge on this site. Please help me out. Any info is much appreciated.
Carl
Z-Max's Link
Personally I "beer hunt" with my bare hands:-) You should post this on stickbow.com's Leatherwall, you'll almost certainly get all your questions answered .
http://www.fredbear-online.com/
It will kill a bear.
Yes it will kill beers all day long.
Semper Fi - Tom
Good Luck.
John
Birddog
I have a 25" draw on the compound so what will that make me for the recurve?
Also I have no plans for hunting with the bow any time soon, just wanted to know if it would do the job if I ever get efficient with the bow too.
Thanks all Semper Fi Carl
Good Luck Birddog
Have fun.
John
As for draw length between compounds and recurves - it all depends where you anchor. I shoot both types with finger release and my draw length is the same.
That bow is 50# at 28" draw. Figure 3# loss per inch, so if you draw 25", the bow should be around 41#.
stickbow.com has some great shooting tips and helped me out when I started into trad.
Have fun shooting!
Good advice already given...especially for bow length. Personally, I prefer longer bows. For recurves I shoot 60", and 65"+ for longbows...no finger pinch and smoother/easier to shoot...my draw is 29".
As for a 26" draw, put it on a bow scale to verify your draw weight to ascertain that you'll have a legal hunting weight.
If you're brand spankin' new to "trad", try to find some local guys and maybe latch onto a mentor...be aware of a substantial learning period on this. However, with practice, you'll likely discover pure fun in shooting. With sticks, form and proper mechanics are everything.
At age 63, I've dropped from 65 to 70lb bows to 52 on my recurve and 53 for the longbow. I'm strictly a whitetail hunter now and pass throughs are the norm. They are a true weapon in trained hands but with definite plus/minuses from a compound.
Light, quiet, and easy to "let off", but you're not going to be able to draw and hold like your compound...you'll need to learn when to draw and shoot on critters without getting busted...but that's not too difficult.
Yeah, you're giving up some (OK, maybe a lot) of speed, but matched, tuned arrows are still plenty fast. My recurve shoots 195fps at 9 grains per pound. I hunt with about 12gpp so it's a tad slower...but plenty fast for me.
As mentioned abouve, check out Leather Wall, but be aware there will be some b.s. mixed in with great advice and experience/knowledge...sift through and decide for yourself.
Look for any trad only shoots and just go hob-nob around. Don't be afraid to approach guys with questions...you'll find a rondevous type atmosphere with lots of friendly, helpful guys. It's a bit of a brotherhood. My son is 28 and has been shooting my old 63lb Black Widow MAII for about a year, and is getting pretty good. He went to his first trad shoot with me about a month ago and had a blast...he was in awe of that "brotherhood" feel and the pure friendly feel.
Good luck with this and keep asking questions...and have fun.
Lots of interesting comments here. Some may be well intentioned but not necessarily accurate. On older Bear bows vertical stress lines are common - ones that go into the glass. Generally these aren't common in bows like yours but can be found in other models and ages. They won't hurt the performance at all. They can be filled but in many cases will return.
Horizontal stress lines in the finish are more common on many Bear bows. Typically at the fadeouts of both limbs these are tiny cracks in the finish and will not hurt anything. Most times you cannot feel them because they are within the finish.
52" is relatively short (60" is more the standard length) but given your draw length should be just fine. There were hundreds of thousands of those bows made and they are excellent performers.
At the time that bow was made something like 75% were in the 40-45# range. 50# and heavier was more the exception than the rule. That bow, at that weight, coupled with a good sharp broadhead will work fine for deer and black bears.
And I'm not even a Bear guy.....
FWIW... I like Rick Allison a LOT, so definitely NOT trying to be a schmuck, but I think that 195 FPS is just.... something beyond wildly optimistic. Especially if you draw 25-26 inches.
Not that it matters. Get a good broadhead and a tuned arrow around 400-450 grains, and it'll kill deer as well as anything else that spits an arrow. 8-ring hit; dead critter. Fun!
