This article features the best bow hunting tips for beginners. In it, you will get ideas on how to start and improve your hunting experience and also make it more enjoyable.
“Why do some hunters choose to use the old method of “draw, aim and shoot“ to kill a game instead of just shooting the goddamn thing with a rifle?” Some people wonder. “Isn’t that a whole waste of time?”
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The thing is, there is this special thrill that comes with having a game one on one with you in a close range, and being able to kill it. Until you start hunting, you can never know this feeling.
That is why, for centuries, this method being used by several people all over the world to hunt animals have been in existence. The sport only keeps getting better and better.
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Hunting Bow Types Beginners Should Know
As a beginner in this sport, one of the most important things you need to learn about carefully is your equipment. The best of them, how they function, and so on. That will go a long way to determine whether you will be coming home with meat regularly or not.
Usually, there are about four types of bows (or more) you will come across as a new archer. They are listed below.
Some like to group them into just two categories: Traditional bows (Long Bows and Recurve Bows) and compound bows. They may share some similarities in appearance, but they are all quite different from each other, especially in performance.
The long Bows, for instance, are longer, lighter and more comfortable to draw than others. But, they are not as fast as the rest. You can’t trust their speed when aiming for a longer distance.
The Recurve Bows on their own have a similar weight with the longbows and can be easily carried about from one place to the other. However, they are faster when compared to long Bows.
They often come in two types: the take-down type and the fixed-limbs types. Both of these types work the same way; the only difference between them is that the take-down types can have their limbs removed from the riser and fixed back when needed.
The compound Bows, on the other hand, are more advanced archery equipment. They are stronger, faster and weighs more substantial than the traditional types. You can always count on them to deliver. That is why archers prefer to use them on the field than the conventional models.
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Are there some health benefits one can derive from archery?
Yes. As a sport, archery holds lots of health benefits for us. Let me show you a few of those below.
- It helps you burn calories easily
Being an activity that requires you moving around, drawing with your strength and occasionally chasing down a game, becoming a full-time archer or taking part in the activity regularly can help you burn calories faster.
You may not notice your numbers on the scale going down the first day or two after you must have started, but as you become more serious with it, those extra pounds will have no other option than to start crashing down.
- It strengthens your muscles
Continuous participation in archery helps to increases your muscles. Especially those of the body parts regularly used in the sport: your shoulders, hands, neck, chest and legs.
As you walk distances carrying different sizes of bows regularly and drawing them with all your strength when needed, you will discover a difference in your whole body. Your hands are stronger, same as your feet, shoulder and body parts.
- It affects your brain positively
Since archery always require a lot of calculations (distances between you and your game), focus and ignoring distractions, it can go a long way to affect your brain positively. In real life, you will be able to reason correctly, focus on a particular thing at a time and never give up easily.
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What are some of the brands of bows out there?
There are several brands out there that meet the requirements of being classified as the best. Some of those brands are:
Since 1992, Matthew Inc.have been making easy to maintain and easy to recoil bows. The company which was founded by Matt McPherson, a well-known compound bow engineer, has over the years gained the reputation of being referred to as one of the best.
Their products are highly recommended all over the world.
This company ranks very high among the best brands all over the world. They are also among the largest archery equipment manufacturers in the world presently. Like the first mentioned, their products have been known to be of top quality and are highly recommended.
Hoyt Archery has been in existence for several decades now and has continued to make quality products year after year.
When it comes to making archery gears, their many years in the business gives them an upper hand over many other brands out there.
Started by Fred in 1982, this company specializes in making top quality products that are also affordable. You can count on their products to deliver when you need it most. The company is among the top-rated brands in the industry.
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Common Mistakes New Archers Must Avoid
Aiming, drawing and shooting your first arrow can be very exciting, especially if you succeed in coming home with a game on your first day of going out to hunt.
While you are working on perfecting your game, here are the common mistake you must avoid by all means.
- Not focusing on a particular game
If you go out to the field hoping to come home with any kind of meat you find out there, you may likely come home with nothing. That is because before starting out as a hunter, you need to decide on the kind of animal you will be hunting and focus on it.
That will help you study it and understand how it behaves when it goes out to feed, where it beds and keeps the young ones, how far it goes from its habitat and so on. Without knowing these things, you are likely to shoot at nothing and hit it every time.
You need to focus on a particular animal, understand how it behaves, what it feeds on and every other thing you need to learn about it.
- Not Knowing the Law in their state or country
When it comes to bowhunting and killing animals, the laws differ from state to state and from country to country. In one place it may be legal to kill a particular animal e.g antelope, in another place it may be illegal to kill it.
In some states, you may require a kind of licence from government agencies to enter certain places to hunt, in other places you can just wake up in the morning and go anywhere to hunt, nobody cares.
Some places also have laws put in place regarding the equipment you use in the sport. If you must continually stay out of trouble with the law, make out some time to get to know what is allowed and what is not in your area.
- Taking weak shots
Most beginners focus so much on aiming that they end up taking weak shots. While you must aim properly before taking a shot, you must also understand that without taking a very strong shot, you can still miss your target.
This is because it can be affected by wind, a deflection or the animal in question may try to escape with the arrow. So while you aim at a target, also ensure you draw your bow with as much strength as is necessary at that moment, else you won’t regularly come home with anything.
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How To Perfect Your Shooting As A Beginner
How do you become better at shooting as a bowhunter or an archer? I will show you. Just keep reading.
As a beginner, one of the most important things you should pay attention to is aiming and hitting at your target every time. By following the guidelines below, you can easily achieve that.
- Get Used To Your Equipment
Get to spend some time learning and understanding how your archery equipment works. Touch and test every part on your bows, the arrows, the strings and everything. You can’t be a good archer if you don’t really know how your tools work. Also, get a bow sight and stabilizer to enhance your shooting performances.
- Study the area you want to hunt
Studying the area you are hoping to hunt is also very important. Familiarize yourself with the area as much as you can. Ask questions and find out from other hunters the kind of animals to expect in such areas. That will go a long way to prepare you ahead of time and help you perform better when you finally begin.
- Pay attention to the wind
Another very important thing to do is to pay attention to the winds when shooting or learning to become a better archer. This is because the wind is one of the factors that can affect how good your shot is.
One may take a nice shot but due to the wind, end up missing the target. So pay attention to the direction of the wind always and use it to better your shooting instead of shooting against it.
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- Practice regularly
Like the old saying goes “practice makes perfect”, you cannot become better at shooting as a bowhunter if you do not regularly practise the act of shooting.
The practise I’m talking about here is finding time to go out to the bush and shoot at animals or any other thing you may be using as your target in your training.
Set aside some hours in a week and go out with some friends or relations to practice. That way, you will become better at shooting without much stress on your part.
Final Thoughts
Over the years, people of all gender and different age brackets, have enjoyed participating in this sport either as individuals or a group.
If you just started out and you are looking for the best bow hunting tips for beginners, I hope the ones you find in this article go a long way towards helping you.