The Difference Between A Compound Bow and A Recurve Bow
The bow and the arrow are one of the oldest hunting tools that is known to the human population today. If you think back to the stone age, our ancestors must have been searching for a great way to hunt with a spear without having to get too close to the beast that they were in pursuit of. Thus, the spear transformed into an arrow that could be shot from a bow.
After the first bow was created, there were some tweaks and changes that needed to take place to improve the weapon. After much experimentation, it was determined that the arrow could fly much further the longer the string was on the bow. After determining this, they knew that the bow had to be designed around the length of the string. The end result of this discovery was a happy marriage between the length of the string, the accuracy versus distance ratio, and the strength of the archer.
Lets look at an example, lets say that the distance an archer wants to be from a large mammoth is about seven hundred feet. The string would have to be very long meaning the bow is probably going to be far too long for the archer to handle. Well, what would the archer need to do?
The answer is quite simple and we know it to be called a recurve bow. This type of bow is engineered so that each end of the blow is shaped with an outward arc. This allows the archer to leverage additional tension on the bow and string and the arrow will fly much further.
Basically, this meant that the archer got more bang for his buck and is now within the realm of possibilities to reach that 700 foot distance to take down the large mammoth. Can you imagine how important this was when armies were made up of nothing but archers with their bows and arrows?
If you have ever visited an archery range, you have probably seen a recurve bow in action. If you have watched the Olympics you have definitely seen a recurve blow in action since it is the only style of bow allowed to be used.
As you can clearly see, the bow and arrow have come a very long way over the last few thousand years. You will need to decide on which type of bow is right for you.