Archery Back Pack Bow Case

Last year, I wrote a blog about archery cases to discuss the various types and their uses. One of my subscribers commented “No rucksack-style cases … great for public transport (being a city person). john | theinfinitecurve.com”.

Backpack style bow cases are a relatively new type of soft-shell case, recently Cartel sent me one of their Midas infinity archery “backpack” bow cases, to check out and I have to say, I really like it! I find it different from traditional soft-shell cases, as it is more rigid, rugged, and protective and has more compartments to keep everything organized.

Midas infinity Backpack Case

This bow case has two large pockets, with a side compartment for an arrow tube. The main pocket is divided into two large pockets plus a thinner one (for holding limbs, riser, and stabilizer). There are also straps just above the pocket to limit movement and ensure security. There is extra space for other equipment to fit in the main pocket, if needed. The second pocket which is a little bit smaller than the main pocket has three pockets and a strap. Two of the pockets are fairly small and handy for tools and other small equipment, the other pocket is larger and better for towels or maybe a sight. On the back of the backpack there are thick straps and buckles for you to wear your bow case like a backpack. There are also cushions for lumbar support and it enables airflow to your back. There is also a handle if you want to hang your bow case up right, with a small pocket for your address card just above it. There is also a side handle if you want to carry your bowcase like suit case (or like most other bow case). The Midas infinity archery backpack comes in three colors; blue, red, and grey. In one of my past blogs I talked about the many uses for a case and the reasons why you would buy a certain case.

In this particular “case”, archers that go and shoot in the bush a lot would find this style very useful. I know for me personally this case will be handy, light and easy for me to transport to where I shoot or back home to visit while I am at university.   I look forward to using this new bow case this up and coming school year.

Cartel’s New Clothing Guard

Recently I got a new clothing guard cartel, the Midas 201 chest guard. For those who have used the original Cartel 101, you know it is an excellent, comfortable, essential piece of archery equipment, and the good news is that Cartel has has build on this and made some significant improvements with the new Midas 201 chest guard.

Improvements

• Increased meshed material to help reduce extra heat when outdoors.
• New Rubberized Strap helps reduce the amount movement of the closing guard on your body
• Additional adjustment points: Provides 3-5 more points to adjust allow a better custom fitting
• New Colours: 6 colours adjust to your personal style including 2 new colours green and orange.

I have already shot several training sessions with the new Midas 201 chest guard and have a total positive experience and I am very excited to use it this summer in several upcoming tournaments.

Cartel Doosung’s Website Update

Recently, Cartel Doosung updated their primary website page to a new design and introduced their new INFINITY line. Here is their news announcement…

CARTEL WEBSITE RENEWAL

We are pleased to announce the renewal of Cartel website as of 28.March 2013 and welcome you to explore its new features. Our recent news articles to be updated in the section “CARTEL NEWS” and you will find our latest advertisement and latest marketing activities in the section.  “MARKETING & ADS”. “PRODUCT INFORMATION” and “ONLINE INQUIRY” sections remain unchanged to deliver more useful information and service for 24 hours online.

Please note that some parts are still under construction and still not fully capable at the moment. However, we hope you will enjoy your visit and do not hesitate to send us your feedback and ideas.

Our commitment to Excellence!

Especially check out their new INFINITY MX-10 STABILIZER system on their New Products page; looks sweet.

My Bow

Recently, one of my Tumbler followers asked me to share the details of my competition bow since they were moving towards competitive archery and wanted to know about my bow. First, I will explain the story of how I got to my current bow.

I have been searching for the perfect bow for me since the day I started shooting. Finding the perfect bow takes experimentation, trial and error. Your bow is a personal preference, so much so that in ancient times, it was a person’s most treasured possession and many kings were entombed with their bows. Finding the perfect bow may take years… and it may change as you grow, change and develop.

When I was just starting out at 9 years old, I needed a light mass weight bow. Something that would not damage my bow arm long term however would allow me to practice a lot. I was a good shot however VERY small for my age. I was able to come across the Fiberbow riser with a mass weight of only 599 grams, less than half the weight of other bows and it allowed me to practice a lot with less fatigue. This was a great bow until a couple of years ago, when I became stronger than the bow.

So before training for the Canada Games, I switched to the Cartel Midas 25” riser. I love that bow, it helped me win a Silver at the Canada Games and it took me to the World Indoor Championships in Las Vegas . This was an awesome bow for me as a cadet, however, with the change of divisions and greater distances as a junior I need to generate more power for outdoor shooting. Therefore I switched to a 23” Midas Riser and increased my limbs to 36 pounds. On initial tests I was able to top 196 feet per second and had to add additional weights to consistently settle on 194.5 fps. This is high for a recurve archer with only a 25” draw length.

