Doug 45# from a Morrison is more than enough to kill a black bear so long as you do your part as with any bow. if you are hunting over bait where the shots are most likely all going to be within 15 yards you have nothing to worry about beyond making a good shot. Doc Tippit killed his last year with a self-bow that is no where near as efficient as your bow and I don't think he was pulling much more weight.

QuoteOriginally posted by Dirty Bill:
I would like to know which part of my opinion is unrealistic and flawed. Teach me something.I'm all ears.

I'm not going to pretend to speak for Rob, but I think one needs to look no further than your first sentence to find a part of your opinion which is unrealistic and flawed.

QuoteOriginally posted by Dirty Bill:
If you can shoot 45,you can shoot 55.

I know of several people who are quite capable of shooting 45# but cannot shoot 55#, especially not with the same accuracy.

By your reasoning, since I currently shoot 64#, I am capable of shooting 74#. However, my experience is quite the opposite. In fact, the Turkey Creek I am waiting on is 52#.

QuoteOriginally posted by Dirty Bill:
 

QuoteOriginally posted by Rob DiStefano:
Dirty Bill, as unrealistic and flawed as I see them, yer certainly entitled to yer opinions on minimum trad bow hunting holding weights.

I would like to know which part of my opinion is unrealistic and flawed. Teach me something.I'm all ears.

Accuracy at reasonable trad bow deer hunting ranges, and sharp broadheads, are more important than how much weight yer holding at full draw.  

Trad bows of the same holding weights can be immensely disproportionate in deer hunting performance efficiency.  For example, a simple same-arrow technical comparison between a 45# ACX and a 55# Hill would prove the ACX to be the faster and more efficient  trad bow from a pure performance vantage point. (This is NOT at all saying which is the "better" bow - they both have important, viable hunting/shooting attributes).

Put yerself in the shoes of an intelligent person  who loves to bow hunt deer (or would love to bow hunt deer)  but can't accurately handle that 55# holding weight trad bow you recommend, er, demand.

Your rationale for everyone hunting with heavier bow holding weights is the same rhetoric I hear day in and day out from a society that wants to constantly protect me from myself and my own limited freedoms.  No thank you, Sir.

Bill....Nobody said your post on this topic was juvenile.  You are entitled to your opinion as stated.  When you brag on another site that what you posted was not going to "go over well with the powers to be at TG" and then make a second post on the same topic at TG, then run to the other site and state "Well I poked them again"....now that's real childish behavior from a grown man.  As far as this topic, weight for bear hunting bow, tippit nailed it earlier with Rob and fyrfyter backing him up.

Big black bears have big bones. Get into the kill zone and they are soft and won`t go far.

45lbs up close is adequate.(providing regulations allow)

As for me, I`m gonna shoot as heavy a bow as I can.

I have seen alot of posts on how little draw weight is needed to hunt big game. Why is this...

Draw weight IS important, and I don`t think it is above the average hunters ability to get into the low or mid fifties, IF they work at it.

I agree 45# IF well placed should kill a bear but so shouldn't 35#
 If you hit him in the eye might be able to get away with alot less.
  Seriously I wouldn't hunt with a bow I didn't have complete confidence in.

Minimum poundage for all big game is the heaviest bow you can shoot accurately. To think otherwise is immoral.

Your 45# will do just fine. A 60# bow would play hell getting through a shoulder hit. So regardless of the poundage your shooting, you need to place a sharp BH in the boiler room. Most Black bear don't have near the heart a whitetail does. We're not hunting cape buffalo people.

QuoteOriginally posted by rabbitman:
Bill....Nobody said your post on this topic was juvenile.  You are entitled to your opinion as stated.  When you brag on another site that what you posted was not going to "go over well with the powers to be at TG" and then make a second post on the same topic at TG, then run to the other site and state "Well I poked them again"....now that's real childish behavior from a grown man.  As far as this topic, weight for bear hunting bow, tippit nailed it earlier with Rob and fyrfyter backing him up.

Let's see you said it was juvenile... what you take for bragging was a simple statement....I truly believed that my post would be immediately pulled,or if not,I would ultimately be banned.

If you read the last part of my first post, it says,that's all I have to say about that.

That was until I came back to read the new posts,and saw that I had been so bashed for voicing my opinion,that I was forced to reply in defense of my self.

