I shoot 82lbs and a 50lber also. And I've killed more deer with the 50lber since I prefer it for deer hunting but my arrow set up is what I feel is important. 425-500 grain arrow with a coc fixed head.

My wife has killed red stag, African animals and 7 whitetails with a 42lbs bow and a 398 grain arrow. Her 370" stag was a 54 yard shot complete pass thru that was, due to shot placement and the coc German kinetics head.

50lber is plenty to hunt with have fun and save your shoulder.

 

Thanks bowtech2006 I use 100 grain 3 blade Muzzys, are those still good, and what other broadhead would you recommend ?

 

The point of what he’s stating is you want a head that gives optimum penetration. Those are your cut on contact (coc) heads such as what his wife uses, German Kinetics Silver Flames.

You want to use a heavier or heavy arrow to capitalize on momentum and Kinetic Energy.

The 3 blade Muzzy that you use, though one of the best dollar for dollar heads available on the market today, imho anyway, does not match up because it utilizes a massive broadhead tip Muzzy calls a “Trocar”, and the 3 full sized blades are more than the coc GK’s 2.

All this added up causes more friction and therefore less penetration.

Can you kill a deer with 50 pounds and Muzzy’s 3 blades ? Absolutely you can ! But are you “optimized” with your set up ? No.

Same would apply to mechanical heads.

Two things I’d offer to you. Investigate the coc market. It’s loaded with great choices. Some expensive like GK, Iron Will and Solids. A couple heads I’ve used on hogs comparing all these heads are from Carbon Express. They have a 100 grain XT head and a 150 grain Pile Driver Head. Both are under $25 for 3. Devastate anything in their way. Quality of steel and finished hone are not on par with GK but nothing is.

Next ? I’m 60. I remember 50 well. It’s time you begin to think about your body in the future a bit more and regularly exercise, especially your shoulders. Nothing crazy, but anything with weights is better than nothing. Heavy weight be damned. Just use lite weight and cycle blood thru your shoulders, arms, back(lats) etc. I just started back up. After watching Cameron Hanes workout, I see he uses weights in a cardio manner. Lite weight and many reps. Opposite to my days lifting weights. So I can’t do his run routine but I adapted his concept of the cardio pump with weights, @ my current strength. I try to do 20 reps and burn the muscle and push blood thru. I don’t go any lower than 12 reps. 12 reps was my high reps when I lifted my whole life. So I switched up weights to account for my old age, lack of testosterone etc etc.

I’m still drawing 70 pounds with ease and I’m holding much firmer against the string stop at full draw and allows me to squeeze my shoulder blades at shot let off for a better release and follow thru.

I highly recommend us older guys take action against aging and losing elasticity and strength. We can set the bar higher then we can settling and cutting draw weight. Imho.


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My guess is this will get moved to the bowhunting sub forum but I'll drop my $.02. 50 is plenty, a girl I work with took down a big 8 point two years ago with what is now the Hoyt Klash set at 40. Not a single person at my local archery shop shoots over 60, I shoot 60, shot placement is the key.

 

+1 to the above reminder to exercise as we age as well as dropping draw weight. I am retiring but also getting a part time job that is physical so that I keep moving. That is in addition to a regular exercise routine. I hope to be bow hunting when I am 80.

 

I have a thread in the traditional section asking what they are using for Whitetail. Most of the folks are shooting mid #30 to mid #40s and getting complete pass through. That arrow speed would be something like 160-180fps. Any modern compound 40-50 lbs is plenty of bow for reasonable ranges.

 

Yup 50 will do just fine. Heavier arrow and coc bh will help optimize the penetration. Enjoy


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Ditto.....

 

I’ve been shooting 50-52lbs. for the last ten years and have had complete pass throughs on every deer or turkey that I have shot. I’ve shot deer out to 47 yards only once and still got a complete pass through. I’m shooting a 411 grain with G5 Striker broadheads.

 

You'll be fine at 50, and even lower.
Follow the advise already given on arrow and broadheads

 

This!
I shot 50 & killed deer & hogs ,no problem. Shooting a magnus Stinger 100 gr broadhead.

 

Hunted whitetails with a bow in the low 50's 4 straight seasons in the early 2000s after a surgery on my right shoulder. One bow was a Hoyt razortec(one season) and the other was a Hoyt Xtec(3 seasons.) I ran the same arrow off both bows: Carbon Express 3D select 200 with 75 grain muzzy. If memory serves me right, my total arrow weight was in the +/-330 gr range. I didn't plan it that way, but that setup shot awesome with broadheads out to 50 yards. No idea how fast the setup shot. I knew I was weak in the right shoulder, so accuracy was my # 1 goal.

I took 14-15 deer with that setup over those 4 seasons. Shots ranged from 10 yds in the wood, to 45 yards in a field. Not one arrow stayed in the animals. Every arrow was recovered at the shot location, washed off, and put back in the quiver with new blades. No animal made it outside of 100yds from my tree before falling. 8-10 of them died within eyesight.

This year I find myself having to go back to low draw weight. I was diagnosed with Cubital Tunnel Syndrome in both of my elbows. It's painful to shoot anything over 50lbs. So I picked up a 50lb Carbon Spyder Turbo from a fellow AT member, and right now it's tuned up with another 330 gr arrow setup shooting right around 275-280 fps with a Slick Trick standard head. I'm not the least bit worried about how it will perform on whitetails. However, I do have a personal rule of only taking broadside/slight quartering shots.

