I have a Chek-Mate Hunter II that's 62" and 57# and is one of my go-to bows.

I had always known that the 56" models of the Hunter model were very popular and when I saw this one pop up on eBay I threw an offer at the seller and was pleased he accepted.

I was happy that this bow is also 57# so if I am travelling to hunt I can use the same arrows on both bows.

It came with a decent no-stretch string with some wool puffs installed, which I removed and threw out as I needed to set the bow to my brace height.

My other Chek-Mate is touchy on brace height and this one proved to be the same.

I went tested it with 2018's, 2115's and 2117's, all cut to 28" due to my 27" draw and all with 145 grain heads.

I started shooting at 7.5" and went up until I hit my sweet spot at 8.75"...arrow flight improved at 8" and bow became noticeably quiet at 8.5" and even better at 8.75". I adjusted the brace nine times getting to where I liked it.

The 2018's kicked sideways, the 2115's were fairly stable but with the 2117's it all came together...that was my second group with the 2117's at 21 yards.

I am a sticker for finding the right brace and listening to the bow to help know when I am there...it pays off.

Bow has a smooth draw and no finger pinch...I am quite pleased with its performance and it's easy on the eyes.

Here's the whole bow...

Back of the riser....the bowyer, Marc Moriez, does beautiful work on the limb mounts.

Here are the specs. Made in Canada eh?

Tips are layered wood and phenolic...more than adequate for a low-stretch string.

Last one of the riser...the curved and recessed limb pockets are very elegant and functional. Thanks for looking!

Peter >>>------------->

Very nice! Good shooting too! My single Chekmate is an ASL, #76@28"

Nice find! That one might know its way around the San Juan Mountains.

One of many nice bows that you own. Good shooting.

very fine made bow!

Congratulations. They are lookers as well as performers. I am impressed by the limb fit also. Here is mine but it is just 42 pounds. >>>>-----> Ken

Peter:

This one is a Chek-Mate Hunter I model, circa 1975, made when Dorothy and Jacques ran the company out of Abbotsford, B.C.

It is 58#@28" and 62" in length. I like the design of yours much better. It is too heavy for me now and I have not shot it for years. Boormans shipped it to me with a dozen 2020 aluminum arrows with Wasp broadheads.

Great shooting bows. SD

Another....

Last one...

Nice find Peter! Like you I have great admiration for Marc and his bows. I asked him to make me a pair of Hunter I years ago and I could not believe how well they came out and shot. Now retired they hang in my Den.

Thanks for the pics. Best of luck.

Dan

Nice bow Peter. I had a couple of the 62" CM TD models with bubinga risers and yew limbs under clear glass. Beautiful! Back in 1990 I had the CM Golden Hawk Hill style longbow in 70" length. Also the short 52" CM Hawk Magnum that Marc also made for Steve Gorr Archery. I always wanted to try one of Marc's Longhorn bows but never had the chance.

One of my almost-ironclad rules is that the draw weight of a bow must never exceed its length...however, Imake an exception to this in the case of Chek-Mates, because they're just so darn smooth. I once had a 56" CM that pulled 60#, and at my draw it was closer to 64# I think...but it was still a delight to shoot.

Peter, I'd be interested to know just how far forward the string nocks are from the throat of the grip when the bow is unstrung. My current 58" CM has the tips only 1.25" forward of the pivot point; I think that's part of why they are so smooth.

Whatever happened to Chad the checkmate salesman? thanks I'm almost hesitant to ask.

Oops..Dorothy's partner in business, back then, was Larry Courchaine, not Jacques. My bad, sorry.

SD

I also like the looks of your new bow. The limb attachment system sure looks a lot cleaner than the other 99% custom bows around. As for Chad, he no longer sells these bows. Something to do with the new owners. It still has an explanation on his website.

Dear Pdiddly thanks for your great tuning tips. I went out to the workshop and restrung my Cascade Super Blackhawk from 7.5 in brace to 8.5 in brace then shot it and what a happy man I am now. It truly made a big difference in the bows manners. The flight of my 2217 was perfect with a slight knock point adjustment. I would not have tried this high a brace with reading your post. I thank you for the information you shared and your skill in bow set up. Maybe old dogs can learn new tricks. Pdiddly you are the man today!!!

