Reconnecting With Recurves - GrandView Outdoors

Written by: Dave Maas

The author shot numerous compounds and crossbows during the 2022 ATA Trade Show, but it was 30 minutes spent in the Bear Archery shooting lane that refueled his desire to hunt with a recurve.

Like many kids born in the mid-1960s, I shot toy bows at everything from pop cans to water balloons in our backyard. For Christmas in 1975, Santa brought me a “real” bow, a Browning Cobra 1. This 50-inch recurve was made in the USA by Browning during the years 1969 to 1975; mine had a draw weight of 45 pounds.

Even though 45 pounds doesn’t sound like much, for a skinny 10-year-old, I struggled to draw the string to my anchor point, and my shooting form suffered greatly because of it. With my toy longbow, which featured short fiberglass limbs with a draw weight of less than 10 pounds, I could draw smoothly, anchor and aim briefly, then release the string. I was deadly at close range with my lightweight longbow, but I had trouble hitting a large paper plate consistently from 10 yards with my harder-to-pull Browning.

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