Ok guys i've been wondering for a while now, is it better to have a heavier bow, or a lighter one? Of course if you want accuracy you have to be consistent, but is it more efficient to become accurate with a heavier bow or a lighter bow? Thanks! :goldtooth:
You should shoot the heaviest bow you can shoot accurately.
Do you mean in draw weight or physical weight?
Draw weight.
i guess i shouldve put that :D
Right now I have the fewest number of bows I've had in twenty six years. One is 62 at 28 inches, which is 58 at my draw, and one that is 52 at my draw.
I love the 52 pounder in Dec. and Jan. when I have nearly everything that I own on, for warmth. I use to be a 70 - 75 pound draw weight shooter, and I shot them pretty well. I have gone the other way, in the last few years. Getting old you see.
It is truly a matter of personal preference, if I were planning to do a lot of hunting for dangerous game in Africa, I might go very heavy, but my quarry is whitetail deer, Hogs, and maybe a Black Bear from time to time. I find that everything at and between 45 pounds, to 55 pounds draw will handle, and has done so for years.
But just in case somebody has a 75 pound, left-hand Black Widow they want to give a way, I am sure I can see my way clear to shoot it....LOL
I was actually thinking about an 80 pound bow... would be a real challenge. :archer:
Dave,
Dave,
Dave,
I'm having trouble getting this posted, sorry. Like they said above, shoot the heaviest bow you can handle accurately. There's no reason for an average man to not handle 65# without a problem at all. I shoot 80# and I love it but you have to shoot it and not just play around. I shoot some quantity of arows everyday of the year. As far as accuracy goes, I can win the local 3D shoots more than the average guy but it's hunting that I practice for, not tournaments. There's a lot of opinions out there concerning this subject and you'll probably get most of them. You'll hear the "need" thing passed around a lot but I never wanted to be close enough to the "need" weight to worry about it so I don't follow that crowd. Good luck!
Coming from a 48 year old guy who's had three shoulder surgeries - 55 lbs with an appropriately heavy arrow, and a sharp broadhead is all that is necessary to cleanly harvest anything on this continent at trad ranges. Do your shoulders a favour in the long run and don't overdo it! JMHO and others will surely differ :)
If I get another bow I will probably drop to 60# or even 55# why? I think arrow options are better. when you go heavier, wood arrows become a problem to locate, You got to add weight to the carbon shafts etc. I,ll continue to shoot my bow because I like it but some days I,m tempted because of the arrow thing.
Better would depend on who is holding the bow.:)Some are a lot stronger than others and might shoot a heavier bow better than a lighter one.As a general rule a quick glance at a stack of scorecards at an shoot will tell you they are the exception instead of the rule however. :D
I believe ever person has a weight range that they will be most accurate with.It is up to each to find it because this stuff is not one size fits all.If you try to make it such following advice from others you are just complicating things and setting yourself up for a fall.Shoot some bows and see what works best for you.Let others find there way.jmho
Depends too on if you are an experianced shooter with acceptable accuracy or someone new trying to learn.
Steve
I like the bow heavy, its easier for me to hold steady on target with heavier pull. Just like its easier to aim a heavier in weight rifle i guess. Just like with the rifle though it only is good to a point. By the way im talking about draw weight on the bow and physical weight of the rifle.
I started out with a 50# bow then thought I could handle a little more when it came time to order a custom bow. I went with a 60# bow solely because that was the legal requirement to hunt a moose in NH. Since I was close anyway I decided to buy that weight but made a special point of having someone very knowledgeable observe me shooting that bow to make certain I was not overbowed. It did took a little work to get to where I could shoot it all day comfortably however. Now bows in their early 60's feel every bit as comfortable as that 50# starter bow did. Now in fact, I have a problem getting a good release shooting that 50# bow on occasion. As someone said, these days with the new material arrows etc. there is no real reason to shoot a heavy bow except maybe when you want/need a heavy hunting arrow for certain game, etc. I know too many old guys shooting heavier bows not to doubt all that nonsense about "inevitable joint problems." I separated my left shoulder twice and can still lift more weight than I ever could. It is disuse and being out of shape that is the greatest contributor to injuries and joint problems etc. In short, nothing wrong with shooting a heavier bow or even working up to where you can. There are certain advantages such as fewer trajectory concerns with a heavy arrow, etc as noted.
I would bet the average person shoots a lighter bow(45-50#)more accurately than say 60-70#.
