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Short recurves

Creamer

Active Member
1,584
81
Athens
Any of ya'll trad brethren have any experience with shorter recurves? The bows I am shooting now are 60" (Stalker) and 62" (Sage Elite). The more I try to hunt from ground blinds and, to an extent, some tree setups, I see the advantage to a shorter bow. Do any of you folks shoot (or have shot) shorter bows? I've always had a weird pull to own a Bear trad bow, and their Kodiak Mag is only 52". I'm not sure I would be brave enough to try a Super Mag without having at least handled and drawn one first. 48" seems pretty extreme. I am drawing about 28.5" and I'm not sure a bow at 48" would work for me. Their Cheyanne is also a good bit shorter than what I am shooting, I think they are 55".

Not seriously in the buying market at the moment, just curious about the shorter recurves right now.
 

Jamie

Senior Member
5,690
177
Ohio
The shorter you make a bow, the less forgiving it is. short bows, especially extremely short bows, tend to be pretty skittish. "Short" is sort of a relative term, too. If you are 6' 9" and pull a bow a legitimate 32" you will not be shooting a 48" Super Mag, at least not for very long. If you are 5' 3" and draw a bow 25", you can do it. Longer bows are easier to shoot more accurately and consistently, and they live longer especially in heavy poundage. English war bows were often 75" to 80" long for a reason and it was not for convenience in a confined space. Custom bows, most all bows really, are made to be drawn a specific distance for maximum efficiency/performance/longevity(safety). Really short bows begin to "stack" very quickly when you draw them long. "Stack" is the term used to describe what happens when the string angle to the bow limb approaches or exceeds 90 degrees and it seems to get much harder to pull at the end. The growing string angle correlates to a loss of mechanical advantage which you can feel. The opposite of that is a smooth drawing bow which gains a consistent amount of draw weight from beginning to end. Short bows have their place, but beyond a small blind or on horseback, they are not very useful for hunting, imo.
 
Everything @Jamie said ^^^ 💯

The shortest bow I've owned/shot was a Magyar Hungarian, horse bow. It had a 55" length, but 51 1/2" bow length when strung, but because of the radical curvature of the limbs, there was no string pinch that commonly associated with short bows. 🤔 The maximum poundage available for this bow is 45#. Mine was 47# @ 28" DL, but it was shot off of your bow hand/knuckle (I used a leather glove specifically for your bow hand). I had to use 5/16 wood shafts that were spined 10# less than the bow's draw weight....so for a 37# bow. This was to allow for extra flex in the shaft, due to having to shoot around the riser.

Thing about this type of bow is that they're super easy to shoot, because they don't stack until you get past a 32" DL. The other "thing" about this type of bow is they are NOT consistent for grouping at any distance. I could barely keep 5 arrows on a paper plate at 20 yards. 🙄 However, if you were just walking thru the woods "stump shooting", it was easy to hit a tennis ball at 35 yards. WTF! o_O I'm guessing it has to do with the way they're designed for shooting off of a horse.

I hunted with this bow for 1 season, but didn't quite trust it, because of the lack of consistent grouping. Just the same, any critter that passed by would get "pin wheeled". I shot groundhogs and groundhog sized varmints with no problem. :cool: I don't understand it, but that's how that bow shot.
Magyar Hungarian Horse Bow.jpg
 
Owning ILF bows using short limbs (60” bow) have a much harder draw cycle, the difference in draw between 60” and 64” is huge, I can’t imagine bows in the 50s or even 48”. If I really had to shoot a short bow 58” would be the shortest.
 

Left field

Active Member
Everything @Jamie said ^^^ 💯

The shortest bow I've owned/shot was a Magyar Hungarian, horse bow. It had a 55" length, but 51 1/2" bow length when strung, but because of the radical curvature of the limbs, there was no string pinch that commonly associated with short bows. 🤔 The maximum poundage available for this bow is 45#. Mine was 47# @ 28" DL, but it was shot off of your bow hand/knuckle (I used a leather glove specifically for your bow hand). I had to use 5/16 wood shafts that were spined 10# less than the bow's draw weight....so for a 37# bow. This was to allow for extra flex in the shaft, due to having to shoot around the riser.

Thing about this type of bow is that they're super easy to shoot, because they don't stack until you get past a 32" DL. The other "thing" about this type of bow is they are NOT consistent for grouping at any distance. I could barely keep 5 arrows on a paper plate at 20 yards. 🙄 However, if you were just walking thru the woods "stump shooting", it was easy to hit a tennis ball at 35 yards. WTF! o_O I'm guessing it has to do with the way they're designed for shooting off of a horse.

I hunted with this bow for 1 season, but didn't quite trust it, because of the lack of consistent grouping. Just the same, any critter that passed by would get "pin wheeled". I shot groundhogs and groundhog sized varmints with no problem. :cool: I don't understand it, but that's how that bow shot.
View attachment 173289
Those are really cool , like how you can shoot right or left :unsure:
 
Those are really cool , like how you can shoot right or left :unsure:
Since there's no shelf, it allows the shooter to choose from which side to shoot.
If I were to purchase another one, it would be a Korean style. :) They're exactly the same style of limbs/riser, but they offer a shelf designed into the riser. It's not a center shot riser, but at least I wouldn't be shooting off of my hand and the arrow spine wouldn't be as critical. 🙄
 
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Jamie

Senior Member
5,690
177
Ohio
You can make a nice shelf out of tooling leather. That is how I make the handles on all of my bows, and it works very well.
 
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Jamie

Senior Member
5,690
177
Ohio
the pics in this post will give you an idea of how I make the leather shelf

 

Creamer

Active Member
1,584
81
Athens
After having shot the 52" Kodiak Mag for about a month now, all I can say is don't knock it before you try it. I have been really surprised by the lack of finger pinch. I expected it, especially with me drawing about 28.5" with a 52" bow, but I have not noticed it at all. The one thing that I can say took me the longest to get used to is the weight. My Stalker, at 60" and without the quiver attached, feels like it has at least double the mass weight of the Bear K Mag. I think once I get a quiver put on the Bear, it will feel better as far as having a little more weight to it. I have been shooting the short bow very consistently and very accurately, but I also can admit I don't shoot a lot past 25 yards. I'm not the guy who goes out and needs to drop 40 yard bombs with a stickbow all day. I shoot at ranges I am likely to shoot at animals.

I had expectations and assumptions about shooting a recurve this small, but the Kodiak Mag I am shooting has been a great investment for me to this point. I fully expect to kill deer with it this fall.
 
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