is a bear whitetail 2 worth using?
Equipment
Contributors to this thread:
My neighbor gave me q whitetail two with new sights and arrow rest and i was wondering if i should use it or buy a new one?
Compared to a new bow it will be very slow, have 65 per cent let-off, a little heavy, a little noisy, very smooth draw and quite accurate. And it will save you at least $500.
Im going start target shooting with it and get use to it . Then go out bowhunting and see how i like it.
killed alot of animals in its day, will kill them just as dead today.
For treestand hunting it's all you need. When you have money that is not better spent on more important things, you can buy a new bow.
First bow I ever had, 1985 model. Sold it yesterday in garage sale for $5! Killed several animals along the way.
I have an old bear pursuit and have shot in a few competitions and it works great. you might want to put a few vibration dampening accesories on for hunting but practice is the main thing. you will need to remember that it drops faster than todays bows so accurate judging is important
set a pin for 10 and a pin for 20. it will kill a deer
This is my brother in-law with the deer he got Saturday night. The bow is a 1986 Bear Whitetail II. Kills 'em just like it did 20+ years ago.
i love seeing old compounds still killin
deer is just as dead at 200 foot persecond as he is at 350 fps if you practice and hit him right,,, lots of advertising to day is to catch hunters not kill deer,, I killed many deer in last 40 years of huntin and many with homemade self bows and even the white tail hunter orignal,one of the bear compounds out,, any one remember them they were quite the contraption of pullys and wheels,, remember at one time your bow was state of the art for its time, deer aint changed none lol
My Bear Whitetail(original) was a Mule deer killing machine. It got stolen in 1977 or '78.
Ah! the memories! when I got my first WT2 I was so impressed by the increase in speed over my WT1. It must have been up to 210FPS. It was SO fast that I couldnt count to "one thousand One" before it hit my 20 yard target. It was heavy, and loud and awkward, and I thought it was the greatest step up in archery since the recurve was invented. It was great then. But I would get a newer bow to hunt with now.
Use the old bow until you kill a deer with it. Good woodsmanship and accuracy kills in the woods not speed. Most shots at whitetails are under 20 yards anyway. Use the old bow and enjoy the hunt. Good luck this season!
In the woods with ANY bow is better than sitting on the couch.
lol just hope the deer dont die of old age before the arrow gets there. but xman gots it right. I would take a bow from the wallyworld toy isle and shoot suctioncup arrows than stay home
shoot it and enjoy. proper shot selection more important than speed.
These old bows aren't as slow as you'd think. I chronoed the bow pictured above and it chucked a heavy 30" 2117 and 125 tip at about 215. Not bad at all for 65#@29". Shoot some light carbons out of it and the difference between it and todays bows wouldn't be all that great.
Thanks for the info. I am in the same situation as the thread starter. I got one of these bows off of a friend a few years ago and I am finally going to try using it. I was ready to drop some cash on a new bow, but after reading this, I think I will give this "old" bow a try and save some money for now.
had 1 for one of my first.i think they were one of the most forgiving bows ever.just make sure you check limbs for cracks .probably is none but you never know
Also make sure stings and cables are in good working order.
Use it until you just have to have a newer, better, faster bow. Then use it for bowfishing.
I passed through many whitetails with a Bear Whitetail II, starting in about '88.
I had a bear whitetail(original) When the whitetail 2 bow came out it was the hottest thing on the market! It seemed like everyone had one. Here's my first deer taken with a whitetail original I was 15 at the time! I'm 38 now!! [IMG]http://i719.photobucket.com/albums/ww192/bkm31512/001.jpg[/IMG]
had a bear whitetail(original) When the whitetail 2 bow came out it was the hottest thing on the market! It seemed like everyone had one. Here's my first deer taken with a whitetail original I was 15 at the time! I'm 38 now!!
I used to have a bear polar ltd 2 killed a few deer with it. Now this threads got me thinking, of getting my hands on a oldie and give it a try this fall for whitetail. With a flipper rest and a burger button. You remember them flipper rests and burger button, you old timers and I'm only 45. That's what I had back in the day. Just like having a old car!!!
Teeton, actually I think that was a bear polar in the pic that I killed my first deer with, not a whitetail, although I had owed one of those too.
I bought one in 1990 and went on to kill my best bucks to date. Not fast but very deadly!
Yeah Teeton......I must be old cause I remember a time when release aids were very rare. Flippers and plungers are still pretty popular with the Warf'd recurve crowd but my first compounds all wore them. Maybe we should start a new thread on who can resurrect and kill a dear with the oldest compound bow. Seems to be quite a few oldies for sale on fleabay.
Went on a DIY mule deer hunt in colorado, I think it was in early seventies,one of my friends worked for bear archery at the time and brought along a new proto-type called a bear whitetail.He gave it to one of the young kids to use,you know what happened ,170 plus buck,kids first deer.
I still have one that I turned into a bow fishing rig
Turned my old Jennings into my Carp killer. They make great bowfishing rigs too. That nice crisp let-off is good for finger shooting fish.
Same as any 20 yr old recurve or longbow... heck yea, critters don't know what your shootin.
it is not the arrow...its the indian
A Bear Whitetail II was my first compound bow. Bought it in 1990. My Whitetail II had 50% let-off. It was a headache to tune, due to not having a cut-out in the riser, and funky little wheels with four or five slots made to adjust the length of the steel cables. Forty-four inches axle-to-axle and heavy.
Took me five years to kill my first deer with a bow. I told myself that as soon as I killed a deer with the Whitetail II, I would reward myself with a new bow. The new bow was a 1994 Browning Maxim. The difference was like night and day. I gave the Whitetail II to a buddy and have never regretted it for a second. They've killed a lot of deer, but if you can afford it, I'd buy something newer and save the Whitetail II for bowfishing. I think you'll enjoy archery more.
Good Hunting. Gregg J.
They will work just as well as any bow. I still have six old compounds from the 70's and they shoot great, and I can shoot them well. The older I get the more attractive they are, and I probably don't have a hundred dollars in all of them put together. Enjoy it.
If the bow is in safe good working condition have at it, the bow don't make the hunter... your the one drawing back and aiming. Good hunting, scentman.
Also, find yourself some Ranger camo and have fun;0)
Yup, 13 years later you can still kill a deer with it. As long as you have one of these!
Remember when we used to hunt deer so close you didn't need a rangefinder?
It was good for my first three deer !
throw it in the trash...deer have changed in the last 30 years. their hide is thicker...ribs are thicker...and their organs are encased in a protective coating. nothing but a top of the line hoyt...mathews...pse...etc is capable of killing modern whitetails...not to mention broadheads (single bevel cut on contact only) costing at least $50 each.
as an ethical hunter...you owe it to the animal to only use the most modern hi-tech equipment.
"Remember when we used to hunt deer so close you didn't need a rangefinder?"
Yeah, I did that last weekend. Probably go out today if the wind is bearable.
My original is now a bow fishing rig
It's great to read that old bows are good to go and to use them instead of needing a new bow. Very refreshing read compared to the usual woody fest about the new flagship bows.
I wouldn’t trade that noisy, slow Bear whitetail for a new RX 12 Too much history. Shot it Barebow with a glove
"The OP's bow is 15 years older, now, then it was when he started this thread. LOL!"
and probably still just as effective as it has ever been. :)
a couple years ago...i killed a deer with a 60 year old bear alaskan. it was the same level of dead as any of the other deer ive ever killed.
I was going to add my two cents to this topic, then I realized I made the last comment when this was first posted in 2011...lol.
I still don't regret giving that bow to a buddy. :-)