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Bow for a kid

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Toshi

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,750
8,748
@Adventurous @eric strt6 and other bow-knowledgeable people:

my 10 year old wants a bow and arrow setup. What would you recommend for her to plink away in the backyard at maybe 15-20 yd (toward the side of the house)?
 
Adventurous

Adventurous

Starshine Bro
Mar 19, 2014
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Crawlorado
Toshi said:
@Adventurous @eric strt6 and other bow-knowledgeable people:

my 10 year old wants a bow and arrow setup. What would you recommend for her to plink away in the backyard at maybe 15-20 yd (toward the side of the house)?
Click to expand...
If she's just looking to plink away at a target in the backyard, any old setup with a reasonable draw weight would be fine. I'm partial to compound bows as they are easier to shoot, but a recurve would work fine too.

Honestly, I'd recommend taking her to any halfway decent bow shop and they'll get you setup. Beyond just draw weight, there are a whole bunch of variables in fitting a bow properly. If those things aren't all synced up, she'll likely get frustrated as it won't be accurate or repeatable. When you buy the bow from a shop they'll likely fit it and do yearly tunes for free.

The nice thing is that bows in general are very adjustable, so she'd be able to stick with the same one for several years.

Lastly, get a good safety net if there's any chance a stray arrow could cause mayhem. Field points are still pretty pointy, even at slow speeds they'd do some damage.
 
eric strt6

eric strt6

Resident Curmudgeon
Sep 8, 2001
24,372
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directly above the center of the earth
I second going to a pro shop for a fitting and proper set up. A good shop will have an indoor range and a machine for checking equal reaction of both arms and set the targeting pins. When I first started out I had 6 hay bales set up behind my target bag as an arrow stop.
 
vinny4130

vinny4130

Monkey
Jun 11, 2007
457
217
albuquerque
I got my lady a Genesis compound for her first and it has been great for learning and backyard archery, plenty powerful also the pull is adjustable. We went to a local archery shop that had an indoor range she tried a few and the mini worked the best for her. I also got the cheapest nylon recurve because it's left or right, so others can try it but to be honest it's awful should've just got a left and right mini. A local archery shop with in indoor rage will be more than helpful and a fun experience.
 
Toshi

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,750
8,748
Thanks, all. I think Santa might write her a letter that gifts her an intro class at this shop/range that's just a bit north of me as well as a setup should she like it in reality:

News & Events | No Limits Archery

www.nolimitsarchery.com www.nolimitsarchery.com
 
Toshi

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,750
8,748
IMG_1876.jpeg
IMG_1878.jpeg


ended up at Rocky Mountain Specialty Gear as No Limits only stocks compound bows. 15 lb draw, 6 carbon fiber arrows. Also got a box target thing.
 
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kidwoo

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
Aug 25, 2003
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Squirtin ketchup n' mustard on charred flesh
Toshi said:
View attachment 204979View attachment 204980

ended up at Rocky Mountain Specialty Gear as No Limits only stocks compound bows. 15 lb draw, 6 carbon fiber arrows. Also got a box target thing.
Click to expand...
Be sure to do the thing that idiots here do once they get bored of ax throwing in the back of the brewery and start buying bows. Setup the target on one side of a trail, walk to the other side and shoot across the singletrack.

That's so awesome.
 
canadmos

canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
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SkaredShtles said:
Here they shoot their AR-15 across the trail like that. :disgust:
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Shotgun here (witness it).

Also saw a dude dressed in full camo complete with facepaint walking around a small forest, next to a freeway, shooting a rifle at random. Luckily there was a cop taking a smoke break across the street in a baseball diamond, so I went and chatted with him. Hunting is allowed in there, but no rifles and not sure what he would have been hunting at that time of year.. :panic:
 
Toshi

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,750
8,748
eric strt6 said:
So how does the kid like her new Bow?
Click to expand...
she loves it

I think (at a few weeks from 11) she genuinely believes Santa got it for her, too, as we handled it slickly. I had it hidden in the basement until we left for Seattle, then when the last one in the house to turn off lights and the like it got spirited up to her room where Santa's letter said she'd find it, along with a prior-night photo of it in front of the lit Christmas tree.
 
Toshi

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,750
8,748
bow update:

she still is shooting a time or two per week. she said the 15 lb draw was getting too light so we went in to the shop from whence all this stuff came, and they swapped out the end pieces on it for 20 lb draw ones. they also refletched one of the feathers on one of her arrows.

she shot some dozens of arrows on the range there to test it out, shop-running archery expert lady came out and checked out her form and said it looks ok/gave her a few pointers, and we chatted with the guy next to us in the range. he makes his own bows, arrows, holsters, etc. pretty cool hobby. :)

anyway, with proper phrasing it's not inconceivable that my claim that Santa probably got the bow for her from this shop is still ringing true in her very intellectually smart but still small part little kid 11 year brain. and she wants to go back to the range some other times to shoot. I have two free range uses on a card received when I bought the bow--since we made a purchase this didn't count as one of those times.


Edit for video:

www.threads.net

Toshi Clark (@toshi.clark) on Threads

Elder kid’s recurve bow: now with 100% more 20 lb draw weight fiberglass pieces, and 100% less of the original 15 lb ones. She approves. And might still believe that Santa obtained her bow through this archery shop, as Santa does rely on other retailers.
www.threads.net www.threads.net
 
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