I have never bow hunted but I bought my 11 year old son a Browning bow for Christmas. He loves it and can't wait until next season! I must admit that I like shooting it also. Momma gave me clearence to buy my own bow!

I'm looking for advice on my first bow purchase. Is BPS a good place to go or should I go to an archery shop? Also, what brand is a good one? Any advice appreciated!

These days most mfg., make good bows. Asking someone to tell you the best is opening up a very LARGE can of worms. I've shot Bear, Browning, PSE, Matthews, Hoyt, Parker, and BowTech. I own a Bear, a Browning, a PSE, and a BowTech. The latter is my newest and favorite right now. You'll get loads of advice, but keep in mind, a bow is a speciality weapon. It's must fit you perfectly, unlike buying a gun off the shelf and mounting a scope and hitting a target at 100yards with the first few rounds. A good bow shop can help you decide what bow fits your frame(draw length,draw weight, type of release, etc) and your price range. In Lewisville we have NIX, BPS, and Sportsmans warehouse. I prefer Sportsmans or NIX because you can shoot at the store, so trying different bows isn't a problem. BPS doesn't have an indoor range for bows at this time, they used to though. For a first bow, I would go with an outfitter from Parker or PSE. They come already set-up with a rest, sights, quiver and arrows. Some even have stablizers. And you can get started for less than $400, usually. After you shoot for awhile you may want a higher end bow, that you can customize to your preferances. Definately go to a Pro shop and Shoot some before you buy one, you'll be glad you did. Good luck, and straight shooting.

Best advice I can give you for a new bow is to say go visit a reputible pro shop in your area. They should be very knowledgable and will answer all of your questions. All of the brands mentioned above are good, and there are many to choose from in almost every price range. I think you'll find that each bow has it's advantages and disadvantages. It's just a matter of what you find important, and what feels good to you.

If your a hard core deer hunter get a good Top of the line bow around $600.00.
If you just want to try it out to see if you like it I would go with a PSE Nova with the new cam. People will tell you not to buy a Nova beause they are cheep but they shoot around 295 IBO. Not bad. I have a fiend that shoots one and kill's alot of deer a hogs. This year he kill a 131 2/8 P&Y on our lease.

Like they said shop around talk to BPS and to a pro shop before you buy. Most places will let you shot a bow before you buy. Good luck

Archery shop, Archery shop, Archery shop!Love the guys at BPS but pro shop gives ya a little bit more attention. Smithfeild Archery in NRHills is good.

I agree with whakm. I bought a bow a couple of years ago at BPS and I had some questions and concerns that they could not answer. But I had a gift card from BPS so I had to buy the bow there. I might have chosen a slightly different setup had I gone to an archery shop first.

if you think it is something you might really get into, go ahead and get a pretty good bow. stop by a pro shop and they'll let you test drive a few. they will explain the in's and out's of the bow's to you and if you explain to them what you are wanting to do with it, they will generally be pretty helpful. i bought one of my bows at bass pro shops and they set it up totally wrong. i had to go home and start from scratch. there are a couple of fella's there that know what they are doing, but i wouldnt trust the others, no matter how good of a game they talk.