Even though I can physically draw a much heavier bow(90#?)than I use to hunt with(I use 50# for deer and hogs), I don't shoot as well with them.
My 50# recurve and 530 grain arrows zip right through hogs, what more do I want?
I can understand going up slightly in weight for African game and large N.A.game to account for heavier arrow.
Just my 10 cents.
I'll defer to Tom Imler, Jr. and Fred Bear from their tag team articles on the subject that was published in Ye Sylvan Archer.
The links are through Tom Mussatto's web site:
Use Heavy Bows by Tom Imler, Jr:
http://members.tripod.com/~tmuss/shotfrompast/imler.htm
Hunting Arrows by Fred Bear:
http://members.tripod.com/~tmuss/shotfrompast/bear.htm
I share Fred Bear's opinion that a hunting bow of 60-70pounds is just right and can be easily used by most normal men. I find Bear's chosen bow weight and arrow weight to be "straight down the middle of the road" ideal and well balanced for everything from deer to larger NA game. I look at bows below this weight to be towards the lighter side and bows above this weight to be towards the heavier side.
Others may differ, Bear's 60-70pound middle of the road was light for Imler's 70-80pound middle of the road, and Imler's was light for Hill's 80-90pound middle of the road. But, all agreed on beginners starting light and all agreed on developing your ability to easily handle the progressively heavier weights until you find your own individual "middle of the road".
Daddy Bear
it seems that these days the lighter bows are "the middle of the road" and by light i mean 45-55. I dont consider a 60# bow to be heavy by any stretch, but a 70# is getting up there especially in these moern times.
In the compound world heavier bows are just a phase that every shooter has to work out of and then they settle on about 60 for NAmerican game.
To get better energy numbers in trad going up in bow weight is logical and since you must go up in arrow weight as you go up in bow weight you gain energy there too.
I myself have a terrible release so I use method of going up in weight so the string can better pull from my fingers as opposed to me having to let it go. This is an old method of bad release treatment but it works for me.
I have shot 70 and 80 lb bows for over 25 years and I can honestly say I have not gained a thing from it. The game I hunt does not require that much poundage but when I was a young man I read about Paul schafer shooting those 80 and 90 lb bows and just had to have one. I'm 48 years old now and my elbow hurts every night that I shoot. I can't shoot a lower poundage bow as acurate because I really never learned a really good release. The high poudage does help in the release, If I had been shooting a lighter bow in my younger years I'm sure that I would have had a much better release now. To put it bluntly, if I would have listened to Paul and started out with a lighter bow I would be enjoying shooting my bow instead of hurting every night. There is no big rush just start out at 60 and if thats not enough for you just work your way up slowly.
Billy
Silvertip said it all,I did the exact same thing thinking I was going to gain more speed.If you want to shoot a 900gr arro at 180fps then go for it.The best thing about shooting 70+lbs bows.It got me in shape to handle 60-65lbs bows.
Another thing to take into consideration is the type of 80# bow you want. A 80# 60" recurve is going to be a beast that's hard to draw and shoot, where on the other hand a 64" recurve will be alot easier to shoot because of the extra leverage. A hill type bow in the heavier weights and 68" in length isn't too bad either. But take a serious look at some of the newer designs and materials being used by some bowyers today. There are carbon limbed hybrid and recurve bows out there that will shoot as fast as a heavier glass limbed bow with alot less draw weight.
Draw length comes into play too. There are many trad shooters who shoot say they shoot 60# and yes there bow is marked 60#, but they are drawing 2-3" less than 28".
I shot 60# plus bows for several years then got interested in lower-weight, target type bows and over time my draw-length went up over two inches.
I've maintained that draw-length with my "hunting weight" bows and I bet the 50's@29 bows I shoot now, shoot same weight arrows faster than the 60's@28 bows I used to shoot. Of course I was lucky to get back to 27" with those bows.
Silvertip - there are some methods and training drills that will help you clean up your release with the lower wght bows. Amazing how much better you can get to shoot the heavier wghts when you get a cleaner release.
Steve
Curveman, I couldn't agree with you more on the old guys still shooting good weights. To answer the original question I still say that you can probably work in to any weight you want to a point. Like somebody already said, everybody has a physical limit. I could shoot double 3d rounds with my 80# revurve or longbow but move up 5# and I'm cooked. Anyway, I'm 54 and tore a rotator in my left shoulder twice but was back shooting my 80# within 3 months. Shooting big bows won't ruin your joints but shooting any bows incorrectly will. A couple of frineds of mine (husband & wife) are in their late 60's now and she's maybe 85# soaking wet and she still shoots 55# at her draw length. There's never going to be a concensus on what's the best but there should be one on the fact that nothing is in stone and you will be the ultimate decision maker on what you shoot and there is no such thing as the right weight or wrong weight and all the other "facts" that you may hear, just have fun.
