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Old bows

Ballshooter

Ballshooter

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 14, 2023
Messages
371
Anyone still hunting with an old bow?
I have been looking at new ones an man I just can't bring myself to drop that kind of cash down for somethingthat thats not as smooth as my old faithful. I think I will just stick with Trad bows. But I will say my Mathews switchback is still going strong and is just soooooo smooth as if I bought it yesterday. What gets me is I don't even feel the switchback sending the arrow. No vibration just dead in the hand to me it seems even quieter than most is not all the new bows.
 
I shoot a Hoyt rx-1, got it a year old new but fully setup for cheaper than it would have been new.
I went to an archery shop the other day and was offered a new Hoyt rx-9 for an insane deal. I shot it and even at the awesome price it wasn’t a better than my bow.
My bow is maybe 6ish years old.

Bows have not changed much in a long time and longer than people think. Don’t get sucked into the you need a new bow. If you enjoy your bow save your money and keep it.

My bow isn’t “old” by any standard. I guess I don’t wanna see you buy a “new” bow and not be happy with it.
 
I bought a Bear Divigent yrs ago and it shoots so well compared to my Recurve. Wanting to upgrade, I bought a new BowTech SS. So much smoother and probably better but I still like the cheap Bear better. Newer is not always best! Try to tell that to those who promote the industry by buying the latest saddle and platform!
 
Timely.

My brother called me this morning and his new neighbor was garage sale-ing a fully set up, barely used DXT for like $200. What does a new bow cost these days??? The dl and poundage work for me, but I’ve got a Legacy and Switchback XT already and even going back to the future scares me, lol.

My brother has a DXT actually, now his backup, and I have to say it’s always impressed me with it’s smoothness and decent speed for such a light bow. Great bow imo. My other brother has one of the Z7s, and those are just fantastic.

I’d certainly like to pick up some extra fps. Nevertheless, these older solo-cam bows just work. I maybe don’t know what I’m missing…but I’m not missing…so jumping ship for something “better” hasn’t really been weighing on me. I was pretty interested in that carbon Elite bow a few years ago, but didn’t end up shooting one. I’ve got a nice $$ gift card to a local bow shop, but it hasn’t been burning a hole in my pocket. Honestly, I had to use my backup a handful of years ago and shot the Legacy so well I almost didn’t even go back to the Switchback XT.

I think the new bows have some nice things to offer. I just don’t know that I’m the right customer. Yet.
 
I’m using my my wife’s grandads 1997 Hoyt Tenacity. It draws like butter and is plenty forgiving and accurate for me. Some days I want a new bow just because my friends shoot flipping laser beams but I’ve shot their bows and they just don’t feel as smooth and the deer we shoot still drop the same.
 
I have a Drenalin and a CRX hanging in my garage. If I could find a Spyder 30 with 28” in the 2 cam, I may dump my Lift. 6.75” brace at 340 fps. is a dream.
 
ketch22 said:
I’m using my my wife’s grandads 1997 Hoyt Tenacity. It draws like butter and is plenty forgiving and accurate for me. Some days I want a new bow just because my friends shoot flipping laser beams but I’ve shot their bows and they just don’t feel as smooth and the deer we shoot still drop the same.
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I’ll have to find out if I’ve drawn one of those. My brother’s FIL is an avid archer and quite a good hunter. For years his measure of manliness was if you could draw his Hoyt bow, set to 80lbs and something like a 32” DL. This is something he subjected his daughter’s boyfriends too, and I’m sure some suffered a major confidence loss. Anyways, he tried that with me, why, probably because he knew I was shooting a Mathews. lol. Drew that sucker no problem and he was impressed.…Then I told him the draw cycle sucks compared to a Mathews. Lol. Of course that was (mostly) jest. Lol.

Honestly, when I bought my two bows I liked the Hoyt models very much and they had features I liked perhaps better than Mathews, but I always found the Mathews bows fit me slightly better. I was actually intending to buy a Hoyt for my first bow, but the shop owner insisted I try a few models. Looking back, that’s pretty cool. A lot of shops just try to move stuff out the door.
 
I shoot an old bear , probably close to 20 years old. Still shoots deer! But its slow and the stabilizer is really close to the grip, so if I wear heavy gloves it pushes my hand up and gloves get really close to tha arrow.
Bought my boy a bear legit last year, nice bow and he can grow into it. Very adjustable.
I might end up buying a bear paradigm or whitetail int for myself. 80% letoff would be nice!
 
Plebe said:
I’ll have to find out if I’ve drawn one of those. My brother’s FIL is an avid archer and quite a good hunter. For years his measure of manliness was if you could draw his Hoyt bow, set to 80lbs and something like a 32” DL. This is something he subjected his daughter’s boyfriends too, and I’m sure some suffered a major confidence loss. Anyways, he tried that with me, why, probably because he knew I was shooting a Mathews. lol. Drew that sucker no problem and he was impressed.…Then I told him the draw cycle sucks compared to a Mathews. Lol. Of course that was (mostly) jest. Lol.

Honestly, when I bought my two bows I liked the Hoyt models very much and they had features I liked perhaps better than Mathews, but I always found the Mathews bows fit me slightly better. I was actually intending to buy a Hoyt for my first bow, but the shop owner insisted I try a few models. Looking back, that’s pretty cool. A lot of shops just try to move stuff out the door.
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I’ve been slowly squirreling away some cash. My intent is to take a ride to Lancaster archery (only about an hour or two from me) and just roll in with like 4K cash and make a day out of building my forever bow.

As far as draw weight goes, I have shot plenty of 70 lb bows without issue, I even have a quest bow I won in a raffle set at 70. I can do 80 but I’ve found for me, when the temps drop and I’m sitting in a tree freezing and my muscles are all stiff and cold, 60-65 is the sweet spot where I can draw without excessive movement.
 
I saved up and bought a “used” High Country Extreme when I was 12, that was in 1996. I hunted with that bow up until 2020 when I switched to Traditional. I killed a lot of deer with that thing. Still have it tucked away for a donation to a museum or new hunter if you know one. That is the bow in the picture, I think I got that buck in 2016.
 

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My compound is an Obsession Knightmare. Bought it used from a guy that bought 2 the year they came out and mine was his back up. He bought the new Obsession the next year and kept his hunting Knightmare as a back up and got the other one. Dont remember what year they came out but it is still my favorite compound I have ever shot. Just dont use it much anymore, maybe a hunt a year but I think the last 7-8 times it has gone to the woods a deer got dead. It's bad medicine for the whitetails.
 
My Mathews switchback is a 2005 bought it new when they first came out. Its 20 years old but still impresses me. I haven't shot it in almost 12 years. I just went through an took it all apart cleaned and lubed it all up, replaced the string and cables. It still can hold a 4 1/2" to 5" group at 60 yards. 20, 30 and 40 yards I can still stack them in super tight. I may have to hunt with it again this year off an on but I really like hunting Trad.
 
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