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Do you have a spare bow?

Do you have a back up bow?

  • Total voters
    92
I have a back up bow. While I've never had to use it, I always take it on out-of-state hunts because I've heard several stories of people having a back up bow and it saving their hunt when they are out of state. I don't worry about carrying mine with me while I'm hunting my home state. But it could sure get you out of a bind and save your hunt when you are hundreds of miles from home and something breaks.
 
I'm a lefty and derailed my new bow last yr. Glad I had my old bow still. I still shoot both almost equally as much. I honestly shoot better with my old bow still rrrrrrrr
 
I have a spare compound and a crossbow as 3rd option. As it happened, my main bow is in the shop right now. I'm shooting my back up up until opening day. If by that time I am not confident in my shooting with the back up bow, it would take me less than an hour to be confident in my crossbow. I only have so many days scheduled to be out in the wood. Not going to risk cancelling the plan because I have no tool to hunt.
 
Back up bow = my kids 10 point! I take it out late season once or twice a year on doe patrol. Its LOUD, heavy and awkward to hold in a treestand!

This being my first year in a saddle. I'm guessing you dont hold your bow as much or do you? Any opinions?

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Never understood a backup bow until I bought a new bow and was getting it ready right before season last year. Had trouble getting it sighted in a few days before the opener. Had the old bow still ready from the previous year and took two deer with it before I figured out the problem with the new bow (drop away rest contact issue).

I’ll always keep a backup bow from now on. Plus it gives you the option of tinkering with different arrow weights and setups during the season if you want.


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I keep two bows. One is setup for big game, the other for turkey season. Draw weight is the only thing different in the setup. I use the VXR for big game and the Triax for turkey. The reason I keep them setup identically, besides the 5lb difference in draw weight, is so that I can make one bow exactly like the other with just a few turns of the limb bolts and only have to change the sight wheel on the HHA Optimizers.
 
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I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it, especially travelling to the midwest on trips hours away from home.
 
For me it’s kind of a no brainer. Why would you not have a back-up? You never know when Mr. Murphy will come knocking on your door. As hunters we usually have a spare or back-up for everything. So it really makes sense to have a spare bow. I also have 2 releases and I shoot both bows with both releases on a regular basis.
 
I have a crossbow I could use if I were hunting somewhere it was legal (can't on TX NF land) or I could crank up the poundage on my wife's bow if I needed to.

I do always make sure to have a spare release with me though!
 
When I upgraded to a new Mathews bow, I kept the old Bear bow. I'm a lefty so it makes things a little harder. I shoot both regularly.
 
After I had a rifle issue a few years back and didn’t have a back-up and had to borrow someone else’s(killed with it the next day!) I decided I would always have extra of guns and bows just in case. I have my Triax, HTR and a mission venture. Neither of the backups are dialed in. The mission is shooting 650grn bareshafts deadnuts at 20yds so if I get in a pinch I’ll throw some fletching on and can have it ready to go quickly.
 
I have these that I shoot routinely, my primary is the Darton Spectra E (R) my secondary is the Matthews Chill R (L). The draw cycle and performance of each are very similar to each other. The Chill R was a brand new in the box older model bow I got at a discounted rate at a local pro shop. I called and asked them if they had a great shooting new bow that is leftover stock that they would recommend and NOT at the $1000 price range and they hooked me up nicely with the Chill R. I think it was a good investment as I got a solid manufacturer's previous flag ship bow brand new at a discounted rate. The Darton is probably the smoothest and nicest shooting fast bow I have ever owned. My next bow will also be a Darton and they are made in the USA in Hale MI. ChillRSpectraE2.jpg
 
Have pretty much had 2 bows for quite a while. I have an Insanity that is, was, and probably will be my hunting bow (separation anxiety) but I've had few others along with. My current "backup" is a Reign 6 that I got a smoking deal on. Has the same feel, shoots lights out but I've killed a bunch of deer with that Insanity. Its like an old friend .

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I have a mathews vxr 28, but I could not get rid of my z7. I always keep a spare though just in case.....
 
I've got 4 I've aquired over the years. In order of preference they are a darton demon, kuma 33, pse premonition, and a pse drive. The demon and kuma stay ready to hunt.
 
Yes, several. Couple older compounds to back up my Bowtech and couple trads to back up my Centaur. They’re like guns can’t have to many when you need them.
 
main compound, backup compound, recurve, and a crossbow should get me through bow season.
 
I'm currently shooting a Mathew VXR 28 and I have a 2012 Bowtech Insanity CPXL set up as a target bow (ready to hunt in a few minutes)! I dust of my Black Widow PA V recurve a few times a year as well, and I have a PSE Tac-15 Elite that I've been trying to get rid of...
 
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