New to archery, would love some experienced advice!

[mmaaxx]

G'day all,

Just registered here as a member in the hope I may learn as much as there is to know about archery. Ive been a keen hunter for a couple years now, mainly using a .243 Remington, but my mate has been into rchery for a few years and recently done pretty good in the state championships.

On our last hunting trip, I saw him in action with his setup and fell in love with it and thought, I should give this a go.

Now, could anyone please tell me, what is the best sort of equipment/setup to get me going and to get some experience?

How much will I be looking at spending and can I get a list of items that I need?

Im in Melbournes North West suburbs, is there an archery club nearby?

What is the effective hunting distance that I can use a box & arrow on?

Does anyone have any info on Cross-bows? How effective are they in comparison to a box & arrow?

Pics please?

Thankyou for your help, it is appreciated.

mmaaxx:thumb:

[ninevalleys]

read this fisrt

http://www.archery-forum.com/showthread.php?t=11259

[Jay.G]

Join a club and they'll sort you our nicely, teach ya everything you need to know and more.

[mmaaxx]

Thanks for the link, will endeavour to join my mates club and see what he and others can teach me. :)

[primal]

cross bows suck. your better off with a compound bow. better dropping power then a cross bow, for hunting that is.

i am about to start my hunting setup, i am now reasonably happy that i am shooting well enough to hit a good group with pin sights at forty, i will howerver be 2-3 more months to complete my hunting setup and tune it before actual shooting some game with it.

club wise check out the archery victoria link in the post that Ninevalley has posted for you. that will list all the clubs. I am in the south west (footscray) but travel to DVA in the north (50 minutes).

anyways get to a club first you will learn alot and see whats available.

p.s get a pearson stealth :D they are the shiznit :p just ordered a 70# one in camo.

[Marcus]

crossbows are restricted weapons in Victoria, with the hassle involved you may as well buy a gun.
Bows are not restricted.
What club are you looking at?

[Mark M]

Depends on what club you are going to join and what type of archery you want to shoot?
Could'nt resist the Pearson rap could you Primal ....

[primal]

Depends on what club you are going to join and what type of archery you want to shoot?
Could'nt resist the Pearson rap could you Primal ....
nope.... but its a great bow of course there are other great bows out there. but ti like the stealth. thats why i shoot it.

[Mark M]

Plenty of other good bows out there but the Stealth is one of them.So Primal does the Z-34 have a stabiliser insert? or was i wrong?

[reversehaven]

nope.... but its a great bow of course there are other great bows out there. but ti like the stealth. thats why i shoot it.
mmm. stealth. ninja style!! :samurai:

[alexvpaq]

mmm. stealth. ninja style!! :samurai:
Are ninja using bows?:confused:

[Jay.G]

Mmm pretty sure, they do but not compounds...

[Eberbachl]

...all this talk of ninjas is getting me totally pumped!

:rainbowafro: :samurai: :rainbowafro:

[Marcus]

Ninjas use string to feed poison to their victims while they sleep.

[Jay.G]

Mmm always thought it was very thing-hollow reeds...

[MikeK]

[. . .]

Does anyone have any info on Cross-bows? How effective are they in comparison to a box & arrow?

Pics please?

Thankyou for your help, it is appreciated.

mmaaxx:thumb:
I don't have any pictures to show you but I bought a Barnet Commando crossbow back in the early '80s. Very exotic, all aluminum and brass construction. Self-cocking mechanism. 150# draw weight. Very disappointing trajectory. Went to ground after about 30 yards. I sold it after shooting it for only one day.

I don't know if that Barnet Commando is typical of all crossbows but if it is I'd suggest they're all good for powerful strikes at up to 20 yards, beyond which the bolt loses energy and drops like a tossed stone.

Also, using a crossbow calls for no appreciable skill compared with a longbow, recurve or compound bow. It has no sporting purpose that I'm aware of.