Our backyard family archery contests with cheap one dollar arrows from Wal-Mart have sparked more serious archery interest from my older daughter. She doesn't want a fancy hunting bow, but is looking to buy a longbow. She's got her eye on one at http://www.oldbow.com that's called a woodland elf longbow for $99.00, and doesn't want to spend much more for now. It's 72 inches. Anybody have any longbow advice or experiences to share? Thanks, Keys

Hello !

Is she a beginner ? Will this be her first bow ?

AFAIK, shooting a long bow is not something easy, and maybe not for a beginner ...

IMHO a "classic" recurve bow is better fitted (suited ??? .... more suitable ???) to introduce a beginner to bow shooting.



Alain

Keys,

As already stated, a longbow is probably not the best bet for a beginner. My first bow was a PSE longbow, and it caused me nothing but frustration. Despite practicing hours a day for the better part of two months, I could not hit the broad side of a barn with it. I started with visions of Robin Hood and Howard Hill (I suspect your daughter may thinking of Legolas from TLOTR), and ended with me being VERY frustrated and selling the bow for pennies on the dollar.

That was five years ago. I just today bought another bow. It's an older compound, and I just couldn't pass up the deal. Messing around in the yard after bringing it home, I put five out of five on the target (nowhere near the center of the target, but.....) after playing with it for an hour. Now, obviously I'm no expert, and your daughter may be different, but this experience backs up what several more experienced archers have told me--longbows aren't for beginners.

Good luck and take care,

Andy

Keys,

I would recommend a recurve instead of a longbow. For a given draw weight, a recurve is going to shoot faster than a longbow because it is more efficient. This will result in less arrow drop and flatter shooting, which generally enhances accuracy.

PSE makes a couple of youth recurves that are in your price range. I'm sure you can find them several places online, but one place is FS Archery, whom I have ordered from before:

http://www.fsdiscountarchery.com/bows.htm

I would recommend getting a draw weight she can handle pretty well and then get some arrows that are spined for that weight. Shooting cheap unmatched walmart arrows is only going to increase your daughters frustration with poor accuracy that isn't her fault. Shooting a bow can be tough enough without extra problems.

If she still has problems, you might try getting her a mechanical release, and see if that takles care of the problem. Manual release is probably the toughest skill to master.

Good luck and good shooting!

Greg

Martin Archery or Bear are good resources for traditional bows. I'm particularly fond of Martin's Stick, which is available in draw weights from 20# to 55#. Pick up a copy of Primitive Archer magazine. It's *really* cool, and will have listings for traditional bowyers. There's also some good books out there on traditional/primitive archery.

We really appreciate the good advice. She is buying a recurve bow. The cheap Wal-Mart arrows and cheap youth bows we got at Bass Outdoor World at least got the kids interested in doing more. BTW, they're very good, even with the cheap stuff. Many thanks. Keys