Tell me about the Parker 34 bow

[Virginiashadow]

I have the same bow my dad bought me 7 years ago. It is time I get a new bow with some let-off! My bow now is an old Bear Archery with like 50% let-off or less. I have researched some bows and have come to like the Parker 34....I don't like the idea of a mini-bow like the 31 but maybe the 34 which seems like it would be a little more forgiving. Could you all tell me if you have heard of anyone with this bow or something similar? Thanks a bunch.

vashadow

[WT Kevorkian]

I have a UL 31, my buddy has the UL 31, my brother has the UL 34, and another friend just bought the Phoenix 34, I set up all of them and everybody loves them. If you've got specific questions fire away, but you can't go wrong with the parker. Before buying I shot hoyt, mathews and parker and had owned two brownings, I liked the parker the best out of all of them, its short, lightweight, fast, and quiet. what else could you want in a bow??

[Virginiashadow]

Thanks WT---I want a bow with an easier draw, more let-off, quiet, and fast...is that too much to ask :) I think I will go down in the spring and shoot one around to see how it feels. I am really excited about buying a new bow, every one of my friends has a lightning fast, quiet bow......but I think I have learned alot of good things with my crappy bow....when to draw, learn to shoot 30 yards or less, really pay attention to the deers body language b/c my bow isn't that fast and I don't want a high hit b/c of a string jumper...etc. WT....if I think up any questions I will let them rip---thanks alot

vashadow

[WT Kevorkian]

Hey, one more thing, I see you're from virginia, Parker is made in Mint Spring Virginia, so you could have parts, i.e. string or cables in a matter of a day probably. Plus if I were them and you bought something else, I'd run you outta town and call you a yankee. lol By the way if you look in their 2005 catalog,, I'm in it. Talk to you later

[Virginiashadow]

"Plus if I were them and you bought something else, I'd run you outta town and call you a yankee" :)

Yeah, I live about 10 minutes west of Manassas, Virginia. I think I will try one of those bows out...anything has to be better than the bow I have now! I will save my old bow for someone else who wants to try out bowhunting.

vashadow

[Parker Bows Marketing]

If you are looking for a bow with an easier drawing motion,check out the Phoenix EZ-Draw 34.
Same fantastic features of the Phoenix design partnered with our EZ-Draw Cam - feels like you are drawing back 10 pounds less weight. Very smooth.

Vicky

[Virginiashadow]

Thanks Parkers, I will do that. I am forever evolving in bowhunting because I have learned so much in the last 4 years. I am hunting in thicker habit with smaller hunting features that are causing me to see deer at 10-15 yards. I need a quiet/easy draw so I can "sucker-punch" those deer!

vashadow

[Kusko]

I bought a Parker Phoenix 34 last summer and I love it. It is fast and quiet. I was surprised how smooth these new bows are. I used it recently to harvest this bull moose during a draw hunt in Fort Richardson, Alaska.

[Virginiashadow]

Thanks for the response Kusko...good looking animal. I am thinking of the EZ Draw 33.....I want to try some of them out.

vashadow

[fabsroman]

VA,

Have you looked at Mathews at all? They might be a little more expensive than the Parker bow, but I am not sure. If I had it to do over again, which I might in a couple of years, I would have gone with a Mathews from the beginning. Then again, I guess a Parker bow is pretty good.

[Virginiashadow]

Matthews ad Hoyts seem to be out of my price range, plus I like being a little different, so I am gonna go with a local company in Parker.

vashadow

[WT Kevorkian]

Mathews spends a tremendous amount of money on advertising and sponsorships. I think you'd be surprised to know how many of the people shooting competively actually paid for their bow, I bet its not as many as you think, because Mathews puts them in their hands because they want the publicity. It doesn't take many commercials, competition wins, etc etc to convince someone who doesn't know much about a bow that Mathews must be the best. I'm not saying they don't have some good bows, but how much of your money goes towards the bow and how much for the name??? Alot of that money you pay for a mathews goes towards marketing expense. Most Expensive does not equal the best. Money was not a factor when 3 of us bought new bows 3 years ago, if the one we wanted was 1,000 dollars it wouldn't of made one bit of difference. We could have bought Mathews over Parkers for about $100 dollars more. There were a few factors that led to picking the Parker, they are close by being in Virginia, the quality of the bow was exceptional as far as fit and finish, the weight of the bow was extremely light and is probably still one of the lightest in the world today, to change draw lengths cost about $12 as compared to $60 or $70 dollars on the Mathews, speed was not a factor for me but the Parker was faster or equal to the Legacy which was the top cat Mathews at the time, the Parker was alot shorter than the Legacy as well, it was 80% let off with ability to make it 65% for not much money if you wanted. Overall the Parker had the features I wanted, haviing bowhunted for 12 years, and having shot all the top end bows on the market at the time, I can't say I've ever held a finer killing machine.

