Eastwood,

You'll love it. And you'll also like the ethics, the additional responsbilities.

I would suggest using arrows on the heavy end of what people use. I suggest 9 grains for each pound of draw such that if you choose a 70# bow, that you would shoot arrows with total weight of about 630 grains. (A side effect of this is that fixed, non-mechanical, broadheads will fly fine and you won't have to worry about mechanicals blowing up or not opening.)

The reason for the "heavy" arrows is physics. Bow hunters usually talk about the kinetic energy of the arrows they shoot when they should be talking about momentum and arrow drop. It turns out that when one goes to lighter arrows, that one loses momentum much faster than one picks up a smaller arrow drop.

For example, for the 70# bow that I am looking at, the difference between shooting a 630 grain arrow and a 350 grain arrow is 35% percent in momentum (at 30 yards) for a gain in effective range of only about 5 yards. I.e., with the heavier arrow the elevation error from shooting at 35 yards thinking it was 40 was 7 inches. With the light arrow, this same error was caused by shooting at 40 yards thinking it was 45.

Momentum translates directly into penetration, all other things being equal (e.g., sharp broadheads). On bad hits, the extra 35% penetration will often be the difference between a clean kill with a good blood trail and a wounded, unrecovered deer.

It is also harder to tune a bow to shoot light arrows. Bows are more efficient with heavier arrows. Bows last longer with heavier arrows, etc., but the big thing is the improved chance of a clean kill when that broadside or quartering away shot suddenly changes when the arrow is half way to its target.