2 week drop hunt-back up bow?
Equipment
I’m considering bringing a back up bow; I am conscious of space, weight, and the amount of gear I’m bringing. I have nightmares about damaging my bow beyond camp repair and the hunt is over. Thoughts?
my thoughts are if you were on a hunt like that and damaged your bow beyond repair it would be a nightmare. actually it would then just be a camping trip. you need a back-up bow. maybe you would be lucky and have it break half way through so you would still have gotten one week to hunt. never know.............
If you have the space, I say why not.. just for the peace of mind..
I always bring 2, if space or weight is a issue the longbow will be the back up, I have a 2 bow skb case that I will use
Another reason I switched to a recurve. I just need a spare string. Sure simplifies things. Simplifying in all areas of life can be freeing.
Moose hunting I had a compound and a recurve. Take down recurve takes no space or weight.
Been on 2 hunts where a backup was needed. One I backed over my recurve and another north of Dillingham my partners longbow was just laying on the beach when it delaminated.
Wrecked my string, and a few weeks later a big sliver came off my Mathews Drenalin from the same fall in the slide-rock a number of years ago (backpack sheep hunt with the back-up bow a two day round trip away in the truck). That is my only instance of needing a backup. I usually don't carry one unless I'm driving and it is kept in the truck....although that isn't the smartest plan if you can carry it into base camp without backpacking it.
Most travel hunts guys have their backup bow packed with their primary- so if luggage is lost or something does not go as planned, there is not much point to the backup since they are together.
Having a take-down recurve packed in another bag is a decent way to have a bow along. I suppose having one when needed beats not having one if it is... I've never really had a backup and luckily only had an issue once back when strings were on teardropped cables, so I just changed out the string by pulling back the nearly severed string and slipping the new already to go one on.
There are a few new bow manufacturer's in the market that have bows that do not require presses and changing strings and cables are doable in the field.
I'd never even consider going on a destination/remote hunt without a backup bow.
After Australian Customs confiscated both my Selway bow quivers at the airport (considered them "rawhide" and therefore banned) I now think about redundancy with all critical gear. On fly-ins I pack two bags, each with a takedown bow, a few arrows and broadheads, etc..
