draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

Just got a new boy and its set at 60 lbs. draw weight but i can kick it up to 70 lbs if i take it back to the pro shop. Just want to know how much people shoot and if you have any advice.

RE: draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

Bottom line is you have to find the draw weight that is comfortable for you. Currently, I shoot at 60 lbs. I used to shoot at about 66 or so, but now I take into account how much harder it can be to draw a bow back when it is cold, you've been in the stand for a few hours, and you are bundled up against the elements.

One bit of advice: don't crank up the bow just to shoot more weight. Again, it has to be comfortable to draw under all conditions, not just when at an indoor range wearing a teeshirt. Also, I believe each additional pound at that weight will give you an additional 2 feet per second, or something like that. So adding a lot of additional draw weight is going to add very little advantage. If you are hunting out West, and 50 yard shots may be common, then having a few extra pounds might matter. But if most of your shots are 30 yards and in, 60 lbs. on a modern compound is plenty.

RE: draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

I shoot what is comfortable for me from all angles in a tree stand, normally it is set on 65 lbs. after i have been away from it for awhile, i normally set it down to about 60 and work my way back up to 65. not sure how your limb adjustments are set up, but normally one full turn of the allen wrench will adjust it about 4 lbs, just make sure you make the same adjustment top and bottem. hope this helps.

RE: draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

i pull 70lbs but i am very comfortable with that. I started out in the 60's but i had no problems pullin that so i stepped it up a notch. I have found drawing a bow isn't so much a strength demanding thing but more a technique thing. A few of my buddies that are much stronger than me however they are unable to draw my bow. If you have good technique you are able to draw alot more. the previous statements are good advice only pull what u are comfortable at.

RE: draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

i'm no expert and i agree with all of what was said above - shoot what you are comfy with
I shoot about 62# and wouldn't go any higher - im a big strong guy and could pull back 70#, but why make it more of a "struggle" when you don't need it. jus my opinion
I see some shooters that have to strain and struggle (point bow to sky to get leverage, etc) to get back higher poundage - seem like a waste of effort

RE: draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

I shoot about 55-58

RE: draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

doughboy i have also seen people draw their bow with this big upswing for added power. I just like to have a chuckle at these characters becasue what happens when they try that move in a stand. A deer will spot or hear that like nothin and won't stick around for a shot. i guess another thing to remember FOR SOME individuals is that they can handle 70 pounds easily practicing but when a shot presents itself they are so excited they lose strength and can't draw. Hasn't happened personally but i have heard of it happening to others.

RE: draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

Im suggest start where you are then later you mite want to pump it up.
Just rember more lb on the draw does not make you a better archer pratice does.

I shoot 70lb with 65% let off.

RE: draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

I shoot at 60#. I have shot up to 70#, and I agree technique plays a major role in shooting. People much stronger than myself are unable to draw most bows!
The main reason I lowered my bow is when I have to hold at full draw for a long time! 60# is much easier to hold than 70#, and kills 'em just as dead!

RE: draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

70

RE: draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

I shoot 70 lbs right now but if I can't take 50 shots with a bow at a certain weight and still hold a tight pattern then it is set too high. I know you don't take that many shots in a stand but it feels like it when it's cold out, your muscles are tight and you have to draw slower then normal.

RE: draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

I shoot 55#.

I'm not an ox, but I could, and have shot more weight.
I backed off because I found out the hard way that drawing can be much more difficult when you're cold and stiff from sitting in your stand for hours. I got busted by a doe because I took to long to draw. I could barely pull the thing.

I shot 60-62 just fine in practice under ideal conditions, but in the field, things can be different.

RE: draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

Here is a quick test sit on the ground, put your legs together(straight out) and draw your bow. Very important to have a target to aim at and nocked arrow, if you don't struggle to pull the weight you are good to go. This is a tough exercise but one that uses the muscle group to draw a bow with minimal movement, the stuff required when drawing while hunting. I agree with the others your comfort range is the best to determine what weight you set your bow at, if you can't pull/hold comfortably 70 lbs than don't.

FYI, bows perform best at close to peak wieght, so if you are only going to pull 60 lbs your are much better off buying a 60lbs limb vs a 70lbs, this is not to say one can't increase their draw weight with conditioning of the muscles.(if you plan to only shoot 60lbs than be realistic and buy the right limb for your application.)

RE: draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

i am comfy with 65lbs

RE: draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

i shoot a 70# lx and am comfortable there.

i feel there is WAY too much empasis placed on poundage that people shoot. i shoot a 70# lx b/c i like the fact that if i am off by a little, it may not be as big of a deal. i am also 17 years old, a football player, and i lift year round. so, that is a big deal too. when i get older and fatter, and weaker i will probably back it down some, but for now, i shoot that 70# 29 1/2" draw length bow at 300 FPS and i love it.

RE: draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

73 lbs here. The method skeeter 7MM posted is an excellent indicator of what you can pull but I would like to add something.......put on the clothes you plan to hunt in. I use the most clothes I expect to bowhunt in(coat, long johns, etc.) when I am doing this test.

