ot: advice for new archery gear needed.

[chop house]

ok, lifelong bowhunter here. in my 70's i have run out of downward weight adjustment on my bear anarchy. limbs been swapped 50's for 60's and now down to minimum safe weight on those. have some muscle and arthritis issues that just will not heal and shooting is no fun, no matter HOW much i love that bow.

cam is smooth but hi-perf and pretty jumpy. valley is narrow. extremely quiet. 36" ata. i shot fingers till in my 50's or 60's. added a peep in my early 60's. crossbow last few years but have not really taken to them. not the same.

(30" draw. i will put the anarchy on the draw board today and post specs as currently setup.)

how have others solved this decline?

 

[Sniper338]

Im no expert. But look into the Diamond Infinate Edge.

7-70lb draw weight
19-31 inch draw length
77% let off.

Its the most versitile bow i know of personally. $379 average price. Its a steal of a deal. Made by bowtech without the bowtech name and price.

My wife has shot one for a few years. I shoot it some too. She shoots deer with 85gr stinger broadheads at 35lb draw weight, plenty fast still at 35 lbs.

Its light weight and compact. You should literally be able to set it up for exectly what your able to do comfortably.

 

[AWS]

I have to second that! I just got back into archery after about a 40 yr layoff, I'm 74. I hated the first bow I bought and then bought the Infinite Edge Pro and love it, smooth easy draw, I shoot it at 42 lbs I have a 26" draw. I set mine up with a holographic site due to vision problems. Be sure you buy a Diamond bow at a authorized dealer not e-bay or amazon as the warranty is only covered if bought at a dealer and registered.

 

[TheOtherZilla]

73 here. A few years ago I had to swap to wheels from my recurve. I looked at a bunch. I finally settled on a Bow Tech Experience@50lbs. Smooth and shoots great,. My son is a semi-pro archer and he likes this better than his PSE setup. Smooth. Are you shooting a release? I had to get one that straps around your wrist.

 

[chop house]

Diamond Infinate Edge

i saw that reviewed on a site after searching 'bows for decrepit seniors' or something like that hahaha. it looked interesting and i realized it might be good to pass it down to my pre-schooler grandson after i get a few years use of it. thanks. will look at more closely.

 

[chop house]

Are you shooting a release? I had to get one that straps around your wrist.

thanks. yes, i finally went to a release about 15 years ago and settled on strap about 10 years back. i like the strap for a couple reasons.... beyond the obvious, i can lay my trigger finger over (inside) the barrel during draw and only move to the outside when ready to release. i set them light to help with target panic or punching and have come close to unintended release - especially with the anarchy's jumpy cam - when doing it with finger outside barrel

 

[chop house]

holographic site

i like the idea.... no peep and optics... focus entirely on form and release. like the old days!

 

[chop house]

deer with 85gr stinger broadheads

i have used fixed three blade m uzzys and bear bruin ultralites for years - 90 or 100 grain - to keep arrow spine and weight down and speed up with my longish dl. i was slow conveting to carbon since i had sooooo many xx75's invested.

i don't see penetration on whitetails an issue. and my trips out west are now 'always' for dogs so no elk or 50 yard shots at mulies on the horizon. hogs can always be baited in close for that 'exact hair' shot. lol.

 

[MikeT49]

I'm 72 and started bow hunting at 14. Absolutely my favorite way to hunt whitetail deer. Five years ago, I had to quit shooting a vertical bow due to neck issues. Broke my heart. However, they make crossbows for us old farts. I picked up a Ravin R10. It's sorta not the same, but I can still hunt during archery seasons.

 

[chop house]

I'm 72 and started bow hunting at 14. Absolutely my favorite way to hunt whitetail deer. Five years ago, I had to quit shooting a vertical bow due to neck issues. Broke my heart. However, they make crossbows for us old farts. I picked up a Ravin R10. It's sorta not the same, but I can still hunt during archery seasons.

gotcha. i think i miss the practice and preparation necessary when shooting vertical 'almost' as much as the hunting. with the crossbow it is kinda... pull it out, lube it up.... wait, let me rephrase that.... a dozen shots to check everything is same as last season and off you go. seems like cheating.

but like i said, i shot fingers until way late in life. i would backslide all the way to traditional if my muscles, joints, and tendons would cooperate.

it is a heart breaker. same as when i had to give up golf at 60 'cuz of arthritis.

 

[effendude]

Check out the Mathews No Cam. It is an older model bow but it is the smoothest shooting bow I have ever shot. You can find them reasonably priced at pro shops and while not state of the art performance now days, they are a joy to shoot. I have 3 newer Mathews models but still love the No Cam most of all.
Scott

 

[MQ1]

I’m a staff shooter for a local shop, and at 54 have worked my way back after having to take too many years off due to a bad C5/C6 disk that I finally had replaced 5 years ago. Some of the newer Mathew’s bows are deceivingly smooth, and incredibly fast. You would do well to go to a good local pro shop and try some on for size. Don’t fall into the trap of buying a 70 lb bow…50 will kill just fine.

