Over the years, I have had many invitations to bow hunt. Over the years, I have turned down many invitations. Its not that I didn't want to go, but more that I didn't have the equipment. And, if you haven't priced bows in awhile, they're expensive! Add to the purchase all the add-ons to make the bow functional, arrows, release aids, scent reducing clothing, climbing stands, etc., etc, etc. Its really expensive. Oh well.
Last season, I had a brief change of heart. I accepted an invitation and borrowed a bow. I've been around bows in the past, but I was a youth and they were all recurves. I had not really had any opportunities to experiment with modern compound bows. Sure, I had shot a few in the archery shop, but that's not really like having one for the weekend to play with. So, I went and I played. As is typical on my weekend hunting efforts, no game showed; none. Which freed up a considerable amount of time back at the house to play with the bows. Play, I did.
I played with the bow I borrowed. I played with the bow of the friend I was hunting with. Enjoy, I did. Enjoy maybe a little too much. After I returned home. I showed my boys the borrowed toy. They were hooked. From then on, all I heard was "I want a compound bow for Christmas, can I have one?" What kind of hunting, fishing, general outdoors dad would I be if I didn't grant that wish? So, I did.
You can see where this is going. How could my boys have bows and dad not have anything to play with? That just wouldn't be right, now would it? So, in the depth of the after Christmas sales and end-of-year clearances, I fell upon a deal I couldn't refuse.
It came about on a trip to Bass Pro. Really, I should not go into that store. They seem to have a personal wallet vacuum that they affix to my back pocket every time I go through the front door. I can hear the suck the whole time I'm in the place. To you, it might sound like crowd noise, but its not, its the suck...
Anyway, I digress. The friendly sales person was all ears as I asked the simple, yet filled with the sound of wallet suck, question, "What would you suggest for an entry level bow?" With the follow-up, "What accessories would you suggest to compliment that rig?" The suck was in high gear. Now it wasn't as bad as it could have been, but it was bad enough. I walked out with a highly discounted PSE Typhoon, accessorized and with a case. I was in!
After I got it home, I had to just let it sit. It was too dark to even try it out in the yard. Then I had to wait until after chruch today before I got a chance to play. All the while the older boy was pestering me, "When are we gonna shoot, Dad. Huh? Why do we have to wait? I thought you said right now!" I played it cool, but I was just as anxious as he was.
We took it out in the back yard and set up the target. I paced off 20 yards. I nocked and arrow and drew with the new release. It was smooth. Look through the peep, line up the pin, squeeze the trigger...ZIP! D
amn, that was fast! And quiet! way too cool. The boy was impressed too.We played for about 20 minutes; trading off sighting in. We got pretty close. However, we still need a little tweaking; the wind was just too strong today. The picture to the left was a group from the middle of our session.
We will be playing more. I am excited about the opportunity to improve my archery skills together with my boys. It is something we can do anytime in the yard and I really like that.
