Hoyt 38 Pro Compound Bow

The Hoyt 38 Pro was Hoyt's accuracy-first long target and field bow from 2007 to 2009 - the forgiving, string-suppressed platform that carried the ProTec name's precision reputation into the StealthShot era - and today it is one of the more interesting used buys for a score-minded archer who wants real Hoyt target engineering without a flagship budget. The core numbers hold up for its purpose: a 305-to-306 fps IBO from the smooth C2 Cam and a half, a long 38-to-38.5-inch axle-to-axle and a tall brace near eight inches, laminated XT limbs on a machined TEC riser, a wide 40-to-80-pound and 25-to-33.5-inch fit range, and buyer-selectable 65 or 75 percent let-off. There is no published chronograph data and Hoyt never printed a launch price, so the honest read is a bow you judge on condition and buy for its geometry - a long, quiet, forgiving accuracy platform that came with the StealthShot and RizerShox damping most of its contemporaries made you add yourself. What stays with me about the 38 Pro is how little it asks of the shooter: the length and brace do the forgiving, letting the pin settle and rewarding a deliberate, repeatable shot, which is the entire point of a target bow. This is an excellent bow for the club-level 3D, field and precision-minded hunter who wants a stable, forgiving, genuinely quiet used chassis and does not mind a fresh string and a tune to bring it current, particularly strong on a range or field course where its length and hold pay off. Buyers who rank single-cam simplicity first should also look at the Mathews Conquest 4, and those who want the longest, fastest target platform of the era should weigh the Bowtech Constitution... read full review