best bow for me

[appaloosa10]

im a novice in the bow world and used to hunt elk with a mid 90's blue mountain wolverine 68# bow that shot +/- 260 fps, it shot well and never needed any tuning. i shoot fingers and have a few questions about the new lightening quick bows. are they to fast to not use a release (or does it matter) and which martin or other would suit my needs.

1. frequently shoot
2. elk hunt
3. reliable

i would appreciate as much input as possible

[alex]

I'm not a hunter, but i'll do my best to answer your questions.If i make a mistake the other guys here will correct me.First-you will need a release, not because the bows are too fast, but because of their short A2A and because of the parallel limbs (except the Scepter, but it is a target bow and i don't think you'll consider it "smokin' fast" ).Second- if the speed is the most important for you, you can take the Warthog or the Firecat Pro-X, but this bows are hard to pull, because of their agressive cams.About the other 3 questions-every bow with a proper maintenance, can be frequently shot (it depends on the archer also); elk hunt-i'm not sure, but every heavy bow( 65-70#) should do the job;reliable-again the maintenance.I have a 08 Martin MOAB and it is a great bow and as far as i know it is perfect for hunting.

[bfisher]

Not too bad Alex. I'll add a couple things. You can look at the specs for Martin bows and if you insist on shooting fingers then your two choices are the Scepter and the Mystic because of their long ATA. You could probably even go with a Scepter Mag (magnum limbs). This would still be decent, but with more speed.

Both bows are essentially target bows, but can be had in camo which makes them good for hunting, too.

There is a guy on this site, name is Scepterman30. He should be able to add more to this.

Now, if you should feel a need to shoot a release then the doors are open to any of the Martin bows. The Warthog and FireCat should work if you can handle a hard cam, and the Cat cam is not as harsh as some would have you believe.

You don't need a 70# bow to shoot anything. People have the wrong idea of this. Assume you would shoot a 70# bow with the MPro cam and get 270 fps (arbitrary figure). You can shoot a bow with the Cat cam at about 7# less draw weight to get that same speed with the same arrow. So that hard cam isn't going to feel quite as rough when backed down to 63#. But with 80% letoff the holding weight will be less, too--maybe something you like for hunting.

In case you are somewhere in between, say shooting 65#. You can order a Martin bow set to max at such. You don't have to get a 55-70 off the shelf version. These are just options you can think about.

Any more questions? Bring them on. Be glad to help.

[appaloosa10]

thanks for the input, i feel that the moab would be a right fit for me but i still have my druthers about shooting with a release. what exactly would i be loosing if i shot the moab with my fingers?

[alex]

Well, i am shooting my MOAB with fingers, because our only pro shop here is out of releases , but it's not good.It is possible, but the accuracy isn't very good and after some shots your fingers start hurting.I've backed the bow to about 51# and it is easier to pull it with fingers, but in this way there's a speed loss.

[bfisher]

thanks for the input, i feel that the moab would be a right fit for me but i still have my druthers about shooting with a release. what exactly would i be loosing if i shot the moab with my fingers?

The biggest drawback is the extreme finger pinch due to the short ATA. I know some finger shooters that shoot bows in the 36" range, but they draw with three fingers and drop off the bottom finger at full draw. With the Moab at 32 1/2" it would be sheer madness IMO unless your draw length is less than 24", and even then.................

Alex said it nicely. You could drop the weight down, but then Elk hunting would be almost out of the question.

From a personal standpoint I have about a 27" draw and wouldn't even attempt shooting fingers seriously with less than a 38" bow.

[dlriggins]

perhaps I can add some insight into this matter
once apon a time I swore off the release when using my old gougar mag(70 something model) as all I had shot up to that point was a recurve I then moved to using a thumb button release and my groupings came together by almost 2 inches @20 yds with an added string loop and caliper release the groupings became equally tight at 30 and even 40 yds. my observation is that with fingers I couldn't consistently grip the sting the same every time and the release is a little more consistent and the string loop places even pull on both upper and lower parts of the serving and are a lot less likely to damage the serving. I will end by saying that a release and string loop may decrease your draw length by as much as 1 to 2 inches but makes the poundage a lot easier to pull and hold.
Give it a try and see if you have the same results that I did.

[bfisher]

riggins brings up a good point that you should be aware of. Because a release hooks to a smaller point on the string instead of wrapping around three fingers it's most likely that you need to shoot a bow with a shorter draw length than with fingers. Usually about 3/4" or so.

Add a string loop and this stretches your body out more so sometimes you need to compensate by shortening the draw length of the bow. Here again usually about 1/2" or so.

So bear in mind that you, and most other people, should buy a bow that is adjustable for draw length. And usually adjustable down from what you think you might want to shoot. And don't rely on limb tags to tell you what the bow is set at. Very few come set at the draw length they are marked. Measure the bow you intend to buy.

It's all about body alignment and being able to anchor such that you can repeat the same form over and over again.