Hunting bow for 10 year old

[Meskin255]

Hey guys, need some help here. This year my step son will be turning 10 in July and will be old enough to bow hunt in Michigan.:woohoo1: Last summer we got him a kids bow to start practicing and he really enjoyed it, so now we are looking into getting him a bigger bow that he can hunt with.

The question I have is, what weight bow would be the minimum that he could easily kill a deer with, and where would be a good place to go and have him try some bows in that weight to ensure he could pull it back. I have seen several in catalogs in different weights, but not sure what he can pull back, and still shoot a deer with, as well that will last him longer than just a year or two.

Thanks in advance for any advice!
Keith

[Michihunter]

I personally don't like using "minimum draw weight' as an indicator of the effectiveness of a bow. Too many other factors to consider (Draw length, bows efficiency, etc). What I will suggest is that most people recommend a minimum of 25ft-lbs's of Kinetic Energy as being efficient for whitetail deer and I personally up that to 30 just to be on the safer side. With that in mind it's actually fairly easy to calculate the KE of a bow just by using the speed of it and the arrow weight. With all that considered, a bow with an arrow weight of 200 gr needs to obtain a speed of 260fps to get 30 ft-lbs of KE. There are youth bows that get that speed but that's dependent on the childs draw lenght. Obviously the higher the draw weight and draw length, the more KE you will obtain through speed so that's something you need to consider as well.;)

Some may disagree with this but these are my opinions based on raising two boys of my own and bowhunting for over 30 years.;)
As far as bows go for youths that can potentially take a deer effectively, both my sons grew up with Browning Micro Midas's.

[Joe Archer]

Some may disagree with this but these are my opinions based on raising two boys of my own and bowhunting for over 30 years.;)
As far as bows go for youths that can potentially take a deer effectively, both my sons grew up with Browning Micro Midas's.
I have also raised two sons and a daughter that have all bow hunted. None of them would have been ready to go until 12 years of age, so 10 may be pushing it.
In any case, my daughter took a deer at 12 years of age with a Browning Micro Midas. She was shooting carbon arrows, Thunderhead 85's, and drawing about 37 pounds. I limited her shots to 10 yards, and she had a pass through with that set-up.
In any case, somewhere about 35 pounds or so should be a good estimate of a minimum... But I like the KE recomendations above too.
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[Swamp Monster]

Here's some bows that will grow with him, both in draw length and draw weight.
Diamond Edge
Browning Micro Midas
Parker (can't remember the model). Parker has a program that you can trade in limbs for heavier poundage as your kid grows.
Both the Diamond and the Browning have a large draw length range and draw weight range so they can start out with low poundage while building muscles and working on form and slowly work up to hunting weight.

For what it's worth, my Step Father shoots a Hoyt cam n half set at 38# with Beman ICS 500's and a cut on contact Steelforce broadheads. He has not taken a shot at a deer yet with it, but this set up has impressive penetration on both layered targets and broadhead targets. He knows that broadside shots only, no heavy quartering and he limits his range to 20 yards. I have no doubts that this set up will cleanly take whitetails.

[U of M Fan]

My son was 11 years old when he shot his first deer. He has a Pearson Pathfinder. Take him to a pro shop so he can try a few bows. The micro midas is a pretty popular youth bow, so definatly look at those. My son is growing like a weed and I have to get him a bigger bow for next season.

[Hoyt_em]

I personally don't like using "minimum draw weight' as an indicator of the effectiveness of a bow. Too many other factors to consider (Draw length, bows efficiency, etc). What I will suggest is that most people recommend a minimum of 25ft-lbs's of Kinetic Energy as being efficient for whitetail deer and I personally up that to 30 just to be on the safer side. With that in mind it's actually fairly easy to calculate the KE of a bow just by using the speed of it and the arrow weight. With all that considered, a bow with an arrow weight of 200 gr needs to obtain a speed of 260fps to get 30 ft-lbs of KE. There are youth bows that get that speed but that's dependent on the childs draw lenght. Obviously the higher the draw weight and draw length, the more KE you will obtain through speed so that's something you need to consider as well.;)

Some may disagree with this but these are my opinions based on raising two boys of my own and bowhunting for over 30 years.;)
As far as bows go for youths that can potentially take a deer effectively, both my sons grew up with Browning Micro Midas's.

I have also raised two sons and a daughter that have all bow hunted. None of them would have been ready to go until 12 years of age, so 10 may be pushing it.
In any case, my daughter took a deer at 12 years of age with a Browning Micro Midas. She was shooting carbon arrows, Thunderhead 85's, and drawing about 37 pounds. I limited her shots to 10 yards, and she had a pass through with that set-up.
In any case, somewhere about 35 pounds or so should be a good estimate of a minimum... But I like the KE recomendations above too.
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well put gentleman.

