Do you like working and tinkering on your bow? I know I do. I have been shopping around looking at the many tools you can purchase to tinker until your limbs fall off. The list of things are almost endless and money is the only limitation as to what you can own.
One of the first things I would buy would be a bow press. I have a friend that owns a Last Chance Archery EZ Press. It is no the cheapest unit out there, but the simplest to use and works on pretty much any bow. You can get one that is manual or electric. For most of us the manual crank would be plenty. If you were working a high volume shop, I would no doubt opt for the electric powered unit. You can see these at Last Chance Archery.

Next would be a bow vise. Wow you can find really basic pieces and top of the line 3rd axis adjusting ones for the level of shooting you would like to achieve. Starting with the Apple Bow Vise and going all the way up to a HTM Bow Vise you can see the difference depending on what you want to accomplish with your vise.

Well, the list can go on and on, but these are a great start. If you want to learn to fix your own equipment and have the satisfaction of tuning and fixing your own gear hopefully these tools will help you get off to a great start.

Customizing your bow

Customized.... That connotes expensive. Well it does not have to be. In today's economic strife, most of us are having a hard time buying new bows or are doing so reluctantly. Here is an idea. Customize.

Have some custom strings made to enhance your bows finish. My wife has a pink bow with lots of black trim so we had some custom strings made in pink and black. Wow! That little bow pops now. The limbs are carbon fiber looking so we looked around and found a stabilizer in the same pattern. Even better. Bowjax makes custom colors in their dampening products, bling! Pink to match and even better.

If you are really bored you can even have your bow re dipped. Sweet! Different camo, wood grain on a compound? Aw yes! Something like this can run around $150.00. Way cheaper than a new bow.

What next? Arrow bling...Matching fletching colors. Custom arrow wraps and matching nocks are another inexpensive thing to set your rig apart and look cooler than cool. Did you know you can even get a stabilizer wrap? Yep, neat huh. One of the younger guys has his stabilizer with camo flames which I think looks really cool and no one else does so he stands out.

So does this make you shoot better? Doubtful but hey at least you look good, and at least you have fun fixing up your rig.

Now that the indoor archery season is mostly over, the outdoor venues are coming around. FITA, ASA, IBO and so on. So it is time to switch things around on our bow setups and practice a little differently to achieve our goals.

How does the wind effect your shooting? What of uphill and downhill shooting? All these factor into good shooting if we follow through and maintain form. Even how your bow is tuned to be level with your sight can effect the outcome of your shot in these scenarios.

Experience goes a long way in these situations. I prefer to shoot with more experienced archers so that I may ask questions and learn and in turn advance my shooting. It will pay dividends for a person to shoot with better and more experienced shooters. Many lessons can be learned and advice given freely if we just listen and watch at times.

This year I would like to shoot less eights and more tens. How will I do this? Diligence and lots of practice. Careful tuning and arrow selection.
What goals have you set for yourself? This will also help you advance your archery skills. Setting goals. We have all heard that right? Well, it is true.

Get out there , ask questions, observe, and even enlist the help of friends, pro-shops and the internet or magazines. There is a ton of information right at your fingertips for the taking if you look and ask.

It is that time of year again. Where manufacturers try to entice us into buying new gear for our archery addictions. Mathews, Hoyt, PSE and Bowtech along with Martin Archery among others.

Quieter faster and smoother are the words best used to described what the archery companies use to tell us what we want to hear.

One of the newer bows creating buzz this year is from Hoyt and called the Alphamax. This bow comes in two configurations. A shorter 32 inch axle to axle version and a 35 inch axle to axle version. There are some noticable and major riser improvements. These bows are lighter and stiffer with the newer manufacturing techniques used on them.

Thinner in some areas, thicker in others. More trussing and more of an I-beam look to the riser which allows the riser to be stronger and lighter at the same time. The limb pockets are significantly longer and should be more stable and stronger. This should also keep the limbs from shifting which helps a bow to be more accurate.

