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Best bow for saddle hunting

L

laramse

New Member
Joined
Feb 20, 2018
Messages
5
I am in the market for a new bow and I am wondering what bow the forum believes is best for saddle hunting. Is it beneficial to have a short axle to axle compound bow due to maneuvering over the bridge? Contrarily, is it better to have a shorter brace height due to the limited space between you and the tree?

I should note, I have yet to hunt with a saddle system but I plan to purchase a Kestrel soon. If I owned a saddle system I could have answered this question myself but I am curious to hear what you guys think.
 
I don't think there is a best bow. I hunted for a long time with my mathews dxt and currently am using an elite impulse 31. Both work just fine. There are plenty of guys on here using longbows and recurves so as far as length goes they would represent the other extreme. I think the most important thing is to practice with what you have to get comfortable shooting from the saddle.
 
I hunt with an Elite Synergy, which is a 34ata bow. I don't like over the bridge shots with it, but I don't think a shorter ATA would help. To me smooth, quiet and forgiving are important traits. Most bows on the market are fast enough for deer hunting. But smooth on the draw and forgiving of crazy, tree-ninja yoga poses is a little harder to find.

I found that I needed to lower my poundage a bit when I started practicing from a saddle. I know everybody here is a saddle fan, but to me shooting in a saddle is harder than shooting standing up on a climber platform. Not impossible, just harder. Fair trade off given the many advantages of the saddle.
 
I think the best bow is the one you already have. You are are going to drop a few dollars into this style of hunting. If you already have a bow I would stick with that. Just one less thing you have to figure out. Depending where you live hunting season is only 5-6 months away.
 
You might want to lower your bow poundage some. I took 10 lbs off mine and it's amazing how simple it is to shoot in any angle you could possibly shoot from a saddle.
 
laramse said:
I am in the market for a new bow and I am wondering what bow the forum believes is best for saddle hunting. Is it beneficial to have a short axle to axle compound bow due to maneuvering over the bridge? Contrarily, is it better to have a shorter brace height due to the limited space between you and the tree?

I should note, I have yet to hunt with a saddle system but I plan to purchase a Kestrel soon. If I owned a saddle system I could have answered this question myself but I am curious to hear what you guys think.
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I agree with the other responses here, no need for a new bow, unless of course you are headed in that direction personally. One thing u may want to consider is shortening your current draw length by 1/2”, it’s a huge advantage from the saddle. JMHO


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DaveT1963 said:
One you can shoot accurately????
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Couldn’t agree more, no special equipment required. There are guys on here using about all legal methods to harvest critters from a saddle. Just practice, like @bigjoe mentioned your gonna make a handful of purchases getting dialed in with your saddle. Start there & upgrade later, unless it’s out of necessity.
 
laramse said:
I am in the market for a new bow and I am wondering what bow the forum believes is best for saddle hunting. Is it beneficial to have a short axle to axle compound bow due to maneuvering over the bridge? Contrarily, is it better to have a shorter brace height due to the limited space between you and the tree?

I should note, I have yet to hunt with a saddle system but I plan to purchase a Kestrel soon. If I owned a saddle system I could have answered this question myself but I am curious to hear what you guys think.
Click to expand...

Welcome to the site. Choose the best bow for you and setup your saddle to accommodate it.
 
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