Outdoor shows and new archery equipment

One of the enjoyable outdoor-oriented activities we’ve lost, at least in the short term because of the pandemic, is the outdoors or trade show. All but a couple of gun shows were cancelled in 2020, along with the Mat-Su and Anchorage Sportsmen’s shows, and while some shows are currently scheduled for 2021, it remains to be seen if the shows do, indeed, happen. There could be virtual versions, but it’s not the same, at least for me.

I’ve never attended either a shooting or archery industry trade show, but I’ve always wanted to. The closest thing to visiting a manufacturer’s booth at a trade show that I’ve experienced is to read expert evaluations of new firearms and archery equipment as published in trade or sporting magazines.

Archery, and I’m including crossbows in this discussion, is extremely popular for hunting in Alaska. For the last several years, the hunter education classes for bow-and-arrow and crossbow have been quite popular. That tells me there’s a real demand for high quality archery and crossbow equipment to use when hunting in Alaska.

The manufacturers bring out new and improved models every year and they usually introduce them to the hunting public at trade or outdoors shows. Something like 95% of the hunting bows are compound models, with the remaining percentage being traditional long or recurve models. There’s not a lot of things that can be changed or upgraded on a traditional bow.

I hunted with a compound bow until I got my right shoulder replaced. When I couldn’t shoot the compound because of the surgery, I found an older style, recurve crossbow to use. The compound bow I still have is about three model-generations old and my crossbow falls into that same vintage. I keep the compound bow because I hope to gradually work my way back to shooting it, at least occasionally.

Crossbows use, for the most part, compound bow limbs as opposed to a traditional style recurve limb. I happen to like the recurve style crossbow limb structure because it’s simple, can’t get out of adjustment, and in a well-made unit, is practically indestructible. Since I bought my crossbow, the manufacturer has made several upgrades and improvements for both safety and ease of use. Luckily for me, I’ve been able to incorporate virtually all these upgrades into my existing model.

My crossbow is not as narrow, as light, or as fast as the newer models from the same manufacturer. The cocking crank on my crossbow is anything but silent, like the newer models, but it works for what I need it for. I paid around $800 for the new unit complete with a scope, a quiver, three arrows, and a rope cocking aid. In its day, it was a top end model. Some of the top end crossbows I recently saw reviewed ranged from $400 for the entry level to $3600 for one with all the bells and whistles. The average price ranged from $1100 to around $1800.

My crossbow fires an arrow of around 450 grains weight at around 320 feet-per-second. The newer crossbows shoot arrows as light as 325 grains at speeds from around 360 to 460 fps. One of the new models holds two arrows, which allows for a fast follow-up shot and another model uses a vertically expanding set of limbs rather than the traditional horizontal limb structure.

Personally, I don’t need the newest, fastest, most innovative limb designs in a light bow frame. I guess I’m showing my age by having bought a good quality, older crossbow, making the necessary safety and user upgrades available and being happy using it as it is.

While I like following the improvements on the different bow styles, I pay more attention to the improvements to the arrow points. Some of the newer style small game heads and the vast array of broadheads keeps me always looking for the better “mousetrap.”

I’m currently shooting a fixed, three-blade broadhead that weighs 150 grains. The manufacturer of my crossbow recommends this style broadhead for their bows. I’ve bought a few mechanical broadheads designed for crossbows, but they usually only weigh 125 grains. They are a heavier construction than the standard broadheads used with compound bows because the crossbow imparts a higher kinetic energy to the arrows it shoots.

A couple of years ago, I bought an inexpensive, light-weight recurve bow to use for shoulder rehab and for some bowfishing. This spring, I hope to do some more shooting with this bow. Pickled pike are tasty!