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As a guide and hunter, I've spent thousands of days in the field. This show is about translating my hard-won experiences into tips and tactics that'll get you closer to your ultimate goal, success in the field. I'm Remy Warren. This is Cutting the Distance. In my opinion, there really is nothing better in the hunting world than hunting with a bow. The vast majority of my hunts are done with a bow. It's challenging, but the reward is really hard to beat.
I know if I had to pick one thing to hunt with for the rest of my life, I'd pick the bow every single time. Now, I've got a lot of questions from people about getting into archery, and most are new hunters, but a lot of lifelong hunters as well. And I think it's because the leap and the learning curve into archery just seems so steep that people kind of want to know where to get started.
So I'm going to be breaking down bow hunting over the next four episodes from getting started all the way through advanced tactics to being consistently successful. So no matter your knowledge level, your skill level from beginner through expert, I really think that you're going to enjoy this series.
On today's podcast, we're going to open it up with what I would call Archery 101, covering the basics of what you need to get started, the different types of bows, gear, finding the right fit, as well as jumping into arrow selection. But before we do that, I really want to share my personal journey into archery. It's somewhat laughable now, but you just don't know what you don't know. I really wish that I had had this podcast when I was starting out. I really didn't know a single person...
that shot a boat or archery hunted. But I knew that I really wanted to get into it. I would say that my introduction to archery actually came from watching TNN Outdoors on the weekend. What that was is on every Saturday morning, TNN Network would play hunting shows on essentially like cable.
Now that seems like you can get hunting content wherever, Instagram, YouTube, you can even find it on Netflix or multiple networks dedicated to hunting. But back then it was just TNN Outdoors Saturday morning. I remember watching various real tree shows and they would archery hunt for white tails. And I thought, wow, that looks really cool.
And then there was a guy that would come on and his name was Byron Ferguson. And he was kind of like a traditional archer trick shooter and he'd throw things up and shoot them. And I thought that looks awesome. Now my parents had got me one, I would say like a kid's long, it'd be like kind of like a fiberglass long bow, like 15,
I would shoot it at like Boy Scouts or whatever, the kind of same kind of things you'd see around. And I got, I had one of those and I didn't really have anybody to show me how to shoot it. So I just kind of would watch this trick shooter. And his advice was always be the arrow, be the arrow. So I thought, okay, as long as I'm being the arrow, I should be able to shoot this thing. What essentially he's talking about is shooting, instinctive shooting. So
learning to shoot through knowing the trajectory of the arrow and not really thinking too much of it, but just becoming that shot. My practice involved having a...
tied to a string in the backyard, like a softball. And I would swing the thing back and forth and just think, be the arrow, be the arrow, and try to shoot the softball. I'd shoot balloons on targets. I had a little hay bales in the backyard that I would shoot at. And I got pretty decent with that essentially youth fiberglass longbow. I then kind of graduated to a youth model compound bow. It had tiny wheels. I'd say the wheels were probably
two inches in diameter, pretty weak. And it wasn't something you can hunt big game with or whatever, but I got that bow and I knew nothing about sites or anything. There wasn't even a place to put sites. It was just
little bit more powerful than my fiberglass longbow and I shot it the same way be the arrow instinctive shooting with my fingers I could shoot a fair distance but not real far I mean 20 yards would be clearly the max of this bow I took it hunting just in places for small game very small game I'd shot between that bow and the other bow rabbits quail ducks maybe a goose and
And I thought this is pretty cool. But to graduate from that to going into big game hunting, I wasn't even old enough at the time to hunt big game, but I knew that it was something that I wanted to eventually do. So
As I got older, I progressed with the bow, just using those same skills of be the arrow, look at what I'm shooting at and let the arrow fly and let it hit the target. Now, when it got a little bit older, I thought, okay, I wanted to get into archery hunting. I wanted to start hunting deer. So I got like a, what would it be? My first hunting bow, my first real compound bow.
