Archer18

I also would agree with robinhood36 and the elk scenario he states is most definatley true. i was pulled back on a cow towards the end of the season, i missed a couple of oppurtunities for a few nice bulls, but the shot wasnt there. But i was pulled back on this cow for probably a min, but felt like 5. I ended up having to let up becuase my body was shaking. Boys, after that i hit the gym!

davidmil

I don't rightly know. I've never timed it. I've held TOO long and have had to let down.[X(] There are a couple tricks you can do to extend the time at draw if need be.... and it'll steady the shakes a bit. One is to just lower the bow and rest the cam on your leg if you can move that much without being spotted. The other is easier and works better to me. When you're at full draw and think you can't take much more... just do this. While still at full draw push your string hand elbow down against your side. Just press it to your rib cage and push in. You'll end up with your forearm and bicept pushed together. Your hand will still be in contact with your cheek. It sounds odd... but it does work. When you get ready, just raise the elbow back up to the full drawn position and shoot. Just try it, you'll instantly see a lessening of full draw forces on the body. I'd post a picture but my digital broke and I had to send it in to Olympus for repair. Glad I got it with a 5 year warranty.

isatarak

I probably haven't had to hold for more than about half a minute. Sometimes I hold mine back for a minute or more for conditioning. I don't have any problem holding it back a minute.

CLOUD 9, MN

2 minutes! And I learned that was dummmm! I actually did this twice both with bad results. At one minute to two minutes you have dramatically lost your ability to aim and the biggest problem is whether you know it or not, you dramatically change your form (you create a very bad form) and I'll bet torque becomes a problem for everyone, I know it does for me!

Good Luck!

JimPic

I don't draw back til I'm ready to shoot.No let-off on my recurve so when I hit anchor--I'm letting it fly.

DaveH

On the 140 class buck that was approaching me earlier this fall, I had to draw before he came out from behind the brush because there was no cover after that and he was facing me. He stopped at 20 yards, still facing me and rubbed a tree and made a scrape all without offering me a shot. When he finally turned and started walking, I had to wait for him to clear some small branches. When I saw a clear path to his vitals, I dumped the arrow. Too bad I forgot about TRAJECTORY! [:@]

Total full draw time was over two minutes.

jimpok61

I never draw for longer than 10 seconds. Learned a long time ago while doing isometric and or weight training, that lactic acid build-up in muscles can cause muscle quivering etc. No matter how good condition you have all your muscle groups it is a physiological phenomenon that is a fact of life. Any hold longer is certainly possible but the internal changes within our muscle groups cause muscle fatigue, hence, quivering, and lack of fine control. Just when you need that fine control you have unknowingly lost your edge. Tragically, many times the results are wounded game, long tracking, and quite freguently lost game. As a test for this phenomenon just squeeze a fist tightly for 10 seconds. Release that tight squeeze and you will notice a calming feeling in your hand. That is the muscle group recovering from lactic acid build-up. I urge you to try and keep your draws to a minimum hold time. JMO, but I believe you will have more success and fewer errors at release.

NY Bowhunter

This is exactly what I've done and it does work. Back when I was young (hehehehehe) I had a buck coming right down the "happy trail" like a dream. Coming straight across the field and heading for his trail in a hedge where my stand was. Same scenarios I've seen 20 other bucks do. Except this time this guy did something slightly different. He was about to duck into the hedge so I got to full draw figuring he'd continue to walk down the path like the other ones did. (haha nope) He stopped about 25 yards in front of me and stood there behind a cluster of 6 or 7 small trees. 5 more steps and he's a dead deer. I didn't time it, but like everyone else said it seemed like 5 minutes. Probably 1.5 in reality. I did what david said and lowered my elbow against my ribs whith my hand to my cheek still. I even stuck my chin behind my release clip and tried to hold some of the weight with my chin. I got to the point where I just about couldn't take it anymore and kinda let out a little groan/grunt thing. You know the kind of sound you make when you're lifting something heavy. For whatever reason that sound got the deer moving. He didn't bust out of there, but he didn't want to be there either. He took about 5 more steps out to my shooting lane and I raised my elbow again and took him.
I'll tell you what was amazing is the "new found" energy that you muster up when he finally presents you with a shot. Suddenly it seemed like I just drew back again. Body stopped shaking and bicep stopped burning.

John Deer

I've had to let up on more than one occasion. Buck walks behind tree, I draw, buck stops behind tree, I hold at full draw, buck stays behind tree, I begin to shake violently and sweat profusely, buck still behind tree, I have to let up. This has happened a couple of times. Sometimes you just can't do anything about it. I like the trick davidmil talked about. If one of these situations ever happens again, and I'm sure it will, I'll have to give it a try. Oh yea, I've never timed how long I can hold at full draw but it's probably not much over a minute.

rebel wolf

though it has never been timed I can hold my for a while I sit and watch T.V. during the summer and practice holding my draw as commercials come on and it helps alot....