The shortest adult bow I have ever seen — Hickory Creek HD-24

This isn’t a review of a product; really it’s more of a “Have you seen this?”

Back in January at the ATA show, I caught a glance of a very odd looking creature that resembled a bow — a very short one, anyway.

I got sidetracked visiting with some other exhibitors and remembered seeing the bow earlier in the day. So sat out on a mission to find this pint-size bow in hopes that my eyes didn't deceive me. I kept thinking to myself that it must have been a crossbow, or maybe even some sort of toy.

I made my way back to the demo area where attendees can test fire bows. At the end of row I came across Hickory Creek, and then it hit me. The small bow I had seen earlier in the day was the Draw Loc (DL-24) bow, or was it?

After taking a closer look at all the demo bows laid out on the table, most of them didn’t have the Draw Loc installed, and some were single-cam equipped.

My interest had piqued and just had to shoot a few rounds with one.

Welcome to the shortest adult bow in the world (that I know of), the HD-24. The “HD” stands for “hand drawn,” and 24 is the axel-to-axel length. WOW! A freaking 24-inch bow! I first thought that there was no way this bow is forgiving the least bit. Every once in a while, I am wrong; I was wrong in my prejudgment of this bow.

I picked up a single-cam model equipped with a 29-inch draw. One of the first things that I noticed was the bow’s weight: It isn’t as light as it appears. And the riser-to-limb angle, it was almost completely horizontal. The other companies producing bows with low rise-to-limb angles don’t have anything on this bow. But the limb angle and limb length of this bow is what makes it work.

Though the bow is only 24 inches from axel to axel, it has a brace height that is almost double of some of today’s speed bows’ brace height. The single-cam model has 11.5 inches of brace and 10.5 inches on the dual-cam version.

The high brace height does take away a good portion of the speed, but it’s still plenty fast for those 30-yard treestand shots. Hickory Creek claims both models will shoot 270 fps I.B.O.; that’s probably pretty close to being correct.

Shooting the bow was a true pleasure. Hand shock and vibration was … well there’s wasn’t any at all. The bow is super quiet by itself and doesn’t need all the silencing bells and whistles.

Upon cutting a shot, the bow likes to tilt back toward you. It’s one characteristic that I don’t really like, but a longer, heavier stabilizer would help offset the weight and make the bow more neutral.

In a nutshell, I like the bow. It’s well built, surprisingly forgiving and easy to shoot. Without a doubt, it would make the ultimate turkey hunting bow. The shortest of short bows adds a whole new dimension of shooting while sitting on the ground.

Specs and recap on HD-24 compound bow