[fast*eddie]

My son has been shooting the Parker Force Multiplier for a few years and loves it. I want to try out the Extreme Hunter Mag Package and so son suggested I try the Extreme E-Z draw . There was a write up in "On Target" ( Oct/Nov 2004) and Bob Humphrey tested the Phoenix 34 Outfitter. It got an excellent rating and would have been higher if it came with a stabilizer , which it doesn't need. :cool:

[WT Kevorkian]

I've been considering picking up a force multiplier on ebay to set up for target shooting. Does your son shoot competively?? How does he have it set up,,, sight,, draw weight etc. etc. I haven't known anyone with the force multiplier and I didn't see it in the 2005 catalog so I was wondering why, and have shyed away from buying one. Tell me more:D

[fabsroman]

WT,

There are a couple of flaws regarding your analysis on the cost of a Mathews bow consisting of a ton of advertising. Now, I am not saying that you are wrong, I am just saying that you have no facts to back it up. Sure, Mathews does a lot of advertising, but how many bows do they sell in comparison to Parker. What is their advertising expense compared to a percentage of sales dollars? That is what you have to look at to figure out how much you are paying in advertising for a bow. Parker could have a higher percentage of sales dollars going to advertising, but not as big an advertising budget as Mathews because they don't sell nearly as many bows (i.e., they don't have the income to support a huge advertising campaign). Give me the financial statements of both companies and then we can do a somewhat more informed analysis of which bow's price consists of a higher percentage of advertising dollars.

[fabsroman]

WT,

There are a couple of flaws regarding your analysis on the cost of a Mathews bow consisting of a ton of advertising. Now, I am not saying that you are wrong, I am just saying that you have no facts to back it up. Sure, Mathews does a lot of advertising, but how many bows do they sell in comparison to Parker. What is their advertising expense compared to a percentage of sales dollars? That is what you have to look at to figure out how much you are paying in advertising for a bow. Parker could have a higher percentage of sales dollars going to advertising, but not as big an advertising budget as Mathews because they don't sell nearly as many bows (i.e., they don't have the income to support a huge advertising campaign). Give me the financial statements of both companies and then we can do a somewhat more informed analysis of which bow's price consists of a higher percentage of advertising dollars.

Personally, if I were a competitor, and the best at what I do, I don't think I would be shooting a bow that I had any doubts with. So, the free bows to top competitors argument doesn't hold much weight in my book either. If I were an Olympic shooter and a gold medal rested on my bow funtioning flawlessly, I don't think I would be shooting just any bow because it happens to be free. Now, if I was just some Tom, Dick or Harry that was given a free bow, sure I would accept it. However, I doubt Mathews is giving out bows to every Tom, Dick and Harry.

[WT Kevorkian]

It doesn't take a rocket scientist or financial statement from a company to figure out who spends more on advertising, I do however understand your point about the comparison to sales dollars. When you can draw and shoot your bow 10 times in a row without wimpering I might consider listening to what you have to say about a bow. lol What I have to say about Mathews is from actual expierience shooting them, where does your knowledge on this subject come from????

[fabsroman]

No need to get so defensive. I will gladly say that you have more knowledge about bow hunting than I do and that you have been bow hunting many more hours than I have. I will also admit that you have many more hours in bow practice than I do. However, with as many hours as you practicing, I could probably give you a run for your money with my PSE, just as you can give me a run for my money at the skeet range with your Benelli SBE while I am shooting a $3,000 skeet o/u. I will also agree that Matthews spends a ton of money on advertising, but does that necessarily mean they have a crappy bow or that the cost of a single Matthews bow is that much more than a Parker bow because of the advertising? Any company that sells a bunch of whatever it produces can afford to spend a lot more money on R&D and marketing. If Matthews earns 10x more money than Parker, it can spend 10x more money on R&D. It can also spend 10x more on marketing. Even by spending that 10x more in R&D and marketing, a single Matthews bow would have the same percentage of marketing and R&D cost in it as a Parker bow. Now, if Matthews and Parker produce the same number of models of bows, whose bows would be better based upon the amount of money spent on R&D. Again, these are all hypotheticals, and there are a ton of other variables out there (e.g., maybe Einstein works for Parker because he cannot stand Matthews). Of course, this also assumes that a company doesn't get lazy and rest on its laurels.

