feather-weight bows are great!

[gringol]

I finally took the advice of the guru's here and dropped a bunch of weight to work on my form.  I had been shooting a 56@28 longbow with decent results, but I felt like I was stuck. (that bow was actually a drop from a 70@29.  I know, ouch.) I didn't FEEL overbowed, but my groups were only "good enough" not great.  So, I got on the classifieds here and picked up an old Ben Pearson 35@28" and all I can say is I should have done it a long time ago.  I'm shooting 600 grain arrows out of it, so it's pretty sluggish, but I finally feel like full back tension might be starting to develop.  The proof is in the pudding; I've been consistently getting <3" groups at 20 yds.  I'll give it a few more weeks of practice and then I'll get an update form video up.

Arne, Terry, and the rest of you masters, thanks a bunch for the free advice.  Hopefully more of us younguns will start listening sooner!

[moebow]

"Arne, Terry, and the rest of you masters, thanks a bunch for the free advice. Hopefully more of us younguns will start listening sooner! "

Ya, that would be nice                    

Arne

[BobCo 1965]

Hey, I killed deer with that Ben Pearson. - Really, I did. But I pulled it a little further then 28".

[gringol]

Bob,

I'm drawing to 29.5 with that thing.  I'm sure it'd be plenty quick with a lighter arrow, I just don't have any right now.  17 gpp is a little on the heavy side of things...  

[Diamond Paul]

The best thing I ever did was to go down in weight.  Once you build your form, you can always work up in weight, but I would think a 40lb bow would be adequate for the animals most of us hunt most of the time.  Deer don't take much killing.

[Retnuh Wob]

I've got an old Ben Pearson Puma that is rated at 35#. I shoot a 650 gr. arrow out of it in my 7yd inside range and it is suprisingly accurate. In fact, the arrow has hit the same hole so many times that it wore through the target. I think it would be difficult to hit anything much beyond 15 to 20 yds with that combo, but with a good broadhead I wouldn't be afraid to shoot it at deer sized game.

[Stumpkiller]

I have a ball with my 40# and 41# bows.  With lighter arrows you can still mimic the trajectory of heavier bows and it is a lot easier on you (and the arrows) to spend a day shooting a hundred arrows at stumps and dirt clumps with a light bow.

We used to call them "field bows" and they were typically 10 or 15 pounds lighter than a hunting bow.

A light bow will also teach you to have a better release.  It's actually harder to get a good release with a light bow.

[njloco]

He ain't called stump killer for nothing !