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Any love for longer ATA bows?

B

Barking Mad

Member
Joined
Nov 7, 2020
Messages
44
Location
Finland
I have always been a great fan of target- style bows for hunting. Anyone else here?
I have been shooting an 39" Elite Victory for four years now and cannot see any reason to change.
Not the fastest, naturally, but very smooth and forgiving.
 
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I like a bow that’s in between a super short ata and a target bow. Probably around 35”. Anything longer and it becomes trouble sometimes maneuvering around the thick stuff I hunt
 
Matthews traverse, had another 35” pse evolve before that. But with a long draw it’s relative....
 
36” ATA Perfexion. 32.5” DL not a lot of options for me. Had a Bear attitude but string angle was bad


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Anyone shoot a Hoyt Double Xl? That seems to be the only newer bow with my draw length, well besides a Bowtech BTX MAG but I am weary of Bowtech.


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My first bow was a cheaper Hoyt around 2001. At that time all bows were longer. I think it was 34-36” ata. I loved that bow. Then got a bowtech that was like 30” and it was nice but I loved that cheap Hoyt. So last year I researched a lot and found the bowtech realm x. It’s a little over 34” ata. I love it. Enough that I’m considering finding a deal on another used one to set one up for 3d. And if anything happened to my hunting bow in season I could swap and not miss a beat.
 
My current bow is 31" axle to axle, my next bow will be 33 to 35". With the 31", I have to tip my head to get my nose on string. I can't move my anchor point up instead because given my face shape this will move my peep sight to where I can't see through it without excess head rotation.
 
Mathews Conquest Triumph. 40+” of badass.

raisins said:
My current bow is 31" axle to axle, my next bow will be 33 to 35". With the 31", I have to tip my head to get my nose on string. I can't move my anchor point up instead because given my face shape this will move my peep sight to where I can't see through it without excess head rotation.
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Sounds like the bow is setup wrong. None of those things should be happening. You tune the bow to you, not the other way around. Probably as easy as a peep adjustment.
 
kbetts said:
Mathews Conquest Triumph. 40+” of badass.




Sounds like the bow is setup wrong. None of those things should be happening. You tune the bow to you, not the other way around. Probably as easy as a peep adjustment.
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I think I was unclear regarding how my peep location changes. It isn't an up/down change that can be corrected by sliding the peep.

Given my bow ATA and draw length, then there is only one anchor point height on my face that would allow the bow string to touch my nose while my head is in some perfect position. That anchor location moves my peep to the RIGHT too much to see through it because my hand is now on the side of my face too much (I have a longer draw length and also wide cheekbones and jaw). With the peep to the right so far, then I have to ultra rotate my head and peek through the peep out of the extreme corner of my eye, which I'm not going to do.

It is extremely common for people with longer draw lengths to have to tip their head down a bit to get nose on string when shooting a shorter bow. In fact, John Dudley discusses it and 100s of pages of people discuss this casually on archery forums. And a lot of folks simply don't put their nose on strings because of this issue. It is also common for folks to have to work around their facial features (or if they have to wear eyeglasses).
 
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Do you use a kisser? If not it may allow you to not have to use your nose since the kisser will touch the side of your face.

Just a thought.
 
kbetts said:
Do you use a kisser? If not it may allow you to not have to use your nose since the kisser will touch the side of your face.

Just a thought.
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Don't like'em. I'm only moving my head down less than an inch :) If I didn't have such gracious posture and sinewy neck muscles, I wouldn't even know I was doing it....haha
 
Aeds151 said:
Anyone shoot a Hoyt Double Xl? That seems to be the only newer bow with my draw length, well besides a Bowtech BTX MAG but I am weary of Bowtech.


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Click to expand...
I shot one 3 years ago when bow shopping & didn’t care for the draw cycle at all, same for the Halon at the time..... I ended up getting a prime which I loved, but it was a 1/2” too short. I could shoot it on the ground & sucked at height. Ended up buying a used PSE evolve on here & it was great. This year got a deal on a used Matthews Traverse. Long DL & ATA quiet smooth shooter, really getting to like it a lot..... Btw the mods for that bow make the DL about a 1/2” longer than advertised, so that helps...... shooting 31.5” & there was still another mid to go if I needed to move up. Just food for thought. It’s not crazy fast but, smooth/forgiving & quiet!
 
raisins said:
Don't like'em. I'm only moving my head down less than an inch :) If I didn't have such gracious posture and sinewy neck muscles, I wouldn't even know I was doing it....haha
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I hate kissers as well.
 
Always shot longer ATA and DL bows then I had shoulder issues develope and had to go down in DW to essentially just be able to shoot enough to be confident in my abilities
This drop in DW cost me significant speed so I started looking for help in the form of newer bow technology as my current bow was over 10 years old
I found a bow that allowed me to shoot a little faster at 58lbs DW than I was as 68-70
Unfortunately it had a 36" ATA and a 7" BH
I was VERY concerned at first I wouldn't be able to shoot it as well as my 42" ATA 8" BH bow it replaced
I was happy beyond measure I was wrong. I shoot the new shorter ATA and BH bow better than any previous bow I ever owned without doubt.
I suspect the fact I am shooting at a lower DW and the bow draws sliky smooth and has a rock solid back wall and zero creep at full draw are all factors but never in over 30 years of shooting compounds have I shot a bow this well with so ridiculously little effort.
I do not see me ever returning to longer ATA or longer than a 7" BH.
 
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