Shooting range

[bones]

My bow is set up at 55lbs of draw. Is that good enough to harvest a deer out to 30 yards? Should I try to increase my draw to say 60lbs. Will there be a distinct advantage or is staying at 55lbs sufficient?

bones

[Arthur P]

I'd hunt anything on North America with a 55 pound longbow... except the big bears or maybe moose. A 55 pound compound puts out considerably more power than a 55 pound longbow. If you're comfy at 55 pounds, then you can safely leave well enough alone and go hunting.

If you just WANT to work up to 60 pounds, then that's a different matter. Shoot 3-4 times a week and crank the limb bolts one turn every week or two. As long as your arrows don't get out of spine, you'll probably never notice the increase.

[BGfisher]

Over a period of 15 years I've learned that it is much better to shoot a little less weigh than I can comfortably handle during practice. When sitting, waiting for the shot of a lifetime the muscles are not loosened up and drawing a bow can be demanding.. To that end I used to regularly shoot around 66 to 67lbs. Now I'm down to a VERY comfortable 53lbs. Is it enough for deer? Darn tootin.

[GRIZZLYMAN]

I cranked my bow down from 60 to 55 a couple of weeks ago and I'm glad I did. My shoulder used to get sore after 50-60 arrows but now it doesn't. My groups are better also.

[Bulzeye]

Bones, you're fine where you are.

My hunting bow is set at only 50#, and it flings my arrows at only about 210fps.
At 20 yards my arrows, tipped with 100 grain Thunderheads, will blow clean through both lungs and 2 ribs, and then bury themselves in the ground on the far side. It will also, at the same distance, drive one of those broadheads into a deer's vertebrae deep enough so that you can't see any blades. Yeah, I screwed up the shot and hit high, but he dropped on the spot, and provided an easy follow up. It was good to know just how hard they hit.

I started at 60# because I wanted more energy, but found that after freezing my tail off that I couldn't pull it smoothly enough to keep from being noticed. It's also a lot tougher, and maybe impossible to fraw from an akward position, which hunting will demand of you from time to time.

Adding draw weight will flatten trajectory which will take some guesswork out of range estimation, and it will raise the kinetic energy that your arrow delivers, but your setup will be fine just as it is.