Serving the small-framed bow shooter - archery equipment for teenagers and women

Shooting Industry, Feb, 1999 by Carolee Boyles

The interest generated in archery by the '96 Olympics has brought a lot of young shooters into the sport. And programs such as Becoming an Outdoors Woman are introducing a lot of women to archery.

This has resulted in a rising number of small-framed shooters and an expanded market you can't afford to overlook.

Serving the small-framed shooter is a little different than working with the average client who walked into your archery shop in past years. With men, hunters and target shooters, your main concerns are with draw length and draw weight. But with the small-framed shooter, the axle-to-axle (tip-to-tip) length of the bow is important, as well.

Marilyn Bentz is vice president of sales and marketing for Golden Eagle/Satellite Archery. As a long-time bowhunter who is also a small-framed shooter, she has both personal and professional expertise in finding the right bow for a woman. She says the needs of women and teenagers are similar, but there are some significant differences.

"One of the most important factors you need to take into consideration with both groups is the overall length of the bow," she says. "And if you're selling a bow to a young teenager, another thing is adjustability, both in draw length and draw weight, so it can grow with the child. If you're selling a bow to a small-framed adult, that's not a problem."

RECURVE BOWS

When you're dealing with a small-framed shooter, the first question, of course, must be whether they want a compound bow or a recurve.

"You have a much broader range with a recurve," Bentz says. "You can 'grow into' a recurve. It gives you a lot of flexibility, rather than adjustability."

The other nice thing about a recurve, especially for a young teen, is it provides the child with an opportunity to learn basic form and shooting techniques without struggling with the mechanics of a compound bow.

When fitting a recurve to a smaller shooter, your main consideration needs to be the height of the person.

"For instance, if the customer is 5-foot-2 or under, they can shoot a 44-inch recurve," Bentz says. "Someone taller than that would probably be more comfortable with a 60-inch recurve."

Your second consideration needs to be the draw weight. For teenage shooters Bentz suggests something in the 40-pound range. A woman, depending on her experience and strength, may be able to draw a higher-poundage bow, but let her decide what she can handle.

The nice thing about putting a teenager into a 40-pound recurve is that he or she can grow into it. The draw weight of the bow varies with the draw length. As the teenager grows and can draw back farther, the poundage increases gradually. If the teen is shooting regularly, he or she will develop the muscles to handle the heavier poundage without being aware that it's happening.

You also need to take the shape of the riser into consideration. The risers of many recurves (and compounds) are too big for a small-framed shooter to control the bow effectively.

"The riser should have a small enough grip to fit in the shooter's hand comfortably," Bentz said. "I'd say the grip, at the smallest point, should be no more than 1 1/4 inches across."

COMPOUND BOWS

In general, the teenager who buys a compound bow will be a little older than the one who buys a first recurve. The way the youngster uses the bow will be different, also.

"There's a very strong possibility that the person will hunt with that equipment," Bentz says. "That's why adjustability is so critical, so you can take that bow up to the required legal hunting poundage. Retailers should check that, because it varies from state to state." Generally, state minimums are somewhere around 35 to 45 pounds, and most bows designed for women and teenagers bottom out in that area.

The other consideration is axle-to-axle length. The break-in comfort and size cut-off occurs right around 5 foot 6 inches.

"Anyone smaller than that should be comfortable using a shorter bow," Bentz says. "Even some smaller men who are small-framed should like them."

The problem with full-sized bows is not the length of the bow itself, according to Bentz. It's a combination of the longer draw length necessary to shoot a longer bow, plus the higher draw weights the bows attain.

"Draw length is in proportion to height," Bentz says. "Generally, when someone is 5-foot-6, he or she has a draw length long enough for a full-sized bow."

The range of draw lengths for the smaller bows varies and depends on the manufacturer, she says.

"On ours at Golden Eagle, we tend to be quite liberal. On our 36-inch bows, we go from 23 to 27 inches, a full 5-inch range. Some other manufacturers just do 3 inches, or even 2. Some are not nearly as adjustable as others," Bentz explained.

On the smaller bows, manufacturers are creating bows with a wide range of draw weights.

"Manufacturers tend to make them in lower weights," Bentz says. "But you can also get the smaller bows with higher draw weights."

One other feature of smaller bows is the lower price of some models.

"Manufacturers try to make one or two models in the lower-price range," Bentz says. "These are for customers who are just beginning or those stepping up from a youth bow. Or, it may be someone who's not sure if they want to get into this sport. So we try to have one or two units that are in the low- to medium-price range."