But then again, I knew nothing about the bow. We went to a local sporting goods shop. I picked out a bow that would be strong enough to kill a deer.
grabbed a dozen arrows. They were all Easton aluminum arrows and just, they were full length. I knew nothing about spine weights. I knew nothing about cutting arrows. I knew nothing about nothing. So I, and I got a site on this bow. I thought, okay, this is cool. It's got a site. My site was a square, like a square site housing. It had a wire that ran down vertically and then multiple horizontal wires. So it was like having a crosshair. I actually don't think I had a peep site on it,
And I got that sight. I shot with my fingers using that sight. I remember going out to the hay bale when I got this nice new bow. I thought, this is awesome. I got my compound bow. I got my sight like they've got on TV. I'm going to be super accurate. And I couldn't hit anything with it. So it was frustrating. I would try to sight it in. I would shoot high and I'd move the sight and nothing was working right. It seemed like it was all backwards. Um,
So I just took the sight off and started shooting that same bow, open sights like I'd shot everything else. I thought, okay, this will be good enough. Then as it got closer, I got a little bit older. I was about to venture out on my first archery hunt. And I thought, okay, I want to, for deer, and I thought I want to really get...
the site thing figured out because people are shooting things further. And I just was, you know, thinking it was open country mule deer hunting spot in stock. I had nobody I could talk to about bow hunting. I,
There was very little information that I could get about it at the time. And so I just was self-teaching myself how to bow hunt from things I saw on TV and just stuff that I learned on my own. So I was in a sporting goods shop one day and I saw, oh, here's some accessories for the bow. So I got a rest and I thought, okay, this will be good because I, up until that point, I was just shooting the arrows off the shelf of my compound bow.
Now, if you're, if shoot a bow now and you think that's pretty funny because, you know, you're supposed to have a rest to put the arrow on. I knew nothing of this, but I saw it and I was like, Hmm, okay. It was in a clearance bin. It was like,
half off half off of the half off it I think I don't even remember it was like what would be the original Dick's Sporting just kind of a all sports store I think it was I can't remember the name of it but something like that kind of like a big five type store where they just had some leftover archery stuff and they're practically giving it away so I thought okay I'll get this
And I got that and I had my other site and I was in the checkout line and a guy behind me was like, oh, are you a bow hunter? And I was like, well, I have a bow. I shoot small game, but I'm wanting to deer hunt. He goes, oh, cool. And he looks at the rest and he says, oh, what kind of release do you have? I said, release? What's a release?
So what goes on your wrist and you can't use that kind of rest without a release. I had no clue about the release or any of this. And so this guy in the line at the sporting goods store was just telling me all the things that I needed that I had no clue I needed. Oh, a peep sight. And then I'm like, I was talking, yeah, I don't have a sight because when I was moving, I just couldn't get it to be accurate. So I just took the site off and I just shoot it off the shelf with my fingers.
He's like, oh, well, that's because when you sight in, it's opposite. You follow the arrow, not like you're sighting in a rifle scope. You got to move things opposite. And then it dawned on me. Oh, yeah, that makes sense. That's pretty much what it was doing. But in the moment, I didn't even spend enough time to try to figure that out. I had no one to tell me, no way that I could look it up. So I didn't even understand how to sight the bow in. But
But with this little bit of knowledge that I got from the guy and the line in the random sporting goods store, I went back, I found a few items that were cheaper. I rechecked out and now I was on my way to going on my first archery hunt. Definitely over the years, I have learned a lot about bow hunting, but most of my knowledge comes from a lot of trial and error.
if I think about my journey in archery, I didn't have anybody that show me how to shoot. So I had to figure things out the hard way. That doesn't mean that I wasn't very successful. And that doesn't mean that I didn't have a high level of skill in bow hunting. It's just that I had to figure things out myself. And so I think that a podcast like this is really going to help cut the learning curve for a lot of people, not only in archery,
how to start out, but when it comes to shooting as well, because I know the mistakes that I've made in the past and I know ways that make things a lot easier because I've tried so many different things. So I think that that's a good basis for starting out before we jump into the tips and the how to's for this archery 101. To get into archery, I think the first major hurdle is understanding the
How do I get a bow? One of the questions that I get asked more than anything probably comes down to what's a great beginner bow? What bow should I start with? How do I get into archery? And so I think the first step is obviously, it seems very simple, but you need a bow. Now, if you don't understand or don't know, it can be very daunting because there's so many choices, there's so many things, there's so many opinions. Archery, just like every other little niche of every type of thing that people do,
There's so many different opinions. Everybody's got their own expert opinion. Certain people like certain things, bad mouth, other things. And you know, when it comes down to the brass tacks of it, I think that everybody is, it's great to have different opinions, different things that you like. I personally love shooting all kinds of bows. I like traditional bows. I like shooting a long bow. I like shooting a recurve. I love shooting a compound bow.
