Joe Rogan is a comedian, actor, and podcaster – he’s a successful and opinionated guy. He’s well known for being into archery, primarily for bowhunting, but why?

First, he has an ethical position on meat eating – hunt what you eat because it’s a better life for the animal. He’s prepared to put in the work to deliver on that belief:

“If you want to execute an ethical shot on an animal, you have to be obsessed; you have to practice every day. You have to be thinking about it every day.” – Joe Rogan

That quote sums up the Joe Rogan approach to hunting and archery – obsession and practice. Expertise in archery takes time, effort, and practice – lots of practice. But the right bow definitely helps.

So, What Bow Does Joe Rogan Use?

Joe Rogan’s current bow is the PSE EVO NTN 33, with a Spot Hogg Fast Eddy Sight, Carter Target 4 release aid and a Bee Stinger stabilizer. The bow was designed for Joe by John Dudley and is set it up to Joe’s preferences, including tying the nock points to the mounting of the bow sight.

Famously the first production model was named ‘Rogan 001’. Joe Rogan declares it the best bow he has had in his life.

This bow is new for 2020 and has some exciting new features to make sure you’re hitting the target more accurately and with less noise. The bow designer and innovator, John Dudley, inscribed the very first model as Rogan 001, and set it up to Joe’s preferences.

What are the unique features that make this bow better than the rest?

· D.T. Rest Mount – it’s rock steady, and this rest doesn’t move in use. It’s also quiet and launches the arrow freely with no slippage.

· Precise Lock Cable Guard – the cable guard is hard locked in, and there is zero tolerance of any movement.

· Parallel Limbs and optimal string angles decrease hand vibration and noise.

· Optimized Fall Away Riser Shelf – it’s wider, so you get a bigger whale tail, and its got a handy deep trough to hold the arrow in place for the shot.

· Direct Drive Rest Cord Connector gives a consistent, quick drop position for the drop-away rest.

· Integrated Riser Ready Quick Stand – An optional extra, but it lets you stand the bow upright for a stable shooting position on the range or blind hunting. It’s straightforward to remove, and it stores neatly in the quiver with your arrows.

· Comfortable Synthetic Grip – warmer to hold in cold weather but removable if your preference is for a narrower grip. This feature assists in avoiding added torque from the hand hold.

If you can’t afford Joe’s custom PSE bow, I would highly recommend this one. It’s also a a great PSE bow designed for bowhunting, and there’s a lot more value for the money.

What Bow Sight does Joe Rogan Use?

Joe’s current bow sight is the Spot Hogg Fast Eddy. The Fast Eddie is lightweight, quiet, super-adjustable, and durable, everything you need for 3D archery or hunting in the field. Joe aims to be shooting at the longest distances possible, as he’s hoping to eventually beat his 85 yard best range to date.

The Spot Hogg Fast Eddy Features:

· Light aluminum body (same as aircraft quality), weighs in at just over 10oz. It’s not super light like the simpler Trophy Ridge Pursuit (just under 8oz), but those extra ounces allow the Fast Eddie to pack in some fantastic benefits.

· Multi ring technology – Helps to make sure you get peep alignment even in low light conditions.

· Durable – if you find a way to break it in use, Spot Hogg would like to hear about it.

· Choice of pins – three pin sizes, plus single, double, three, and five-pin options. The Fast Eddy is flexible for your preferred pin set up.

· Super adjustable – second and third axis adjustments, four different positions for the front part of the sight.

The one gripe is that you need to cut your own sight tapes rather than using precut ones, but for a sight that works as well as this one, it’s a pretty minor complaint.

Joe Rogan’s Other Bows

While Joe’s now shooting the PSE EVO NTN 33, that wasn’t always the case. The bow is new for 2020, so before it came out Joe had used a few other bows. Here are Joe Rogan’s other bows, previous to the release of his own custom bow…

Hoyt Carbon Defiant – Before his custom hand tweaked bow designed by John Dudley, Joe Rogan used a Carbon Defiant. His set up is 80lbs draw weight with a 27 inch draw length.

It’s a compact bow with a 31-inch axel to axel length, but in use, it feels longer. It’s also pretty forgiving and stands up to extreme cold with the carbon riser. It’s pricey, coming in at around $1,500 before adding any accessories to your bundle.

It’s a lightweight bow at 3.6 pounds and is firmly aimed at the bowhunting market. The limbs and cams work together to give a smoother shooting experience with the peep sight coming closer to the face, letting you keep a natural head position and adopt a good form without stress and strain. Hoyt developed their durable limbs with computer modeling and extensive testing with a million draw cycles.

Joe Rogan’s Practice Bow – Joe Rogan’s early practice included a Hoyt RX1. Experienced hunters class it as a good bowhunting bow, it’s durable, low vibration, and quiet. The ZT hyper cam systems give you a good posture without strain at full draw, with a flatter string angle.

It’s durable, has a comfortable grip and classes as user friendly as a bowhunting weapon. It’s an excellent choice for anyone who can afford it who wants to work with the best equipment as Hoyt is a leading Bow manufacturer, in business since 1931. Hoyt dedicates their bows to the pursuit of excellence and strives to use new technology to improve on their designs.

Trophy Taker Quivalizer – As well as the classic Hoyt hunting bows, Joe Rogan admits to a fling with the Trophy Taker Quivalizer and describes it as being a fun bow. The Quivalizer’s quirk is that you move your quiver around from the traditional side of the bow to the front, as a stabilizer.

