Good evening all. Hoping someone might be able to help a noob out. Apologies in advance for the long post.

I want to take up bow hunting, am a total beginner in every aspect. I visited two shops today and they barely had any bows stock.

Same bow at each with different sales pitches. Shop 1 was a gun shop/archery shop. Shop 2 was a dedicated archery shop.

Shop 1 2021 Bowtech Amplify package $700 (whisker biscuit and presumably basic sight). They'd do the setup and send me on my way.

Shop 2 2021 Bowtech Amplify bare $650, very knowledgeable guy behind the counter, we chatted for at least an hour about archery.  He said to plan to at least spend double the bow price OTD, with additional extra explicit cost for a lesson and setup, and to plan on waiting weeks for an order.  

I'm looking for thoughts on building from bare as a beginner and whether or not the full experience that shop 2 is offering is worth it? Versus grabbing the package and upgrading as needed.

Also, any thoughts on timing for a purchase? The new models are just coming out so maybe I just walked in on the wrong day, but perhaps with supply being what it is I'm crazy to pass up on the stock they have.

Dedicated archery shop is probably the best bet. You will have to replace arrow shafts and you will want to try different sites. You will also get educated on the various aspects of archery as you have already found out. If you don't have someone to help you learn then BSing around the shop can be valuable too.  Also having someone to watch where your arrows go when you miss goes a long way..... Granny used to enjoy sitting under her shade tree watching me shoot and hollering "over to the left a little more".

Who knows what the future holds, but, with the way things are, I'd say get it while you can, regardless of which shop.  

Longtime bow hunter here.  While I want to encourage you to give the dedicated bow shop your business, I don't think it's the best bang for your buck, and it's probably not what I'd do.  

Don't burn any bridges at the other shop.  Sounds like a great resource.  Maybe humbly see if they'll deal with you before spending money at the other place?  

You can learn a lot (enough to get started anyway) about how to shoot off of YouTube now if you get info from a reputable source.  And it's not rocket science tbh.  

I'd get the cheaper set-up, start shooting and get ready for the next season.

Thanks! They both seemed to agree bows were in short supply and also were adamant about staying away from the entry level offerings, neither carry them even if they could get stock.

If anyone has first hand experience with that amplify bow, I'm all ears. Sounds like I may not have the opportunity to try a bunch before I buy.

I have a Shakespeare Kaibab 45lb recurve that I killed a few deer and a turkey with back in the late 70s. You'd need a string and arrows obviously. Its a little dusty and has a few minor scratches on it but its in good shape overall. $50 bucks and $25 for shipping and its yours. Saw a couple on ebay for $150+ a minute ago.

Personally I think learning on a recurve is the way to go. Then if you decide to stick with it you can move up to the whiz bang compounds etc. IM me if you or anyone else wants pics.

Model X-27, 45lb, 56" MO1290R

He showed me some real vintage bows. I don't think I'm man enough.

45 lb pull is no big deal. Technique has a lot to do with it. And a string release makes the task easier. Couple of weeks with some tension bands and barbells with get you in the game.

I'd be wary of any shop warning you about "entry level bows".  Most entry level bows these days are better than thousand dollar bows 10-15 years ago.  The "entry level" ready to hunt packages from Bear, PSE, Diamond (a branch of Bowtech), etc... are very good bows.  When you consider the price they become excellent options.  

Anyone steering you towards flagship bows as a beginner is trying to take advantage of you.  Flagships are nice but they are FAR from necessary.  It's like buying a Ferrari instead of a Mustang for your drive to work.  Either will get you there just fine but the Ferrari feels a little nicer, gets way more attention and costs way, way more.  If you have plenty of disposable income and you just want the best of the best, by all means get a high dollar bow, they are nice but just remember that those other bows for half the money will do everything that flagship bow will do.  Maybe it's not quite as smooth or maybe it's a few FPS slower but none of that makes much difference in the field.

Thanks, fwiw while they certainly would sell me a flagship if I asked, what they were steering me towards were what I guess you would call the midrange line? I believe the high end stuff is starting up at $1k bare. I'm definitely not there.

After some thought I'm going to get the $700 Bowtech rth package from the first shop. It's probably more than I need now, but I'm liking the features and it is what's available now. Seems like a decent deal, and I was prepared to spend about that much on the bow.

So much stuff to learn. Exciting time.

That'll be a good setup. Looks like a nice bow.  It still amazes me that a midrange bow like that can clock 335fps (under ideal circumstances of course).  Probably still close to 300 under real world conditions.  Looks like a good choice.

I wouldn't trust bow shop "B" wanting to charge you for all the set up and saying it'll be double the bow price otd for everything.  You made a good choice sticking with bow shop "A" in my opinion.

Don't make the mistake I made years ago after shooting a good bow for a couple years and then getting rid of it for a high end model.  I fell for all the tech fever and just had to have the best new bow that year like so many other people.  Ended up with a MUCH more expensive bow that was nicer but didn't shoot any better.  In fact I shot a little worse with it.  Plus compound bows lose half their value after a year and almost all their value after 3 years so it's just not worth it.  

I've recently gotten into traditional archery instead of compounds and it's kicking my butt lol.  Good luck with your soon to be new bow!!

Did u ever get a bow

I did. Bowtech amplify. Passed my hunter field exam last month.

where in NJ are you? north/south/central? wish i saw this thread earlier........

but congrats on the bow and passing your course!!

Thanks for the congrats. I'm in Morris county.

if you're in the need of anything else, check out garden state bow and reel in stockholm. they have a LOT of archery supplies and are incredibly helpful.