The first step is just understanding bows. So let's just go through a little history of and maybe the types of bows. So the simplest bow, a bow with its simplest form. Obviously, everybody knows what a bow is. It's got a string. It's got limbs, a riser, something you hold on to. You draw it back and you shoot an arrow forward. The most primitive, I would say probably the most primitive form of a bow would be what was called a self bow. I'm actually looking at mine right here. What a self bow is, is it's
Just a bow made out of a single stick. There's no lamination of limbs. There's no, it's just essentially like what you would think of an original bow. Somebody took a stick, they made it bend, they put a string on it and they shoot an arrow. Pretty simple, not a lot to it, not super complicated.
But also, not super accurate, not a lot of power. You have to be quite close compared to other bows. So now let's step up one more notch. We're going to go to a longbow. So through history, there's been so many different changes in bows and different regions have different types of bows. But the longbow is essentially like a selfbow, but it's got...
more laminated limbs a little bit more power to it maybe a shelf on it to rest an arrow maybe a leather grip but very very basic very very simple a string a bow an arrow then you go to the recurve the recurve is that bow that looks like if it was de-strung the tips curve backwards
away from the direction that you'd pull. So as you draw back, those limbs actually are curved forward, I would say, just kind of give you a mental picture of it, which generates a little bit more power. So it's a step up from the longbow, but still also very basic. Now with the recurve, you could also add sights. These are more traditional bows. They're shot with fingers. So you use your fingers, you use a tab or something else like that.
Then we're going to kind of step up to the next level of bows, which would be considered a compound bow. These are bows that have the wheels on them. Those wheels generate a lot higher velocities and a lot more accuracy than your traditional type gear. I would say that the compound bow is probably one of the better bows, well,
I'm in two camps here. It's a great bow to start hunting with because you're going to advance and become more accurate a lot faster, but you also need, uh,
lot more equipment to get those bows going. There's a little bit more technicality to them. It's not as simple as just grabbing it and starting to shoot. It can be, but there's, you know, a lot of things that you need to understand when it comes to purchasing the right bow. I think when you're thinking about getting into bow hunting, you first just got to say, okay, what kind of archery hunting do I want to get into? You know, I personally started shooting
simple traditional bow and it's a great way to start bow hunting or start getting into archery at probably a lower price point with a lot less gear needed. However, you need a lot more skill to be efficient. So you can kind of jump into the game with a compound bow a lot sooner and be a lot more efficient than possibly with a traditional bow, but you also need more equipment. You need more things to
You know, with anything, it's a little bit more complicated. So I think you first got to decide what kind of bow do you want to shoot? Now let's go into when it comes to getting a bow archery. I like to think of it like this. Like if somebody is brand new to archery and then they don't know anything about a bow, you know, they go, Oh, let me shoot your bow. I want to see if I want to bow hunt. Can I shoot your bow? And the answer is probably not. Why? Because every bow needs to fit the shooter. Okay.
I can't give my bow to 99% of my friends to shoot to even see if they like it because it won't fit them. Every bow is pretty much custom fit to the shooter, especially when it comes to compound bows. So I'm going to be now kind of going down this path of compound bows, and we're going to kind of break out some of the things you need when it comes to getting a bow. So the first thing is going to be understanding sizing.
Bows are sold by a couple combinations of things. So you've got your draw length, which is the length of essentially your arms drawing back to put that arrow at full draw.