I was just pointing out the fallacy in your advertising analysis and your competition shooters choice of bows analysis. I don't need much experience with a bow to know that your analysis was flawed. I think I would still pick a Matthews over any other bow when I am in the market for a new bow. Problem with buying a new bow is that I can't shoot a bow 1,000 times before I buy it. I would love to test out a bunch of bows before deciding on any single one. Hell, I wish I could test out a rifle's accuracy before actually purchasing it. Shotguns are mostly a fit thing, but point of impact could also be an issue.

I love Krieghoff's program where they will let you shoot one of their shotguns for something like a month before you have to decide on buying it. Granted, it is a shotgun that costs well above $5,000, and you have to pay a slight rental fee, maybe a couple hundred dollars to cover shipping and handling, but when we are talking about that kind of money it is well worth it.

Is there a place where a person can rent a bow and try it out? Could I go to a range and rent several of the Matthews bows, the Parker bows, and whatever other bows I wanted to try. At the clays range I shoot at, they rent out some Beretta guns, granted, they aren't the most expensive ones, but they are in the $3,000 range. I rented one before I decided to drop $2,900 on my first one. That $3.50 rental was well worth it.

I guess it all comes down to personal preference. I hate Browning guns, but others swear by them. You love Parker, but others swear by Matthews. I doubt I would swear by PSE because I haven't used my bow enough, but it has done the job for me when I have needed it. As far as rifles go, I love Ruger because I own two that are pretty good. I am thinking about getting a .25-06 and actually took a look at the new Savage because of an ad I read and to keep an open mind. Well, it felt like crap to me so I am still leaning toward Ruger. Boy would I love to shoot both models before buying either. I'd like to shoot the Sako and Tikka too. If the Savage is more accurate, I could buy a new stock for it and have half the problem solved. Then again, my reason for buying the Savage would have been because it already had a bedding block in it and I would save some money because I wouldn't have to buy a new stock. Buying equipment, while fun most of the time, requires a lot of thinking.

Your bow experience is duly noted regarding Parker, but it isn't the only opinion out there and you know what they say about opinions.

As far as your reference to me whimpering when drawing my bow, I don't think I have ever whimpered while drawing my bow. Yes, when I haven't practiced it is rather tough for me to draw the bow easily, but I never go hunting without the adequate amount of practice before hunting season. Making fun of me about my ability to shoot my bow without practice would be like me making fun of your sticker shock/whimpering when you saw how much a Benelli SBE costs new. Of course, I was nice enough to refer you to somebody that was selling his SBE for well below market value and I was also nice enough to let you shoot my SBE before you decided on buying one. It would also be like me making fun of your wing shooting ability the first time I met you. To this day, I can remember the first time I goose hunted with you and watched you try to shoot a wounded goose that was getting up right in front of you and flying directly away. I watched you miss it a couple of times and I watched it fly away. When you got back to the blind I gave you some advice on how to shoot that bird (e.g., come up underneath it, swing through it, and pull the trigger when you have it covered up, all the time not stopping your swing).

No need for name calling. If you can't handle a good debate in a good manner, don't jump in. Then again, I have a lot of practice since debating is my profession. Don't shoot me the next time we are out hunting. LOL

[Virginiashadow]

I missed the first deer I ever shot at...a doe in a driving snowstorm at 35 yards with my .3030

vashadow

[fabsroman]

I killed the first deer I ever shot at. I was hunting in Leesburg at a friend of my father's place. I was using my dad's Savage .30-06 which is older than me. It was one of the colder days I've been hunting. Not more than 15 minutes on stand, a doe and a button buck came up to the stand. They actually started eating the bushes underneath the tree. I waited a couple of minutes to see if anything bigger came along and then I decided to shoot the button buck. Didn't know it was a button buck at the time. It took me forever to get the rifle around without spooking them. Then, it took forever to get the deer in the scope because it was a 4x scope and the deer was about 20 yards away. When I finally got it in the scope and pulled the trigger, I got somewhat lucky because I hit it in the spine and almost missed completely. The bullet split in half and there were two exit wounds. Needless to say, the deer didn't move a bit. That would have been a great shot for bowhunting.

