Archery anyone? Daughter wants to get started but I'm clueless!

[Melensdad]

My daughter was at a friend's house, the father is a big time bow hunter, his kids consider archery a family fun sport. They introduced Melen to the sport and she is now asking for a bow for Christmas.

Any advice on lessons?

How about brands of equipment? Looking at a recurve, NOT a compound.

I've been told that Samick is a good brand and the Samick Polaris and Samick Sage are 2 bows that can transition from beginner to intermediate users.

She used a 25# draw, and when I started digging for a bit of advice that seems to be where she should be. The hard part is that many of the bows start at 30# draw weights (the 2 above are an exception).

HELP?!?

[PBinWA]

Find an archery shop that can size a bow for her. Not only is the draw weight important but the draw length.

For a newbie, I would be less concerned with the brand and more concerned with getting one that fits right.

There's not that much difference between #25 and #30. She will get stronger back muscles in short time.

[SShepherd]

yup, a GOOD archery shop is a must.

I only know of a good place where i live- they set my wife up and had her stacking arrows in an afternoon with a PSE.

http://girtsarchery.com/

they seem to have alot of fans in indiana

[Melensdad]

yup, a GOOD archery shop is a must. . .

This seems to be the closest true archery shop in the area, its got a lousy website but seems to be highly recommended in this area.

http://ontargetarchery.org/Home_Page.php

We are now looking at buying 2 bows. One for Melen and one for either my wife, or myself, to use too. Might as well learn a new skill!

[joec]

I had an English style long bow as a kid and really enjoyed it even through my teens. My brother in law hunts with a bow though he uses some serious compound bows. I never really stuck with it but I do remember how I like it as a kid. I don't know when they stopped in the schools as it was still part of girls PE when I graduated.

[Melensdad]

My daughter first tried it in school. It is still part of their Physical Education class at her school.

I just got off the phone with one of her friends, the friend that re-introduced her to archery. Apparently they are very serious about getting together and starting an archery club at school.

[joec]

It has been a long time since I had kids in school but here it seems they don't require PE any more. It was required unless there was a medical reason out if when my kids where in High School. I know little about my grandkids schools but I might ask one of the older ones about it also.

[Melensdad]

Just ordered this as a gift for my daughter's Christmas. Its a Korean made Samick Sage, takedown recurve bow.

I got it in the 25# draw weight, which is what was recommended to me. As she improves her technique and strength the limbs can be gotten in heavier draw weights. Its classified as a beginner/intermediate hunting bow but reviews seem to indicate its commonly used for target sports, which is where her interests lie.

$129 from Twig Archery in Ohio => http://www.twigarchery.com/samick-sage-t-d-recurve/

One of the guys I met at my sister's wedding in London is a guy named Chris Bissell, he holds 3 world archery records currently, and he and I have been trading some emails about a bow for Melen. He recommended the Samick brand as high quality and high value.

http://samicksports.com/img/hunting_sage.jpg

[SShepherd]

awesome!!! now, get ready to sink some money into arrows and a backstop/targets.

I've wanted japanese longbow, but noone here teaches kyudo

[Melensdad]

Yup, I realize that arrows and a target or two are going to be needed, but her birthday is in January so we can spread out the "joy" of giving over a few weeks! I figure a gift certificate with archery lessons will be a good birthday gift too.

We are (lovely Mrs_Bob & I) also considering buying as second bow, a PSE. But those are made in China. Cant find a beginner bow made in the USA. At least the Samick bows are South Korean and they are our allies! I'd like to buy a bow at the local shop instead of mail-order, support local businesses. But the local shop pushes the PSE bows for kids.

[SShepherd]

Yup, I realize that arrows and a target or two are going to be needed, but her birthday is in January so we can spread out the "joy" of giving over a few weeks! I figure a gift certificate with archery lessons will be a good birthday gift too.

