Ready to purchase your first bow? Great, but lots of people don't want a compound bow. What are your other choices. Well you're in luck, as it happens you have lots of choices. But my first choice would be a recurve bow.

The first thing I would tell you to do is to find a local archery range. Go there and observe and ask questions. Most archers will let you handle there bows if you ask first and are usually enthusiastic about their bows or about talking about their bow and will be happy to give you benefit of their knowledge.

Second, I would suggest you stick with a lower poundage bow. Most people don't normally use the muscles used in archery unless they are a rower or a rock climber. If you get a bow with too high a poundage, you'll most likely develop some very bad habits to compensate.

Better to start with a low poundage bow and gradually work your way up, so as not to pick up habits you'll have to break later. Besides, most people start out shooting at targets to learn. By the time you have the accuracy you need for hunting, you'll be ready for a higher poundage bow.

Now with that in mind, I'd also suggest you get the take down recurve. The one piece is nice to look at, but the take down offers you the best in terms of value. A take down allows you to adjust the limb weight.

And with a take down you can buy the riser and get lower poundage limbs first. Then once you get stronger and develop a good solid form, you can simply buy other limbs later on without having to spend more money on the riser.