Lighter draw weight hunting results please...

[skychief]

I would like to hear some hunting results (especially deer hunting results) using lighter weight bows of around 40#.   Please tell me the good, bad, and ugly please.   Thanks!   Skychief.

[Boneyard Bowhunter]

I have a 45# 60" recurve that I draw about 26". Twice Using a 5/16 POC arrows and a 4 blade head It went through both sides of deer.

[Bonebuster]

My oldest son killed a nice doe in October of "07", using a 410 grain arrow coming from 39lbs @ 26 inches.

The shot was from a treestand, and his Tusker Concorde two edge went in between ribs, got both lungs, and chopped through a rib on the way out.
His arrow buried to the fletching. Great bloodtrial, and a short, fifty yard recovery.

The bow was a recurve made by Darton Archery back in the late seventies. When this bow is shot next
to some other bows, it`s performance lacking.

My son turns thirteen today, and last weekend he
took money out of his savings and bought himself
a Predator recurve that draws 42@28. If the old Darton could do it, then this bow will certainly have no problems. Performance between the two cannot be compared.

I was very worried about allowing the use of such low draw weight for hunting. I followed all the common suggestions you will see here, and built an arrow that carried around ten grains per pound of draw weight, made sure his arrows flew straight and clean, used SHARP two edge heads, and kept his shots close.(under fifteen yards)
My fears were unfounded.

It`s all about getting close, and being able to put a sharp broadhead from a clean flying arrow into the lungs of your quarry. When your target is deer, forty pounds is lots.

Hope this helps.

[James Wrenn]

Because of a bad shoulder I had to hunt what little I could with a 40lb longbow.Only had two shots before I had to quit for the season altogether.One a buck about 22 steps where an intercepter blew though and stuck in the ground.The other was a hog at 18yds I did not recover after a treeshark passed through too far back and only got liver.No fault of the bow weight.

[Stringwacker]

When my son was 13 he took a deer in the same season with a 33# Ben Pearson recurve @ his draw length of 22". He shot a two blade eskimo on a beman carbon and passed completlely through a doe. The next year he shot a beautiful 7 point in which the deer turned at the shot and the arrow centered the deers brisket. He only got about 9" of penetration but it cut the deer's heart. He took another deer (a doe) later that season with the same set up with full penetration. Your 40 pounds should be fine if you place the shot correctly.

If it's some sort of comfort measure, my son eventually shot 9 deer in a row without a wound with sub 43 pound bows.

[Chris Surtees]

Do to shoulder surgery I had to drop down to 45#. I must tell you I was kinda leery about hunting with a mid 40's bow at 26" after having been shooting bows that were around an average of 65#.

To say the least I was more than impressed with the results after the first season. Arrows zipped through every deer except one that buried in the offside shoulder. