wink_man

I used to shoot my bow at 65 lbs. Never had a problem, till I sat is a stand perfectly still for 4 hours in very cold weather, and had a nice 6 pointer walk up 15 yards away. Needless to say, due to cold stiff muscles, I couldn't get the bow back without struggling enough for the deer to see me and bolt. Now I shoot 2 bows, a Jennings CarbonMaster Extreme, at 51 lbs., and a PSE Baby-G Force at 55 lbs. I found dropping about 10 lbs. from the weight I could comfortably draw under ideal warm conditions, eliminated the problem of being able to draw back with cold stiff muscles, and I'm not shooting any fewer deer because of it either.

TreePhantom

#70. It's comfy for me. My next bow in a couple years will prob. be a #60 model, hoping to get ~65# out of it.

Deer902

I shoot 70lbs. It feels right to me and I don't struggle to pull it back. But if I can't get my shoulder to stop hurting by spring time(too much chopping through ice and 10" frost everyday) , I'll have to drop down the lbs.

RIStrutStopper

I can pull 70, but thought about being cold in the stand and also getting too tired while practicing so I went with 60 Lb limbs. The bow is cranked up to 61.5 Lbs and I like it just fine.

oldelkhunter

[quote][/FYI, bows perform best at close to peak wieght, so if you are only going to pull 60 lbs your are much better off buying a 60lbs limb vs a 70lbs, this is not to say one can't increase their draw weight with conditioning of the muscles.(if you plan to only shoot 60lbs than be realistic and buy the right limb for your applicationquote]

This is really great advice


I used to shoot 80+ for a real long time and messed up a nerve in my elbow doing it...I will shoot 50-55 with the new compound and that will do everything I ask of it ... 55 lbs did the trick when I used to shoot recurves back in the 70's .

PABowhntr

Usually between 65-70 lbs.

There once was a general rule that alot of folks once went by...something along the lines of...

"If you can draw and hold the bow for a full 60 seconds...relatively steady...then that is your comfortable draw weight."

I never much followed it myself but I am familiar with alot of folks that did.

bigdaddybowhunter

I used to shoot at 80 lbs just to get extra speed, but that is also 10 years ago, and only 50% LET-OFF. Now I shoot about 68 out of my new Outback, I have approx. 420 grain arrow flying at 274 fps. Plenty to hunt basically and N.A. big game. Comfort is number one along with confidence, which will come from tighter groups. Basically it all refers back to having a bow you are comfortable with regardless of who makes it.

rcd567

Years ago I shot as heavy a bow as I could, today I shoot mostly about 55# until a month before the season starts then crank it up to 60 - 62#. Had a bunch of shoulder and back surgerys, and although I can still draw #70 easy enough, I shoot a more comfortable weight. Also I love to shoot. A couple years ago I bought an acreage, built a house on it and shoot, shoot, shoot. Sometimes on mild summer weekends, I'll shoot a couple hundred arrows a day!

The feller that said shoot from sitting down and differant angles has the right idea. Also sitting around in a treestand for a couple hours in cold damp weather, then trying to pull back a heavy bow is sometimes difficult.

Also, if you have to point your bow at the sky to pull it...your shooting too much weight. Finally, accuracy kills.

silentassassin

I shoot about 73 lbs now. I shot 85-90 for a few years but my shoulders started paying the price for it. I use to set down and pick my feet up off of the floor and then draw the bow, if you can to that and still hold steady that draw weight is not to heavy for you.

CBM SC

I usually shoot around 70# ! But after shooting my new bow for a few weeks .........I cranked it to 75 # and it's not bad at all...........thinks I might hunts with it like that next year !!

But to the thread starter..........like the other guys said......don't over bow yourself ...........better to work up to it slowly !!