"Is 40# Enough?" some thoughts and pics

[James Wrenn]

The little bows kill things just fine.All you have to do it learn to shoot them.    good job

[Rick McGowan]

Ray covered it very well and I know I'm not going to change anyones mind and I won't look at this thread again. Regardless of the intent of these, how little is enough threads, the result is that inexperienced bowhunters think that borderline bows are plenty, they don't have a clue what "when everything is perfect means", they don't know how to perfectly tune a bow or wait for the perfect shot. I've watched a LOT of hunters shoot and I can GUARANTEE that it does NOT come down to a good shot by a lightweight bow vs a bad shot by a heavier bow. What HAPPENED to us, when I started bowhunting it was ALWAYS, shoot as much as you can handle
accurately, now it seems to be, the absolute minimum amount of effort is plenty. Unfortunately we can't post photos of the animals that ran away with arrows in them and weren't recovered due to insufficient penetration.

[larry]

good shootin' Hatrick, congrads on the deer.

I don't shoot what I would consider a lightweight bow, but for some, I suppose it would be. But I just don't get it...if it's not in the vitale's, well, to me that's a bad hit. And if someone doesn't know how to tune a bow, or take the best shot that they can, I just don't see how shooting more weight is going to make up for it. And while I'm asking, what exactly is, "shoot as much as you can handle"? I guess what I'm asking is, how many practice arrows a day should a guy shoot, and what determines whether you're overbowed or not? one arrow a day? twenty a day? fourty? Let's say a guy shoots twenty arrows a day for practice, when he gets to the fifteenth arrow his bow arm is shaking, and his accrucy suffers, is he shooting more bow than he can handle? Like I said, I just don't get it. But I don't want to highjack your thread Hatrick, so like I said, nice shot and a nice deer.!

larry

[jojotater]

Again Hatrick, thanks for the post. You did not offer an opinion on how light a bow one should hunt with or what is too light to take a deer. You simply showed us that you took that deer with a well placed shot from a 40 pound bow. There is the fact. I appreciate that fact and your post.

[Hatrick]

Thanks, John. I was beginning to question what I had posted originally and had to go back and read it again. This was not intended to be a "how little is enough thread."

Rick, if you decided to take another look could you please explain a little further about the comment "What HAPPENED to us, when I started bowhunting it was ALWAYS, shoot as much as you can handle accurately, now it seems to be, the absolute minimum amount of effort is plenty."

I had to laugh. I guarantee there was a lot of effort here. The effort was in building the bow, tunning it, practicing, stand placement, letting the deer pass at 5 yards with the possibility of not getting any shot at all because the angle was too steep, etc, etc.

Again, I understand the point both you and Ray are trying to make, I just don't believe that I would worry about the weight of my bow (for deer sized game) as much as the other factors. In all the years that I have hunted, and that's quite a few, I would have to say that FOR DEER, poor shot placement, and not lack of penetration, was the most contributing factor to lost game.

I also want to say that I appreciate the responses and don't mind some debate. I think we all want to hunt responsibly and that's probably the key to it all.   Dave

[Matt E]

Rick and Ray pretty much covered it.Things do happen that we have no control over.I lost a deer and I was shooting a 72# bow. It wasn't due to lack of poundage. I made an error in judgement.40# will take any animal if every thing goes perfect.Its those other times that should be of concern.

[gwhunter]

light for me is heavy for others.  Heavy for me, is light for others.  Good thing broadheads can be scarrry sharp.

Hey, if all you can pull is 30# and it is legal, shoot it.  If you shoot something with it and it doesn't die, shoot something smaller!  Yearlings are awful tender.  

FYI, I don't shoot spotted fawns, althought they would probably taste great.