iam hunting colarado elk this year with my longbow and it is a 50 pound long bow with a 480 grian arrow and iam using a woodsman broad head. I dont know if this is enough to put one down but my bow is legal draw wieght limit and i dont have any other bows so please help me and let me know thanks Brad
Take this with a grain of salt I was away from archery for many years and have only been back since christmas.(Thanks Tracy)
I don't get the need for more power that seems to infect bow shooters. Native Americans killed everything from bison too bunnies with a bow that averaged around 25-30 pounds peak weight. (See the most recent issue of "primitive hunter" for photos of whitetail through and throughs from a 25 pounder tipped with a stone bird point) In modern times every north American game animal has been taken with a 40 pound bow. Howard hill killed a 10,000 pound elephant with a 115 pound bow and got 31.5 inches of penetration surely a 50 pound bow can handle a elk weighting in at what maybe 700?
a sharp broadhead and shot placement I think play a more important role
Attitude, confidence, and ability = penetration, shot placement, great memories.
There is no one here on this site that can give you the specifics of what will take place on your hunt with your particular bow and set up.
There's only a lot of opinions, from what I've seen, on here, many have said "50# is minimum" more of them like 55# and 60#, I personally don't have any idea what 5# or 10# more would have for an advantage on an elk.
I will tell you I have never hunted an elk, so that makes me or in some circles, takes me out of the picture. Elk have bigger bone, bigger lungs, and bigger heart, it doesn't necessarily mean better target.
Like others have said " shot placement", and some will come on and probably say " distance of shot", the equipment to have is superior to some that have used less for elk hunting, I would think that you would have at least a 550 gr to 600 gr arrow, with that particular bow for elk hunting. But I also recommend the best two blade you can get, but like I said, I have not elk hunted, but I've done a lot of research, and shared a lot of PM with those that have. And the things mentioned above, are the things that were mentioned the most to me for my experience to take place.
I think sometimes we get "wheels" out the picture, and we overcompensate by thinking
"power", and I only say that, because this was my attitude, until "I" changed it. It's not about what you have, it's how you use it effectively to accomplish the journey.
Some can bounce back and forth from wheels to traditional, I am one that cannot, when I got rid of everything except for my sticks, that's when;
Confidence, attitude, accuracy, consistency all started to take place because I trusted in what I had and what I could do with it. Because my bow and my arrow became an extension of myself.
Carl
It all depends on what you hit. I would give myself an edge and go 2 blade.
I'd highly recommend you go with a 2 blade instead of the woodsman's to ensure you get enough penetration to poke both lungs, even on a quartering shot. remember, prepare for the worst, hope for the best!
Not enough info.How fast is your arrow?
I would say if you are shooting high 160's or above and don't take a too long shot you should do fine.
You should be above that unless the bow is inefficient or you have a very short draw.
I would suggest going up in arrow weight. 50# is fine, but the arrow needs more mass in my opinion. I am planning an elk hunt this year, and I will use a hot 40# recurve or a 50# longbow, but I'll be shooting 600+ grain arrows with cut-on-impact two blade heads. With a longbow, going up in arrow weight makes the bow more efficient and quieter, and your aiming point may not change at all.
More important than draw weight or arrow weight are razor sharp broadheads and arrows that fly perfectly from your bow.
480gr outta 50# holding weight is too light an arra for that kinda quarry.
Up the total arra weight to a bare minimum of 10gpp.
Or better yet, put on a lotta point weight to increase both the FOC and get the arra closer to 12gpp.