I killed a deer with a 30lb recurve this past season. Died dead. I got 14" of penetration in the chest. I'm shooting higher now, but I was still recovering from rotator cuff surgery last year. In truth, I'm still recovering and doing daily rehab.
Having been archery hunting since 1978 and having owned a sporting good store in the state with the most archery hunters and worked at Cabela's, the reality is more deer are wounded by hunters being overbowed and struggling with accuracy than with archers who are comfortable with weight. In fact, in the past 20 plus years of that experience, I never recall a single archer having an issue with too light of draw weight on an animal. I've heard probably 1000's of stories of hunters struggling to get the string back and/or guys using too light an arrow because they're milking out top speeds.
The old weight requirements are from a past era where many politicians didn't even think you could kill a deer with a bow. So when they created archery seasons, some states arbitrarily picked a number that sounded good. None of those old minimums were set using any research on arrow performance on animals. They were picked by what sounded good.
Here's an edited list from Tradgang from 2013. I corrected a few of the mistakes. I cannot say for certain if this is 100% correct. But if there's changes, it should be because states are dumping minimum rules, not adding them. Having worked at the Cabela's archery dept, it's pretty amazing what todays 30-35 compounds can do. I would not suggest using 30lbs in a traditional bow unless if in experienced hands being very selective on shot selection. That said, I could have killed that doe last year with a 25lb bow. At about 8 paces quartered away, a razor sharp head goes in deeper than one might expect. But picking a number from air isn't a wise course and all minimums should be repealed.
I'll paste this now and try to correct any other changes later. But the family is off to Sunday Dim Sum at a great Chinese restaurant and then I have to watch my Michigan State Spartans win the Big Ten title at 3:30pm.
Alabama: 35 lbs.
Alaska: 40 pounds peak draw weight when hunting black-tailed deer, wolf, wolverine, black bear, Dall Sheep and caribou
50 pounds peak draw weight when hunting mountain goat, moose, elk, brown/grizzly bear, musk ox, and bison
Arizona: 40 lbs
Arkansas: 40 lbs
California: All bows used for big game in California have to be able to cast a legal hunting arrow horizontally at least 130 yards.
Colorado: 35 lbs.
Connecticut: 40 lbs
Delaware: No minimum limit
Florida: 35 lbs
Georgia: No minimum limit
Hawaii: (A) Long bows with less than forty pounds of drawing tension at a twenty-eight inch draw;
(B) Recurved bows with less than thirty-five pounds of drawing tension; or
(C) Compound bows with less than thirty pounds of drawing tension.
Idaho: 40 lbs
Illinois: 40 lbs
Indiana: 35 lbs
Iowa: No minimum limit
Kansas: No minimum limit
Kentucky: No minimum draw weight
Louisiana: 30 lbs
Maine: 35 lbs
Maryland: 30 lbs
Massachusetts: 40 lbs
Michigan: No minimum
Minnesota: 30 lbs
Mississippi: No minimum
Missouri: a longbow or compound bow of any draw weight; handheld string releasing devices, illuminated sights, scopes and quickpoint sights are allowed
Montana: No minimum
Nebraska: 40 lbs.
Nevada: A longbow used in hunting a big game mammal must, in the hands of the user, be capable of throwing a 400 grain arrow 150 yards over level terrain. (The term Longbow also includes compounds)
New Hampshire: 40 lbs
New Jersey: 35 lbs
New Mexico: 40 lbs
New York: 35 lbs
North Carolina: 35 lbs
North Dakota: 35 lbs
Ohio: 40 lbs
Oklahoma: 40 lbs
Oregon: 40 lbs deer/50 lbs elk
Pennsylvania: 35 lbs
Rhode Island: Long bow, recurve, or compound capable of not less than 40 pounds at peak draw weight at peak
South Carolina:
South Dakota: 40 lbs
Tennessee: No Minimum
Texas: 40 lbs
Utah: 40 lbs
Vermont: Moose--Bows of not less than 60 pound draw weight,
based on the archer's normal draw length for traditional
bows, and using arrowheads with at least 7/8 of an inch
in width with two or more cutting edges.
Virginia: Bow must be capable of casting an arrow with broadhead
at least 7/8 inch diameter (or expandable to that size), minimum of 125 yards
Washington: 40 lbs
West Virginia: No Minimum
Wisconsin: 30 lbs
Wyoming: 40# or have the ability to cast a 400 grain arrows 160
yards for antelope,deer,sheep,mtn goat.
50# or have the ability to cast a 500 grain arrow 160
yards to hunt
Topic: draw weight (Read 5012 times)