My new bow is as follows…

• 23” Cartel Midas Riser
• 36# MK Archery Medium 1440 limbs
• Cartel Spectra Sight
• Cartel XD Stabilizer system with Midas V-bar
• AAE Extended Clicker
• Cartel Rest
• Cartel Cushion Plunger
• Custom String

Wow, this bow is amazing; I hardly feel the shot. The limbs are the smoothest I have ever shot. The limbs use carbon foam-core technology and are extremely smooth and straight. I love my new bow and it is the perfect bow for me right now. Although bow selection takes time and experimentation I hope you too can find the perfect bow for you.

Adjusting your sights

As a recurve archer, your sight is a vital piece of your equipment. Recently, I had a request to do a blog about the anatomy of a sight and how to adjust it. Although every sight is different, they all have similar components. We will use the Cartel Mighty sight in this example.

A recurve sight is typically made of four components; the riser mount with knob, horizontal extension bar, vertical sight bar, and scope. The riser mount is used to attach the sight to the riser and the knob is used to hold one end of the horizontal extension bar. The vertical sight bar is mounted to the other end of horizontal extension bar with the scope attached to it.  The vertical sight bar and scope have thumb screws that are used to adjust and micro-adjust the scope in relationship to the target.

Most sights have three knobs, one to adjust the length of the horizontal extension bar, one to adjust the height of the scope and one to adjust the left/right location of scope. The latter two usually have both large and micro-adjustments available. When you are ready to start adjusting your sight, remember the simple rule, “Follow the arrow”. Check out my earlier blog called Follow the Arrow: Adjust your sights.

To adjust the length of the horizontal extension bar simply loosen the knob and extend it to the desired length and tighten the knob to secure it. The marks on the bar to help you remember the length so you can set it up again.

To make an adjustment of the vertical location of the scope, loosen the thumb screw fastener and either depress the thumb lever for a large move or turn the micro-knob for small adjustment. Once complete then tighten the thumb screw fastener to secure it.

To make a left or right adjustment of the scope, loosen the thumb screw fastener and either twist the scope in or out for a large change, or twist the tension knob for micro-adjustments and then tighten the thumb screw fastener to secure it.

Once you have adjusted your sight make sure to shoot several arrows to confirm your adjustments. Once you are satisfied with the results, record the location of the sight marks on the vertical sight bar. Remember as you grow, develop muscle and change equipment your sight marks will move. One trick is to add a thin piece of white tape over the sight marks. This allows you to adjust the markings without permanently damaging the sight itself.

Getting more Distance

Summer is here and with it the outdoor archery season. One of the biggest differences between indoor and outdoor archery, other than weather, is distance to the target.

Indoors everyone typically shoots at 18M however outdoors, depending on your age, division and category, you can shoot anywhere from 15M (Peewee) to 90M (Senior Male). As young archers get older and move up in division so do the distances they are asked to shoot. For instance, a pre-cub only needs to shoot maximum 30M in a target competition, however as a cub they need to shoot 50M. I remember trying to shoot Junior/Senior distances as a Cadet; 70 meters was a challenge. My sight was at the bottom and I was still not getting the distance I needed.

If you are struggling with a new distance you can make some equipment changes that can help such as ….

• Heavier Limbs

Increasing draw weight will give you more force and therefore greater distance.

• Move the entire sight down

Some sights, like the Cartel Mighty sight, you can move the entire T-bar lower. This allows you to lower the scope. Just remember to keep it out of the arrows flight.

• Finger tab with a Shelf

Some finger tabs, like the Cartel Midas Finger Tab, have a shelf. If you adjust the shelf to be fully extended, you can lower your anchor point.

• Spin vanes

For target archers you use synthetic feather fletchings, switching to plastic spin-wing vanes manufactured by Range-O-Matic can help a lot. Spin-wing vanes are lighter, offer less drag and are more forgiving as they help the arrows get into a tighter spin earlier.

Some times equipment changes are not an option because of cost, physical limitations and some times they only get you part way. Here are a couple of simple tricks that may help you reach those last couple of meters.

• Wear a Mouth-Guard

Using a mouth-guard (or a piece Lego between your teeth) keeps your jaw open lowering your anchor point.

• Mount your Sight Backwards

Mounting your sight backwards inside your bow, moves your sight marks lower and therefore changes the trajectory.

• Use your Limbs as a Sight

In clout, a long distance (100M to 200M) sport you use your bottom limb as the sight. This can work for target archery as well. Pick a spot near the top of your lower limb to aim with for your possible distance.

If you have any tricks or tips to help gain more distance, I encourage you to share them.

2012 Midas Riser

Late in 2010, I switched to the Cartel Midas riser and I have been extremely happy with it ever since. In fact, I switched just 6 weeks before winning my spot to the Canada Winter Games. It also was my primary bow for the World Indoor Archery Championship in Las Vegas. As part of the being on Team Canada, I was required to have a duplicate bow for international competitions. So my sponsor, Cartel Doosung sent me the new version for 2012.  Personally, once the indoor season is complete, I will be switching to the new 2012 Midas version as my primary bow.