Since then, I have had plenty of days without seeing a thing and plenty of misses too. On opening day for firearms this year I missed two at about 100 yards and then killed two at about 250 yards with my .300 Win Mag. I was sick at myself after the first two misses, not to mention that the scope had given me a good clobbering. The first two caught me by surprise while I was walking down to the house. The other two were on the run when I saw them out the house window. I took off running. Ended up running about 150 yards the same way they were going. I tried to get a shot on them when they were about to cross a fence, but I couldn't get set up in time. So, I watched them continue running across a pasture. They were headed toward a creek that I knew they had to jump. So, I set the gun on a fence post and waited for them to get there. The doe jumped the creek first, stopped for a second, and I dropped her. The button buck jumped the creek next and I dropped him. I thought the rifle was sighted in for 100, but from the looks of it, it must have been sighted in for 200. I felt like a jackass. I will definitely sight it in next year.

VAShadow,

Maybe next season we can get together and do some hunting. I know I promised to take you bow hunting this season, but I didn't get out a single day to bow hunt. In fact, I can count the number of hunting days on both hands. Next season, the townhouse will be finished and the wedding and honeymoon will be over and done with, so I should have plenty of time to hunt and shoot since I don't get too busy with work until about the end of January.

[WT Kevorkian]

Maybe you missed the lol there at the end of the wimpering statement Fabs. I have nothing to get defensive about. I'm not demanding you acknowledge my abilities, expieriences etc. etc. when it comes to bow hunting. I don't feel it neccesary to portray myself as an expert on every subject because I am not. However, I have no problem stating my opinion on things based on what I see happening with advertising, and sponsorships. You have as many assumptions and hypotheticals in your statements as I do, thats why these statements are called OPINIONS!!! I believe this thread was asking for peoples opinions was it not?? I think that Matthews sponsors as many people as they can on the 3d circuit just to get their name in the win column everytime, thats my opinion and hey if they do thats good marketing because it convinces certain people to buy their bows without looking at anything else. Just to set things straight, I never said their bows are not good bows. I did set up two of them this summer and was not impressed with their performance as far as a hunting bow is concerned. ( they had alot of vibration which resulted in noise thats not opinion that is fact ) I also set up a Parker Phoenix 32 and had no problems at all with it, and am about to set up a UL 35 Parker for another friend. In setting up and tuning those bows I shot them quite a bit, the Matthews more than the Parker, two sets of Limb Savers and String leeches later the Legacy still sounded like a bass guitar but not as bad as without them. lol In the past I've worked on PSE, Browning, and lots of others, some good some bad. What I was trying to get across was most expensive does not always equal the best for a particular individuals needs.

Whenever you respond to something that has hit a nerve with you it always ends up being a talk about money, how much your guns cost, whats in your safe, how much your truck and cars cost, the list goes on and on. None of which has anything to do with most subjects. Again I pose the same question to you,,, where does your expertise on this subject come from,,,, what do you base your decision to purchase a Matthews bow on???

Hey bigdaddy just walked in, wants to know what happened on Saturday? He came over to hunt with you in the afternoon and you were gone. The ice had melted and he retrieved his goose off the pond, it was banded,, and a $100 reward on top of that.

[fabsroman]

As far as what happened on Saturday, you can go to the waterfowl forum and the hunting dogs forum to see what happened. Tell BigDaddy congratulations on the goose and I am truly surprised that he doesn't already know what happened on Saturday, especially when he heard about the deer I shot up there a couple of years ago within 30 minutes of me actually killing it. This will be my last post on this thread.

[DelRioWil]

I bought a Phonix 32 last year and I love the way it shoots. I really need the 34 but, the 32 just felt better to me. It is one of the smoothest bows I have shot. I have it riged out with a Trophy Taker Shakey Hunter drop down rest, Doinker stabilizer, Impact Archery site, St. Axis 340 arrows with Blazer Vanes and tiped with Phanom broadheads, and pulling 68# @ 31". And have shot out to 70 yards with no problem. This bow shoots 294 fps through 3 different conographs. Right after I bought this bow my bus cables started to wear, so I called Parker and told them what was going on and they sent me a new string and cables. I received them two days after I talked to them. Now that is Customer Service.