60 or 70 lbs

[willyqbc]

When I was first starting out i figured heavy poundage was a must and ended up with a 70-80lb bow that I worked up to 84# for hunting ....ended up tearing a muscle in my shoulder and lost 1/2 a year of shooting. With todays bows you will have more than enough oomph for even the longest shots you may consider while bowhunting. The greatest advantage of shooting lower poundage for hunting is the ability to hold at full draw for long periods of time and still be holding steady enough to make a good shot. I know many people who believe they can hold a heavier poundage "all day long", but when you get them to hold that 70# for a mere 60 seconds they can barely even hold it that long let alone hit a minivan with the shot. When you get cold, when you are in an akward positon, when you shoot up/downhill, when you shoot from your knees etc, etc your ability to draw and hold steady is compromised, the heavier the poundage the worse this is going to be.

my advice buy..... a 50-60lbs bow, start as low as it will go until you really learn good form. Slowly work up from there. In the end if you find that 60#'s is a piece of cake and really do want to up the poundage a bit it is very simple to take that 60# bow up to 65# with 5 minutes worth of work.

Just my opinion
Chris

[troutseeker]

you totally have no clue as to what i said ...its ok tho ...continue triing to be funny

I know what you said, how did you know I had a little .......? I am puzzled by your generalization...

[Bowzone_Mikey]

Howed I know you got a Lil Car ???? just a guess
How did I know you Got a Lil' Cell Phone??? ... Just a guess ....

My point is ... there is no need but feed an Ego for anything over 60 pounds pull with todays Cam designs and systems ... The only reason I own any 70 pound bows ... is because i dont like to Bottom them out when I set them up and they give me alot of room to tune them. all my bows are set on the lower half of the range scale

[brad ferris]

Ask an opinion and all of a sudden we got a pissing match. Welcome to HBC. Lol
One technique I have heard and used to determine a proper draw weight for you is to sit down in a chair and draw your bow. If you draw 60 pounds without filling your drawers you may want to get a 70 pound draw weight. You will want to have some room to grow as your muscles get used to drawing and shooting. That particular bow you're looking at has a 75% let off. This means at 60 pounds you're holding 15 and at 70 pounds you're holding 17 1/2. Also I'm of the opinion most bows shoot the best at the midpoint of their weight range. Notice mikey tunes his mostly in the lower to middle of his draw weight range. And he seems like a guy that's pretty anal about his set up. Hope all the info we've dumped on you helps more than hurts.

[dru88]

thanks again to everyone. I will post a pic hopefully when i get my baby...

[troutseeker]

Maybe a 45 pound recurve is all one needs?

[Kody94]

I shot a 65lb at 28" recurve (probably 71lbs at my drawlength) for a lot of years before I bought a compound. When I did buy a compound it was to have a bow I could practice with prior to borrowing an 85 lb bowtech on a cape buffalo hunt. I also wanted the new compound to be useful afterwards for hunting elk (and not be over-bowed), so I went with a 70lb draw weight bow and maxed it at 73lbs.

It served its purpose and had me ready for the cape buffalo hunt, but unfortunately, the cape buffalo didn't cooperate and I ended up taking them with a rifle.

Anyway, that's the main reason I settled on a 70 lb bow initially. I have used it a bit for elk and deer hunting over the last few years, and love it. Its no trouble to draw and shoot....BUT...

Last year I started late season bowhunting from a treestand. After sitting in a stand at -15 to -20 for a few hours, wearing lots of layers of clothing, etc, 73lbs gets MUCH harder to draw!!! And not only that, draw length can become an issue too!

So, I have decided I need an early season elk bow (the one I have is fine), and a new late season deer bow. My late season deer bow will be 60lbs and have 1" shorter draw length.

Its something to consider when buying your bow -- if you see yourself using it in cold weather from a stand/blind, you may just want to start at 60lbs and make sure your drawlength will also suit you when wearing layers of winter clothing. That bow will still work fine for early season hunting.

[mcrae]

I prefer a 60# bow but that being said I didn't want to wait for one when I bought my PSE so I took the 70# bow home. I have no regrets but my prefernce was a 60# bow...

[BugRock]

I have two bows, both 60lbs...love them. I have shot 70lb bows and liked them too. I shoot lots with numerous bow hunters ranging from 40lb bows (youth, female) to 70lb hunters. Most have killed deer,elk, black bear with their bows. It all comes down to what fits you best and what you can build your confidence with. I have no problem standing beside a smaller guy at the bow range who shoots more poundage than me....same as the rifle range, I don't need the biggest calibre rifle. Just practice and enjoy, it is a lot of fun. Great socials at 3D shoots too.

[Walksalot]

A 50-60 lb bow will do just fine. The smoother and easier you can draw a bow back the less movement there is for an animal to pick up on.