Monday, October 20, 2008
Answering Tough Questions
A hunter stopped in my Buck Pole Archery Shop in Marion today, and had us replace a worn string. Two other hunters were taking some practice shots, and the question was appropriate as we watched a young man shooting a bow set at 90 pounds.
The hunter who had his string replaced wondered if drawing that much weight wasn’t harmful.
“It’s harmful if you have to struggle to pull that much weigh, and most people can’t do it,” I told him. “The major problem with drawing that much weight is it becomes very easy to tear back and shoulder muscles. A bum shoulder isn’t easy to deal with, and it takes a very long time to heal.”
I’ve had many people in my shop that were capable of drawing 90 pounds, and one muscle-bound guy that could draw 100 pounds. Almost every one of them ended up tearing up their shoulder and back muscles, and the next thing they knew, a 55-pound bow is about their limit.
“Well, why try to pull that much weight?” he asked. “What benefits are there to drawing 90 pounds and shooting an arrow that travels over 300 feet per second?”
The obvious answer is a flatter trajectory over a greater distance. It means the difference between shooting 20 yards and 60 yards with very little change in their sight picture.
It means being able to shoot accurately at longer distances, and this can be of great benefit when hunting the desert southwest for Coues deer, the Rockies for mule deer and elk, and the sagebrush flats where antelope roam. In each case, shooting at longer distance can spell the different between success and failure.
“Of course, there are some people who wish to appear a macho man,” I told him. “Those people think that the more weight you draw, and the faster the arrow flies, the better hunter they will be.
“And, in some ways high poundage and very fast, very flat-shooting arrows can improve accuracy at longer distances and help accurate shooters achieve kills at longer range. However, one must weigh the benefits against the possible risk of personal injury.”
This hunter was pulling 60 pounds and was comfortable at that draw weight. He said he can pull 65 and 70 pounds, but is uncomfortable with the lower range and finds it a struggle to draw the heavier weight.
I put one of our Extreme bows in his hands, and it was set at 65 pounds. He pulled it back with little apparent effort, commented on how smooth the draw curve was, and asked if the poundage was set at 55 pounds.
I told him it was set at 65 pounds, and he couldn’t believe he could pull that much weight without greater effort. I put it on the scales, and the needle settled at 65 pounds when it rolled over.
“Sixty-five pounds it is,” he said. “Let me shoot that bow again.”
He shot it again and again, and 12 times in all. Each shot was side-by-side with the other arrows, and he moved back to 25 yards. He chose the same aiming point he’d used at 20 yards, and all arrows plunked into the target bulls-eye.
Now this guy was a good shot with excellent form and a consistent anchor point. He looked at his old bow with a new string and set at 55 pounds, looked at the new C.P. Oneida Extreme, and hit the hip.
“I’m going to buy that bow,” he said. “It’s not that I want to shoot faster or flatter, but in the back of my mind I’ve been hankering for a Colorado elk hunt. The extra speed, the flatter trajectory and smoothness of drawing this bow makes it a perfect choice.
“I’ll have to practice more and would like to be capable of shooting a tight group at 50 yards. With this new bow, I think that is a distinct possibility.”
He could handle 65 pounds with all the new designs in the Extreme bow. He won’t be working his shoulder muscle any harder with this bow than he was with his old bow at 55 pounds.
He wrote out the check, said he’d give the older bow to his son, and left the shop a happy man. Granted, I made a sale but there is more to an archery shop than good service and good sales.
Making a customer happy is important to me. He will show his new bow to his friends, they will draw it at 65 pounds, and he will become one of my strongest supporters.
And that is why I make, sell and service bows. I delight in making hunters happy.—The Whitetail Wizard