We are (lovely Mrs_Bob & I) also considering buying as second bow, a PSE. But those are made in China. Cant find a beginner bow made in the USA. At least the Samick bows are South Korean and they are our allies! I'd like to buy a bow at the local shop instead of mail-order, support local businesses. But the local shop pushes the PSE bows for kids.

well, you can always support a local guy- or atleast a guy in the US and buy a bow made by hand.

when i started archery ( I was 12) I lost alot of arrows:doh:

[Melensdad]

well, you can always support a local guy- or atleast a guy in the US and buy a bow made by hand.Looking to keep the price reasonable!!! I'd love to buy a bow made in the USA but it doesn't appear that any of the beginner/intermediate bows are made here. The Samick brand is from South Korea . . . near as I can tell every other traditional (wood/wood composite) bow in the beginner/intermediate class is a communist China import.

PSE apparently makes their modern aluminum/fiberglass bows in the USA.



when i started archery ( I was 12) I lost alot of arrows:doh:Guess I should look for brightly colored shafts!

[SShepherd]

Looking to keep the price reasonable!!! I'd love to buy a bow made in the USA but it doesn't appear that any of the beginner/intermediate bows are made here. The Samick brand is from South Korea . . . near as I can tell every other traditional (wood/wood composite) bow in the beginner/intermediate class is a communist China import.

PSE apparently makes their modern aluminum/fiberglass bows in the USA.



Guess I should look for brightly colored shafts!

LOL, Exactly !! Hot pink or yellow!

[PBinWA]

Here's my first archery experience. When I was really young we had an old long bow without a string in our shed. One day I took the bow and rode to Woolworth's on my bike and bought a string and some arrows for it. I took it home, stuck an arrow in it and pulled it back about half way aimed it up in the sky and let the arrow go.

That damn arrow flew! Out of our yard and right into the neighbor's inflatable pool dome!

I put everything away in the shed and hid under my desk in fear of the beating that was going to come when my dad got home.

My dad must have had a good day at work because he could barely keep from laughing when he came in to punish me. I got off lucky that day - it was a rare occurrence.

[300 H and H]

As kids, my twin and I used to take a long bow and blaze orange arrows in to the back yard overlooking a bare corn field in early spring. We would take turns laying down shooting and one spotting. The bow was put crossways on the legs of the guy shooting, with the feet on either side of the handle and pull it back as far as the arrow would let us. Let it fly and see how far it went. We had a 65 lb recurve and it easily throw an arrow 1/2 mile. With some wind in the right direction, quite a bit farther!

Regards, Kirk

[Melensdad]

Well I went up to Cabela's today. You know they are "Americas foremost outfitters" so I figured they would have a bunch of stuff and some knowledgable people to help me out. They had exactly 4 traditional bows. 1 of those 4 was a model that would be suitable for a beginner, the other 3 had heavy draw weights. They did have dozens of compound bows of all shapes, sizes and colors. From pink to camo and small to large with all sorts of wheels and cams and some that had stings that appeared to be twice as long as a serpentine belt on a GM car!

Now I'm sure somewhere in their aisles they had the cheap practice arrows but damned if I could find them. They had all sorts of expensive arrows with mean sounding names and logos like "Carbon" and "X-Treme" and other such things.

Clearly Cabelas caters to the NON-traditional archers. Target shooters are not welcome there.

[SShepherd]

Well I went up to Cabela's today. You know they are "Americas foremost outfitters" so I figured they would have a bunch of stuff and some knowledgable people to help me out. They had exactly 4 traditional bows. 1 of those 4 was a model that would be suitable for a beginner, the other 3 had heavy draw weights. They did have dozens of compound bows of all shapes, sizes and colors. From pink to camo and small to large with all sorts of wheels and cams and some that had stings that appeared to be twice as long as a serpentine belt on a GM car!

Now I'm sure somewhere in their aisles they had the cheap practice arrows but damned if I could find them. They had all sorts of expensive arrows with mean sounding names and logos like "Carbon" and "X-Treme" and other such things.

Clearly Cabelas caters to the NON-traditional archers. Target shooters are not welcome there.
well you crap weasle...you should have let me know
i was up there buying ammo

[SShepherd]

http://www.schupbachs.com/

they have a good archery store with very knowledgable staff. The also have a range on the 2nd floor.

[Melensdad]

I actually found a shop that is about 2/3rds of the way between our home and her school. They have an indoor range and an outdoor range and they offer lessons to all ages of beginners.