I would also recommend a cut on contact broadhead.

[Meskin255]

I appreciate all the advice. It will help quite a bit I am sure! I was actually looking at the browning Micro Midas and Diamond The edge in a catalog as possible choices. I actually bought the Diamond bow for my wife 2 years ago. She has not actually taken a deer with it yet, but it shoots great and I am sure once she gets to shoot one, it will work just great!

Again thanks for the help!

[shawndonna]

Check archerytalk.com free classified section under women and kid's bows. Alot of bows for your boy for sale. Try the Darton ranger III

[Joe Archer]

I came back to put in another vote to check out Darton. A few years ago they came out with a really excellent looking bow (Could be the Ranger).
Anyway, what I always looked for in a youth bow was ability to adjust draw length without a press, with enough draw length and draw weight ranges to last through the late teen age years.
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[bowhunter_kaz]

Mission made by matthews has a nice youth bow.

[mikieday]

bear has come out with a youth version of the truth 2...great specs and a great price i am sure..

like with my daughter when she started hunting i was concerned with penatration...so i set her up with a magnus stinger 85g...she shoots a monster bows phoenix at 40lbs and has a 26in draw...(kept her in the 20yards range) a perfect shot will get it done with lower poundage as my daughter proved it twice this past season...lol:)

Mikie

[mikieday]

just dug up some specs on the bear bow...

it is called the truth 2 young gun

14-27in draw

3.2 lbs

a to a 29.5

40-50lbs

brace 6in

letoff 70%

list speed at 263-266ps

i looked at Dartons bow...looks great, price is not bad either...but i cant find the specs on it...but darton puts out a great bow

Mikie

[Non Typical]

I had a few of the Darton Ranger 3 go out of here at xmas time, the draw is from 17"-28" and from 15-45# and weight is only 2.9#

[eboll]

My old bow that I used was a reflex. I used it about 5 years ago. Its weigth was about 30 but I practiced a lot. I only took shots at 15 yards or less. I used muzzys and had a clean kill. The weight doesnt mean a whole lot if you are accurate and at a close range. As long as it isnt really low, I would say 25 lbs minimum

[Michihunter]

Putting eboll's post into perspective here's what to expect from a 25# Micro Midas which is rated at 275fps at 28" and 40#'s(200gr arrow).

15fps slower at 25#'s(1#=1fps) brings it to 235fps with the same 200 gr arrow(75 gr over IBO for 25 fps speed loss). Then subtract 10 fps for every inch of DL under 28.

So a child with a 22" DL would lose 60fps more bringing it to appprox 175fps with a 200 gr arrow. KE with that setup (22"/25# w/200gr arrow) 14 ft-lbs of KE.:( Not something I'd personally promote considering there would certainly be more speed loss with add ons.

[fishunter9160]

Im not sure if it was the Edge model but I saw a Diamond bow at Cabelas that was 30 - 60 lbs with I belive 6" of draw lenght adj. with no press. It looked like a nice starter bow for a kid.

[Walleye Wizard]

My son is 9 and he shoots the Parker sidekick XP. Very nice bow from Gander Mtn. I had it set up at a pro shop rather than Gander. He shoots 29# @ 22" draw, with beeman hunter juniors good to 40#s.

[ArrowFlinger]

I set my oldest boy up with a Micro Midas when he was 12. It was set at 32# and was enough for a close range kill shot. He was patient and did not take the 20yd. that was first presented to him, but he enjoyed the thrill. A couple of hunting trips later he was successful on a 7yd. shot.

The Micro Midas is an excellent and easy to adjust bow.

Right now I am looking for a used LH Micro Midas for the next hunter in the family.

[LTCracc]

If anyone has first hand knowledge of the Diamond Edge please pass it on before i make the purchase next week. Thanks.

[Girtski]

If anyone has first hand knowledge of the Diamond Edge please pass it on before i make the purchase next week. Thanks.

My son loves his and it's quite effective. I believe the "Diamond Edge" of last year has been superceded by the Diamond "Razors Edge". Similar bow with a few improvements. Your child should have no trouble shooting this rig into young adulthood....when he can upgrade out of his/her own wallet!!!!

[Atchison]

My son loves his and it's quite effective. I believe the "Diamond Edge" of last year has been superceded by the Diamond "Razors Edge". Similar bow with a few improvements. Your child should have no trouble shooting this rig into young adulthood....when he can upgrade out of his/her own wallet!!!!

