I' ve sat 8 hours with my bow at full draw already,then again it is a Horton x-bow,sorry could not resist

Arthur, this is the only I time have disagreed with you, sometimes there is anticapation, such as when a deer goes steadily walking and when his head goes down or behind a tree/bush and this is when I draw back. Why do I do this?, so my movement is concealed , it seems like they sense your presence as soon as they come in. It is to my advantage to use this strategy. I personally don' t think its so important on how long one can hold a bow at full draw, but more so on how steady you can hold the pin on your point of aim accurately. Bobby

Bobby, you' re not disagreeing with me because I never said drawing while an animal is behind a bush and holding till it steps out is not a great advantage. It certainly is. I' ve done it a couple of times. Never even loosed an arrow either time because it didn' t ' feel right.' Something was missing. I enjoy the CHALLENGE of getting the bow drawn with the animal in front of me.

Drawing and waiting for the shot reminded me why I sold my 30-30 and started hunting exclusively with a bow in the first place.

Not sure! If I drop my shoulder I could hold it alot longer.

Arthur

You crack me up man! You should start a sister club to Davids " crotchety old farts club" ! It could be the " crotchety old farts club...stuck in their old ways chapter"

I been teaching myself to hold as long as possible if i really in fact need to keep up for long time, just in case. Other then that, maybe just a few seconds.

I think somebody already beat me to it. Comptons. ATHA. Some even say Pope and Young Club.

But I' m glad there are orgs like Buckmasters carrying the light for the newfangled means and methods.

What usually happens to me is I will draw when they walk behind a tree and shoot them when they appear on the other side. Alot of times though they stop behind the tree for what seems like an eternity and just when I let down, they step out.[:' (] The longest I have held was for about 2 minutes.

I guess I' m a lot like Arthur in this regard. In almost 35 years of bowhunting, I doubt I' ve ever held even 5 seconds. I think part of this is the fact that I hunted with a recurve my first 10 years. No way to effectively shoot one, when holding a long time. The next 15 years, I used a compound with a 30% let-off. This didn' t allow long " holds" , either. My technique is very well ingrained, and I' ve been very successful with it. Often times, the draw is what stops the deer. If it doesn' t, I often stop them with a grunt. Since I only shoot very close ranges, I don' t care if the deer looks at me - it' s dead.

I' ll bet the average hunter who uses the " long hold" technique" looses more opportunities, by having to let-down, than I do by waiting for the deer to get into the position I want, before drawing.

I dont think anyone uses the long hold technique intentionally. It' s just something that happens to every bowhunter eventually! Well , apparently 99% of bowhunters.

I never have timed mysef but i can hold mine back for a good long time. I have an 80% let-off so it isnt that hard to hold it back. I try not to pull back till its time to shoot, just so i know it will be accurate.