What is considered the normal poundage for hunting whitetail with stick bow?
The bow I have is 52@28, which for me is only 48 or so. It shoots hard in close, but on out around 25 or so it seems too weak to shoot a deer with. What are your thoughts.
And, how long do you think it will be before I am strong enough to move up in bow, assuming I shoot 2-3 time a week?
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" If he smells you its over. If he gets in your wind stream its over, If he smells where you walked, he probably aint coming back... Your talking about an animal that can smell a fingerprint. Any amount over 0% is to much." Dan Infalt
If you like what you have I'd use it for a while. It should be fine for whitetail with a cut on contact broadhead. I'm pulling 53 pounds and am very comforatable with it for whitetail. I probably would never move up more then that.
As far as moving up, it's tought to say. Byran says you should be able to hold at full draw for 10 seconds and still be able to be accurate. That sounds about right. Can you do that with your 48 pound bow? If you feel you want to move up maybe try some heavier bows at a shop or shoot.
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"I do not Hunt animals to Kill them. I kill animals because I Hunt." Roger Rothhaar
No Bobco, I can't hold that long right now, but each time I shoot I can tell I am getting stronger and I would imagine with a few months could pull more weight. I definitely won't be buying another bow for this season, perhaps next spring, if I feel I could handle another 10lbs or so.
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" If he smells you its over. If he gets in your wind stream its over, If he smells where you walked, he probably aint coming back... Your talking about an animal that can smell a fingerprint. Any amount over 0% is to much." Dan Infalt
I went from a 45 at about 29 to a 60 at 28, but I think I get it back to 28.5. At first I had a hard time getting it back not because the arm drawing was having truble but my wrist holding the bow was not strong enough yet. I have been at it with my new bow for about 3weeks now and I hardly notice the weight. The bigest thing for me was taking a day off affter 2 or 3 days of shooting, gave my sholder time to rebuild. I dont know if it was normal but my sholder got sore, but I worked threw it.
Back in the 60's, 45 pounds was the most popular draw weight for deer hunting. Fred Bear used 65 pounds for hunting everything, although he did jump up to 75 pounds for elephant.
I know a lady in PA that killed a record book gemsbok pulling 47@26 on her longbow. She didn't get a pass-through, but her broadhead did stick out the other side--and gemsbok are some big critters. It doesn't take a lot of bow to put an arrow clean through a whitetail, as long as you do your part.
IMO, 25 yds is pushing it, especially starting out. Bowhunting isn't about seeing how long a kill shot you can make, but rather getting so close you can't miss. A big part of the rush is having the critter so close you can smell it before you drop the string!
Chad
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I'd like to add imho arrow flight is much more important then how fast it is or isnt going.
Also as you get used to the bow you are shooting, a 10lb jump is HUGE and creates many problems. We have a local guy who was an awesome single spot shooter. He did the 10lb jump and now went from a 31" draw down to a 27" draw with a 31" arrow (or worse). His shooting is average now, still not bad but definatly not up to his capability!
I'm shooting 54lbs. at my 29.5" draw length. It's comfortable and I feel confident for any animal I may hunt(whitetails, elk, black bear, small game). Lots of good advice on this site. What it boils down to is, shoot a weight with which you are accurate and use a scary sharp COC broadhead.
IMO, 25 yds is pushing it, especially starting out. Bowhunting isn't about seeing how long a kill shot you can make, but rather getting so close you can't miss. A big part of the rush is having the critter so close you can smell it before you drop the string!
Oh, I totally agree!!! I was just saying while flinging arrows it didn't seem to have much "woomp" to it. At this point, a 10yd shot is stretching it
But, my new arrows should be here today and I will do some serious flinging this weekend.
You know, out the 30 or so deer I have arrowed with a compound, only 2-3 have been over 20yds!!!
My question was really just in general terms, if'en I can ever hit at 20+ yds
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" If he smells you its over. If he gets in your wind stream its over, If he smells where you walked, he probably aint coming back... Your talking about an animal that can smell a fingerprint. Any amount over 0% is to much." Dan Infalt
I agree with what everybody else is basically saying. Shoot whatever weight you can handle comfortably. The tendancy in traditional archery is for people to always go light when they could probably shoot more weight comfortably if they tried it. I like to state it the way Fred Bear did, "Shoot as much weight as you can shoot comfortably." I like being able to drive my arrow through the boiler room from any angle so I like shooting weight and heavy arrows. I could never understand the compound guys who sell their 80# compounds and buy a 45# longbow or recurve and then wonder why it's so difficult to hunt and take game like they did with thier wheels. It's just a different set of muscles. I nearly die rolling over a 75# compound yet I shoot 75 to 80# longbows and recurves daily.
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What is a good poundage....