 

I bought a 50 pound Elite Impulse 34 when I was 55. This was the result and the start of a very short bloodtrail. 29.5" draw length, 421 grain arrow with 125 grain NAP Hellrazor on the end. I'm currently setting up a 50 pound Synergy for this year.
Draws and shoots amazing.

 

Been shooting 50 pounds for years.
Muzzys will work.
Wasp Drone and Bullet will work.
Slick Trick will work.
Stinger, Hornet, Striker, Phat Head, Wac'em, etc will work.

 

Thanks I'm new and wasn't sure where to post this

 

A true COC broad head is the way to go, most of them don't have replaceable blades, You might want to look into sharpening stones, diamond plates and for finishing I use various grades of wet or dry sandpaper taped to a piece of glass or polished marble tile. A jig like the KME broad head sharpened is very helpful too. Some finish on a leather strop. Lots of videos on Youtube on sharpening. Sharpness is very important to penetration. I like Cutthroat single bevel heads, very easy to sharpen. Good luck

 

my first bow was set at 46lbs...complete pass throughs. With todays bows a 50lb bow could easily shoot 50 yards with plenty of kinetic energy

 

Great info for a good question. Archers helping archers. Good job by all.

 

I swear to god, someone is playing an elaborate prank on me where every time one draw weight thread dies down, another one pops up.

 

Have you tried 55? Only buy a 50# bow if you dropped your 60lb-er all the way down.

To answer your question 50# will kill deer all day. I would shoot a sharp quality fixed or CoC head though.

 

My 50 pound bow is shooting about as fast as my 60# Hoyt Vectrix XL and Maxxis 35 did. And all I had was pass throughs with those bows.

 

50# is more than enough. And you don’t need to go crazy with arrow weight, either. There’s a point where your arrow is heavy enough and you lose enough speed that you also lose kinetic energy and momentum gains are minuscule. I played around with a bunch of calculators and found that at my specs, I lost KE and didn’t gain hardly anything in momentum after about 374-390 grains. So my arrow is on the lower end of that and I’ve had no problem quickly and ethically taking the elk I’ve shot at. I’m anticipating the same results with deer and antelope.


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Idk about that logic to be honest. Many of those calculators are hit or miss and 375gr is by no means heavy.

 

======================

Hello
That's all I ever used with a recurve and a compound.
I will assure you broad heads today are way better than my recurve hunting days. [ Later

 

I bought a 40-50lb Elite synergy two years ago, and I practiced during the off-season at 38 pounds with it. I still shoot out to 70 yards with it. It isn’t as accurate out to 70 yards because it’s Droppin so much faster, but I still have fun and it is 38 pounds of joy to shoot! Then come deer season I crank it up to 53 pounds! I built some heavier arrows last year, at 590 grains.

I’ve killed 4 deer with it. The only deer that I didn’t get a pass threw with was a quartering to shot where the arrow hit the opposite side pelvis. That deer was dead inside 30 yards though.. So there’s no doubt 50 pound bow is more than enough to kill deer.

 

I'm 59 started years ago with 80 then 70 then 60 and now this year with 50

 

I'm 58 and did the same thing except I've been shooting 50lbs for about 8yrs now. I shoot an 07 Allegiance at 50lbs with a 100gr Thunderhead and haven't had any issues what so ever with pass thru's on deer. My daughter shoot 42lbs with a 100gr Thunderhead and gets the same results. Imo a sharp broadhead and shot placement is the key no matter what poundage your shooting.

 

I'm soon turning 51 and This will be my first season using a 50# setup.
My set up is a realm x, 29"@ 50#.
I have 3 different arrow configurations I am playing with. Arrows are tipped with either a Magnus black hornet serazor or a Magnus 4blade buzzcut 100gr head.

1st, 390 grain= 268fps - 62.2ke - 0.4637m

2nd, 450 grain= 250fps - 62.5ke - 0.4991m

3rd, 500 grain= 235fps - 61.3ke - 0.5213m

Not much of a change in KE but M rises a lot as the weight increases.
I can't wait to hit the stand with this set up

 

Man I am on 32 and 6’4” 195 lbs and pretty decent physical shape due to my job! I can draw and shoot 80 and man I am thinking about going 50 lbs next year! I currently set bows at 58 pound and blow through any animal I’ve shot. But I also have a 30” draw!

I am thinking going 50 lb with a 425-450 grain arrow setup. With a good cut on contact head probably going to be 125 grain and just enjoy shooting low weight! Why shoot 60 when 50 kills them just as dead!

Most of my shots are within 20 and occasionally 35 and in.

I dunno may just keep the realm x 60 lbs for awhile and just shoot what I got I’ve went
Through more bows the Bruce Jenner’s has sex changes and that’s allot!

I believe be confident in what you have and if it’s too much weight decrease!

60 is a breeze for me to shoot and I can shoot 150-200 shots without getting tired but have considered 50 as the new!

If the bows would be as efficient at 50
As they are at 60 and 70 I don’t think many 70 and 80 lb bows would be shot just my .02!

I got buddies who shoot more weight then they should and it shows in their draw, their form, and even when we shoot together!

Machoitis leads to allot if injuries and injured deer IMHO!


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do it save your shoulder..I have been shooting 52 lbs for 40 years...100 plus whitetails,never a problem,I use a heavy arrow and Magnus stinger

 

50 is plenty. I shot hog, Deer, Bear & Elk with 50/55 pound RECURVES back in the day. My G-kids kill with 45/50# Compounds