Correct! The "Edge" is just a year or two older model and an excellent bow! Would be a great first bow and will easily work until he stops growing and can get something else.

[LTCracc]

Yup, my fault its the Razor Edge, thanks for the input fellas.

[Girtski]

Yup, my fault its the Razor Edge, thanks for the input fellas.

Shop thoroughly. If you're not concerned about having a pro shop service the bow, there are some pretty good deals out there on both new and used....Check Ebay and Archery Talk.

[TSPham]

I have the Browning Micro Midas for my 5' 3" wife (there are about 3 versions of this..check carefully). It didn't have the full length/weight adjustment as I would have liked for my sons.

I bought the Diamond Edge, but it had a pretty narrow weight adjustment and the low end weight was still a little too heavy for my sons to start out with. I sold it on craigslist for more than I bought it for, so it holds retail value nicely. The draw length adjusted down, but it's narrow weight range was the main drawback. You can send it in for limb upgrades for a nominal price and it has excellent warranty.

We now have the Bear Odyssey II which has the best of both weight/draw length adjustments. Fairly well built and incredible range of weight/length adjustments to grow with. The Bear Pioneer II is identical except for lighter limbs that aren't camo.

My 10 year old now shoots the Odyssey II and his 7 year-old brother shoots the Pioneer II. They started with these bows last year.

The Diamond Edge was probably the nicest to handle/shoot from an adult perspective. The Bear was the best buy for the money and the ability to grow with it.

To see what draw length you need for your son, divide his height by 2.5.

[ArrowFlinger]

I have the Browning Micro Midas for my 5' 3" wife (there are about 3 versions of this..check carefully). It didn't have the full length/weight adjustment as I would have liked for my sons.

I bought the Diamond Edge, but it had a pretty narrow weight adjustment and the low end weight was still a little too heavy for my sons to start out with. I sold it on craigslist for more than I bought it for, so it holds retail value nicely. The draw length adjusted down, but it's narrow weight range was the main drawback. You can send it in for limb upgrades for a nominal price and it has excellent warranty.

We now have the Bear Odyssey II which has the best of both weight/draw length adjustments. Fairly well built and incredible range of weight/length adjustments to grow with. The Bear Pioneer II is identical except for lighter limbs that aren't camo.

My 10 year old now shoots the Odyssey II and his 7 year-old brother shoots the Pioneer II. They started with these bows last year.

The Diamond Edge was probably the nicest to handle/shoot from an adult perspective. The Bear was the best buy for the money and the ability to grow with it.

To see what draw length you need for your son, divide his height by 2.5.

You probably have Micro Midas 1. The 2&3 have a full 10# and I think 8-10" length adjustment. All without a press

[TSPham]

Yes, it's the first version (that's why I mentioned there are several versions). I'm sure they are all onto the same extended draw length like most manufacturers. The Edge and Bear bows share the same length adjustment without a press.

The bear bows also have quite a wider range of weight adjustments which is tied to the length settings. The Edge didn't lose weight with draw shortening as much, so the low end weight of the Edge may be too heavy for some young shooters. The manufacturer also did not recommend shooting it with the limbs backed out beyond a certain range, so you couldn't lower it down in draw weight anymore.

That's the main benefit of the Bear bows....you can get way down in poundage for the little ones to start with.

[Mac Workz]

Check out the Razors Edge by Diamond and the Sidekick by Parker.

[ForestDweller]

At 10 years old, he still has a lot of growing ahead of him. Try to find one that will grow with him but not be too difficult to pull right now. If he has a hard time pulling the bow back, he'll lose interest quickly.

I just bought my 12 year old daughter a Darton Ranger 2 and she loves it. 15-45# and 17-28" draw is hard to beat. Especially the low poundage to start with.

[shawnfire]

I just bought my 10 yr son a mission by Matthews, it shots awesome, quite and the draw wgt will go from 16- 50 lbs and the dl is very easy to change. he is pulling back 24 lbs right now, and as he shoots more he should be over 30 lbs in a mnths or so, I want him to work more on form now so I will keep it low.
I looked at many different bows and for me this seemed to be the best, he should be good with this until he is 16 yrs old anyways and there is nothing i have to buy to keep up with him growing.

so if you have not bought one yet look into this bow

[2PawsRiver]

Make him work for it.

Start him out at 10 with a 30 pound recurve hunting rabbits. Have the 45 pound recurve on the wall, when he works his way up to it and can draw it and shoot it accurately, he's ready to hunt Deer.

Worked with me, worked with mine.:)

Just wanted to add, no insult intended, just a different opinion.