Home › Forums › Bows and Equipment › 40 pound draw weight for Deer
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Hello All
I was reading through some old posts about minimum draw weight for bows used to hunt deer.I thought I would share a story for you.
For years I hunted with very fast heavy draw weight bows with light weight very fast arrows. My typical draw weight was 70-75 pounds in my compond bow. In fact I have an early production Bear Jennings Carbon Extreme that was given to me by Tom Jennings in 1988 in the old Bear Jennings Plant in Archer, Florida. That bow was rated at 80 pounds draw weight and I hunted with it for a number of years and harvested my fair share of game with it.
I joined the Military in 1989 and I retired early last year. This is where my story really begins. As I said I had always hunted with high draw weight bows because I believed like others on this board that the heavier the draw weight the better it was to harvest game. Well in 2004 that all changed for me. I was deployed to Fallujah in November of 2004 as a Combat Medic. The fighting was pretty intense and I was shot in my left wrist by an insurgent. The round penetrated my wrist and shattered it along with my Ulna. I medivac out to germany then back to the states where surgeons repaired the damage. They basically rebuilt my wrist and ulna. I have 18 screws, a titanium plate,along with a titanium rod through the center on my ulna, holding everything together. It took me three operations and a year of rehab to get back 40 percent of the strenth and use of my left wrist and arm. Let me tell you I was really looking forward to getting back to shooting and hunting with my bow after I was all healed up. I come to find out that my left wrist was unable to hold the strain of a 70 pound compound bow any longer. I thouight I would not be able to hunt again when I decided to try a recurve bow set at 25 pounds and I was able to shoot that with some discomfort but able to shoot all the same. I slowly worked my way up to a 30 pound then a 35 and finally a 40 pound recurve bow. I was finally able to hunt again as my state requires a minimum of 40 pounds of draw weight to hunt with.
Hunting season 2008 on my first hunt with the 40 pound recurve, I was sitting in a natural ground blind when a nice six point deer walked out at 20 yards and presented me with a nice broad side shoot. My wood ceder arrow with a Bear Broadhead punched clean through and the deer ran less than 50 yards. I killed two more deer and a 210 pound wild hog that same hunting season. The biggest deer weighed 130 pounds. All were complete shoot throughs except for the hog which was a quartering away shot. The arrow almost penetrated the hog except for the fletching end that the hog broke off when he ran throght the woods. All shoots were under 30 yards.
2009 hunting season I was using traditional archery equipment I made my self. I constructed a Osage Orange bow with a 39 pound draw weight at 28 inches and ceder arrows using obsidian broadheads I made. I was again at my favorite hunting spot on opening day of archery season when a nice size doe walked out at 15 yards and I connected with my self made bow and arrow and the shot passed clean through the doe and she was down. I was able to get a nice 8 point later in the season with the same set up and it too passed clean through except for a few inches of the fletchings.
I guess the point I am trying to make is you do not need all that draw weight to make a clean kill on deer. You just need good shot placement and know the equipment you are using and its limitations. I practice at 20 and 30 yards consistantly so I limit my shots to that distance.
This year I am taking my traditional bow and arrow out west to hunt elk and I hope to have the same kind of success will let you know how it goes.
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first, thank you for your service. Second, awesome job with your kills! Can’t wait to hear how you made out, and good luck with the Elk.
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From one Vet to another(and one 91B to another), Thank you for your sacrifice. I also agree with what you said. After all people with big draw weights are just compensating for their…uhm…small arrows? No seriously though, it seems from many of the post on this and other sights that there is much success to be had with a lower weight bow. I would imagine that the majority of that success is all about proper tuning, practice and placement. A sharp broadhead in the right place. Also I know that people (mostly us men) tend to get the HeMan complex and go to big before we are ready. My brother in law bought this big fancy PSE X-force that was set at #75 or so and practice fine with it. Then the first day in the stand the temp was pretty cold. Well so were his muscles. He couldn’t come to full draw and had to watch his buck walk on by! I imagine that even if he could have managed to draw his form and thereby his shot may have been comprimized. This would be especially true for trad hunters because we have no let off. Just my opinion for whatever thats worth.
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Toddrvs
Thanks for your service, and sorry to hear of the injury. Thankfully it wasn’t one that cost you the hand.I have had to go down in poundage due to arthritus. Congrats on your successes. I read an article, in TBH I believe, of a woman that killed her elk with a 35lb recurve. Like you said, it’s all about broadhead sharpness, and shot placement.