Nice bow Peter! I hope to see some photos of it in CO this year! Lance

Pretty bow.

Back in the 70’s I spent much time at Boormans Archery shop ,he’s been a lifelong friend ,thru him I met Dorothy and Larry ,absolutely great people .A few years later I moved to Abbotsford and with another buddy Ron Cook ,who owned Eagle Archery we spent many evenings with Dorothy and Larry at there shop.Man could they ever shot. In 1964 Dorothy won the Fita worlds championships in Valley Forge PA. Over the years I’ve probably owned over 50 chek-mate bows,this is before Mark joined the company.They were all works of art.I presently own a Golden Hawk Hill style longbow ,all yew with clear glass .It is the best ASL I’ve ever shot ,given to me by my wife for Xmas ,she ordered it from Dorothy without me knowing. Man I miss those times.

I'd be willing to bet I have the only Ch Mate in Newfoundland..complete with seal pelt and a Rooty string.. 46lbs. Sandy

my 56in CM firebird 51@28 thanks for the tip Pete

Roger,you have yourself a true gem,finding a firebird is like finding hens teeth.Man they are a nice shooting bow.

I had one that looked just like yours. It was a beautiful bow and has the cleanest lines as far as limb attachment. The grip was just to big for me.

Crookedstix

The limb tips are 1.25" past the pivot point. The tip groove is .5" past the pivot point.

The bow does have a very smooth draw.

I have three Check Mate 3 pc recurves....56" Hunter 11, 60" hunter 11 and a new 60" Hunter 111.....all of them are quiet and shoot best braced at 7 1/2'- 7 5/8'.....YMMV.

The string grooves on my 62" Cascade Whitetail Hawk, courtesy of Peter, are 1 3/4" forward of the pivot point, unstrung. The riser is not as deflexed as the CheckMate Hunter, explaining the difference, but it seems both bows are very smooth to draw yet perform quite well, as Kerry also observed. I would hypothesize that part of the explanation is that the limbs are not so significantly pre-loaded by stringing the bow, as it the case with bows with more pronounced hooks that end up well-forward of the pivot point. May also explain why Peter's bow tunes best at a relatively higher brace height...and why some well-known examples of bows with the tips far forward when unstrung, e.g. Drakes, Dryads, perform and tune best at surprisingly low brace heights. That 72" unmarked San Diego mystery that Jim Baker now has, probably a Custom Bow Company Starfire, has very similar geometry and construction to a Firedrake and braces best at only 7", seemingly counter-intuitive for such a long recurve bow, but I suspect its because those long sweeping hooks put the string grooves over 6" in front of the pivot point when unstrung.

Awesome looking bows!!!!

Thanks to everyone for the comments...as for the brace height I started just below 7.5" and the bow was loud and spraying arrows. It was not until I hit 8" that things began to improve.

With 2117's I found it was best just below 8.75".

I went out last night with some 2018's with better nock fit than the four arrows I used initially and these grouped well. I backed off the brace with these shafts and found 8.25" was optimum.

I tried at 7.5" and then 7.75" and the bow was loud and vibrating like a dog crapping hockey pucks!

While other may find optimum brace on their bows is below 8" that is not what others will experience as brace is very much an individual thing for different people on the same bow.

Thanks for the info and thoughtful observations Mark...makes sense to me.

THANK YOU so much for all this info.I believe i have 4 Chekmates.The fifth one i gave away.......What a fool!!Certainly one of the top 5(2-3?) bows i've owned.SOO smooth.At 44#'s that Hunter2 was a gem.I have a 46# Hunter 2 but it is simply a very good bow;the 44 was fantastic.I've reached better accuracy with some bows but this was a pleasure to shoot-An actual physical pleasure maybe there was something infused in the wood.I threw it away on a nice gentleman who disappeared(from archery).Ah well-shoulda made him pay.

I've had a few of those bows over the years. They always shot extremely well.

I have two Hunter 11's 58", one is a Cascade. One short handle Cascade with phenolic riser, it makes a 56" or 58" bow depending on which limbs I use. I have two Cascade Golden Hawks 52", very smooth at 27 1/2" draw. They are all nice bows but they don't shoot as good as yours.

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