The Archery Project

A $2,000 flagship bow should not come home from one rainy hunt with rusty hardware, and it definitely should not require a full shop setup just to make basic tuning corrections. That’s why we’re excited about what PSE just dropped for 2027: the new Odin carbon bows that replace the Mach 30 and Mach 33, plus a set of upgrades that feel like PSE listened to the loudest, most practical feedback from...

Carbon bows look premium, feel premium, and definitely cost premium, but the part nobody wants to admit is that “more expensive” does not always mean “more accurate” or “more lethal.” We go bow-to-bow on two of the most talked-about 30-inch carbon whitetail platforms, the Hoyt RX 10 and the PSE Mach 30, and break down what actually changes when you step up to carbon: weight, tuning workflow, durab...

Lighted nocks are one of those upgrades that can feel like a no-brainer until they create a tuning problem, a durability failure, or a safety risk you never saw coming. We’re getting brutally practical about what a lighted nock really changes on your arrow and why the “boring” nock might be the most critical part of your entire setup. We walk through the biggest benefits first: better visual feedb...

A $700 price jump should feel obvious the moment you shoot the bow, right? We put that assumption to work by running a true head-to-head between two of the most popular 2026 hunting bows: the Matthews Arc 34 (flagship) and the Bear Alaskan Pro (mid-price). We match the setup, shoot real groups, and talk through what matters when you’re actually buying a bow for bowhunting instead of arguing on the...

Arrows shouldn’t feel harder than learning to shoot a bow, but for most new archers they do. We’re cutting through the noise and getting back to what actually matters when you’re buying your first set of compound bow arrows: the few decisions that make your setup safer, easier to tune, and more consistent downrange, without blowing money on upgrades you can’t even benefit from yet.  We walk throug...

Your whitetail arrow does not need to be the fastest thing your bow can launch and it definitely does not need to chase a magic grain weight. We walk through what a dedicated whitetail arrow is actually supposed to do at 20 to 40 yards: fly true with a broadhead, survive hard impacts, and keep moving through resistance for consistent pass-throughs and better blood trails. I share my framework for...

One spec quietly decides whether your new compound bow feels like a cheat code or a fight every time you hit full draw: axle-to-axle length. We’re deep in bow buying season, and I keep seeing the same questions pop up from new and experienced archers alike. What does ATA actually measure, how is it different from brace height, and why does it change the way a bow holds on target? We walk through t...

Darton bows have been the loudest request we’ve gotten for Bow Wars style conversations, and now they’re finally in our shop at Extreme Outfitters in Jacksonville, North Carolina. After hands-on time with the Darton TriTech series, the headline isn’t marketing fluff. It’s how fast these bows come together, how little you have to “fight” them, and how much practical tuning control Darton builds int...

You can spend flagship money on a compound bow, but you do not have to. We put two of the most requested mid-priced hunting bows side by side, the Bear Archery Adapt 2 HP and the Bear Alaskan Pro, and talk through what actually matters when your goal is to shoot better this season without blowing your budget. We break down the real specs that change how a bow fits and feels: axle-to-axle length, b...

Micro adjustability is everywhere in archery right now, and it’s easy to feel like you need the “best” version of every accessory to shoot well. We slow that hype down and ask a more useful question: where do micro clicks actually change your experience, and where do they just raise the price? We start with bow sights, because that’s the one place I personally treat micro adjustability as a non ne...

Hoyt vs Matthews is the argument that never dies, but it gets a lot more useful when you stop talking brand loyalty and start talking outcomes. We took four of the most talked-about 2026 aluminum compound bows and compared them the way most archers actually care about: how they tune, how they feel, how they aim, and what kind of real speed and accuracy you can expect with a practical hunting arrow...

Bowtech is packing up an entire bow operation and heading to Houston, Texas and it is not a quiet, incremental change. We’re talking manufacturing, corporate HQ, and the factory pro shop leaving Eugene, Oregon, with a seven-figure relocation and an aggressive timeline that runs straight through peak archery season. If you’re a dealer, a Bowtech owner, or someone shopping for a new compound bow, th...

