Interview: Mark Drury on Choosing a Bow Setup
OutdoorHub Reporters 02.23.12
Today, Mark Drury and his brother Terry are two of the industry leaders in TV production and video production. The Drurys have produced more than 200-feature-length videos in more than two decades. They’ve also produced more than 250 TV episodes that air on Wildlife Obsession, Dream Season and Bow Madness on the Outdoor Channel and Natural Born Killers on the Pursuit Channel. If you find this interview informative, you may also be interested in part two of this interview, covering taking big bucks and proper herd management.
Question: Mark, what was the first bow you ever had?
Drury: It was a PSE Nova.
Question: What bow do you shoot now?
Drury: I shoot the X-force Omen Pro and the X-Force Dream Season EVO.
Question: Why do you like the Omen Pro and the Dream Season EVO?
Drury: I like the Dream Season EVO, because of its smooth draw, zero felt recoil, a well-defined back wall and good speed. It’s a really smooth hunting bow. I like the Omen Pro, because I have a bad left shoulder. I can’t handle pulling a lot of weight. I pull 53 pounds on my Omen and 55 on my Dream Season EVO. The way I have that Omen Pro set up, I’m shooting 321 feet per second (fps).
Question: In the past, archers believed that the heavier-weighted bow you could pull, the bigger the deer you could shoot. I interviewed the legendary archer Howard Hill, and he was pulling a 100 pound longbow. Many archers brag about pulling 65 to 85 pounds. But you probably take as many big deer as anyone I know. How does only pulling 53 pounds equate to your ability to take those big bucks?
Drury: I’m shooting 5 and 6 year-old Midwestern deer that may weigh 300 pounds live weight and 225-245 pounds field-dressed weight. I’m shooting a Rage 2 Blade Broadhead, and it passes all the way through every deer I shoot.
Question: What arrow are you shooting?
Drury: I’m shooting a Carbon Force 100. No longer does a bowhunter have to think he’s a tough guy and pull a lot of heavy weight to take a big buck. Why pull and hold a heavy weight when can you pull less weight, hold it longer and still get an effective shot? Without PSE, I wouldn’t be able to shoot 321 fps with a 53 pound bow.
Question: How far are you able to take deer with that bow setup?
Drury: I shot a mule deer in Alberta in 2011 at 62 yards. I made a double-lung hit, and the arrow was stuck up in the dirt on the other side of the deer. That broadhead and arrow blew all the way through him at 62 yards with a 53 pound bow. PSE has really changed the dynamics of strength versus speed and accuracy. The difference to me in the bows I’m shooting now and those heavyweight bows I once shot is like the difference in shooting a pellet gun and now having a .223 centerfire rifle. That’s how dramatic the difference is. There’s just no comparison to the ease of shooting with lighter poundage today, compared to the difficulty of drawing, holding and shooting when we used those bows with more poundage.
Question: How do you decide which of your two bows to use?
Drury: I’ve been hunting a lot with the Omen Pro, because it’s the fastest of the two bows.
Question: What other advantages have you found in using these PSE bows?
Drury: By shooting less poundage, I move less when I draw, because I can pull the string straight back without having to raise the bow up and push with one hand and pull with the other to get the string back. I just get on target with my bow and then pull the string straight back. Then I’m ready to shoot. I have no excess motion when I’m drawing the bow.
