If you could only have one??

[BillW]

Well, I get ribbed by my buddies about my bow collection. I really don't have that many but I have a few. Anyhow if I really had to settle on one bow, it would be my Black Widow PSA3 55#@28" and 60" long. I have hunted with this bow exclusively since I got it in Aug. 2005. That fall I harvested my first deer w/trad gear. Then in 2006 I took it to Alaska where it endured very wet conditions with NO ill affect. I also took a medium sized bull during a sleet/misting rain. Yep, if I had to pick one it would be this BW. Not even batting an eye.

Bill

[DesertDude]

Simple.........Wes Wallace  anything he makes

[mmgrode]

OK fellas, if you could also add why you would pick the one you did that would be great. They always said "the man who only owns one gun surely knows how to use it." I'm sure this applies to bows as well. Take care, Matt

[bentpole]

Come on! Thats like only dancin with one girl at the high school dance!!!!

[bentpole]

Well my newest bow is a Hornes58" brushbow real purty.Liked it enough to order another one sort of like a blood and guts model. Silver/black diamond wood riser maple limbs black glass.However I do have a shrew on order also sooooooooo?

[Shawn Leonard]

My one bow would be amy Jack Kempf Kwyk Styk with my 63# limbs and my 48# limbs. Best of both worlds!! Shawn

[Peckerwood]

If I could only have one it would have to be a Dale Dye take down. It is a pleasure to shoot and look at .
 I'm glad this is only a what if scenario. A fellow has got to have more than one bow .

Bill

[The Whittler]

I have shot and bought a few, but I would have to say without a doubt my Black Widow MA11@62" since the early 90's.

As for why, well it pulls smooth, no hand shock/vib or anything just dead in the hand after the shot, shoots fast for me, it's just a pleasur to shoot. It sure shoots good for me. Alan

[Otto]

Fortunately, that's a decision I don't have to make.

But if I did, it would be a Black Widow SA model.  And the reason is it's dead nuts smooth draw out to my 29 or occasional 30 inch draw.  I have about 10 other custom bows from some VERY well known bowyers that I cannot say the same thing about.

[Barney]

My Bighorn, #60@29", cause it shoots like it's a part of me. If you know what I mean.

[SpikeMaster]

Howard Hill Wesley Special 60@28, 68". Smooth and accurate.

[snag]

A beautiful Blacktail Recurve 55#@28" cocobolo riser w/ a footing of Brazilian rosewood w/ myrtlewood accents and cocobolo limbs....it should be here this spring! oh boy!

[Flesner]

I just traded Jim Ellis out of a BBO that he built several years ago. I could be happy shooting it into eternity.
It's 63" long - 66# at 26" but I could reduce that when I get old and feeble.
Jims craftsmanship is second to none.

[bear1336]

I would say my RER one piece recurve 58in @ 46LB it is without a doubt the best bow that I have owned in all the years in archery.

[mike g]

Good choice Spikemaster....
   I would say my Howard Hill Big 5 52# @ 28 and 68" of sweetness....
   I like it because it's a good bow for moving targets and it's built like a tank, If your going to have one it better last....

[BillW]

Matt, You have asked us to add "WHY" we chose our bows so here is my LONG story. It was a fluke that I even tried a BW bow and chose my Black Widow PSA3. In 2005, I was taking my wife around Cloverdale doing the rounds so we could buy her a new recurve. We made the whole loop with BW being the last vendor, she shot quite a few bows, but they just never made her say "WOW". When she shot the BW, she turned to me and said "WOW"... I like this one. It figured, it was probably the most expensive... Women!

We knew we were going to Compton the following week and figured there would be more vendors there so I told her we should wait a week to decide. At Compton she made the rounds, like Cloverdale she wound up shooting the BW last. Again, after her shot, she said "WOW". Finally out of disbelief I said "Give me that damn thing, it cannot be that good". I shot three arrows and my wife watched me asking "Well?" I said nothing. Then I turned to her like a kid and said "WOW" these are neat! I had to go to the BW booth and try a heavier one. I had the same experience with the heavier bow (55#@28"). By 2005, I had shot a lot of different bows and had 7 years of Trad experience. I knew what I liked and figured I was hard to impress, but the BW did impress me. It is not that it out performed my other bows by so much (not that much difference in any of the top bows) as that it combined all my favorite characteristics I had observed separately in the other bows into this one bow.

What the entire "WOW" factor was for my wife and I, was how stable the bow seemed to us. Left and right errors were minimal for us both (riser mass?). If we were off, it was in height and that was the archer, not the bow. We ordered her bow right there. I spent two weeks thinking about that PSA till I had the nerve to ask the wife if I could order one for me. Some bows just fit you, they don't fit everyone but when it is right you know it. Up till then my go to bow was a Bob Lee. I love the way the Lee's look and they shoot as good as they look (still shoot it). Prior to shooting the BW, I figured I would never want one of those reverse limb, ugly bows. Now I see the beauty in the design and during hunting season I discovered something I never realized shooting in the summer. What I found was this limb design gives you so much room that your bulky coat hardly ever is an issue. There just seems to be more forgiveness and room to shoot in a hunting scenario. This is a big plus for me w/my BW.

So, that is the "Why".

Long answer but I think it is funny how I almost never, ever would have shot a BW on my own... I just thought they were ugly... No more...LOL. Sure proves "Shoot before you buy".

Regards,
Bill

[James Wrenn]

I have no idea other than it would be a longbow in the mid 40s range and would not be one of those little "drive by" short bows.   :D

[Bowspirit]

Just one huh? Then I'd have to choose the late Fred Bear's personal takedown Kodiak, for obvious reasons...

[John3]

My Widow as of today. But, of course I have too many bows now and they are all personal to me. Meaning I will never sell the "core" bows on my racks.

Only one bow, surely you jest.


John III

[Lost]

Morrison for me, 60" 58 @ 28". I like Dye's, Schafer's,  Robertson's, etc. but when it's Killin time I'll take a Morrison. Pretty don't mean much in the woods (less your in Arkansas), but Morrison's are also tuff as nails... Nothing gives me more confidence when it counts.