And then the weight of the bow. So that's the amount of poundage that you're pulling back. I guess a really good question would be, well, what weight and what draw length should I shoot? And it really just depends on the individual. A very popular draw weight for people that shoot a lot is around 70 pounds for men and probably 55 pounds...
on the high end for women. You know, the draw weight really just depends on your strength, but also people just getting started are not going to have the necessary muscles to draw back 70 pounds is my guess. I've had a lot of friends over the years that like, Oh, I want to get into archery. Let me draw your bow back. And these are people that are fit and in really good shape yet. It's very difficult for them to draw 70 pounds back while I could do it with my feet up in a chair, like no feet on the ground, uh,
in an awkward angle in my sleep you know because you develop certain muscles for it so
The trouble is when you buy a new bow, there isn't a lot of options for it to grow, but you can also back the weight off on whatever the maximum draw weight is. So if you get a 70 pound bow, you might be able to back that out to 60 pounds and get started. If you're in decent shape, pretty strong, you should be able to work up to it pretty quickly. But it's just good to keep in mind that bows are sold on weight and draw length. So the first thing we're going to do
is decide, okay, how do I understand what draw length I'm going to be looking at? Because I think a lot of people getting into it start to think, well, I'll buy a used bow or I'll look online or, oh, they find a bow that's a good price and they buy it. And then they quickly realize that that bow doesn't fit them. So a good starting place. And this is by no means a hundred percent accurate. And you'll kind of find out why here in a little bit, but
What I do is you put your arms out. So we got to measure our wingspan first to kind of get a starting point for our drawing. So a great way to do this, put your fingertips in the corner of a wall, stretch your arms out. You don't want to like overstretch. Like you're really reaching just natural open wing tip to wing tip distance, and then divide that by 2.5. That should be a great starting place to understand where your draw length is.
Now, to get a really accurate understanding of your draw length, you're going to also probably want to go to a bow shop, draw a bow back that has...
some kind of measurement on it and get to where you can anchor and it feels comfortable and go from there. But it's a good starting point. I think for 90% of the people out there, you know, using that rough measurement, dividing by the 2.5 should give you an idea of what your draw length can be. Now, what's comfortable for you to shoot, you might have to fine tune and adjust that draw length over time where you find things are more comfortable or not.
My draw length is 30 inches, but I found over the time that I actually shoot a 29 and a half inch draw bow a little bit better. I personally like a lot of bend in my elbow.
I don't know. It's just how I like to shoot and I shoot better that way. So I've shot everything from 28 and a half to 30 and a half inch draw lengths. And I find that that 29 and a half is better for me, but you know, it just depends on the bow too. So sometimes I've got bows that are a little longer to axle to axle, and I like the longer draw with those, but when they get a little bit shorter axle to axle, I don't like the angle of the string for that draw length. So I kind of
end up going with a shorter draw length as the bows get shorter. That's just me personally. I don't think that that's a hard and fast rule. I'm sure everybody's different, but you know, I just want to say that to say that, you know, things can vary a little bit between individual shooters and where you're getting started, but that's a good place to just kind of set your baseline, say, this is my draw length and then adjust from there.
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So now let's jump into all the stuff you need on your bow because there's a lot of different items that are needed to make this whole archery thing a successful venture.
And I think this is a great place to start is just understanding what you're going to need. So once you understand, okay, I've got, this is my draw length. You've measured your arms, you know, your draw length, and then you've got an idea of probably your size and strength and your draw weight. So for most adult males, you're going to be start. I think personally, you're going to want probably to get a 70 pound bow and back it off to around 60 pounds, especially because a lot of the new bows, the pull weight might be heavy, but
The hold weight isn't as much because you've got what's called let off. So a compound bow has what happens is you draw back and you're pulling back the draw weight. But once you get it full draw, when you're anchored before you shoot, it's a percentage. You're only holding a percentage of the weight that you're drawing back. Whereas a traditional bow, like a long bow or recurve, you're holding 100% of the weight of the bow at full draw.
So you might see a bow that says 85% let off. What that means is 85% of the weight of that pull is let off while you're holding the bow. So you're really only holding 15% of the weight that you're pulling back.
