while the presently disclosed inventive concept ( s ) is susceptible of various modifications and alternative constructions , certain illustrated embodiments thereof have been shown in the drawings and will be described below in detail . it should be understood , however , that there is no intention to limit the inventive concept ( s ) to the specific form disclosed , but , on the contrary , the presently disclosed and claimed inventive concept ( s ) is to cover all modifications , alternative constructions , and equivalents falling within the spirit and scope of the inventive concept ( s ) as defined in the claims . referring now to the drawings in fig1 there is illustrated a compound bow having an embodiment of the invention positioned on compound archery bow 2 . the bow 2 has bow riser 4 between an upper limb 6 and a lower limb 8 . at the distal ends 11 , 13 of the upper 6 and lower 8 bow limbs are located two cams 10 , 12 in a dual cam bow or a single cam 12 and an idler pulley 10 in a single cam bow . a bow string 14 stretches between the cams or pulleys . string or cables 16 also stretch between the cams or pulleys . in the depicted embodiment , the string or cables are retained together at cable retainer 24 . the braking device of the present invention includes caliper 18 located on one of the two cables 17 . string 17 runs between the brake pads of the caliper . the caliper is attached to a brake actuating device 28 by cable 32 . cable 32 can be hydraulic , mechanical or electrically connected . alternatively , the brake actuator and the brake device can be wirelessly connected . in the depicted embodiment , the brake is actuated by depression of lever handle 30 located proximate to the grip 26 of the bow which actuates brake caliper 18 that is attached to the bow by mounting bracket 20 . the pressure of lever handle 30 causes the brake pads within caliper 18 to push together to impact friction on to the string 17 thus preventing string 17 from moving . when the bow is in a drawn position , the string 16 are wound out of one or both of the cams . winding of the string ( s ) out of the cam ( s ) retracts the distal ends of the limbs 11 , 13 toward one another . retraction of the limbs allows for the energy built up in the drawing of the bow string to be stored in the flexing of the limbs . when the bow string is released , the cams rotate back and the bow limbs are propelled outwards due to the stored energy in the bow limbs , thus accelerating the speed at which the bowstring travels forward propelling the arrow . when the bow braking device is engaged , the friction upon the string prevent the string from being released which prevents the cams from turning and the bow limbs from propounding away from one another , and thus preventing the energy stored in the bow limbs to be transferred to the retracting bow string . the depression distance of the brake lever 30 is depicted in the diagram by distance a . fig2 illustrates depression of the brake actuator 34 in the direction depicted by arrow b . when brake lever is depressed as shown in fig2 , the brake pads of the caliper 36 are pressed together thus imparting friction from opposing sides of the string 38 thus effectually braking the string . ideally a user can actuate the brake mechanism when the user has the bow at full draw , thus preventing the string from moving and thus preventing the cams from rotating . fig3 illustrates a magnified view of the braking mechanism of the present invention . brake caliper 42 is attached to a bow mount 52 by a bracket 48 and mounting bolt 50 . the bow mounting bracket 52 is connected to the bow riser 56 . the caliper is attached to the bow such that the bow string 46 passes within a groove 44 of the caliper in which the opposing brake pads of the caliper are located . alternatively , it is thought that a variety of mechanisms could be used to brake the string - without deviating from the present invention . alternative braking mechanisms could include , for example , a device in which a 360 degree friction is placed upon the string or alternatively , any other friction placing device in which friction is placed onto the string from opposing sides of the string . while certain preferred embodiments are shown in the figures and described in this disclosure , it is to be distinctly understood that the presently disclosed inventive concept ( s ) is not limited thereto but may be variously embodied to practice within the scope of the following claims . from the foregoing description , it will be apparent that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the following claims .