But believe it or not, you'll probably find that weight a bit challenging as you start out. I know a guy who shot #80 with his compound and struggled with #35 and have seen more than a few good Compounders who've told me that #35 was kicking their tails... But everybody's different, so if the weight is an issue at first, work up to it.... Maybe even learn to control the weight comfortably before you try to actually hit any targets.
Best bet would be finding a coach/mentor WHO CAN ACTUALLY SHOOT who can help you along. Somebody who "groups" 8" or more at 20 yards does not qualify.
If you can't find a coach, try a book; FWIW, go with Tony Camara (posts on LW as Viper). And IMHO do NOT do what I am certain that dozens of people will tell you to do, which is to run out and buy a copy of Fred Asbell's book. Full disclosure: I have recommended that book many times to many people.... and honestly still feel like I owe all of them a public apology...
Problem with that book... I have concluded... Based on reading up on a lot of current neuroscience.... is that it assumes that you can begin with the finished product, which is absurd. That's not how we learn. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that you could become a BETTER "instinctive" shooter FASTER if you start off with a peep and a pin... and learn to hit what you're looking at that way... If nothing else, the sight pin will tell you in no uncertain terms whether you're controlling the weight or not.
So then you could transition to aiming down your arrow and hitting what you're looking at that way (or at least being able to print vertical strings/aka shoot the line) and THEN just focus on the target. You can skip the sight pin stage if you really prefer, but based on Real Science, my gut says you'll get better faster with the pin.
Not that I learned that way myself.... I just wish I had...
Because if you ever knew one of those "country boys" who could swing on a flushing cottontail and roll it just about every time with his first shot from an iron-sighted .22 without even lowering his cheek to the stock... you probably also know that he didn't START OUT by deliberately ignoring the sights on that rifle, did he? He just gradually stopped needing them in order to know where the barrel was pointed. So whaddyaknow? A whole bunch of hillbillies figured out for themselves what cutting edge science has recently concluded, which is that if you do it RIGHT enough times, you can just go ahead and DO it without having to check an external reference to know that you're doing it Right.
Matter o' fact, I would guess that most of the guys on this site could take the sights off of their compounds and out-shoot 75%-80% of the "instinctive" Purists you see out there. It's not Magic and it's not even all that hard. You just have to do it correctly often enough that it comes automatically....
Just ask Rick Allison about that....
I don't shoot 9gpp. With the 'curve, as I said, I'm pushing 12...and I've NOT crono'd at that weight.
I've also not crono'd my longbow (same bowyer), but it is sweet...and fast enough for me.
FWIW, I won't chrono a bow...period...lol. can lead to real disappointment IMHO.
I shoot a WhippenStick Phoenix recurve and RD longbow. I'd recommend Ken's work to any serious stick bow guy. The man knows his stuff and his workmanship is literally 2nd to none.
When I was contemplating placing an order with Ken a year 'n a half ago, I was advised by a Canadian gent that Ken's bows were very high performance and I'd need to bump up in spine from the chart's recommendations.
With the recurve, I settled on 2117 aluminum cut to 29-1/2", 4x4" parabolic feathers, and 175grain Grizzly broadheads at 52lb draw weight.
The longbow is 53lb at my draw and I'm shooting 3-D with 2016's, but will prolly hunt with 2117's.
I'm absolutely delighted with both bows...beauty and performance.
Sorry...off subject...but I felt the need to defend my word and honor...;^)
As a long time hockey coach, I was adamant in practice about that. Practice does NOT make perfect...practice makes permanent. PERFECT practice makes perfect.
To that I'd add; STOP when you get tired. Tired athletes are sloppy athletes and will only ingrain bad habits. If yer "feeling it" after 10 shots...take a break.
And GF's advice about not over-bowing yourself...yeah, ya wanna pay attention to that too.
But, damn, they're fun to shoot...
I'll leave the rest of the comments for folk's reading pleasure. :)
