Compound or recurve bow for PPO homestead?

frankthetank

I got a bow for free. Its a Renegade compound bow. Probably 5 years old or so?

How does one adjust these things? I think the poundage is set at 70lb and the draw length i'm unsure of. I'm 6'2, so i think my draw length is probably 30. I'd like to turn it down to about 60 or so for now. I have 12 carbon arrows from Cabelas...uncut. I think they are 31inches.

Anyone? Or maybe a good guide? Or should i just take it somewhere?...i'd rather do it myself!

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vtsnowedin · Intermediate Crude Joined: Jul 11, 2008 Posts: 632

I'd go on line and see if I could score the owners manual from the factory. Next I
would take it to an archery shop. They will try to sell you a new one of course but if you buy some arrows which you will need they should tune it up for a small fee. Tuneing is mostly fitting the adjustments to your size and draw weight and the stiffness and weight of the arrows you want to shoot. Interesting configuration on that bow. I haven't kept up with trends and have never seen one with more pullys on one limb than on the other. Over draw rest with shorter arrows was hot a while back .Don't let anyone dry fire it. true of all bows. Have fun.

frankthetank

I think it has really good let off or whatever its called. Once you get it pulled back its really easy to hold it.

I'll probably take it to Gander Mtn...
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vtsnowedin · Intermediate Crude Joined: Jul 11, 2008 Posts: 632

Yes let off is the term. On a straight bow the further you pull it back the more force it takes. Some hunting bows take 100lbs to hold at full draw. You have to get into pretty good shape to draw it back and hold it until the game is in the right spot. The compound transfers part of the load to the cables wraped around the pullys. typical bow let off is around fifty percent . In addition to ease of holding the shape of those odd pullys act to accelerate the movement of the bows limbs as the pullys give up the load they have been carrying. This greatly increases arrow speed. It also puts more stress on the arrow as it leaves the bow which is why you don't shoot cedar shafts in a compound. Years ago my wife gave me a bear blacktail stalker compound for christmas, very plain by todays standards. I took the only arrow I had, a broadhead on a cedar shaft, stepped out onto the porch and took aim at the broad side of the barn that was 100 yards accross the yard and let fly. Arrow corkscrewed off the bow then settled into a much flatter flight then I had ever seen with a recurve. Hit above the barn door, broadhead penetrated through an old weathered 1 "barn board and burried itself up to the glue in the 12x12 beam behind. The rest of the shaft could not stand the sudden deceleration and shattered into a bunch of toothpicks.

coastie · Coal Joined: Apr 14, 2008 Posts: 15

I wouldnt invest a lot into a bow for your homestead. They arent cheap and arrows disappear quickly. If you cant make your own arrows I wouldnt bother. Get a good scoped .22 and several thousand rounds of ammo and look into snares. I doubt you are going to have time to go hunting post peak. Snares and traps hunt 24/7 even while you are chopping wood, weeding or sleeping. Bows are fun and I enjoy mine but for serious survival I would take snares and a .22.

lateStarter

vtsnowedin · Intermediate Crude Joined: Jul 11, 2008 Posts: 632

[quote="lateStarterSounds like good advice coastie. Why not have a bit of everything though? If I can ask a dumb question (I have not shot any kind of bow in over 20 years) - are the arrows (bolts for a crossbow) only good for one shot? I realize that you might lose some in the woods, but if you found a missed shot or assuming you were able to catch up with the target you hit, could you use the same arrow again or would it somehow be 'damaged' in a way that would make it unreliable?

.[/quote] It all depends on what you hit with it and at what angle. a glancing blow on a hard object will bend the shaft of an arrow or a bolt and a bent shaft will not fly true. You can resharpen broadheads or change the blades of some types but if the shaft is bent beyond straightening its a practice arrow or junk depending on how bad the bend is. You tend to practice with last years arrows and hunt with a new set of the same size weight and point as you have practised with. Use a styrofoam target for practice that stopes you arows without damage. It saves a lot of money.
Coastie I agree with you on the 22 and snares and have my 22 ready. But when the ammo is finally gone anyone with some blacksmithing and woodworking skills can make a cross bow , compond or a recurve bow and the bolts and arrows for it. The hardest part may be making a string that will hold for more than a few shots. Practicing with a bow of any type is better than sitting around obsessing about the acidification of the oceans and planning the worlds funeral.

coastie · Coal Joined: Apr 14, 2008 Posts: 15

In your case I would use snares or traps. I dont have much experience with either outside of pest control but as I said above they hunt 24/7. I am gathering materials for snares now and I am practicing using such things as deadfalls and homemade box traps.

