Best Bow for wife's Birthday?

[Harvest the Land]

Wife's birthday is on the horizon and thinking of getting her a bow. I have a crossbow and fletch my own bolts and love it - but have very little knowledge or experience with compound bows. Wife isn't interested in crossbows but is very interested in a compound or recurve (although I'm assuming for a beginner compound would be the way to go?)

What are some brands that i should focus on or what brands should I avoid altogether? In doing online research for "best hunting bow for women" the Diamond Edge by Bowtech keeps getting mentioned with good reviews. Is this a good entry bow for my wife? She's a tad over 5 foot 10, pretty strong and long arms

If any of you folks could point me in the right direction I'd really appreciate it. Thanks for your help!

[donny.brooke]

Elite Basin RTS package or Elite Ember RTS package would fit the bill quite nicely, Three Brothers Archery has them available. Very adjustable for draw length and draw weight. Pm me and I can send you a pic of my wife's Basin.

[Harvest the Land]

Pm sent. Thanks for taking the time to point a guy in the right direction

[KBC]

Take a look at the PSE stingers. MRDGC got a few new ones for the youth program and I was impressed with them when we set them up. Very adjustable and I even robin hooded an arrow at 30 sighting one of them in and so did another guy. If I can get my wife a bit more interested I will probably pick one up for her.

[mike31154]

Might want to keep it simple & get her started with a take down recurve. You can get various weight limbs, start her out with 25 lb limbs to work on form, then move up to something legal to hunt with.

[Harvest the Land]

Take a look at the PSE stingers. MRDGC got a few new ones for the youth program and I was impressed with them when we set them up. Very adjustable and I even robin hooded an arrow at 30 sighting one of them in and so did another guy. If I can get my wife a bit more interested I will probably pick one up for her.

Ok, I've seen a few PSE on sale at different stores. Good to know they make good bows. Will take a look and thanks for the suggestion

Might want to keep it simple & get her started with a take down recurve. You can get various weight limbs, start her out with 25 lb limbs to work on form, then move up to something legal to hunt with.

Ok thanks for the suggestion Mike. I like the idea of a take down as we hike through some thick stuff quite a bit. So you think a beginner starting out on a recurve (instead of a compound) is a good way to go?

[Elkaddict]

Consider taking her to a reputable pro shop. They can correctly find her draw length, fit her, suggest suitable accessories, supply correctly spined arrows of the correct length, and have you paper tuned and out the door in one or two visits. Building and tuning your own bow can be lots of fun but also time consuming and frustrating, sometimes. A good pro can have her having fun from the first arrow she flings.

[Harvest the Land]

Consider taking her to a reputable pro shop. They can correctly find her draw length, fit her, suggest suitable accessories, supply correctly spined arrows of the correct length, and have you paper tuned and out the door in one or two visits. Building and tuning your own bow can be lots of fun but also time consuming and frustrating, sometimes. A good pro can have her having fun from the first arrow she flings.

Great advice thank you

[mike31154]

Ok thanks for the suggestion Mike. I like the idea of a take down as we hike through some thick stuff quite a bit. So you think a beginner starting out on a recurve (instead of a compound) is a good way to go?

I've never shot a compound bow or crossbow so I reckon I'm biased. I purchased a 1970's vintage recurve (not take down) about 8 years ago to get started in archery with the intent to try hunting as well. That bow has a stated draw weight of 40# at 28". Well my draw length is less than 28" so I'm not able to hunt with it, but it was a great bow to learn with. It originally came with a sight but I ended up breaking it so decided to try my hand at 'instinctive' shooting. This means no sight & I keep both eyes open when taking a shot. I've become quite accurate using this method, within a reasonable range of course.

Although I know next to nothing about compound bows, they just look too complex for my liking, a lot more to go wrong. The plus side to them is they tend to be more compact & the pulleys reduce the draw weight you feel once you get the string to a certain point. This means you can hold your draw almost indefinitely. I only hold my draw for a couple seconds or less. The bow I have now to hunt with is a take down, nothing special, Fleetwood Edge, a Samick Sage clone. I have 2 sets of limbs for it. I use 50# limbs for hunting as at my draw length that has me within legal limit, at about 43-45#. One of the keys to good shooting is tuning your arrows to the proper length, spine strength, weight, tips etc. It gets to be quite a rabbit hole.

As far as take down for 'hiking through the thick stuff...' I leave the bow strung all the time, even at home. If you're ever actually able to get close enough for a shot in the bush, you don't want to be having to assemble your bow..... Compounds tend to have a smaller footprint but more bits & pieces for twigs/branches to hang up on.

To sum up, yes I believe a traditional recurve with appropriate size & weight limbs is a great way to get into archery. Others' advice to find a shop, club or even friends with bows to try out is great, although if you want to surprise her.....

I got both my Daughter & Son in Law into it with the same Fleetwood Edge I purchased. They loved it. We now have a good selection of limbs between the 3 of us if needed. Daughter is a lefty so had to get the appropriate riser.

Here's the vintage recurve with simple sight I purchased 1st. I've since removed the sight. I really like the feather rest on the shelf.


Daughter at the range some years ago. She was a natural & really enjoyed it.


The Fleetwood Edge I use for hunting. DIY target I use to practice. Range is about 12 meters. I'm fairly consistent out to about 20-25.


The one & only game animal I've harvested, using a judo point on the arrow. About an 8 meter shot.

[Onepunch]

I recently re-entered the archery game after a decade away and was pleasantly surprised at how well a lot of the entry leve compound l bows behaved. I do really like the idea of starting with a recurve too, it makes it simpler to focus on learning and less on tuning. I have had great luck with the Bear RTH packages. I've since upgraded but passed the bow to 2 beginner shooters of varied age/draw/height/strength. I did as recomendations and brought the shooters to a pro to get set up and tuned. I'd put Bear, Blackout, PSE in this catagory. Some of the other brands entry level bows are 2x the cost. Great equipment, worth the cost but it might be cost prohibitive.