Second shooting session, it appears to be coming back - just got to set the sights in a bit.
group by David Frank Allen, on Flickr

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VID-20221105-WA0021 by David Frank Allen, on Flickr

and so today a lot of things became clear. The bow I bought is pretty shot and to top it it is a 31 inch draw and I am a 28 inch draw, so that explains a few difficulties. As I used the bow things gave in/up and the bill was soon to be about 6 K. The man I bought it from is just a absolute Afrikaans gem, when he heard about my troubles he just said " no ways must you battle like that, stuur die trug"

So today I bought a Mathews Monster with 8 arrows and a few odds and ends. The bows timing is out I am told, and it is at my bow shop to be set.

Tomorrow I start again, hope to try hunt in 4-5 months.

Quote from: Treeman on Nov 15, 2022, 08:47 PMThe man I bought it from is just a absolute Afrikaans gem, when he heard about my troubles he just said " no ways must you battle like that, stuur die trug"

This very much mirrors the experience I have had of people who like to shoot stuff. They have been overwhelmingly decent trading counterparts in my experience.

Quote from: Treeman on Nov 15, 2022, 08:47 PMand so today a lot of things became clear. The bow I bought is pretty shot and to top it it is a 31 inch draw and I am a 28 inch draw, so that explains a few difficulties. As I used the bow things gave in/up and the bill was soon to be about 6 K. The man I bought it from is just a absolute Afrikaans gem, when he heard about my troubles he just said " no ways must you battle like that, stuur die trug"

So today I bought a Mathews Monster with 8 arrows and a few odds and ends. The bows timing is out I am told, and it is at my bow shop to be set.

Tomorrow I start again, hope to try hunt in 4-5 months.

Yes draw length and bow setup is rather important.

Enjoy the bow, those are very nice!

Also, you reload for and maintain your guns, so learn to do basic bow setup and tuning yourself, thank me later.

Gees this second hand bow world is treacherous. Took new bow in to be evaluated and first thing to come up is that the lower cam bearing is gone. I phone seller and give report, he said if I want the bow, I must just take the amount off whats due to him. R4200 later I will get bow back, test it and pay seller the balance due to him if bow pass's all tests .
I will hopefully have a bow that's perfect after all of this.

Hope it is sorted now and that they are checking it out 100%.
Somehow makes me think the bow was not looked after properly.
Please let them check the limbs properly while they are at it.

so between Cody and self its five bows bought to get two as keepers - maybe.
I have known 2 of sellers and 3 others were good friends of friends, there were no chancers, just guys that tried archery and packed bows away 2 - 3 years ago and never tried again.
I have also noted that all bows were actually me being 3rd owner.

Seems weird.

One of my bows I still shoot regularly is a Mathews Outback, 17 years old now, still working perfectly since I looked after it.

Still hunt with it as well.

Hi Kola, thank you for your response's. I need all the help I can get. To date I have pulled muscle in my back let it recover and have done so again 
I also hurt my neck, so I have turned the bow down to 50 lb pull, I will shoot there till I develope shooting muscles.

The bow went in and R4500 later its back serviced and new bearings fitted.

Today we tried to set the sights in and I will be drinking tonight - "fok nee!" I have a lot to learn. Lost a nice new arrow because I set it to wrong side, so far to right became off target to the right. Arrow? - Gone!

Then after all the fucking around I realized that I had just completely forgotten about the peep - I was only using the pins dot. Supprisingly I was still shooting groups, but way to the right and 18 inch's low.

I am a bit demoralized at the moment - actually....................VERY!

Quote from: Kola on Nov 16, 2022, 10:48 PMHope it is sorted now and that they are checking it out 100%.
Somehow makes me think the bow was not looked after properly.
Please let them check the limbs properly while they are at it.

***************************
again, the bow was stored for 2 3 years before selling. The latest issue was that when the riser came up it would throw the arrow off the bow. I had all the experts look at it and make suggestions, quiet funny now all the experts and their suggestions. I eventually got some proper lighting and a set of glass's( really starting to battle with my near vision)  and decided to asses the issue myself. Turns out that the rubber on the rest has turned to glue with time, it was holding the riser back and then when it broke free it did so with catapult like force flinging the arrow up.
Ya - do it yourself if you want it to be right.

You are quite right, the best is to learn and do all of this yourself.

Many years ago when books were still a thing but there was no local material I bought two US books, one on bowhunting and one on bow setup and tuning.
I learnt a lot from those and still go back to them to this day, even though the hunting book is about US hunting.

Pity about the shoulder, sadly shoulders take long to develop and also long to heal properly when injured.

Stick with it and build up slowly, setting the bow back to 50lb makes a lot of sense until your form is settled.
(on that, my wife, son and daughter all took Impala and Warthog with a bow with a max draw weight of 50lb)

I also suggest you watch videos on shooting form, and then that you and Cody video each other shooting, it is one of the best ways to see bad/good form, let-off and so on.

One more thing while I am thinking about it and before I forget again as I do...

Practice to hold your draw on some shots, slowly increase this time as you get more comfortable.

I had situations where I draw on an animal and it hears something or spots movement.
Being able to hold the bow at full draw comfortably for some time helped in situations like these where I could do that and give the animal time to relax again, giving me an opportunity to shoot.

This is where I am at - 15 m shots and only 50 LB draw.
targer by Cody  Allen, on Flickr
Each shot is same place center above dot, perhaps time to move back to 20 m

Quote from: Treeman on Dec 05, 2022, 10:38 PMThis is where I am at - 15 m shots and only 50 LB draw.
targer by Cody  Allen, on Flickr
Each shot is same place center above dot, perhaps time to move back to 20 m

Is there a particular reason for the shape of the black part in the middle?