As for the arrows, they are reusable but they get bent, broken and lost frequently. MOst of the bow hunters I know lose their arrows or have them damaged beyond use after hitting a deer. Or even missing for that matter. Arrows run $30 and up a dozen and that doesnt include points. That $30 buys me a thousand rds of .22. That 1000 rds will get me more meat than those 12 arrows.

As for the noise of a firearm, there are a number of .22 rounds that when fired out of a rifle are essentially silent. Aguila makes the Super Colibri which is great. I use it for pest control around my property. I dont think I would shoot a deer with it unless I was very close though. I think the fear of noise of a firearm is over rated to an extent. One shot is not going to bring down a horde of starving people especially in a national forest.

One of my long long term projects is to learn how to make a bow and arrows using local materials. Still a couple years off and it is more of a fun project as opposed to a serious survival skill but it is a skill that might have use and if you can make your own I would not hesitate to use it as part of your plan. Where I am konw my bow is for fun and lets me hunt a longer season.

ReverseEngineer · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Jul 16, 2008 Posts: 1740

I'll go with the "have as many different types of weapons as you can afford to buy" paradigm here.

Compound bows are a lot more complicated than a recurve, and you can't build one unless you have access to good machining equipment, generally run on oil though it can be run other ways. However, a good bow of any kind well maintained will last your lifetime for sure. If you buy a compound bow, buy also replacement parts for it.

You will lose arrows, so being able to make new ones is important. A wise investment might be buying the aluminum tubing used to make the arrows in bulk. You can always use wood but the shafts will break more often. Loss of arrows is a problem for both types of bows.

The 22 rifle and 1000s of rounds of ammunition along with snares is a good method for as long as you have the ammunition. However, if you have snared an animal you could just as easily dispatch it with your bow and arrow of either type, and about never lose an arrow, you would be so close you couldn't miss. For that matter, why not dispatch the snared animal with a spear?

Long term, unless society rebuilds in some form, compound bows will eventually not be repairable, and you devolve to the simplest technology of the recurve bow, which as mentioned would not be a bad idea to learn how to make one yourself, and teach the craft to your children to supply them with bows also. Chances are you won't be able to make new rifles or new compound bows 2 or 3 generations down the line, so the knowledge of how to make a recurve could help your grandchildren.

Insofar as the near future of 20-30 years goes, you certainly can maintain a compound bow to last that long if you have the spare parts. If you can afford one, its a good purchase, just they are pretty pricey, you can buy rifles cheaper and lots of ammunition. If you have to choose, just for the short term probably a rifle and a lot of ammunition is the better choice, but if you can afford both, redundancy is better.

Reverse Engineer

duke

I have noticed a problem which runs way to often in so many threads. It is called "choice" IE...Should I choose this or that. This does that better, but that does this better. Grow up people....just man up and get....BOTH.

For crying out loud get both a recurve and compound and then add in friigin crossbow. Put laser sights on the crossbow, and light gathering sights on the others. Practice some and put them away and move on. You can do it all used (pawn shop, paper, Craigs list, whatever) for under 200.00 bucks and be a hero.... or waste you time jaw jacking and posting endless opinions on which one is better.

Nothing fits every situation so just get it all..... my laser guided crossbow can be cocked and fired from the hip. Because no one makes a laser sight system for a crossbow I am aware of we machined our own.... I will gladly have a contest with any recurve nut over who acquires and hits a target first from a relaxed position. Plus who can wait the longest in a full cocked stance while waiting for a clear shot???

Everything has it's strong and weak points. Anymore if asked the (choice game) of do I want chocolate or strawberry ice cream...I just say a little of both please.... why pick just one or the other??? Change your thinking people....

Ludi

Wow! I actually agree with duke! Very Happy

Redundancy is your friend.
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duke

Don't let it go to your head...Ludi Smile

Let me ruin your day and include a beginers list of what any couple needs to have in order to even be considered to be brought on board our ranch in crisis... I would imagine you would think it is to complete and hard to do... to bad.

