Bear whitetail II bow question and bow scale question?

[stilllearning]

This is two fold so I will start with the bow. I find the Bear Whitetail II bow a little heavy but love the way it shoots. does it make that much difference to have those light weight bows if you are used to the heavier bows? As long as I work the arm that is holding the bow so the muscles are there to hold it am I going to see a difference if I ever go to a newer lighter bow? I find also with whitetail II that it seams to be very forgiving but has a small let off. am I going to gain allot by more let off but lose in the forgiving area?


Also where can i get a bow scale even used to get one set up at home for working on my bow and then know what the weight is set at? With the kids buying there own bows soon I am going to have to get into teching my own bows heavier than I have in the past? I would like to have something that can range low and up to about 70Lbs.

Any thoughts or suggestions.

 

[Tom]

The longer bows are more forgiving, as I understand it. Lighter ones are easier to hold still and carry around. If they are short, they are less forgiving. The more modern bow, will shoot faster and flatter.

Cabelas has a bow scale with a free case right now for $28 plus shipping.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/t...cale&noImage=0&returnPage=search-results1.jsp

 

[Bambistew]

My first bow 16-17 years ago was a whitetail II... I killed a few critters with it, including elk, antelope and a couple deer, but compared to the new bows of today is like comparing a 1973 Ford Farlane to a BMW M3. I hated how heavy it was, and hunting in the cold sucked azz. The handle would get so damn cold you could harldy hold onto it.

I had mine cranked to 70 pounds or there abouts I used to shoot about 3-4 days a week all year long. That bow was only able to get about 190fps with a 2117 arrow. I upgraded when I was about 18-19 to a PSE that was all tricked out that would shoot the same arrow about 245fps, and my new bow is set at 60#, has 80% let off shooting a 500gr carbon arrow with head at 275fps. I could crank it up to 70 pounds and go with a lighter arrow and head and I think it could knock on the door of 300fps pretty easy. But for the self imposed 'range' of 40 yards it really doesn't mater one way or the other to me.

I'm far from a bow expert and don't know much about bows in general other than you shoot em to kill stuff. I do know that longer bows are more forgiving though especially the taller you are and the longer your arms are. My new bow is 35" A to A... and shoots better than I can shoot it. 10 times more quite than the old Bear too!

I would look on Ebay and find a decent used bow and try it out. I know you can find really nice used bows for $100-150 that where top of the line just 5-6 years ago. IMO bows are like computers, every year they come out with something bigger and better and the next thing you know you're arrow flinger is out of date... Seams like I've been 'up dating' every 6-7 years here lately.

 

[GatoMan]

I really have trouble following you what let-off and forgiving have in common, when most people talk about how forgiving a bow is, there talking about the brace height of the bow, the more brace height, the sooner the arrow gets off the string and stabilizes itself. You can add all sorts of weight to bows with different stabilizers if you think its to light etc.

 

[stilllearning]

You are right GatoMan. I should have seperated those issue. I have heard that with the greater letoff that the arrows will amplify problems with your form as the cams come over alot quicker than on a bow with a little let off. Am I correct in that thinking?
But I have learned through this question that the forgiving abilities of a bow comes from the brace height and like you said how close the string is to the brace thius getting off the string and away from the bow quicker.

Thanks for the insight folks. Keep it coming as I am stilllearning. I have only been shooting bow for 9 months so I still have so much to learn it isn't even funny anymore.

 

[Tom]

Here's a chart comparing 365 different bows.

http://www.huntersfriend.com/2006-Bow-Reviews/bow-specifications-view-full-chart.htm

Brace height correlates with their forgiving rating there 0.82 and lenght of bow correlates 0.76. In a multiple regression predicting the forgiving rating from both, they each contribute. From minimum to maximum length would account for 33.5 range in the forgiving number. For minimum to maximum brace height would account for 45.6 range in the forgiving number. They are both important, according to that data there, but brace height is more important.

Notice here how brace height increases with bow length.
http://www.centenaryarchers.gil.com.au/basic1.htm#Brace Height

The main thing is to put the first shot where it counts, I think. That other stuff is just extra info. after you can do that.

 

[stilllearning]

Well I am out there practicing as much as I can. I mean it is only 6.5 months to hunting season.