Hello,

From the pictures I see at Cabela’s, it looks to me like this bow is not adjustable for draw length (i.e. Genesis Bow), nor is it draw weight adjustable (there appear to be no limb tension adjustment bolts).

There are other bows lighter in their line-up called the “Goblin” or the “’Lit’l Brave Two” recurves that may be more appropriate for his stature.

Cherish them while they’re small and cute. In all too quick a time, they will be bugging you for the keys to your truck!

Or for your bow.

 

The packaging says the draw weight is between 8 - 13 lbs and the draw length is between 16-24 inches. I figured it was adjustable, but I guess not. He's starting to be able to draw it back all the way, but it's really still too long of a pull for him..

 

I had the same problem. There doesn't seem to be any way to adjust the bow for length or #. The packaging is VERY misleading. Downright lying if you ask me.

It seems youth bows in this price range have very long draw lengths that aren't adjustable. My daughter measures 17", but she has to pull the string beyond the back of her head with the Bear Scout.

My daughter is 6 and did a two-week archery/adventure camp and can hit the ring with a "good" bow 100% of the time. The Bear products in this price range are just garbage.

 

The Bear Scout bow can be adjusted for both draw length and draw weight. The draw length and weight is determined by the amount of rotation the cams experience during a full draw cycle. For example, If the cams rotate 270 deg it will have a longer and stronger draw than if the cams only rotate 180 deg. With twin cam bows this rotation is determined by the % of string on each side of the cam. The front side of the cam contains the string that will dead end on the other limb while the rear side of the cam contains the string used to nock the arrow. The scout bow is equipped with cams that allow easy movement of the string back-n-forth from front to rear.
First before adjusting, note the position of the brass nock that is pinched on the string somewhere by each cam. This position is important to remember for adjusting your bow in the correct direction. In order to adjust the rotation of the cams, the bow must be disassembled as stated in manual (push down on limbs and pull cam assembly off). Then unwind the string from the cam. You will notice that the cam can slide along the string. If you want to shorten the draw length and decrease the draw weight, then slide the string so the brass nock is on the front side of the cam. If you want to lengthen the draw length and increase the draw weight, then slide the string so the brass nock is on the rear side of the cam. Then do the same for the opposite cam. Note that the brass nocks must be in the same location on each cam. Then reassemble as stated in the manual. Tada your done and ready to shoot.
I hope this was helpful…

 

I can't believe the timeliness of this thread! My 6yr old daughter has a draw length of 17", and the scout was the only inexpensive bow I could find while on an extended vacation where I had the opportunity to introduce her to archery. While I'm familiar with the fundamentals of shooting a recurve, I don't know anything about compounds, and went soley on the packaging and availability like others that posted in this thread.

I took her to a range today where she received formal instruction, and they tried their best to fit her with something that would work. The result was a very small genesis, but even that was being short stroked, which led to less than repeatable results and a little frustration on her behalf. The weight of the bow (actual heft not draw weight) started to wear her down, and while nowhere near as nice, the scout could be made to work if I can lock the pull down to 17" or so, so I could run short/light arrows to make the best of the available power. Ideally I'd like to get her into a recurve, but her short draw length, and lack of strength preclude that at this point.

Kory,

Thanks a ton for the explanation. I may try and pull this off on my own, based upon your response; but if you have pictures to help me understand, that would be greatly appreciated. The only brass pieces I see on the strings are the static ends of the string that anchor on the cam pin. Unless I'm missing another piece, those look crimped on, and the only thing I could see doing with them is to take up additional string effectively preloading the bow, but not really shortening the draw length.

Last question, is there a rule or formula that I can use to figure out how much draw weight/power I'm going to lose on the bow with each inch of draw length I remove?

Thanks,
Chris

 

I went ahead and gave this a try. After pulling the cams off the ends of the bow, you can see a small brass piece inside each cam. If you pull this piece out towards the larger O.D. side of the cam you lengthen the draw, if you pull it out the smaller O.D. side of the cam, you shorten the draw. Because of the overall size of the cam and bow, you don't have a lot of room to play with before you start to really lose power on the bow. Here is where I ended up leaving my daughter's setup. This reduced the draw by about 3"

I obviously didn't have a chance to shoot it at 12:30 in the morning, and I'm going to have to get her lighter arrows than the basic fiberglass practice ones from Bear, but it feels like there is enough action in the cam to move a short/light arrow 10 yards or so with a decent trajectory.

Here is the starting point of the cam

And the cam at full draw. You can see it just makes it to about 180* of rotation on the cam.

I'm not sure if this is going to be enough of an improvement to keep her shooting, but a mini genesis is out of the budget right now. I might have to see if the Bear Brave II recurve is doable, but I can't find one to put my hands on locally to have her try. If anyone has any suggestions for light, short, inexpensive arrows, I'm open to suggestions.

Thanks,
Chris

 

Update on adjusting Bear Scout Bow

I would like to give an update on my previous thread…

First I will say that using the method I described earlier does work, however, I’m finding that the draw length doesn’t change as much as the draw weight does. In my case, I was able to adjust the weight so my son could pull it back but the draw length only decreased a couple inches. Not the change from 24” to 18” as stated on package. I wish I wouldn’t have bought it now. And a kid that can barely pull 13lb will probably never have a 24” draw length. I can’t believe a company like Bear would even produce a product like this.

I’m in the same position as everyone that buys this bow. Package says its adjustable but couldn’t find out how. I searched the internet for quite some time and couldn’t find the answer. So I started playing with the cams and strings to see what I could do. After I succeeded in reducing the draw weight I wanted to get the answer online for other people. Since then I have been emailing Bear archery products directly and have found that the bow was not intended to be adjusted. They said the draw weight increases with draw length and hence the adjustability stated on the package. They say it works like a re-curve. I disagree 100% as the draw weight drops around 18”. But in any case, I found my solution effective in solving the draw weight issue but not very effective in solving the draw length issue. I apologize for not making this clear in previous thread.

 

Well, sorry to bump an old thread that was originally an even older thread but I'm now in the same boat as others here. Bought 2 bows for my kids this year (6 and 9) and one needs a much shorter draw than the other. Did anyone ever figure out if this really is adjustable like it says? The text instructions up above didn't make much sense to me unfortunately.

 

I've not had one of these bows, so I don't have personal experience with it. However, bows like this don't have a wall like compound bows with cable or limb stops. They are designed to allow the widest sizes of kids to shoot and learn to shoot. This bow is designed to be drawn to an anchor position, not unlike a traditional bow. The key is to show your kids where to anchor not to try to find the wall. The Genesis, mentioned above, is the same way. No wall until the cams have rotated as far as they can possibly go. Hope this helps.

 

I took a look at the instructions that Flat Broke used and figured out what they were meaning. I adjusted the string but of course then the bow loses most of its power and really doesn't shoot very hard. I'll have to see if my kids are able to only draw it back part way and hold it there or not instead of pulling it back to the let off like you would on any other compound bow.

 

Helpful thread. I will see what I can do with my 6 yr old. Only a 17.5" draw