Bowhunting/Bow Question

[HawkinsHollow]

Evening Gentlemen,
I have a bow hunting/bow question for you.

I have a chance to go hunt my buddies property in Illinois next weekend. Trip of a lifetime! This guy has 3 over 200" and routinely kills them in the 175 range. His properties have been managed VERY well for both genetics and food and it shows in the deer he kills every year. I am very excited! Here is the problem. I am not much of a bow hunter and the bow I am shooting is a 13 year old Diamond Rock 2.0. Still shoots pretty well and I am feeling pretty confident with it at 20 yards, pretty good out to 30. ( I have 1 more week to get better at 30). The string is pretty worn, but a buddy of mine who is the most experienced bow hunter I know says it is fine. Brought it into a bow shop to get a few adjustments made and the guys told me " No way you can go hunt in Illinois with this bow." Now I know a lot of that is them trying to sell me a new bow, but now they got in my head.

My options are:
1. use this bow I have.
2. Buy a used 2017 Elite Option 6 from this bow shop. They are willing to sell it to me for $650 with a dozen arrows, and a set of broad heads.
3. I also saw a decent package at Sportsmans on sale for $509 down from $799. It is a Diamond Deploy SB

I have the money but this is not an expense I was planning on for this trip. I definitely want to give myself every advantage I can. And I think buying the bow will make it more likely I will bow hunt more back home. Also, I have really enjoyed shooting my old bow these last ouiple of weeks getting ready, I bet I will enjoy shooting a newer bow even more!!

What would YOU do? I really enjoy the advice I get from you guys. You are some real straight shooters!!
Give me some advice

 

[johnpoulan83]

Buy the new bow. What’s gona happen if those guys are being serious and that 200 inch buck comes out and string breaks. Easy decision

 

[Cool Hand Luke]

Your call but always make sure you have confidence in the weapon you will be using to take a life.

 

[Railroader]

What was their reason for saying you CAN'T use your bow? Is there something dangerously wrong with it?

So, they want you to buy a six year old bow used by who knows who, as an "upgrade" to a used bow that you know, and enjoy shooting the last two weeks?

Finally, a knowledgeable and trusted bow hunting buddy has looked it over and said your bow is good to go?

Get them salesmen outta your head and go kill a deer in Illinois with your old familiar bow...

 

[slow motion]

What was their reason for saying you CAN'T use your bow? Is there something dangerously wrong with it?

So, they want you to buy a six year old bow used by who knows who, as an "upgrade" to a used bow that you know, and enjoy shooting the last two weeks?

Finally, a knowledgeable and trusted bow hunting buddy has looked it over and said your bow is good to go?

Get them salesmen outta your head and go kill a deer in Illinois with your old familiar bow...

I'm with you double R. As long as it isn't defective you're good to go. New bow you got a learning curve. You are accurate with the current bow. Go hunt.

 

[bighunter23]

Anytime I go into the woods I try to eliminate every variable humanly possible and act as if I’m gonna kill that buck of a lifetime each hunt. Take your bow to a trusted bow shop in your area have them look it over and get it tuned and shoot as much as possible till you head out there. Also, shoot the other bow and see how it feels if you can’t live without it get it but don’t think you need the new one, accuracy, consistency, confidence and sometimes a little luck kills. Good luck

 

[flatwoods]

Hunt of a lifetime?
Crossbow would be the easy choice.
I wouldn't feel comfortable shooting a new compound, or the old one judging by your post, in that amount of time.

 

[1eyefishing]

Everyone killed deer with bows a lot less state of the art before yours was engineered. I killed a good many with mid eighties technology.
I would consider whether I was going to become a more avid bow hunter and/or have the chance to go to Illinois more often down the road before I bought a new bow...

 

[WOODIE13]

Hunt of a lifetime?
Crossbow would be the easy choice.
I wouldn't feel comfortable shooting a new compound, or the old one judging by your post, in that amount of time.

X2

 

[HawkinsHollow]

@Railroader Well they first tried to sell me a new $1000 bow package. That definitely wasn't in the budget. The string is worn on this one is about the only "defect".

My buddy does not believe in using a crossbow if you are a health male. Crossbow is out of the question. I get it and I respect that.

@1eyefishing That is what I was thinking

 

[chrislibby88]

Naw man, they want your money. Nobody wants that 2017 bow, that’s why it’s sitting on the shelf and why he’s trying to push it on you. Dude just pegged you for a sucker, luckily you asked here first. I would avoid them. Matter of fact, let us know who they are, so anyone else that reads this can know what to expect if we deal with them.

Shoot your bow. Good luck in Illinois!

 

[flatwoods]

Ok. Crossbow is out.
I'd start shooting my old bow as much as could.
20-30 yards is going to make it interesting.
Good luck!

 

[HawkinsHollow]

Ok. Crossbow is out.
I'd start shooting my old bow as much as could.
20-30 yards is going to make it interesting.
Good luck!

Most bow hunters I have talked to say the vast majority of their shots are less than 30 yards. I feel fine about only having a confident shot out to 30 yards.

 

[antharper]

I’d go with what you have . I shot a pse Mach flite 2 up until about 6-8 years ago and it was still killing them dead

 

[F.A.R.R.]

My buddy does not believe in using a crossbow if you are a health male. Crossbow is out of the question. I get it and I respect that.

@1eyefishing That is what I was thinking

Good luck on your hunt with what you decide to hunt with.

Unless your buddy is hunting with a homemade self bow and stone points - he’s embraced a lot of technology in a modern compound bow - don’t understand that logic but to each their own

 

[jbogg]

Replace the string and go enjoy your hunt. My 26 year old son always loved fishing, but when it came to deer hunting he could take it or leave it. Well, a couple of his buddies have gotten him excited about bow hunting so I gave him my old 1996 Proline Riptide. Probably only shoots 260 fps and he is driving tacks out to 30 yds. You don’t need a fancy new bow to kill deer.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

Maybe I should have just had the string replaced, but they were a week out on string replacements so I would have been without my bow to practice on for a week. And I would have gotten it back 2 days before I was supposed to leave. At this point a string replacement is out of the question unfortunately.

It sounds like the consensus is to go with the old bow.

 

[Doboy Dawg]

Any reputable bow shop should be able to twist you up a new string. Why not find a bow shop that’ll make you a new string, providing your limbs, cables, wheels and cams are good.

It just sounds to me like this dude is trying to sell you a new bow? Put a new string on it tune it and shoot it.

I was on a hunt when my friend’s bow string broke on a PSE Mach 6, it blew the limbs and basically destroyed the bow. He is very fortunate it didn’t hurt him. I was right next to him and heard it. I asked him what just happened. It sounded like a bullwhip cracking.

 

[bfriendly]

Kind of a nice dilemma to be in if ya ask me I’m curious how long you’ve been shooting the old bow. Is it YOUR bow? Is it the bow you know like the back of your hand? If YOU trust it, go with it!
While we’d like to think all outdoorsman are honest blah blah blah, A bow shopperson may or may not be full of it, pressure to sell you something may or may not play into it. New strings probably won’t be done same day so no time for that. A new bow IS an option, and I think itd be FUN to have a new bow for a trip of a lifetime! There is time for that, but I’d go buy it tomorrow and shoot the heck out of it!
Best of luck!

 

[kmckinnie]

I’m thinking I’d get one the good used bows. I’d shoot both. I’d take both. If u still feel better with the old use it. If the old breaks. Well u got a back up. Wax the old string good each day.