[mortre]

I just ordered a new bow with 50# limbs. I’m 58 and only got into archery 2.5 years ago. It’s a safe bet that I’ll never go over whatever the max draw on my new bow ends up at.

50'ish# compounds are unreasonably fun to shoot.

 

[mortre]

I dropped down after injuring my shoulders, never went back to 70#. Something people seem to forget is that once you tear the parts of the shoulder joint, they never "heal" in the truest since of the word. A 50% tear will be still be 50% torn the day you die. As such it will never support as much load without further tearing, regardless of what kind of shape your muscles are in.

 

[mortre]

I also have a 10 year old bow set to the same draw weight as my newer one. They are shooting around 80 fps different with the same arrows.

80fps or 8fps??? I would expect 8-10 fps assuming the same draw weight, A2A and brace. 80fps seems excessive unless your going from a recurve to a compound.

 

[mortre]

80. Bear lights out was shooting consistently 200 fps with 410ish grain arrows. PSE brute NXT shooting same arrows right at 280. I'm not sure if something was up with the bear though. It was a really old string that maybe stretched? You can feel the difference in the draw cycle.

Something would have to be up with it I think. Those are 50# recurve speeds... I was getting 250fps+ at 54# with a 400 grain arrow using a 2010 Maxxis 35.

 

[mortre]

Sorry for doubting you but I find it hard to believe anyone dedicated to the gym can't pull back a new 70-80lb bow. Like you said they're that smooth. I'm not a big guy by any means- I'm 6' 185-190.

I'm not who you are addressing, but what's the point though? I'm out west as well, but just don't see any gain from extra draw weight. That said, I don't own sports cars either. 80# bows or big engines, they get you to the same place in the same amount of time in the same condition. It just costs you more to get there without any extra return. I'd rather put that extra effort into something that does give me a return on my investment.

 

[mortre]

Your response to this might be "take a better shot". To which I'd reply again- there's a lot of variables in hunting and my goal is to eliminate as many as possible because there's some that you just can't.

Ver, very, very few people out that much effort into anything, and I respect that.


But for most, as the draw weight increases, there comes a point where the chances of a bad shot does as well. For me, that's where the draw weight needs to stop increasing. Adding weight might be enough to make it a recoverable error. But it also means reduced time you can hold at partial or even full draw before you begin to loose accuracy, creating the situation you are trying to mitigate. So if you are netting more error's, you aren't really eliminating variables. When it comes to risk mitigation, rate of occurrence is as important as the outcome if the risk is realized. So risk mitigations that increase the rate of occurrence are poor mitigation techniques.

Maybe you can hold your bow at half draw for 15 seconds, or full draw for a couple of minutes without sacrificing accuracy. Most couldn't do that with an 80# bow though.

 

[mortre]

That's all part of pulling what you can 👍 I routinely hold for 2 minutes at full draw and shoot groups at 20. 2 minutes might be arbitrary, I can't imagine having to hold for more than a minute in any situation. Either way there's no discernible difference in my group size from normal shooting. I just started messing with a resistance release but haven't gotten completely comfortable with it yet. I'm sure it will make me better though.

I did a bunch of goofy tests before going from 70 to 80- Holding at full draw for 3+ minutes, drawing while sitting on my butt on the ground, etc. I'm definitely NOT advocating for drawing more than you controllably can. One thing I noticed is I'm more accurate with the holding weight of 80's vs 70's which was surprising. Of course you could also do this with a lower poundage bow with adjustable let off.

The bull I shot in 2021 had me at full draw for nearly a minute from a knee. Control is just as important. I'm always seeking to improve though. In doing so I've watched my success rates/shot opportunities over the last couple years sky rocket.

80% let off at 80lb is only holding 16 pounds. If you can't hold back 16 pounds are you strong enough to carry the elk out? 🤷 Not trying to be an ass but I've struggled much more with the pack out then draw weight!

Actually peak has a much greater effect than holding weight for me. When I went from [email protected]% to a new bow thats [email protected]%, that about halfed my holding time. Three months later and I still haven't gotten it all back. Pack out doesn't bother me, but the Army did a good job of teaching me to aimlessly carry crap around on my back.