# help an old shooter



## aread (Dec 25, 2009)

My experience with old shoulders (64 years) is that it's not so much the weight of the bow as the recoil, often called hand shock. A few years ago I shot a Hoyt Pro Elite for indoor and my shoulders hurt so much, I thought I was going to have to quit archery. Fortunately a friend who had been through it before advised me to get a parallel limb bow. I started shooting a PSE Supra and within 3 days the shoulder pain was gone. Surprisingly, the Supra has 8#'s more draw weight.

The Whitetail was a great bow in it's day and will still do the job today. But newer bows are much more comfortable to shoot and do less damage to our bodies. They are much faster too. A rule of thumb is that you can drop down 10#'s from the older bows and still get the same KE. Of course this depends on the specific bows you are looking at.

Even at a lighter draw weight, most newer bows will fling your aluminum arrows with as much or more authority. Stabilizers and weights are available if you want to load up your bow for more weight, but most hunters don't do that. Opting instead for lighter carrying weight.

PSE has the Supra and Phenom at reasonable prices, but most manufacturers have good parallel limb hunting bows. You may want to stick to something in the 37" to 38" ATA range. That way you won't have to make changes to your form to fit the bow like you would with the ultra short bows that many hunters seem to want.

I recommend that you shoot as many bows as you can before you buy. You may find one that you can't live without. Or maybe not. 

Also, if you get a new bow, don't trash your Whitetail. A lot of guys are retrofitting them into great recurves. 

Hope this helps,
Allen


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## cdred (Oct 5, 2012)

Aread/Allen: thanks a bunch for the information. I have done a lot to attempt to get my shoulders back in shape. I don't want to have to give in to old age, yet! I'll go take a look at the parallel limb bows. My initial thought was to down weight to a recurve (50#s?). I have no idea where I got that thought . . . . That said, in addition to exploring the parallel limb bows, you have my attention in regard to retrofitting the White Tail 2. Do you know where I can go to get info on that concept? Thanks again for your insight and experience.


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## aread (Dec 25, 2009)

Go to Tradtalk.com and search there for Warf bows. A gentleman over there named Bob Gordon seems to have originated the idea when ILF limbs became generally available and affordable. He called them "warf" bows after his dog named Warf after the Star Trek character. I believe that Bob has had some health problems and no longer makes the plates, but someone else may be making them.There may also be information in the AT traditional section.

The process requires a pair of ILF (international limb fitting) limbs and a pair of adapter plates. ILF limbs have a dovetail stud that fits into a matching slot on the plate. Since the ILF limbs have a tapered butt end, there may be some work fitting them to the limb pockets. Sometimes the builder will add weight under the adapter plate on the bottom limb.

ILF limbs are used on many Olympic recurves and are available in a wide variety of weights. 

Good luck if you warf your Whitetail,

Allen


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