The arrow positions are super adjustable and may take some time to get familiar with what works for you as it’s a non-traditional setup. You’ve got a choice of aluminum or carbon, and both are light to carry and use. The Quivalizer has its hunting fans, but the concept is slow to take off because bowhunters get used to the traditional way of doing things, like many other experienced archers.

Joe Rogan prefers a compound bow, and he likes to experiment with all of the accessories to make his accuracy and hunting distance the best that he can. His motivation is the pursuit of excellence and a clean kill. You can’t really talk about Joe Rogan and archery without understanding that he is primarily a bowhunter, rather than a competitive archer.

Joe Rogan’s Bow Accessories

What accessories make Joe Rogan a better bowhunter? I think Joe would tell you that the accessories all serve a specific purpose; but you still need basic skill with any compound bow. Joe likes to try out all the accessories and to experiment with what works, before he adds a component to his shooting rig. He talks about using and benefiting from the following:

Joe’s Release Aid

The solid brass Carter Target 4 is the release aid used by Joe Rogan since his early practice days. Modern compound bows with their fine plane of motion and solid limb stops, benefit from release aids because:

· Fingers put torque on the string and make it prone to slipping off the cams.

· Trigger mechanism makes it quicker to fire the arrow.

· Release aids get the archer shooting consistently in fewer practice hours.

Joe Rogan is interested in hunting, and a benefit of the release aid is that it reduces target panic. When you’re bringing down an elk, you want a clean shot.

The use of a trigger aid can also get you shooting with competent accuracy and consistency in a shorter time frame than using your fingers. Clearly for Joe, with his focus on ethical hunting, the release aid is a pragmatic accessory for any bowhunter.

Wrist Sling

Along with a release aid, a wrist sling helps an archer by allowing you to use your arm muscles in drawing and firing the bow, and stops you from gripping the bow in anticipation of it dropping and interfering with the shot.

Accurate, consistent shooting needs the bow to remain relaxed in your hand. The fear that you might drop the bow after the shot, can cause your subconscious to use your hand to grab the bow – as or just before you release the arrow.

A wrist sling allows you to concentrate on keeping the bow relaxed, resulting in consistent shooting. It also acts as a safety net for the bow, as it remains attached to your hand and cannot fall to the ground. Since it won’t fall, you can relax and stop trying to tense up and grab it.

Zen teaching says that it is the mind that shoots the arrow, so you need to give your mind every confidence that it can shoot the arrow without dropping the bow. A wrist sling acts a bit like a safety net – with it, you can let the arrow fly without worry.

Stabilizers

Joe Rogan’s stabilizer of choice is a Bee Stinger. He talks about using both front and rear stabilizers with his compound bow, the main reason for this is to improve accuracy.

A stabilizer isn’t strictly necessary for compound or recurve bow shooting, but many archers like it because it slows down bow movement and torque, giving a steadier hold on the target. Plus, it dampens down the vibration of the arrow, which is another benefit,  reducing the physical stress on the archer.

Lighted Nocks for Easy Arrow Retrieval

Joe Rogan has fun with his accessories and is a fan of nocks that light up and give strobing effects. It may seem trivial, but if you are shooting in poor light conditions, lighted nocks can make a big difference in seeing your arrow’s flight path and improving arrow retrieval.

Rangefinders

A rangefinder measures the distance from the archer to the target, and they massively improve shooting outcomes when bowhunting. They work in all terrains, at an angle and are accurate to within a yard of the target. You can check out my list of the best rangefinders here.

Many bowhunters will even opt for rangefinders over sights because of the accuracy. You know what your precise shooting distance is, and this bit of kit lets you see if you can make the shot accurately.

Practice the Joe Rogan Way

“One of the things I really like about archery is how much effort it takes to be even barely competent, which is essentially what I am after three years of solid, regular practice. It’s just so demanding in terms of your concentrating and attention to all the finer details about arm, face, and hand position, and the release has to be perfect and smooth. It seems so trivial and meaningless whether an arrow lands on the mark or not, but when it does, it is so strangely satisfying.” – Joe Rogan

Joe is really clear that he devotes a lot of time to practicing and thinking about archery; he describes it as addictive as coffee. These days, Joe Rogan is a busy guy, and he spends a lot of time both on his podcast as well as on the road. So how does he get in that daily practice to keep improving and maintaining progress?

Use a Training Tool

Stuck in a hotel room and you’d like to get some archery practice? Firing arrows into the walls is not a viable option, so what do you do?

You can use a training tool like the Accubow – a string and handle that you can use with either your  fingers or a release aid to practice your technique.

It’s not the same as drawing a bow for the weight and feel, but it does help you build muscle memory. You can repeat the practice in front of a mirror (to keep an eye on your form) or use it as an exercise. It gives you archery practice when you’re indoors or somewhere you can’t shoot.

The 10,000 hour practice rule may be a myth, but to get good at anything you need to put in the practice time.

An inexpensive training tool you can buy or make that allows you to fit in extra practice time is going to help you become a better archer in the long run.

It’s common sense, but if you’re going to acquire any physical skill, you need to put in the training hours. Anything that helps you carve out some extra training time during your busy day is going to help you over time. That’s why Joe Rogan always travels with a training tool.

Finally, let’s give the last word to Joe Rogan on the practice of visualization:

“When I am in the middle of doing something boring, I go over the shot sequence in my head: Proper grip on the bow, proper front shoulder position, draw back, anchor, center the peep sight, center the level, pull through the shot, imagine the perfect release, repeat.” – Joe Rogan