So I ventured down to a local pro shop to photograph these new bows and post them here for you to see. As usual there are more new bows out there and if you like post a comment on what ones you are interested in and maybe a description to share with us.

Cheap Arrows

Cheap as in less expensive, or just poorly made? There is a difference between an arrow that is on sale and something that is just cheaply made, obviously. Most folks can't afford 100.00 a dozen, so the market for arrows tolerates less expensive arrows.

Most of the time these arrows are just not quite as tight on the manufacturing tolerances. Straightness, weight matching and so on. What are you using the arrows for? Competition, hunting? that usually makes a difference for how most people buy arrows.

Hunters are generally of the mind that for hunting accuracy you don't need the most expensive arrows on the market. At 20 yards or less trying to hit a 4 inch spot isn't that hard to do with less expensive arrows. Hence the reasoning behind that theory.

Now let's stretch that out to 60 yards and you are trying to hit a 2 inch circle , suddenly things become much more critical. yes weight differences and straightness tolerances can and do show up more at longer distances.

There are lots of good middle of the road arrows that will satisfy most archers and back yard plunkers with out breaking the bank. So figure out what your goals are and then you can decide what you want as far as arrows go.

There certainly are some great arrows for just a little over a hundred bucks a dozen too. Easton ACC's for example. Arguably one of the best arrows made for consistency and tight tolerances for sure. These arrows won't break the bank, but they are also not the cheapest arrows out there either. Good luck in your decision and try to be responsible in your shooting.

String Stretch

Hot summer weather will make inferior strings stretch and move.

It is very important to install a set of non stretch strings on your bow. Hot days like we are about to start seeing will make strings stretch and move. Sometimes a great deal. This can affect your accuracy.

When your cables stretch your cam or cams will rotate and or become out of sync. Your nock point can change. Your draw length can change. All of this affects your accuracy. I learned several years ago to get a good set of custom cables and strings and fore go all the headaches of fighting string stretch.

There are several good custom string makers out there, just choose one and get your bow tuning to stay where you tuned it. Ahhh...that is better already huh. I don't like the idea of being in a tournament and all of a sudden my bow starts shooting lower or to the left for no apparent reason. Then you get home and start looking and lo and behold string stretch has reared it's ugly head.

Worse yet, you have not shot your bow in a month or so and time to go hunting rolls around, and making a bad shot on a trophy animal is very upsetting to say the least, because your strings have stretched from the heat in your garage where you stored your bow. Arrrggggg....

Try to get ahead of the game and save the frustrations with a great set of custom strings, and you can even bling your bow a little with custom colors, along with setting your bow apart from the crowd or even making the camo bow easier to find with say some orange or yellow on your strings so when you set your bow down it is easier to find.

Anyway, custom strings are worth every penny you will pay for them. So don't be lazy start now while there is plenty of time to get everything ordered, installed, and tuned before hunting season rolls around.

Longer days mean more time for practicing.

Well, that is the better intentions we all probably have. Practice and more practice.
That is what seems to separate many of the better shooters from those of us that don't practice except for right before deer season.

I have talked with many shooters about practice routines. This is a very detailed subject, but I won't go into every little detail about everything. What are the best ways to practice? How often? How much?

Those seem to be the most asked questions that I hear. Several better shooters recommended shooting daily. Even if you can only manage five shots, do it.
Don't just fling the arrows though. Practice with purpose. Like it is the final arrow of the biggest tournament ever.

Blank bailing and just practicing your release is a great way to train. Hey wait, I just said train... like an athlete! We should train. We should exercise for cardio, and we should eat right. Healthier bodies make stronger muscles, and clearer minds which in turn makes us better archers.

I remember reading about some pro archers that shoot 200 or so times daily! That takes a lot of mental focus to make perfect shots that many times. I know most of us do not have that kind of time, so again try to follow the old adage, perfect practice makes perfect. Making utterly perfect releases, or making sure your form is top notch are so important. Even just learning to aim better and longer can be practiced.

Nevertheless, just get out and enjoy releasing some arrows with your friends, at home or at the local archery store or at your local archery club.