My buddy and I have been friends for almost 20 years now. This past year we have gotten real close again and have been getting together quite a bit with the kids and family. Back in September we went on a gulf stream fishing expedition and caught a shit load of tuna, almost half of which is still sitting in my freezer. Saturday night I brought up doing something similar again this next year. Right off the bat he said he wanted to do some hog hunting with a bow. I told him that would be more than willing to go with him on this hunt, but it wasn't going to be anytime soon. He looked at me kind of wide eyed in a very questionable manner. He's a urbanite and knows nothing about hunting, gun, or any activity outside of city life.

I started to explain to him that I had been doing research on hog hunting for almost a year now because it's something that I really, really want to do. I told him that it won't be as easy as you think it might be by just going out buying a bow or crossbow and heading off to the backwoods of Florida or Texas and sticking that arrow into the side of a hog. I told him that if we are going to do this it's going to take patience and lots of practice. I told him the soonest I would be ready is September or October. The reasons I gave him for this was 1, we are going to need to get some bows, that in itself will take at least a month to do research, see what feels good, and what shoots right for each of us. 2 we are going to have to practice, and practice a lot to be proficient enough to where we feel comfortable enough to make a good hit on a hog. And 3, we have to find the right ranch, outfitter, and guide to let us make the kill for the biggest bang for the buck.

He agreed to all of this, but wanted to start looking into crossbows today. Go ahead I said there are no regs on crossbows in Florida for hog hunting as long as its on private land. This morning he texted me and said that he had met a couple of bow hunters last night that would be more than happy to get us some time at their club and show us some hints and tricks, which I thought was great since I haven't shot a bow since summer camp when I was a kid 30 years ago. I was pretty damn good out to 75 yards with a recurve, but like I said that was long time ago.

I must have read every thread on the new archery side of the site this past morning and looking at bow reviews for the past 48 hours. Since the local archery shops are closed tomorrow, I'll be headed out Tuesday afternoon to see what they have and see what I like. I would like to get a complete ready to hunt package if it's cheaper than getting everything individually. If you guys got anymore recommendations than what's already been posted in some of these threads that would be great.

Ordered my bow today. Went to the coolest place in town. Half the store front is an indoor range, so I was able to get in some range time and sight in my new AR since the weather has sucked goat balls for the pst five days, and the other half is an archery shop. Anyway, I ordered the bowtech Assassin in that sexy black or what they call the SpecOps black. I don't care what they call the color, I just wanted it in black because it's sexy and I wanted it to match all my guns, plus I hate that damn camo that comes on most bows. They wanted half down and said that it will be in in about 4 weeks. I can't wait.

3-4 weeks for delivery......BULLSHIT!!!!!!!! I just called the store and said its been 5 weeks now and I still havent heard a word about it. The knuckle dragger on the other end of the phone was full of uuuuh's and uuummmmm's trying to make excuses and said that it hadn't been shipped yet. So two possible things could have happened, 1 the bow hasn't shipped yet or 2 they never ordered it. I find it hard to belive that Bowtech hasn't shipped something that was ordered over 5 weeks ago. I mean how long does it take to make a main line production bow? I told the guy that I would be in tomorrow after work to get my money back from them. There are other shops around that I'm sure would like my business.