Watch BEFORE You Buy a Compound Bow *beginners*

Hello YouTube! Welcome back to my channel. For those of you new here, my name is Allie D'Andrea. I'm a hunter, an angler, a public lands advocate, and lover of all things outdoors. Welcome to my channel! So if you clicked on this video, it's probably because you are interested in buying your first compound bow. I'm going to break down a lot of tips, tricks, and information that you should know before actually purchasing your first compound bow. So make sure to watch until the end because there's a lot of information in this video and you definitely don't want to miss anything. Let's jump right in. First things first, there are two concepts that you need to understand before buying your first bow, and that is draw length and draw weight. In a nutshell, your draw length is the distance from your bow to the end of the string where it rests on your face. It's a little more detailed than that, but as a general concept, that distance is your draw length. And the reason why this is important is because every bow is set to be drawn back to a certain point and then stop. So each bow has a certain draw length associated with the way that it's set up. This is important because if you purchase a bow that does not have the right draw length, you'll be out of luck and you'll have to get a new bow because it may not be able to be adjusted. So that's the first concept to be aware of, draw length. Second thing is draw weight. Draw weight is the amount of poundage that it takes to draw that bow back. The reason why this is important is because not every bow's poundage is created equal. Most bows typically have about 10 pounds of wiggle room. So a single bow, for example, could draw anywhere between 60 pounds of weight all the way up to 70 pounds of weight. In general, it has that sort of 10 pound wiggle room. So it's important because if you are pulling 40 pounds and you buy a bow that can only draw 60 to 70 pounds, then that's obviously not a good fit to you. So that's why draw length and draw weight are important. So if you didn't know about that, now you know. Next thing I want to get into is cost. There are a lot of hidden costs when it comes to buying your first bow that you may not be aware of. So for the bow itself, you're looking at anywhere between $300 all the way up to $2,000 for the bow itself. Then there are all of the added costs. These are the accessories that you will need to purchase in order to completely set up your bow so that it's ready for shooting. You will need a set of arrows with field tips. Field tips screw onto the end of arrows and allow you to practice shooting into a target. You'll need a sight, a rest, and a release. Those are the non-negotiables. You need those in order to get your first bow up and running. But there are also additional pieces of gear that you're probably going to want to purchase as well, and I would encourage you to purchase as well. That includes a bow case to protect your new compound bow, a stabilizer which will help you shoot more accurately, a quiver to hold your arrows, a target to practice, and if you're a hunter, you'll need broadheads and also a rangefinder. Quick side note for my bow hunters out there, do not skip on a rangefinder. When you start hunting with a compound bow, the distance between you and your target becomes so incredibly important. It's a lot different than hunting with a rifle, so do yourself a favor, get the rangefinder. Aside from all of that gear, there are also maintenance costs that come with a compound bow. You'll need to take it into an archery shop about once a year to have it tuned up and shooting properly. This can cost anywhere between $50 to $150. It really just depends on what they need to do with your bow. Also depends on the shop because different people charge different things. You catch the drift and you may need to have your string replaced every year depending on how much you shoot. This leads me to my next topic and that is how to find a bow shop or finding a bow shop. As a new archer, you will need to find a bow shop to take your bow for tuning, but it's also where I would recommend buying your first bow. An archery shop is such a great place to buy a bow because you have the ability to talk to an expert in person and shoot multiple bows to see how they feel. If you've never shot a bow before, it's going to be important for you to shoot a couple different models so that you can have a baseline to compare them to and see what you actually like best. You can obviously google search archery shop near me. Bowhunting360 also has a shop locator which I will include a link to down below that can help you find a shop that's close to your area. And most cabellas and field and streams have some type of archery shop in them as well. I would highly recommend calling the archery shop before you actually go in to purchase a bow. Give them a ring, say hey I'm brand new to this, when would be a good time for me to come in and shoot some bows and you know try them out. That's really important because especially during the hunting season, archery shops get so busy and if you walk in unannounced, they may not have the time to really give you their full attention. So I just recommend calling ahead, letting them know what's going on. Also be upfront with your budget. If you have a budget in mind of what you want to spend, especially after watching this video, you are educating yourself, you'll have an idea of how much you will need and you can kind of go in with that number in mind so that you don't end up spending three times what your budget is. My next tip or point or whatever you want to call it, beware of craigslist and ebay when you're first starting out. Buying a bow on craigslist or ebay is a great way to save some money because you're buying a used bow, but when you're a new archer, there are a lot of things that you could overlook that are issues that you just don't know about. So if you have someone who is experienced coming with you to actually look at the bow, different story. But if you're trying to do this solo, skip the used bows on craigslist and ebay when you're first starting out and just go to a pro shop. Some pro shops even sell used bows, so you could still save some money buying a used bow, but you know what I'm saying, just avoid that route as a newbie. Maybe for your second bow because you'll know a little bit more, you'll know what to look for. Next, you will need to have a place to practice. Might seem like an obvious point, but it wasn't so obvious to me when I first started. I did buy a target and I was able to practice in my backyard, but I only had about 20 yards to practice with, which is a relatively short distance. And the parks close by, like the public parks, didn't allow archery shooting in the parks. So it took me a little time to find an area that I was actually allowed to go and practice shooting my bow. So just to put that on your radar, obviously your backyard will work and you'll need to purchase a target. Some archery shops do have longer ranges. Some of them only have that 20 yard range distance, so that might not be an option for you depending on where you're located. And then just checking with the public land around you. Some state, some parks actually do have designated archery lanes. Wait, archery ranges? Why did I call it a lane? I'm not bowling. Some parks do have designated archery ranges set up, which that is a great place to go. But just check in advance, that's all I'm saying. Next tip, there are so many resources for you online for learning how to properly shoot a bow, even learning how to tune a bow yourself if that's something that you're interested in learning for the future. And I would encourage you to use your resources online. Obviously you're watching this video already, so I think you know how to use the internet to research and explore, but I've also included a lot of links down below of resources that I used when I first started and that I continue to use as my archery journey expands and grows. So just know that there are great resources for you, and I included some below. And my last tip is to just have fun. If you can get your friends involved with it as well, it becomes this great social thing that is just a lot of fun. I'm not even making any sense. I just encourage you to have fun and enjoy the process of learning. And that's all. So that is it, YouTube. Thank you guys so much for watching. If you have any questions, feel free to leave me comments below or email me. My email's down below as well. That is it, and I will see you guys in the next one.