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What's a good hunting all around weight ?
- Thread starter QQR
- Start date
Thousands of whitetails have been killed with 48#.
The arrow is as important as the draw weight.
The arrow is as important as the draw weight.
I'm not advocating weight too heavy for you, but proper alignment can make a big difference of how much weight you can comfortably draw.
But 45# is plenty of weight for whitetails.
I'm currently hunting with #45 and as @Allegheny Tom said above that is plenty for whitetails, especially if you have a long draw.
Excellent point. 29" drawing 45# may very well be better than 27" drawing 55#.
I’ve killed three with a 43# longbow drawing 26. Two pass through and one in off side shoulder. Two blade SHARP broadhead and keep em close you’ll be fine in my experience
Absolutely true. Arrow weight being the same an inch of draw is worth more than 5 pounds of draw weight in the mid range length. 26 to 29 inches. Of course bow design and efficiency would have to be similar.
I would personally not go below 35. But it also depends on arrow and range. Going down to 40-45 is still plenty. I use 50 personally but have a 37lb backup (marked 43lb but I draw 26) I would not hesitate to use. Also look at your state laws. Many states have a minimum.
Whatever weight you can put the arrow on the spot you want to hit. Look at tradlab they have kid smokin deer with 32# bows.
I am hunting with a 42 pound Big Jim Thunderchild longbow. I’ve killed one and got a pass through. I know someone who shot a 30 pound Recurve when he was a kid and shot an aluminum arrow clean through a deer at 15 yards. 40-45 pounds will kill about anything in your neck of the woods if you hit it right.
45-47 pounds with sharp 2 blade broadhead is what I use keeping the shots reasonable.
My coach is shooting a 48#@28" bow at about a 30.5" draw and he never works out, but he is in his late 60s. He puts up 580-590 indoor rounds with olympic recurve. Alignment will get a guy really far. I can shoot 55 pounds and I'm a pretty weak dude.
I have killed deer with a 42# on the fingers bow, but I have a long draw. To get my arrow under my eye - but more importantly to get good alignment I anchor on my upper back molar which gives me a repeatable 30.5" draw. Your draw length does matter when going to very low weight bows (IMHO around 35# is low, above that is not) but not nearly as much as other factors. I think the biggest factor in hunting with any draw weight is to ensure you arrow is flying true; period. I'll take a heavy arrow from a 'light' bow with massive fletching and a heavy front that flies perfect over a corkscrewing arrow from a ultrafast setup 8 days per week.
3d and punching paper can be a smidge different, but for poking holes in things that bleed you want a true flying arrow. The recommendations of using a 2 bladed broadhead is very sound logic.
If you miss any major bones except for ribs, nearly any cut on contact broadhead will do the job; hit something more substantial and you'll certainly want much less resistance thus a 2-blade, preferably long length to width ratio head.
There is almost no end to the debate on what a low weight bow is for hunting, 50lbs is really not a light weight bow. I think it matters more about how far your average shot is likely to be more than the size of a deer in your area (animals other than whitetail may be different) because deer are pretty easy to poke two holes in -- but you have to hit them to eat them!
3d and punching paper can be a smidge different, but for poking holes in things that bleed you want a true flying arrow. The recommendations of using a 2 bladed broadhead is very sound logic.
If you miss any major bones except for ribs, nearly any cut on contact broadhead will do the job; hit something more substantial and you'll certainly want much less resistance thus a 2-blade, preferably long length to width ratio head.
There is almost no end to the debate on what a low weight bow is for hunting, 50lbs is really not a light weight bow. I think it matters more about how far your average shot is likely to be more than the size of a deer in your area (animals other than whitetail may be different) because deer are pretty easy to poke two holes in -- but you have to hit them to eat them!
shoot... i thought that said weight for an arrow... lol. my 45 lb bow shoots clean through, and breaks shoulder bones (not shoulder blades)