ricky racer
Well-Known Member
As I get older things just seem to get harder to do. Back in my compound days I always hunted with a 70# bow. After getting bored using a compound and looking for more of a challenge, I made the switch to traditional gear. That change elevated my love of bow hunting and has made me a much better hunter, in my opinion.
For years my bow of choice was a custom made Green Mountain Longbow with a 58# draw weight. A few years ago I found myself struggling with the bows draw weight (it sucks getting old) and realized I needed to drop draw weight. I picked up a Robertson Vision Falcon recurve off of a used bow rack and fell in love with it. It drew 51# @28" and I could handle it easily. That bow proved to be deadly and racked up a number of whitetail bucks. Towards the end of last season I noticed I was having an issue with my left shoulder when drawing the bow. I put the bow away thinking that I must have strained my shoulder and it would get better.
Fast forward to May of this year. I took my recurve out and tried to draw it and couldn't. The pain I felt last December was still there. The times that I could draw the bow back I struggled to get to full draw. I wondered what I was going to do to get back to being able to shoot again. I got thinking. I've got a bunch of bows down in the basement so I started looking for a light weight bow to start building my shoulder back up. I found a 30# Hoyt recurve and started shooting that. I had to very careful drawing it back to shoot. Sometimes I would feel the pain as soon as I started drawing back. Those times, I had to just put the bow away and try again another day. When I would shoot the bow, the first few times I'd shoot it, sometimes the shock from the bow would hurt my shoulder but after a few shots that pain would go away. I started looking for another bow maybe 40-45# to see if I could work up to it.
On Craigslist I happened to find a 62", 45# Samick Sage recurve. The Sage is a three piece take down bow. I did an internet search on the Samick Sage and found nothing but great reviews. I was able to pick it up for $75. These bows sell online in the $100-$150 range. Dirt cheap for any bow but after shooting this bow for the last few weeks I've got to say the Sage is a steal at that price!!
My Sage was in great shape when I got it. I had a hard time finding any shafts that would shoot well out of it because everything I had here was spined too stiffly. It also had an endless loop dacron string which that didn't let the bow snap to life like the flemish fast flight string I replaced it with. It also came with a Bear Weather rest that I replaced with a Bear hair rest and strike plate so I could shoot off of the shelf. I added some brush buttons and string silencers as well. The arrows that I found that shoot best out of the bow are carbon Gold Tip Hunter XT 3555 with 145 gr. field points that match the weight of the broadheads I will be shooting this fall. Yes, I've decided to hunt with this bargain bow this year.
I contacted Robertson Stykbow about the cost and delivery of replacement limbs in the 45# range and was told that they could make me a set of replacement limbs by August but wanted $600 for them. Keep in mind the cost for a new bow like my Vision Falcon is $1100-$1200. They said that they could reduce the poundage of my existing limbs by up to 5# for $250 if I wanted to go that route. That may be a possibility down the road but as well as this Samick Sage shoots, I'm going to use it hunting this year, maybe from now on...
There are quite a few guys on this site that want to make the move to traditional bowhunting but the cost of most quality bows is prohibitive unless you are REALLY sure you want to make the move. I can recommend the Samick Sage as a cheap way to get into traditional archery and a good enough bow to hunt with as well. Extra limbs are readily available if you want to get lower poundage limbs to start with and switch to heavier limbs for hunting.
For years my bow of choice was a custom made Green Mountain Longbow with a 58# draw weight. A few years ago I found myself struggling with the bows draw weight (it sucks getting old) and realized I needed to drop draw weight. I picked up a Robertson Vision Falcon recurve off of a used bow rack and fell in love with it. It drew 51# @28" and I could handle it easily. That bow proved to be deadly and racked up a number of whitetail bucks. Towards the end of last season I noticed I was having an issue with my left shoulder when drawing the bow. I put the bow away thinking that I must have strained my shoulder and it would get better.
Fast forward to May of this year. I took my recurve out and tried to draw it and couldn't. The pain I felt last December was still there. The times that I could draw the bow back I struggled to get to full draw. I wondered what I was going to do to get back to being able to shoot again. I got thinking. I've got a bunch of bows down in the basement so I started looking for a light weight bow to start building my shoulder back up. I found a 30# Hoyt recurve and started shooting that. I had to very careful drawing it back to shoot. Sometimes I would feel the pain as soon as I started drawing back. Those times, I had to just put the bow away and try again another day. When I would shoot the bow, the first few times I'd shoot it, sometimes the shock from the bow would hurt my shoulder but after a few shots that pain would go away. I started looking for another bow maybe 40-45# to see if I could work up to it.
On Craigslist I happened to find a 62", 45# Samick Sage recurve. The Sage is a three piece take down bow. I did an internet search on the Samick Sage and found nothing but great reviews. I was able to pick it up for $75. These bows sell online in the $100-$150 range. Dirt cheap for any bow but after shooting this bow for the last few weeks I've got to say the Sage is a steal at that price!!
My Sage was in great shape when I got it. I had a hard time finding any shafts that would shoot well out of it because everything I had here was spined too stiffly. It also had an endless loop dacron string which that didn't let the bow snap to life like the flemish fast flight string I replaced it with. It also came with a Bear Weather rest that I replaced with a Bear hair rest and strike plate so I could shoot off of the shelf. I added some brush buttons and string silencers as well. The arrows that I found that shoot best out of the bow are carbon Gold Tip Hunter XT 3555 with 145 gr. field points that match the weight of the broadheads I will be shooting this fall. Yes, I've decided to hunt with this bargain bow this year.
I contacted Robertson Stykbow about the cost and delivery of replacement limbs in the 45# range and was told that they could make me a set of replacement limbs by August but wanted $600 for them. Keep in mind the cost for a new bow like my Vision Falcon is $1100-$1200. They said that they could reduce the poundage of my existing limbs by up to 5# for $250 if I wanted to go that route. That may be a possibility down the road but as well as this Samick Sage shoots, I'm going to use it hunting this year, maybe from now on...
There are quite a few guys on this site that want to make the move to traditional bowhunting but the cost of most quality bows is prohibitive unless you are REALLY sure you want to make the move. I can recommend the Samick Sage as a cheap way to get into traditional archery and a good enough bow to hunt with as well. Extra limbs are readily available if you want to get lower poundage limbs to start with and switch to heavier limbs for hunting.