As I'm sure you saw in August, with my Cowboys and Indians post, William has a bow and we like to shoot it now and then, or perhaps even go to the archery range where Allan and I will rent a bow and shoot with William. Things are a-changing now!
Allan has mentioned many times that he would like his own bow. So, for Christmas, that's exactly what he got! He was floored. He had no idea that he was getting one, and that's the best kind of present!
When you buy a compound bow (which is what Allan wanted) you have to know things like the person's draw length. A draw length is roughly the distance from the corner of your mouth, to your hand holding the bow, fully extended....or the distance from one hand to another when the bow is fully drawn (ready to shoot). The other thing you need to know for a compound is their draw weight. A compound is a marvelous hybrid of old and new technology. It is a bow (as old as time) with gears (new). These gears allow you to pull back a huge weight (resistance, if you will), but then the gears hit a magical point and all of a sudden, the weight or resistance has been reduced by up to 80%. This allows you to hold the bow fully drawn, comfortably for an extended amount of time, say, if you are waiting for that deer to turn just a hair more before you shoot.
I didn't know what any of these things were for Allan, so we went bow hunting (hunting for a bow...not with one, hehee) after Christmas. It turns out that Allan's draw length is 27" and his weight is 50lbs. Well, that's what he chose. He will probably increase it, but he wanted to start 'low' for now. I put low in quotes, because I can't draw 50lb *sigh*. Anyway, Allan found a bow he likes:
Redhead Toxik XT
Willy and Allan went to the archery range and had a great time with it. Allan came away with visions of bowhunting in his head. He was like a kid in a candy store. I must admit, the excitement was very catching, and I mentioned that perhaps one day I would also get a bow. No sooner had the words left my mouth when Allan was online researching good compounds for women. I had to smile. I am blessed to have a husband who's company I enjoy and who enjoys mine. We are always excited to do things together. It really makes me sad when I see couples who complain about having to spend time together.
Long story short, I also have a 27" draw length, and a draw weight of 42lbs...currently. I've been told I need to be at least 45lbs by next fall so that I can go deer hunting. No one has really asked if I want to go hunting, it's more or less been assumed. Why else would I have a bow right?
My new bow:
Bear Siren
So, armed with new bows, Allan and I bought memberships to the local archery club and headed to the the outdoor range. In January. Yeah...in Canada. Sounds like fun doesn't it? There is an indoor range too, but it's currently off limits. Some major hunter guy passed away and his wife donated all of his 'stuffed' (I don't know the term) animals to the club. There are animals from around the world that are currently housed in the loft of the club. Apparently they are worth a LOT of money. One guy was telling us that the hunting tags for some of these animals are tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. A deer tag here is about $40, if that puts it into perspective. Anyway, they have all these animals, and are scared to hand out keys to the members, in case someone leaves the door unlocked by mistake. They don't want to lose their new trophies. So they have a wonderful indoor archery range and all the members are stuck shooting outside. Let's say that some people are not very happy, so they are working hard at a solution.
Now, with our new bows, I was feeling a little guilty. William has been shooting his long bow for a few years. He has been wanting a compound for a few years. Here we are with our new compounds, and Willy still has his long bow. Bless his heart, he didn't complain or even mention that he wanted a compound waaaaay before we ever did. So...off we go to buy Willy a compound. This is seriously getting VERY expensive.
We wanted to buy Willy a bow that he could grow into. His draw length is 24.5" and he can draw 30lbs. As he grows though, he will get longer and stronger arms, which will change his draw length and weight. We found a bow that will grow with him, but it weighed 3.8 lbs. That's not that heavy really, but it was heavy enough that he couldn't hold it out at arms length. So, we had to go to a youth bow. It is maxed for draw length and weight for him, but we couldn't go any larger, because he couldn't hold it.
Willy's new bow:
Diamond Atomic
Now that we all have bows, we have been out shooting as a family. Each with our own bow. The nice thing is that it is a common interest and it gets us outside. That's pretty nice when you live in a 5th wheel, being outside. It's the roomiest space we have! My arms have been getting stronger, and it shouldn't be long before I change my weight to 45lbs. I still haven't decided if I want to hunt, but I have a lot of time for making those decisions.
The other thing that I have started doing is making bow slings. I saw some for sale in the store, made from what looked like paracord. I thought...I can make that! So I have been! I'm going to be posting them on my Etsy page once I source out a place to get rubber or leather for attaching them to the bows. I'll try to remember to post when I have them on.
No comments:
Post a Comment