So that's why you can hold a compound bow back longer. Being able to hold it back longer means that you're able to focus in longer. Focusing in longer means that you're going to be more accurate and they're faster as well, but you're going to be more accurate over distance and probably getting started out. So the things you're going to need for compound bow are going to be arrows,
obviously you need something to shoot and with those arrows you're going to need tips practice tips and then later on hunting tips on the bow standard bow is set up with a rest which is something that holds the arrow a sight which is just like it sounds a sight it's mounted that you look through and aim it's going to have a peep sight so this helps you align your eye with the sight and allows you to look through the string then you're going to need what's called the release aid of some kind there's
Many different kinds of release aids. So these are mechanical device that holds the string or actually holds what we call your D loop. So you don't actually have your release on the string itself, but you have it on a loop of string comes off of the string that just protects your string and can be a little bit more accurate that way. So that wears out as opposed to your bow string wearing out. So then you've got your D loop and you
There's multiple kinds of releases. There's a wrist strap release, which has a strap around your wrist and then something that comes out with a trigger on it. So it's more of a post type thing that comes from the wrist and then has a trigger. That's what I use. I find it really good for hunting purposes. Some people end up developing target panic with those kinds of releases because the end of your finger is extremely sensitive. You have a lot of nerve endings on your finger.
And generally most target panic, if you hear the word target panic, comes in because your brain's reacting to knowing that something's going off and then makes a quick move or an adverse reaction to that
and causes you to shoot poorly. So there's other releases on the market that try to limit that, which are more back tension style releases. What that means is you're pulling straight back and the tension of your pull allows the bow to go off. There's ones that have thumb buttons where you're kind of pulling and the tension against that string causes it to go off. And then there's pure back tension, which essentially releases itself when a certain amount of weight is applied directly
to the release. Those are really good for target archery. A lot of people hunt, not so with back tension, but with the thumb release kind, they kind of look like a brass knuckle and you kind of put your hand in it. Some of them have straps on them or whatever, but it's more held in your hand. There's other kinds of releases, hinge releases and other things. I would say starting out, you know, everybody you talk to,
50 different archers, they've got 50 different opinions. I really think that the wrist strap is a good way to go for hunting because you can allow it to go off at any point. But I also understand that it can be not so great for starting out because you can develop bad habits. So I'd say the second best one would be a thumb triggered release, like a back tension style thumb triggered release. That's another great option to get into starting out.
So once you've got your release, you've got your bow, you've got your sight, you've got your rest. Now you're ready to start shooting. But before you get to that point, you're going to have to buy some arrows. Now, just like choosing a bow is very specific to your draw length, your draw weight and everything. Arrow selection is extremely important as well. There's specific arrows that you need for your specific bow. It's kind of like
Thinking about buying a gun for if you're a firearm hunter, you would never put a 270 round in a 300 wind man. Why? It's just not going to work. You know, there's specific ammunition made for specific guns and arrows are sort of like that in a way that one, you need the arrow to fly accurately. So it has to be the right what's called spine. So the right stiffness, right?
for that bow to shoot it correctly. You also need it for safety reasons because a bow that's severely underspined or flexes too much for the amount of draw length and weight of the bow could actually snap. So you have to pick the right arrow based on the right bow.
I've seen people that get into archery, and this is kind of the confusing part. They find a bow online, they buy a bow, they don't understand sizing, so they get something that doesn't really work for them. And then they just go and buy the cheapest arrows they can find, which could be severely underspined, could be the wrong kind of arrow for the type of bow that they're shooting, and could be dangerous as well. So...
When you go to buy arrows, you need to find an arrow that's right for your bow. Almost every manufacturer has arrow charts out there. And what it is, is it'll give you your draw length, your draw weight, and then it'll suggest the spine for your bow. And this is a really good starting point. So what an arrow does is as the arrow gets shot,
it flexes. It's being pushed from the back through the knock and propelled forward. When that happens, that arrow is moving and you want a certain amount of flex, not too much, not too little. So you think, oh, well, I'll just get the stiffest arrow, but a lighter bow shooting like a really stiff arrow that's too stiff, it's over spined, is going to cause it to not be as accurate as a bow that's shooting the correct spine. Now, you're also going to have to factor in the weight of your tip. So
Just starting out, if you're shooting, I would say in that 50 to 70 pound range of weight for bow, you're probably going to want to shoot 100 grain tips. Now, 100 grain seems to be the most standard. It's like the gold standard of tip weight. 125 is a little bit heavier. Some guys with higher poundage bows will shoot those or guys that want a little bit more weight forward will shoot those. And then really light bows, like if you're a kid or a
female or just have a lighter bow you could go sub 100 grain but I think 100 grain is the easiest to find and so I kind of suggest shooting that it's kind of the standard for a lot of different bows so if you're just getting started that's probably the one you're going to be looking for and then you'll find your arrow spine dependent on your draw length and your draw weight for your specific bow
Now, the length of your arrow is important as well. Just getting started, you could always, if you wanted to, shoot a full length arrow, but you're going to have a little bit more weight out there, but you're also going to lose speed. So when it comes to selecting an arrow without getting, I mean, you could, there's guys that just are all about arrow selection. They talk about weight forward, front of center, all this stuff. The way that I think about choosing arrows is me personally, I like to,
Good arrow for hunting. That's my main purpose So guys that shoot targets a lot if all you want to do is to get into archery to shoot targets I would say go with a real lighter arrow because it'll be faster It's gonna drop less but you also lose kinetic energy for impacting the target to shoot foam You don't need a lot of energy out there. I've found that heavier arrows are
While they might go slower, they have more mass. That more mass has more energy. So it actually, you get deeper penetration. You can maybe hit the shoulder and it goes through the shoulder and makes a clean kill as opposed to getting stuck in the shoulder.
