ORIGINAL: quiksilver
Just my humble opinion here, but if you're not drawing at least 55#, you have no business bowhunting any kind of big game.
Sure, a 50# bow can deliver a lethal blow to a whitetail. So can a .22 Hornet, but you don't see many guys out there toting .22's on opening day. Why? Because it's ridiculous.
I just get so sick of hearing guys talk about taking their 11 year oldkids/wives out bowhunting with 40 pound bows, then talking to them 4 months later and getting the sob story about how Billy Bob Junior plugged an arrow in a doe's shoulder, or how Misses Billy Bob bounced an arrow off a scrub buck and couldn't recover it.
Bowhunting isn't a sissy sport. Sorry. IMO, if you can't man-up and draw enough bow to cut through some bone or generate significant penetration, you should stick to lead projectiles or playing with Barbies.
Face it, people get old, bones get brittle, joints go bad, most women aren't She-ra, and your kid isn't Little Hercules. There's a time to hunt and a time to hang it up. When you feel like you're having to bend the rules or cut corners just to meet the threshold physical requirements, then it's probably time to admit defeat and focus on rifle season.
Just my .02.
I agree and disagree at the same time. For deer...i believe 35# at the very minimum. My girlfriend shot her first deer with a bow using 39#. I've heard of a girl 12 years ago (think...a lot less FPS than bows today) and she shot a 6 pt using 29#. A good sharp broadhead mixed with a very accurate shot is the lethal combination, not necissarily how much weight you pull.
BUT..
On the big game part (not including whitetail), i pretty much agree. We're talking big game. Thats why theyre called big game. I think thats great someone shot that moose with 55#...i definetly wouldnt doubt that story at all. But like quiksilver said, a minimum of 55# should be considered for stuff like Buffalo, Moose...etc. Like you said about no one using .22 for deer, why use a slingshot for moose??
What my point is, is that i think that unless you can comfortably draw the huge draw weights, it really isnt that neccessary for DEER. But for a lot bigger game, more energy shots should be considered.