[JJHACK]

I was shooting my bow a little bit today. While adjusting my sights a bit I guess I realized just how fragile modern archery gear is. It's truely an accident waiting to happen. For those guys using a bungie cord peepsight and a drop away its even worse!

Consider just how many little set screws, cables, drop away rest levers, brackets and ropes, sting loops, tiny fragile sight pins, and little screws for windage and elevation. It's simply amazing I have never had a failure with this contraption in all the years I've been bow hunting. I'm a very simple archer though. Wisker biscuit and a single lever adjustable pin sight. I don't use a string peep sight either so I have eliminated a whole lot of trouble areas. Even so it's a nightmare of crap connected together with a wish and prayer.

When looking over the arrows with glued on fletching, and screwed in points glued on knocks! How many guys would consider this reasonable with a hunting rifle and scope? I simply cannot imagine accepting my rifle scope to sit with all these set screws and flimsy connections, nor would I want my action conneted to the stock with less then very strong bolts tightened to the extreme! Yet we seem to just accept that glue and tape with string and rubber tubing is all perfectly acceptable on our archery gear!

Funny from a guy who hunts both archery and firearms. I would never accept the archery standards for my rifle, yet I hunt and shoot with that old Mathews legacy without a second thought. And it's never failed me yet!

 

[Skorzeny]

Have you ever taken a hard look at what the Plains Indians used to take Buffalo. Even the humidity affected the quality of the shot.

 

[Huntfishnwork]

JJ, I agree it's amazing how fragile the equipment is. I've "beefed" up my bow this last year, as I sometimes sling it over my back, and ride in on motorcycle into the high country for bear and deer. I'll need to post a pic to show some modifications I've made, but basically you could throw my compound on the ground and not worry about a stick tweaking the sights or bending pins. I still can't figure out how to really protect the string though.

 

[JJHACK]

Bowfishing is without question the most brutal event for a bow. It's always soaking wet, slimy, bloody, banging in the boat, and rails, laid on the floor, and shooting platform. I hold out for bigger carp these days, especially as the season progresses. So I want to have the power needed to shoot big fish really deep or at a distance. For that you really need 60lbs minimum. Add to that you may need to stay at full draw waiting for the fish to clear weeds, branches, or otherwise provide the angle needed for a good shot.

For this reason I prefer a compound bow. Compounds can get out of whack in a hurry under these less then gental conditions. The bow to beat for this is the Onidea Ospery. It's a compound bow without wheels, uses a simple bow string, and has glass limbs with all Stainless steel hardware. It's the toughest compound bow I've ever seen or used. It's kinda whacky looking with the hinged limbs, but man does it work great for fish. I've never used it for big game, but it's performance is so good I have wondered why I don't use it for big game.

The Oneidas long string length allows finger shooting too. My bowfishing set up has a "no-glove" rubber string sleave that allows shooting without a glove too. Another thing to eliminate. I was in a carp shoot some time back when my release went overboard. I was out of the hunt at that point. Then I started carrying two releases. I also went on a deer hunt once and when I arrived I realized I forgot my release. New archery stuff is complex way more complex then needed. The fragile nature also spooks me when it's all I have to make or break my trip!