I learned that the hard way when the whole rage was using faster arrows, faster bows, faster this. So I lightened my arrow up. I, you know, I, it was still spined correctly. So it flexed the right amount for my boat is accurate, but man, was it fast. And because it was fast, I had a lot less drop or less pin gap. So the difference between shooting 20 and 30 yards was smaller. And the difference, you know, from 20 to 50 yards was smaller than a heavier arrow.
And it was all well and good until I got out in the field and made a great stock on an animal and shot and hit it in the shoulder. And the arrow went in about two inches and the animal ran off and didn't kill it. It just hit it in the shoulder and later on the arrow fell out. And I saw that animal walking around the next day or two days later, just going back to his daily routine.
But I knew that years prior, if I had to hit an animal in that same exact place with that same bow, with that heavier arrow, it was all over. I would have been punching a tag and packing out back straps as opposed to having to restock that deer a few more times. So understanding that I prefer a little bit heavier arrow than, say, a light, faster arrow because my intentions are all hunting based.
Now, later on, when it comes to broadheads, you're going to be hunting with, so you're going to start out when you're just getting started, you're going to want field tips. These are just tips that go into a target. Now, obviously you're going to need a target or somewhere to shoot. And then as you progress and get into hunting, then we're going to kind of switch that tip into a broadhead, which will be your hunting type tip. One of the questions that I get asked a lot is what's a good bow for a beginner.
And in some ways I have a good answer. In some ways I don't really know because the bows that I use are always based on really high performance. I haven't shot a lot of what I would consider beginner bows because I haven't needed to. I moved through that stage pretty young in life. And so I kind of moved with through beginner bows as well.
teenager as a kid. But I will say that in my opinion, here's some really good things to look for. Many of the major bow manufacturers have what would be like a, an underlying brand. So they've got their, their main brand, like prime bow that I shoot has an underlying brand called quest. So it's more of just an entry level brand.
bow and they're still high quality. Matthews has, I think their line is called Mission, Bowtech has Diamond. So a lot of these major bow companies have these lines that are a little bit better price point. They're still really good bows, but they just maybe don't have all the bells and whistles, maybe not as demanding on skill or a lot cheaper price point than some of their higher end mainline bows. Also a really good thing to look into is
is, you know, you go to some of these stores and you see what I would consider a kit bow. It's got a bow that has completely set up with a sight, a rest, and, you know, everything you need, a quiver. I forgot to add quiver to the other stuff you need, something to hold your arrows in, a quiver. And they're kind of set up. They've got all the bells and whistles. They got everything you need. That's a great way to get into it. Another great way is there's a
guys that are really into bow hunting that want a new bow every year and so you can once you understand your draw length and a good draw weight you can start looking for those used bows that's another great way to get into a really good bow or a more advanced bow a faster bow maybe a bow that you can progress with better at a better price and then there's the other school of thought where it's like hey i'm the type of person generally when i get into something i just go all out
So it might not be a bad idea to just get the bow that you want two years down the line. Now, something that you're going to progress into, um, and really dedicate to, then maybe just get, you know, a higher end bow. It's just like anything you kind of get what you pay for in some aspects. Um,
The main bow companies, I think a new bow set up, it can be very expensive in thousands, thousand dollars plus with the whole everything is not uncommon. So I understand, you know, if you're trying it out, just getting into it, maybe look for a better price bow, maybe a kit bow, maybe a used bow. That's a great way to kind of get started.
