I’ll throw my 2 cents into the pot. I’m not a young pup, (43) but I just bought a 70# long bow with very mild r/d. At my draw length its about 66# pounds or so. I LOVE shooting it. Its slightly faster than my 50# recurve so you get the feeling of power.

I think there will be a mild upswing in heavier bows with younger archers getting into “traditional” archery. I agree with Dr. Ashby to use all the bow you can since it would be difficult to achieve over penetration with an arrow.

I like to warm up first with some excercises and get my shoulders/back loose, then I shoot a few arrows through my 50# recurve (keeps me up to speed on my recurve too), then I shoot my longbow. I can’t shoot it as many times as my recurve before I get tired but it works. I think when people initially try a “heavy” bow, it IS hard. But after you get warmed up, it doesn’t feel bad at all. I think a lot of archers would be surprised how easy a 65-70# bow feels after you practice if you don’t go into it “cold”.

Purehunter
“Hunt it, kill it, grill it!”