Youth Bow Idea

[blacktail sniper]

My son will be 12 in June and while he's a heck of a baseball player he has demonstrated a knack for shooting. Doesn't matter rifles handguns or bows he just seems to be natural at it. Its actually kind of weird. But he wants to try archery and he loves to fish and with travel ball becoming more and more toxic may be a better route. I would miss it cause ball paid for my school but its his life and dreams not mine and if does just want to hunt and fish gets me out of CA sooner. Anyway need thought on a good starter bow he can grow with. Diamond edge used to come highly rated but I have been out of the loop on youth bows. One buddy mentioned the Diamond Sb-1. thnx guys

 

[Topo_trekker]

Got my wife a black Diamond Infinite Edge Pro recently and shes really liking it. Once I got it dialed in she’s been shooting some really good groups out to 30. I would say make sure you can get him a youth release that has adjustable length arm. We had some issues at first with draw length because the release we had was too long and didn’t adjust.


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[nphunter]

Depending on the kid a lot of youth bows may not work well and IMO they are not great bows to start with unless you cannot afford a decent bow for your kid or you have a small kid that needs a really small bow.

If you don’t want to mess around and aren’t familiar with working on equipment, your probably better off to buy something from a dealer. A dealer will do the work for you and make adjustments when needed most of the time for cheap or free if you buy the bow there. I would also suggest paying a coach or finding a local person to go over shooting form and shot technique. The JOAD programs are a great spot to learn, way less money that traveling ball and they will get to shoot with other kids who shoot as well.

The most important part when buying a bow is to not over bow them with too much draw weight. The idea that a kid needs to be drawing 50lbs or more is just stupidity and it will really keep them from enjoying the sport as much and mess up their form. Do not let anyone sell you a heavy draw bow, I’ve herd bow shops tell guys there kids or wife will get to where they can draw more and pushups will help build muscle.

It’s the most fun to shoot when you are shooting accurate and consistency leads to accuracy for all of us. I have found low draw weight bows with string stops allow to much movement on the back wall and cause inconsistency. Look for a bow with limb stops for him. Also having a lighter draw weight allows them to keep good form and more good shots in each session.

My boys both started shooting at 5ish with a diamond atomic and moved into a Hoyt Ruckus at around 9 which is a bow Hoyt has comparable to that Infinite edge. My oldest turned 12 last year and he is also tall and growing fast. The ruckus sting angle was horrible for keeping good form and the wall was sloppy on it, after a lot of research and looking I found a Strothers Hope with Long Draw cams. It’s a 30-40lb bow and will adjust from 26-30” draw. As soon as I put him on that bow his shooting improved imedeatly, his form improved and so did his scores. The bow is light, draws super smooth and has an IBO of 342 which makes for a pretty lethal bow too. My son has grown over 6” in the last year and is 13 and over 5’10”, currently he’s shooting a 28” draw. I plan on having him elk hunt this fall with that bow maxed out at 42lbs. I have zero hesitations with him hunting with that weight and he shoots it extremely well, in fact he outshoots most adults that i shoot with.

If you can work on a bow then the used market is a great place to find good bows for kids. They can be shot for a few years and then you can pretty much get all of your money back out of the bow after they outgrow it.

Strothers archery made some fantastic bows but are not in business any longer. Moxie archery bought them out and you can find most of the parts you need for them there. They can be had for a couple hundred bucks and your getting a lot of bow for the money.

My boys at 9 & 12.

 

[blacktail sniper]

Man thanks a bunch!! I can do most stuff serving peeps paper tune etc swapping to string definitely not I will look in to the bow you mentioned and agree 100% with everything you said. I don't want to skimp and some piece of junk and not make it fun. Almost like buying cheap bait casting reels it sucks. lol. I will also look up JOAL. there's an archery club within 30 minutes I may look into for him as well.

 

[Soyboy]

I am selling an audax burst for 135, was a greater starter for my son

 

[Truaxdw]

My son is 12, for compound he uses mission switch for a recurve Samick sage with 30 pound limbs