LIST OF NEEDED THINGS
MANY OF THESE ITEMS CAN BE FOUND ON EBAY, CRAIG’S LIST, OR POSTING AN AD YOU ARE LOOKING FOR THEM

1. QUALITY FOOD FOR ONE YEAR...AT LEAST 2,500-3,00-0 calories per day
2. COOKING GEAR TO PROCESS FOOD
3. SEASONINGS
4. MEANS TO ACTUALLY COOK THE FOOD (FUEL) STORED HERE BY YOU
5. HARD SHELLED LIVING QUARTERS
6. FIREWOOD STORED HERE BY YOU IF YOU PLAN ON USING ANY
7. ONE 4,500-7,500 GENERATOR, PLUS PREP STORING YOUR FUEL HERE.

1. QUALITY ALL SEASON CLOTHING FOR ONE YEAR, AT LEAST
2. QUALITY BOOTS/SHOES
3. SNOW SHOES AND ICE CRAMP-ONS
4. CAMO CLOTHES FOR ALL SEASONS (SUMMER AND WINTER)
5. LAUNDRY SOAP...COLD WATER TYPE
6. GLOVES AND MANY KINDS
7. SHEETS, PILLOWS, BLANKETS, TOWELS, ETC
8. VARIOUS HATS.

1. MEDICINES NEEDED FOR YOUR LIFE
2. PAIN KILLERS
3. ANTIBIOTICS
4. SPLINTS, ACE BANDAGES, BANDAGES, ETC.
5. QUICK-CLOT FOR EACH PERSON...YOU DO NOT GET OURS Smile

6. BASICALLY ONE YEARS WORTH OF EVERYTHING YOU USE OVER A MONTH
7. PRESCRIPTION DRUGS (ONE YEAR) OR AS LONG AS YOU WANT TO LIVE?

1. TOILET PAPER FOR ONE YEAR. WE HAVE PINE CONES AND CORN COBS
2. PERSONAL HYGIENE ITEMS AS PER INDIVIDUAL
3. SHAVING GEAR, MAKE UP, ETC.
4. SOAPS, SHAMPOOS, HAIR STUFF, BODY LOTIONS,
5. GLASSES, SUNGLASSES, AND BACK UPS
6. CONTACTS AND SOLUTIONS, CLEANERS ETC. FOR ONE YEAR
7. PHONE BOOKS SHOULD BE SAVED AND COLLECTED. TP, FIRE STARTER

1. BODY ARMOR, YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT SO GET THE GOOD STUFF
2. KEVLAR HELMET
3. TACTICAL VEST FOR CARRYING STUFF HANDS FREE
4. KNIFE
5. RADIOS
6. FLASHLIGHTS
7. YOUR OWN BATTERIES, PLUS RECHARGEABLES AND TWO CHARGERS

1. PER PERSON WHO CAN SHOOT...AMMO LASTS FOREVER AND NEVER GETS CHEAPER
2. ONE BATTLE RIFLE, SEVERAL THOUSAND ROUNDS (per couple)
3. ONE PISTOL SEVERAL THOUSAND ROUNDS (per couple)
4. ONE SHOTGUN SEVERAL HUNDRED ROUNDS (per couple)

5. GOOD OPTICS FOR FIREARMS YOU LIKE
6. BINOCULARS, SPOTTING SCOPE (YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON CLEARLY SEEING THEM FIRST)
7. GUN CLEANING KITS
8. LASER SIGHTS, FLASHLIGHT
9. NIGHT VISION GENERATION 3, PLUS GENERATION ONE PER PERSON. (REMEMBER IF YOU ARE NOT TOGETHER AND YOU MUST MOVE AROUND IN THE DARK HOW WILL YOU DO IT) ( YOU WILL PROBABLY GET SHOT AND MAYBE BY US AS NO FLASHLIGHTS ARE ALLOWED AFTER DUSK)

This list is growing but shrinking as well as you fill it in....GOOD LUCK!!!!

Ludi

duke

No problem Ludi Smile

FYI our ranch is a multimillion dollar spread and hardly a compound. A fly over or a walk around to anyone and it looks like a ranch where pride in ownership shows big time. We do all the work to boot.

What is a compound to you, as you use the word so freely with no knowledge about us. A little jealous or judgemental perhaps???? Or maybe just ignorant with an opinion. Much as 98% of survival wanabies are, come to find out Sad

I sure have no working knowledge of your huge well set up spread and all your gear and groups folks...so I would never venture to label your place by any title. It would just show my ignorance...

Anyway have a great day, we are and going to the casino and then picking up friends landing at the airport. All work and no play makes for a dull prepper....

ReverseEngineer · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Jul 16, 2008 Posts: 1740