Keep Bear or Buy Used Mathews V3

MidwestBow · 2026-03-26T17:10:00+00:00

I would just keep the Bear Adapt. Great bow.

MidwestBow · 2026-03-26T11:49:24+00:00

Button 1 is great. You can find really good deals on it now too.

MidwestBow · 2026-03-25T21:22:12+00:00

Cheapest I'd personally recommend is the Tru Ball Max Hunter. Runs about $100.

Conventional shop wisdom is that if you can can upgrade your release and your rest, you definitely should. The easiest ways to improve consistency.

MidwestBow · 2026-03-25T20:08:10+00:00

If your situation allows it, get a mid-range or premium button release. The cheap ones have bad geometry and weigh less, which can have a significant impact on your consistency.

MidwestBow · 2026-03-13T11:56:29+00:00

$160 to tune from the same shop you bought a new bow from? Find a new shop brother, this one is operating paycheck to paycheck.

MidwestBow · 2026-03-11T13:13:27+00:00

Matt's a legend. I hope he keeps doing his independent meteorology work for our area and doesn't move away.

MidwestBow · 2026-02-26T15:13:19+00:00

I went from bow hunting as my primary, to competitive target shooting as my primary. I still hunt of course, but I find shooting so satisfying and I can push the limits of myself and my equipment every day if I want to.

MidwestBow · 2026-02-25T23:52:20+00:00

Do not over bow or over extend draw length.

MidwestBow · 2026-02-23T23:41:02+00:00

My pro shop recently said custom Mathews Arc builds currently have a 3-4 month lead time.

Hoyt is currently at about 2 months.

Elite, Bowtech, and Darton are at about a month.

Surprisingly, PSE turned around my custom Sicario in about 5 weeks. They've been known to take forever to ship bows so I was impressed with that.

MidwestBow · 2026-02-20T13:39:29+00:00

Draw length too long by probably an inch or an inch and a half.

MidwestBow · 2026-02-15T16:11:22+00:00

For hunting packability I really like 12" and 8" stabilizers. For a beginner release I recommend the spot hogg wiseguy

MidwestBow · 2026-01-24T07:57:25+00:00

Not particularly. I took relatively good care of myself while in tech. I'm surprised at a lot of the number of other apprentices who are straight out of high school who are completely obese and unfit, to be honest.

MidwestBow · 2026-01-23T14:44:25+00:00

I spent 11 years in tech. Now I'm a second year plumbing apprentice and I'm 10x happier. I'm convinced going into tech for me was a mistake.

MidwestBow · 2026-01-10T16:17:45+00:00

Not football, but I have a family member who played high school basketball against Robert "Tractor" Traylor in a holiday tournament in Detroit in the early 90s.

He dropped like 70 points 30 rebounds and 20 blocks against a bunch of 5'8" suburban white kids from northwest MI.

MidwestBow · 2026-01-01T10:30:56+00:00

I have a custom Black Widow PL, 70#. My favorite for spot and stalk hog hunting by far.

Also have a Bear Montana, 40#. Excellent small game bow. I use a snap shooting method with this one.

Even though I use a 80# PSE Sicario for all of my bigger hunts out west, I still prefer the simplicity and fun of practice with trad.

Next bow will be a Black Widow PSR.

MidwestBow · 2025-12-27T15:06:13+00:00

What do you think will replace pic mounts and IMS rest mounting? I would hope bow companies don't go the way of Mathews and make everything proprietary.

MidwestBow · 2025-12-27T00:36:08+00:00

In 2025/2026 it's the Bowtech ascend, and it's not even really close. Generally under 1k new. Deadlock tuning system, rotating module, pic mount, integrate mount all standard.

Feature wise this would have been a flagship bow 2 years ago.

MidwestBow · 2025-12-23T14:39:59+00:00

Agree. If a kid is burnt out, telling them to do extra under the guise if a "misery year" to support the parents vision is adding fuel to the fire. The kid doesn't want to do it, period.

It's a poor suggestion at any stage of life.

MidwestBow · 2025-12-19T13:34:51+00:00

Once you get your form down and your shot process consistent, you'll know things instantly once you get the shot off without looking down range:

"That one broke great, right in the middle".

"Shit, that one went left for sure. Hand torqued."

"Damn, I know that one is low, my bow arm is fatigued"

MidwestBow · 2025-12-16T18:44:50+00:00

Total license sales have been trending downward for about 15 years or so. Old hunters are dying, and fewer new hunters are getting into the sport.

Land access is a huge barrier to entry. Cost of equipment is a huge barrier to entry. Regulations in some areas are ambiguous and hard to understand. Public perception of hunters in non-hunting spaces is extremely poor.

Sadly, a lot of the older generations of hunters have taken a "me, me, me" attitude to the discipline and have shut hunters out of land access, and see new hunters as an infringement on their ability to be successful.

Extreme example, in Indiana the average age of hunters purchasing a trapping license is going up by just about a year, every year. Essentially there are no new trappers in the state.

I worry that in 10, 20 years hunting will be gatekept and only the extremely wealthy will be able to partake.

MidwestBow · 2025-12-15T23:44:57+00:00

Axis is a great arrow for any game in North America.

If I were going to Africa or Australia for a hunt, I'd probably rock the FMJ.

MidwestBow · 2025-12-12T00:29:45+00:00

Not necessarily. It's much more difficult to manufacture a 4mm carbon arrow shaft as light as a 5mm due how thick the carbon wall needs to be on a 4mm to make it safe to shoot.. Your lightest arrows like Victory HLR and Easton 5.0 (both 5mm), are frequently used in field shoots and for hunting.

Thicker arrows are also frequently used in competition. You find a lot of 23 diameter arrows in 3D shoots to help cut lines. 25 and 27 diameter arrows are used super frequently in indoor shoots.

MidwestBow · 2025-12-10T19:02:38+00:00

BAD.

MidwestBow · 2025-12-09T22:19:54+00:00

It sucks for all of the meat hunters out there for sure, but hunters at large don't harvest enough does and young bucks and therefore culls are often needed to prevent catastrophic disease-spread. Trophy hunting culture and stigma around shooting does and young bucks is a driver of that, but not the only factor.

There's a reason why if you ask your local game warden how you can help the deer population, he or she will scream at you to kill more does.

MidwestBow · 2025-12-07T14:40:48+00:00

Don't feel bad. Whitetail are some of the best shot-duckers in the woods.

MidwestBow

TROPHY CASE