Why use a Compound Bow?

 

What will you shoot next? A compound bow, a recurve, or a crossbow? When selecting your next bow to use in search of something to grace the table for dinner, or adorn the wall for admiration, you’re met with an overwhelming number of choices. To begin with, many manufacturers are adding recurve-style hunting bows to their lineup. No, not like the cheap things you shot at camp back in the day, but real, powerful hunting bows that sport recurve limbs.

Adding to the range of choices, many state laws now make crossbows legal. Some open up crossbows to hunters with age or physical parameters that make them a suitable choice, but several other states make crossbows legal anywhere, any time during bow or gun season. These weapons are easy to use, powerful, and very accurate.

Finally, the standard choice of hunters for decades has been the compound bow, and this style hunting bow continues to garner the great majority of the market share. Why? In this guide we’ll outline while professional and amateur hunters alike are continuing to make compound bows their weapon of choice.

Let’s take a quick look at the other options. Recurve bows boast a taste of traditional style in name, though they look much more like modern compound bows than competition recurves or the models that have been shot for centuries. The biggest drawback to the recurve bow is that there is no let off, as with compound bows. A 60 lb draw weight on a recurve means that you’ll have to hold all 60 lbs in check once you draw, which can produce fatigue, waiting for your prey to give you the shot you need. Getting tired throws off aim pretty quickly. In addition, without a cam system, the same draw weight on a recurve cannot produce quite as much power as with a compound system. Finally, the recurve bows, as technologically advanced as they may be, simply cannot deliver a release as smooth and free of vibration as a cam utilizing compound bow.

When it comes to crossbows, the majority of seasoned hunters simply believe that they do not present the same level of sportsmanship as compound bows do, which is the major reason they have been outlawed in most states for so many years. They require less skill to shoot accurately, hold the draw for the user, and reduce the “sporting chance” hunters like to provide for the animals they hunt. Crossbows also represent a slightly elevated chance of personal injury because of their compact size and shorter arrow lengths.

Compound bows provide a wonderful balance of technology and sportsmanship. They require more skill than crossbows, and demand that the hunter spend time honing his or her abilities in order to have the best chance of success. Consequently, when shooting technique is mastered, resulting in the harvesting of more quality animals, the level of satisfaction the hunter experiences rises accordingly. Love for the sport, respect for the magnificent creatures hunted, and a range of high quality products that make shooting an absolute pleasure – these are the primary reason compound bows continue to be the bow of choice for today’s top professionals and the vast majority of hunters.