Now, one thing that I will say is that as bow hunters, bow shops are needed and very integral part of the archery experience. So just kind of like anything that's very custom, having a bow shop or somebody that's an expert in setting it up and getting you started is just a part of the experience. I remember the first really good bow that I got, I got from a local bow
bow shop. He set it up, we ordered it, you know, we measured my draw length, he put in the peep site because to work on a bow, you need a bow press. There's a lot of things that you're going to need to know that starting out one, most people don't have the equipment and two, most people don't have the knowledge. That's a very common thing. So I suggest, you know, when you're thinking about purchasing something, it's always better to spend a little bit more, but go to a bow shop
where you're going to have the help getting it set up. If you just buy a bow off of a guy on eBay, you're going to need someone to set it up for you. And I think that it often gets overlooked how integral bow shops are to the sport of archery and to getting people into archery, as well as people that are very experienced. I don't have a lot of the equipment to even work on my own bows. I've got friends that have the stuff so I can go over and use it or whatever. But
you know, having a bow shop that knows what they're doing and can set things up for you is really part of the archery experience as well. And I know kind of COVID slowed some of that stuff down, but it's a great way to find a bow shop near you. Maybe one that has a range, a league, other things, because that's a really good way to get in and make sure you're getting the right stuff, getting the right knowledge, um,
i think a lot of those people are very apt to seeing a lot of people that may be just getting into archery and know nothing about it so i think that's a really good place to start just understanding the basics of archery and what you're going to need to get into it i think puts you leaps and in bounds ahead or at least gets you pointed in the right direction i know
for a lot of people that reach out. Sometimes all you need is a nudge in the right direction. And so I hope that this kind of breakdown, this is just the simplest, most basic, but it gets your mind thinking and it's really something anybody can do.
getting into archery is not hard. It just, there's kind of this barrier of understanding all the nuances, understanding what you might need and understanding where you might go to get into it. But I think the first step is just understanding this is something that I want to do. It's not hard to get into. I mean, I got into it as a child by myself with no one to show me anything. And look at me now, mom, top of the world. No, you know, I'm hunting and doing it and I figured it out.
But I think that if you do it the right way and take some of this advice and just kind of really put your mind and your focus on this is something I want to get into. I think that's the first step and then going out and acquiring what you need. And then we're going to go over over the course of the next few weeks, how to kind of build that skill and go from this stage of wanting to get into it to being consistently successful.
Next week is going to be archery 102. We're going to be covering everything for shooting. This is great advice for anyone starting out in archery or really just any archer in general. We're going to be covering things like repeatable consistency, the difference between accuracy and precision, and then some of the nuances when it comes to maintaining a bow, like tuning your bow. That's all going to be next week. We're going to be getting into the nitty gritty and really the fun stuff of taking that bow out, shooting, being better. So when you go out into the field, you're going to be able to do that.
you have the right kind of practice and the knowledge to make a perfect shot. I also really wanted to just congratulate all the winners for my Christmas giveaway. I want to make sure that I can contact everyone and
everybody's replied. I got things sent out, but before I announced them, I just want to make sure everyone was contacted because otherwise I was going to pick alternate winners. Uh, so congratulations on our mug winners, Justin, Andrew, Mike, Ernest, Dakota, Sean, just to name a few. And then we got our, our bino winner for that looking forward photo contest was PJ. Uh,
great photo. And I did, I picked quite a, I picked about 15 of my favorites and then did a random draw on that. So he's getting sent new pair of vortex binos. And then our knife winner was Andrew. He went back, found a good knife post, um, pick. He actually got to design a custom Gerber knife. Turned out awesome. I'm stoked on that. So that'll be, he'll have that shortly. So thank you all of you guys for listening, for playing the game. I appreciate it. It was a lot of fun. Um,
So until next week, get that bow and get ready to live life at full draw. Catch you guys later.
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