Then when I was on the other site,I simply said I poked em again,which is simply a humorous way of telling them I had to reply to the post in the other forum even though I did not wish too.

One thing you need to think about,the written word is hard to express with out some people taking it out of context,and then forming an opinion of the person,when in fact,the opinion they formed could quite possibly be wrong.

Excuse me for not being politically correct.This smiley may help take the edge off my reply in defense of you accusations.---------->  :D  

Also in reply to some one elses comment about peta,(Rob,maybe?)and me demanding that people have to use 55# bows,is really off base.I simply said if a person can shoot 45,they can shoot 55,and do it accurately and efficiently.

I don't need to tell people what they have to shoot to be an effective hunter with a bow. The game commissions of every state that have  a bowhunting only season has already done that.

They also tell you the exact size a broadhead has to be,and in many states,what it has to be made of.I'm really surprised they don't specify shaft material.

Now you all can call the dogs off,because this is truly all I have to say.  

Easy guys, everyone is entitled to an opinion, right? I appreciate Dirty Bills perspective. And he makes a couple of very valid points.

One of my Widows is 42#s at 28". It's an awesome bow and a lot of fun to shoot. And yes, it has killed a few deer over the years. But I also have Widows that pull 52#s and 60#s respectively that I shoot equally as well. Physically speaking, the heavier bows are not nearly as enjoyable to shoot as the 42-pounder, but after several weeks of dedicated effort and practice- i.e. training - I can shoot the heavier bows just as accurately. Not as comfortably. Not as enjoyably. But just as accurately. So here's the thing- if you'll allow me to be candid without ridiculing me, or Bill or anyone else for that matter. After reading posts like this, the temptation is to just say, "screw it!"- why bother shooting the heavier, less enjoyable, less comfortable bows if everyone and their uncle is killing ELK and MOOSE and ELEPHANTS with bows that many women can pull (my wife is 4'-11" and has shot a 40# Martin X-200 for fifteen years).

I think the concern Bill was expressing and I tend to agree- is that there seems to be this recent trend, this recent push, to encourage everyone to shoot unnecessarily light bows that they can shoot, really, really, really accurately, instead of a moderately heavier bow that they could also learn to shoot equally as well, if they made up their mind to do so and put the effort into it.

At 5'8" and 160#s, and being as average in stature as men come, I also find it difficult to believe that 95% of men can't learn to shoot a bow in the 50-60# range accurately.

Do not twist my words, or ignore the crux of the point I am trying to make, or attempt to paint me as being arrogant (I am not!). If 45#s is the heaviest bow you can shoot accurately, by all means, shoot the 45-pounder!!! But, do not settle for a 45-pounder IF a little training and effort would allow you to shoot a 55# bow just as accurately.

I believe this is the point Bill was trying to make. And it is a good one.

Lets just say shoot the heaviest bow ya can acuurately ok, if ya cant shoot 55 make dang sure ur BH is scary sharp...that all...period..  dead gum...I understand Bills point ...its all good...I got get some hot chocolate..its cool here..

If you are only taking one shot, over bait inside 15 yards why not go with all you can handle. Seems to me that there are folks who swear their release is cleaner with heavier draw weight but just aren't consistent over the course of several flights in a session. How many shots do you think you will take after that first one? Most can handle the extra 10 pounds fore that one close shot. Bill, you aren't flawed, some just don't like to be told what to use. As Tippit said, he took one with a knapped head. Many might say "Why take a chance on a tough hide pushing a rock on a stick when you can use optimal equipment? Of course Barta wouldn't say that, right? Some folks want the challenge of using the minimum and taking only the absolute best shot or passing. That is using discretion and is respectful so that D2old's comment is somewhat presumptuous. I prefer the confidence of a heavy, well tuned arrow to create lots of KE, best possible flight and hopefully pass through. Like big hogs, that fat layer on a late season bear can close up a hole and leave little blood trail as I found to be the case.

Labs4me that was one of the best post I have read on the matter of bow weight.

Well, Dirty Bill, you've incited enuf with your posting and yer getting exactly what you've wished for and have been asking in this thread, and others.

I don't mind healthy debate, but you've taken your story well beyond that.

Good bye and good luck.