The bear in my profile pic was taken with my 40# recurve and a 145 grain Bear Razorhead.Total arrow weight just under 500 grains. At 18 yds, it zipped through both lungs and hit the barrel on the other side of the bear. After skinning, I noticed that my arrow never touched bone but I have absolutely no doubt that,while on the low end of draw weight, 40# is definitely enough to hunt with !!