Like Guy Fieri from Diners, Drive-ins and Dives says “It’s Money” …

The new Cartel 2012 Midas Riser is being produced in cooperation with BowKorea, one of the bright new specialist manufacturers on the highly competitive Korean archery scene. The new 2012 model is available in both 23” and 25” version for both left-handed and right-handed archers and is machined out of AL7001 CNC aluminum. It weighs only 1.14kg for 23” or 1.2 kg for 25” version, and along with the original black, blue, red and silver they have added white and green. Constructed with holes throughout the body for the windiest days and maintains the natural wood handle.

Along with the dual options for your cushion plunger, this year’s model includes a highly detailed clicker extension and the innovative side-to-side adjustable limb pocket system. So now, not only can you adjust the tiller, the new limb pocket system allows you to adjust the actual limb pocket for adaptability to a wide variety of international limb fittings (ILF) limbs.

If you are considering a new riser, check out the new 2012 Cartel Doosung Midas.

New Finger Tab

Like an old well worked in baseball glove is to a season baseball player, so is a well worked in finger tab to any archer.  A finger tab should allow you to feel the string while at full draw and not interfere with the shot as you release the string. Once an archer has worked in and moulded their finger tab, it becomes a trusted part of their equipment and it is extremely difficult to give it up.

For many reasons, eventually every archer will need to switch to another finger tab. Archer can lose them in the field, they will eventually wear out, and for younger archers you will get bigger and the finger tab just will not fit.  Other reasons for changing finger tabs is because of necessity as better technology and features such as finger spacers and/or a finger tab shelf is needed.

Every archer should have a backup finger tab in their quiver or bow case, especially if you compete at any level.  You should fit it to your hand and practice with it on the regular basis so that if disaster should happen at a tournament you are not learning how to use new equipment in competition.

Rarely does a finger tab fit perfect right off the shelf, so here are a couple of help you prepare your new finger tab.

• Adjust the length by cutting it down so that it only comes to the end of your fingers while you are holding the string. Young archers may want to leave a little extra since they grow faster.
• A little baseball glove softener will help start to loosen up a stiff leather finger tab or you can use a metal ruler to stretch the leather quicker
• For those finger tabs with three layers, you can remove the center rubber one to improve your ability to feel the string and speed up the work-in process
• For a finger tab with a shelf, adjust it to a comfortable height so it does not hurt your jaw on release
• For a finger tab with a spacer, you may need to grind it back if you feel it is interfering with your string on release

If you are in the market for a new or backup finger tab, check out Cartel Doosung’s new Midas Finger tab.

Quiver Tubes

Arrows are one of the most important parts of any archer’s arsenal. You can have the best bow in the world however, without a couple of arrows you are not going to be able to do anything. Nowadays arrows are not cheap and we protect them when in storage and transportation however while shooting we need them on our hip in our quiver ready of action. Most quivers come with dividers or tubes to help separate arrows and are a cheap and easy solution for protecting your arrows.

Quiver tubes offer protection against damage to the quiver, avoiding lost arrows and injury to the archer. Tubes also offer protection for our arrows and their fletchings. While arrows are bunched up and being tossed around in the quiver the tubes or dividers keep them separated to avoid damage to the arrow shafts and feathers. Any such damage can result in poor arrow flight performance and therefore lower scores.

Another advantage of quiver tubes is that they can act as a visual aide to make sure you do not shoot too many arrows.  With three tubes, you can easily remember three arrows for indoors (one for each tube) or six arrows for outdoors (two for each tube).  Tubes also provide any opportunity to separate your primary arrows from those that you consider as your backups.

Overall, quiver tubes are just a great method to keep and protect your arrows. My Cartel quiver came equipped with arrow dividers, however if your quiver did not come with tubes or dividers, consider purchasing a set. Cartel Doosung offer a simple three pack for a very reasonable price.

Protect your Sight

For Olympic discipline archers your sight is extremely important. You work hard practising to determine your sight marks and although there will always be minor adjustments to your sight marks since every tournament has slightly different conditions, accurate consistent shooting is the ultimate goal.

Although, your archery form will determine how well your arrows fly, even the slightest inaccuracy, twist, or damage to your sight will result in second-guessing your form causing frustration.

Since the last thing, every archer wants is to practice for weeks to get ready for a major competition, open your bag and find your sight is bent or broken. Therefore, to be ready for tournaments, you should get in the habit of taking care of your sight to avoid damage.

The majority of damage to sight happens when the sight is left together for transportation. Most competition sights come apart fairly easily, loosen one or two screws and slide the entire scope part off the tee rod.  Check out your sights instructions manual to find the proper method to disassemble it.

Recently, my sister learned the hard way to protect her sight, she left the sight together, shoved it in her bag and the next day she opened her case to find her scope had cracked. Luckily the damage was not so severe that was able to be repaired however it could have easily been damaged beyond repair and a very expensive mistake.

Protecting your sight is so important that some manufacturers provide a padded bag to protect your sight, with pockets to store your investment. If your sight did not come with a sight bag to protect it, consider purchasing one like Cartel Doosung’s 201 Sight Bag.