One loose mod screw, one worn serving, one rushed string order, and suddenly your “dream hunt” turns into a repair problem you cannot solve from a ridge or a treestand. We get ruthlessly practical about bowhunting season preparation and the exact checks that prevent those small issues from becoming catastrophic failures when it matters most. We start with the basics that almost everyone skips: a f...

Broadheads decide the moment of truth, but most of what we hear about them is marketing and opinions. We go straight to controlled external ballistics data from the 2025 and 2026 arrow ballistic studies and translate it into choices you can actually make before season. Think real group size at 70 yards from a shooting machine, measured drag out to 60 yards, and sound testing weighted for how a whi...

A lot of bowhunters build arrows the same way every year, then wonder why broadheads drift, groups open up, or deer react before impact. We want to change that by using real testing from the 2025 and 2026 aero ballistic studies to build a hunting arrow on purpose, not by habit. The core takeaway is simple: your broadhead choice sets your vane requirement, and everything else follows from there. We...

After struggling at Total Archery Challenge, Zakk went home and tore his bow completely apart. Turns out — a half-inch wrong draw length, a bow six pounds out of spec, a collapsing front shoulder, and inconsistent grip were all piling up at the same time. In this episode, he breaks down every change he made to the bow and his shot process, why he went back to a hinge release for training, and how...

The fastest way to waste money on archery gear is to optimize one part of your arrow and ignore the rest. We’re back with Part Two of our 2026 Arrow Ballistic Study breakdown, where we stop staring at charts and actually use the data to make better arrow-building decisions for hunting and 3D. I share where the study challenges my current setup, including my 11.9% FOC, and how it changes what I’m t...

Bowhunting has a problem: we argue about arrow builds like it’s personal philosophy, then we expect broadheads to land true when the shot is rushed, the footing is bad, and the wind is doing what it wants. The 2026 Arrow Ballistic Study is the cleanest attempt I’ve seen to replace that noise with real measurements using a precision shooting machine, Doppler radar, chronographs, and an independent...

Target panic isn’t a theory when you’re standing on a steep mountain, pin floating, heart rate up, and your release hand refuses to finish the job. After Total Archery Challenge at Seven Springs, Pennsylvania, we’re giving a full after-action report on the Prime course, the moment my shooting fell apart, and why it nearly made me want to quit archery on the spot. We talk through what it actually f...

One bad bow shop experience can change how you think about your gear forever and it’s happening more often as fewer quality archery shops remain in some areas. So we get practical about what it really takes to build a DIY home archery shop that helps you tune your compound bow, build better arrows, and stop waiting on the busy-season backlog for every small change.  We start with the overlooked fo...

One upgrade can make your bow feel brand new, and it is not another stabilizer or a fresh set of strings. It is the bow sight you trust when a whitetail steps out at 28 yards and when TAC puts a target at 110 on a steep angle. I’m breaking down the premium 2026 archery sights that are driving the biggest shift I’ve seen in years: micro-adjustable vertical three pin slider sights that work as a tru...

A bow hardly anyone is talking about just took the top spot, and it didn’t win on hype, sponsorship, or a spec-sheet race. We walk through Outdoor Life’s 2026 Bow Of The Year results and explain what actually matters when seven flagship hunting bows get pushed through a three-day test with three different shooters and 50-yard accuracy on the scoreboard. We break down the full methodology, from the...

I've been a short bow guy my whole life — 30, 31, maybe 32 inches max. But after hunting and shooting TAC events with my Mach 33 this past year, something shifted. This episode breaks down exactly why I've changed my mind on longer ATA bows, what finally pushed me over the edge, and whether the trade-offs are actually as big a deal as I always thought they were.  We get into string angle...

Your bow didn’t “just stop shooting” overnight, and the fix usually isn’t a mystery product or a random twist of the rest. We take a stack of listener questions and turn them into a clear troubleshooting path for the most common accuracy killers: drop-away rest timing that’s ripping fletchings, cam timing that’s out of sync, and setups that drift so far off-spec you end up chasing one paper tear a...

Your legs are burning, the target is steep downhill, and a line of shooters is waiting while you try to range, dial, and execute a clean shot on uneven rock. Total Archery Challenge doesn’t just test how well you shoot a bow, it tests whether your process holds up when terrain, fatigue, and pressure all hit at once. We walk through the biggest TAC pain points we see every season and the fixes that...