Dave,
The following is just my opinion.
I agree with not over-doing it. For N America 50-55 lbs will be plenty enough for anything here. Some will argue that "just enough" isn't ethical, because you may make a bad shot and leave an animal wounded. I see that point.
However, if you are a terrible shot with the heavy bow it is pointless.
For instance; If you don't hit the animal at all that pretty much ='s zero penetration. Furthermare, if you have excellent penetration, but it is on say the knee joint. Then you get a three legged animal that may or may not survive.
Shoot a bow that you are accurate/confident with and has a nice sharp broadhead at the tip of a heavy arrow.
You'll be in good shape. :thumbsup:
Also think about the material a bow is made from;
A 70lb selfbow may shoot a given weight arrow at 150 FPS. Then, you get a modern recurve at 55 lbs with the same arrow and it too shoots 150FPS. Which was better the light or heavy bow?
-Charlie
Excellent argument. THe rule should be to use the absolute heaviest bow you can draw and hold and hunt with well. If it happens to be an ultra high efficiency ACS thats great. If your bow of choice is a BBO then go with it.
Here's my take on heavy bows, though with my limited experience, it should be taken with a grain of salt.My first trad bow was 62 lbs. I was comming over from wheels and shooting about 85lb's then (1989). I shot it pretty good and managed to kill 3 deer my first season. Then my next was a HH at 72lb. Again I killed some deer with this bow. For the past 3 years Ive gotten more into 3d shooting and dropped down to as low as 38 and this year 47. I know I can , for 40 shoots in a row shoot 47 better than 70, but I just came in from shooting my 69lb recurve at my 3d targets and I only shot 10 times. 10 kills from ranges of 10 to 25 yds. I guess my point is that I can shoot heavy just as accurate as light for a few shots. Thats why I practice and hunt with hevier than I shoot 3d. Truth be know (I may get shunned for this) the older I get the more I enjoy shooting 3D than hunting. You can sleep in and you always gonna get at least 20 shots when you get there. DB
Thanks steve after hunting season is over this year I'm going to start working on it. I've bought a few 50 to 60 pounders and I shot a few of them this summer. If you have a link to the drills I'll be sure to check it out. its amazing how heavy bows can hide stuff like that, I shoot them pretty well but it just hurts. I'm gonna miss the sound of those 2219 with a 250 gr head hitt'in the boiler room. :)
Billy
I think it was you batman that I was talking to at Siss this past weekend about this very thing. I shoot three different recurves, 48#, 55#, and 65# Fox High Sierras. Without a doubt I can shoot more accurately with the 65# bow. It is so much easier to "get off the string" with the heavier bow so to speak. I can hold the 48# bow back and settle purty as you please but my release is my weak point and I really struggle with accuracy. The heavier bow just seems to be more crisp for me and it is just as comfortable to shoot. Just my two pennies.
Daddy bear thats good stuff.. thanks
I use a 58# longbow....With a razor sharp head....works for me, so I dont feel that I have any reason to go higher in poundage
dont over do it shoot the poundage you can handle.
I made a ipe backed with rock elm longbow in a pyramid design. It pulls 65# at my draw of 27". I just love it! At 64" it is right at the sweet spot that fits and any less poundage feels, well, less crisp. I can't say you should pull all you can manage but I do think that your bow should personally fit your strength and draw. That little bit of "umpf" at full draw is not a bad thing. With adrenaline it keeps you grounded.
I'm begining to think I have a decent release...I am more accurate with a little heavier bow just because the arrow drop is affected less...BUT, I can only shoot it for a little while and am TIRED!
IMO...the number one rule regarding bow weight for hunting is to use a draw weight that you can comfortably handle while maintaining good form, can produce a good release and are accurate with it at you choosen range.
If you struggle at all and start developing bad habits...you're really only hurting yourself in the long run.
Just about any bow that draws legal draw weight with a well designed sharp broadhead will kill any animal we hunt here in North America.
If my friend can kill an elk with a selfbow that draws 50lbs. at 26" with an obsidian point...I'm not overly concerned with heavy bows...even though I like to shoot 'em.
Do what's right for YOU!
Ray ;)