There are a few questions I get asked about bowhunting gear every single year. The most common query is usually something like, “Do you really need a $1000 bow?” Of course, the answer is, no. You don’t need to drop a grand or more on a new bow to kill deer or elk. Or simply enjoy target shooting and hunting.
Certainly, if you’re not going to have to sell a kidney to buy a flagship, there are plenty of benefits in the top-end offerings. But truthfully, while flagship bow prices have continually climbed over the years, the bow manufacturers have also realized that they’ve priced out plenty of potential customers.
This is clearly evidenced by the fact that nearly all bow lines offer a mid-priced offering. Some have even created entire companies to address the budget-conscious crowd.
And the best thing about these bows besides price?
Well, if you take a look at the technologies that commanded high prices in flagships within the last few years, you’ll notice that those game-changing innovations have now migrated through the lower priced offerings. This means that while you’ll have a few extra Benjamins in your wallet by going this route, you won’t be missing out on too much in the way of performance. That’s a big deal.
Following are seven new offerings worth checking out.
Bear Archery LS2
One of the best deals on the market right now is the 4-pound LS2 ($550) from Bear. This bow measures a shade over 31 inches between axles, fires arrows downrange at up to 320fps, is available in peak draw weights of 60 or 70 pounds, and is offered in draw ranges from 23 to 30 inches. It is also one of the Ready-To-Hunt packages, meaning that you can spend half of what you’d spend on a flagship and not only get a killer bow, but also all of the accessories you need to hunt.
Cabela’s Fortitude Compound Package
Cabela’s teamed up with BOWTECH to create their bows, which seems like a pretty solid decision when you dig into the new Fortitude Compound Bow Package ($600). This 32-inch offering features a 6.25-inch brace height and is powered by BOWTECH’s Synchronized Binary Cam system to ensure moose-killing arrow speeds and ease-in-tuning. Since this is a package deal,…
