The last few weeks have seen lots of rain, more rain, camping, work and setting up my Bowtech Destroyer 350 for the upcoming elk season. Therefore while there has been a lot of shooting, very little has been done with my target setup. I had been asked to list the equipment I’ve been using and so here it is:
Bow:
- Hoyt Ultra Elite XT3000
- Spiral Cams
- 30″ Draw
- 50-60 lbs., set to 53 lbs.
Rest: Trophy Take Spring Steel
Stabilizer:
- Archery Kinetics AKS (no longer made)
- 32″ main bar
- 12″ left side bar
- no right side bar
Sight and Scope:
- DS Advantage (as seen here: DS Advantage) Hand crafted in limited quantities. This is an absolutely amazing sight and worth every single penny. It’s also nice to have some a bit unique.
- CR Apex Scope
- 4X lens
- Circle aperture, sized to just fit outside the 10 ring
Arrows:
- Gold Tip 30x
- 32″ length
- 150 grain points + 20 grain weight
- Pin Nocks
- 3 fletch, AAE Max Plastifletch, all black
- 3 degree helical
Releases:
- Carter Insatiable 2 with lots of character (it’s taken a couple of tumbles down the mountain with me while elk hunting)
- Carter “The Hammer”
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I am in the process of tryingto properly set up my target rigs for some serious competition, but I currently feel like I end up with more questions than answers.
I am currently trying to figure out the following:
Lneses …
How does one go about choosing the appropriate magnification for a specific discipline? I know that magnification is a function of sight radius and diopter strength, but what are the principles one must consider/use when choosing an appropriate magnification for indoor, FITA, field and 3-D?
And what are the principles when deciding on an appropriate lens diametre for these disciplines?
Stabilisers …
What are the principles to consider when choosing a stabilisation system for you bow? I have Doinker Fatty as a long rod, but I am lost when it comes to options for side rods or V-bars.
How do you decide whether you should use one or two and how long must they be and what weight on the ends?
While experimenting, is it not better to choose the longest side rods you can get and then play around with weight and angle until you get to what is perfect for you? If you are using side rods that may be too short you may still be able to get the desired effect, but the physical weight of the rods may be too much.
In South Africa, and especially where I live, we do not have the luxury of being able to test different options before buying and I have to choose something that will give me the most flexibility while still finding the ideal combination for my bow and I.
Releases …
I currently use the following two triggers as I find they give me the most consistent release … Tru Ball HT and Carter Whisper. I must admit that the Whisper is very new and I am still getting used to it.
My question now is the following: Do you choose one release that gives you the most consistent results and stick with it for all disciplines or how do you decide when to use the pure BT and when the thumb release?
And when I say all disciplines, I mean NIFAA field, 3-D, IBO, FITA, Indoor as well as hunting.
I realise these are a lot of questions, but I found that unless one asks very specific questions, the answers are normally quite vague.
I look forward to hearfrom you …
Andre,
You ask a lot of good, and tough questions! In all cases, I usually suggest trying as many variations of equipment as possible by borrowing, going to shops, talking to people at ranges, etc. but I realize that may be tough in your situation. I would still suggest trying to shoot as many different pieces of equipment in question whenever and wherever possible.
Lenses:
I am not much of a lens shooter except on my one target setup. I came to my conclusions by trying a few different magnifications and ended up with a 4X that seems best for me. For target, the actual diameter of the lens itself didn’t seem to matter much to me because I match the size of my peep to the lens (peep just barely bigger than lens at full draw) as long as you are getting good light through it. What was toughest for me was settling on a reticle that worked best. You can purchase sheets of reticles that cover about all variations: little dots, big dots, colored dots, circles, etc. I prefer the open circle because I can focus on looking at the “X” and letting my subconscious do the rest, but everyone is different. These reticle sheets are fairly inexpensive and it would be well worth your time to play with all varieties and see what works best.
Stabilizers are probably the most personal item of any archery accessory. If you are unsure of what you want, my best suggestion would be to get rods/side rods that are light, and have unlimited ability to stack weights. This way you can experiment with what weight and balance works best. I like longer sidebars with very little weight on the right side and quite a bit on the left to balance out my rest and sight. I would also recommend an adjustable v-bar that let’s you change the angle of the side rods. As long as you buy parts that are versatile, you should be able to change things around until you find your own sweet spot.
I own several releases and shoot three of them regularly. For me it is best to change releases and mix things up so that I don’t become too settled with just one. I also have different spring weights in them. By having and shooting a variety of releases and spring weights, I don’t become too accustomed to the feel of a single release and thus start anticipating the shot. Most of the time I shoot t-handles but throw in a wrist release now and then to keep things mixed up. I do this across all shooting disciplines except for hunting. When hunting, I always use the same release but could easily switch to another if I had to because of losing or breaking my primary one.
Hopefully all this rambling helps answer your questions at least a little! Feel free to ask more if needed and hopefully others will chime in as well.