RE: draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

My bow is maxed at 62# and I like just like that ,I don't have a problem with 70# but I've been cold and found out just how hard it really get's to draw that at 70# this is why I stay at 62#

nubo

RE: draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

and nubo shoots at moose with that!!! i have seen photgraphic evidence. nice moose nubo!!

RE: draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

i shoot 65

RE: draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

62# draw weight works for me also!

RE: draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

Right now i'm set at 68lbs but i'm thinking of turning it down to about 65lbs..

RE: draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

I shoot 65 lbs on my one cam hunting bow and 52 on my two cam target bow. Like everyone else said shoot what's comfortable. At 60, you'll have no deer troubles. Work up slowly if you're going to go higher so you don't have to strain pulling back and make sure you can draw your bow back slowly without strain.

RE: draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

I am currently on 72 lbs. It seems to do very well on whitetails. I am using a PSE. It works great. BB

RE: draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

65 lbs. with a 35% let-off .... OLD BOW!

RE: draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

:eek: I had to crank my bolts all the way in to get my arrows to stop porpusing{60LBS}. I have a PSE Polaris Express from 1995 or 96.

RE: draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

bottomed out. The bow supposed to be 70 lbs.

RE: draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

If your refering to me my bows peak weight is 60.

RE: draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

I have My bow Set at around 60 and it works great.

RE: draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

62

RE: draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

My bow draw's at max 63# and it's just perfect for me .

nubo

RE: draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

I used to shoot my bow at 65 lbs. Never had a problem, till I sat is a stand perfectly still for 4 hours in very cold weather, and had a nice 6 pointer walk up 15 yards away. Needless to say, due to cold stiff muscles, I couldn't get the bow back without struggling enough for the deer to see me and bolt. Now I shoot 2 bows, a Jennings CarbonMaster Extreme, at 51 lbs., and a PSE Baby-G Force at 55 lbs. I found dropping about 10 lbs. from the weight I could comfortably draw under ideal warm conditions, eliminated the problem of being able to draw back with cold stiff muscles, and I'm not shooting any fewer deer because of it either.

RE: draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

#70. It's comfy for me. My next bow in a couple years will prob. be a #60 model, hoping to get ~65# out of it.

RE: draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

I shoot 70lbs. It feels right to me and I don't struggle to pull it back. But if I can't get my shoulder to stop hurting by spring time(too much chopping through ice and 10" frost everyday) , I'll have to drop down the lbs.

RE: draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

I can pull 70, but thought about being cold in the stand and also getting too tired while practicing so I went with 60 Lb limbs. The bow is cranked up to 61.5 Lbs and I like it just fine.

RE: draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

[quote][/FYI, bows perform best at close to peak wieght, so if you are only going to pull 60 lbs your are much better off buying a 60lbs limb vs a 70lbs, this is not to say one can't increase their draw weight with conditioning of the muscles.(if you plan to only shoot 60lbs than be realistic and buy the right limb for your applicationquote]

This is really great advice


I used to shoot 80+ for a real long time and messed up a nerve in my elbow doing it...I will shoot 50-55 with the new compound and that will do everything I ask of it ... 55 lbs did the trick when I used to shoot recurves back in the 70's .

RE: draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

Usually between 65-70 lbs.

There once was a general rule that alot of folks once went by...something along the lines of...

"If you can draw and hold the bow for a full 60 seconds...relatively steady...then that is your comfortable draw weight."

I never much followed it myself but I am familiar with alot of folks that did.

RE: draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

I used to shoot at 80 lbs just to get extra speed, but that is also 10 years ago, and only 50% LET-OFF. Now I shoot about 68 out of my new Outback, I have approx. 420 grain arrow flying at 274 fps. Plenty to hunt basically and N.A. big game. Comfort is number one along with confidence, which will come from tighter groups. Basically it all refers back to having a bow you are comfortable with regardless of who makes it.

RE: draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

Years ago I shot as heavy a bow as I could, today I shoot mostly about 55# until a month before the season starts then crank it up to 60 - 62#. Had a bunch of shoulder and back surgerys, and although I can still draw #70 easy enough, I shoot a more comfortable weight. Also I love to shoot. A couple years ago I bought an acreage, built a house on it and shoot, shoot, shoot. Sometimes on mild summer weekends, I'll shoot a couple hundred arrows a day!

The feller that said shoot from sitting down and differant angles has the right idea. Also sitting around in a treestand for a couple hours in cold damp weather, then trying to pull back a heavy bow is sometimes difficult.

Also, if you have to point your bow at the sky to pull it...your shooting too much weight. Finally, accuracy kills.

RE: draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

I shoot about 73 lbs now. I shot 85-90 for a few years but my shoulders started paying the price for it. I use to set down and pick my feet up off of the floor and then draw the bow, if you can to that and still hold steady that draw weight is not to heavy for you.

RE: draw weight ? for all you bowhunters out there
 

I usually shoot around 70# ! But after shooting my new bow for a few weeks .........I cranked it to 75 # and it's not bad at all...........thinks I might hunts with it like that next year !! ;)

But to the thread starter..........like the other guys said......don't over bow yourself ...........better to work up to it slowly !!