I used to have a 43lb Root recurve, that I placed fairly high up on a CA statewide traditional shoot with, but like an idiot sold it. I shot that bow better than any other bow I have owned, and I have to believe it’s due to poundage in a big way.
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ToddRvs
Thanks very much for your service to your country from another vet. I shoot a 40# at 28″ recurve. My draw is closer to 29 inches. Have rotator cuff problem. Here is my set up for what it’s worth.
GT expeditions hunters 3555
Spine 0.500
Straightness 0.600 +/-
30” cut to cut
30.75 inches BOP
7.4 gpi
222 grains
9 gr nock
6.9 gr fletching
100 gr brass inserts
125 gr steel adaptor
175 gr Abowyer Brown Bear single bevel
brass washer 5 gr
Balance pt 24.75 “
FOC 30.48%
645-650 gr total wt -
i have a very old bear Kodiak Hunter 44#, i just made a set of XX75’s for it…im going to see how this bow stacks up against my 60# Super Kodiak on the first doe that walks by and stops broadside under 20 yrds as soon as the rut ends!
Semper Fi
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Tom-Wisconsin wrote: ToddRvs
Thanks very much for your service to your country from another vet. I shoot a 40# at 28″ recurve. My draw is closer to 29 inches. Have rotator cuff problem. Here is my set up for what it’s worth.
GT expeditions hunters 3555
Spine 0.500
Straightness 0.600 +/-
30” cut to cut
30.75 inches BOP
7.4 gpi
222 grains
9 gr nock
6.9 gr fletching
100 gr brass inserts
125 gr steel adaptor
175 gr Abowyer Brown Bear single bevel
brass washer 5 gr
Balance pt 24.75 “
FOC 30.48%
645-650 gr total wtTom has provided an excellent example of great set-up!
Ireland
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I have shoulder defects and have never been able to shoot heavy equip. Currently I am shooting a Cascade 42 # recurve at my draw . Both does i killed this year traveled less than 40 yards after arrow impact. Last years were killed with a 42 # longbow, same result. I did change broad heads last year. I switched from a 2 blade to a big three blade VPA 200 grain head.
i have also killed two caribou and one moose with light weight bows. ( moose was killed with a 47 lb ) close shots = clean kills
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Thanks for the feedback. I just re-read an old TBH magazine article on women using light bows, and how effective they have been. seems like always, it a matter of range and placememnt.
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I shot recurves and longbows in the 60 and 70 lb range for some years and then decided to get my 52 lb longbow. Works great…:D
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handirifle wrote: Thanks for the feedback. I just re-read an old TBH magazine article on women using light bows, and how effective they have been. seems like always, it a matter of range and placememnt.
You might want to read the most recent Dr. Ashby studies. I think you will find them very informative.
Ireland
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I have just reaad everything you all have writen, and you have helped me make up my mind. I am going to start shooting a recurve again, and I have had problems with nerve damage in both of my arms. I am now going to order my bow with 40 pound limbs. Thanx to all of you that have served for our country!
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I have to agree with Rich and thank you guys for the vote of confidence on light bow weight. I too shot heavy recurves (81 & 74 lbs) until I ruined my sholder by being too Macho. I am now working up to a 55 lb Bear TD. and expect to be successful by next hunting season. (I couldn’t draw the bow this season with all my cold weather gear on – good thing a deer didn’t walk out.) I don’t plan on hunting anything bigger that Boreal Whitetails and maybe an Elk but I’m glad to hear that you guys agree with my belief that it’s the edge on the broadhead that does the job.
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I shot heavy draw recurves when I was young and stupid. Getting older with surgeries to my neck and bow arm elbow forced me to drop draw weight in the last few years. I recently took 44# limbs off of my Bob Lee and put on 40# limbs. Why? I can shoot better with that setup than any I have ever had. Busting nocks and it really feels good.
Dropping in weight was the best thing I ever did. I shoot better now than in the last 43 years. -
Thanks for your service and your post. I shoot a 55lb. longbow and have the same in a recurve. I think the shot placement is the number one factor followed by broadhead (for the blood trail). I hunt in the very brushy eastern panhandle of WV and blood trails often determine whether you go home with a deer or with a sad story. I think you’ll inspire a lot of people who maybe think they are too injured or not strong enough to hunt. It’s great to see so many posts from the guys who admit their low poundage bows in a compound world where everything is about speed. But I guess that’s what makes our community so special. We’re all honest, different and willing to share and we can appreciate each other for those differences. Keep the posts coming and don’t think for a second that they don’t matter. There’s no telling how many people you may inspire to pick up a bow.
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