Cimrandir wrote:So here's a question for the more archery minded folks while the topic is at hand. All this conversation about not using anchor points and short bows has me wondering where the limit is regarding draw lengths and short bows. I am a rather tall guy (6'5") with a matching long draw length. Shorter bows make more sense for wandering the forest but my archery experience is with longbows drawn back to an anchor point and I feel like for someone of my stature it'd be a little odd to run around with a short bow half the size of my draw and I. Is that something I could compensate for or would it be best to stick with what I know? I have no interest in ever getting up to the 100 pound+ warbows and plan to stick to a nice manageable 50-65ish pounds.
Don't know how I missed this...
Shorter bows are rather open to interpretation. When people say "shorter bows are better in brush", they're largely talking about the times between the use of the bow...hiking and otherwise traveling. I see this coming up especially often when talking to people who strap bows to their backs/quivers a la film examples. I feel that the size of a bow when shooting isn't all that important unless you're deliberately wading into thick briar/brush (which is going to ruin your shot no matter how short your bow is) and then you'll likely have the issue of a struggle in retreat if necessary.
Most modern laminated or fiberglass longbow-makers consider 62-66" to be a standard length, and 58" to be the "short" or "Brush-friendly" model. When 48" bows and the like come up for discussion here, I've found over the years that the benefits don't necessarily outweigh the drawbacks. I used to be all about 48" bows, but shot quality suffers pretty dramatically at that length with conventional bows. Shot quality should always trump carrying convenience, or you're carrying it for the wrong reasons. My opinions have changed significantly on this matter in the last four years or so as I've been more actively pursuing game and less actively pursing a particular carrying method, harness, etc., and so I feel the proof is in the pudding. For a 6'5" guy, a 64", 66", 68" longbow really shouldn't be a problem at all. A full draw is DEFINITELY preferable to a short one.