 

[Enosiophobia]

Im no expert. But look into the Diamond Infinate Edge.

7-70lb draw weight
19-31 inch draw length
77% let off.

Its the most versitile bow i know of personally. $379 average price. Its a steal of a deal. Made by bowtech without the bowtech name and price.

My wife has shot one for a few years. I shoot it some too. She shoots deer with 85gr stinger broadheads at 35lb draw weight, plenty fast still at 35 lbs.

Its light weight and compact. You should literally be able to set it up for exectly what your able to do comfortably.

Same here

 

[std7mag]

The Diamond Infinite Edge gets yet another vote from me.
My daughter traded her first gen Weatherby Vangard even up for one.
She is 6'3".
Has it set for 35lb pull.

Now she's looking at an APA Black Mamba.
She shot one at the Harrisburg PA Outdoor Show before Covid showed up.
It was set at 50lb pull & she had no issues pulling it back.

I'm using an APA Viper Air set at 50lb pull. Nice thing about the Viper is it only weighs 3lb.
There are other features i really like too, but my time is limited this morning.

 

[rjtfroggy]

I feel your pain Chop House. Twelve years ago after one of many back surgeries I could no longer walk into my stands, nerve pain and knee pain kept me out of the woods.
I also was a dedicated "traditional bow" hunter and my custom Black Widow sits actually hangs in my reloading room idle for the past 12 years, I sold my Black Widow long bow for a fraction of the cost. Finally gave all my arrow making tools and supplies to a friend and his sons, also gave him 2 compounds that I never carried in the woods. I could never get used to them anyway.
In my state ( Ct.) even disabled hunters can not use a ATV or any other motorized vehicle to hunt.
Typing this I realized how much I miss being in the woods and sitting in my stand ( tree walker) 3-4 times a week. You have awakened many fond memories.

 

[AWS]

rtfroggy, there is a company making a all terrain wheel chair. I'm surprised that your state doesn't have provisions for handicap access.

 

[rjtfroggy]

rtfroggy, there is a company making a all terrain wheel chair. I'm surprised that your state doesn't have provisions for handicap access.

We have handicap access you are just not able to hunt from it. Ride it in but you can not sit on it to hunt, makes absolutely no sense. This is what happens when the legislature gets involved in making the rules.
Just an example, no bear hunting in this state yet bear sightings are way up every year across the state. I live in a residential neighbor hood surrounded by woods and the other night/day 5pm we had a black bear that was at a minimum 350lbs. in the yards across the street he/she is wearing ear tags and had dinner in the neighbors garden eating her Acorn squash. No sense.

 

[EOD Rob]

Been a bow hunter my whole life and am young compared to all about. However, my dad is getting up there and started to slow down. As like others, he got to the point that he could no longer draw his bow. Started backing off the weight, but the muscles and joints just couldn't take the beating. He all but gave up on hunting until I bought him a crossbow. Not saying that a crossbow is the answer for all, but it was what got him back in the woods. That was the most important thing!
My point is "do whatever it takes to keep yourself active and in the woods"!
It's good for him and keeps him busy. Totally well spent money!

 

[MikeT49]

On crossbows:. My experience. You can sit around and mope and feel sorry for yourself. Or put on your big boy pants and move on. I have to admit I kinda moped for a couple of years. A couple of archery seasons lost for ever.
For those of you that think you just need to pick up a crossbow and some arrows and you can shoot it like a gun. You're sorely mistaken. You still had to tune it,.arrows need to be sorted for straightness and weight. You need to spin check your broadheads. You absolutely need to practice.
If you think expandable broadheads hit the same place as field points you will find that is BS. I shoot rage hypodermics. At 50 yards with my Ravin R10 they shoot 3" low right. For fixed blades even worse. During the 2019 Wisconsin archery season, just before I got back home my bud had shot at and hit a nice 9 pt. He wasn't positive, but thought he hit high left. So I asked him if he checked POI of his fixed blade broadheads. Answer was no. We checked. His Muzzys hit 4" high and 10" left.
Crossbows need the same anal attention to detail as vertical bows.
Don't lose a couple of seasons because of a purist attitude. You'll never get those seasons back. Mike

 

[MikeT49]

I was gonna edit my post. I'm in a motel, halfway back home to Wisconsin for the rut. Was on the motel wifi. Lost connection to the site. Should have not even tried on the fricken free wifi. I replaced my old wireless tablet.with newer model. Lo and freaking behold no problem with wireless. Only got two bars, good enuff. One more thing on expandable broadheads. Say you shoot the rage practice heads and think you are good? Bad move. On my crossbow the practice heads POI is 4" high left from field points. With my setup if I relied on practice heads for scope sight in, I would be 6" low right with actual hypodermics. YMMV. Mike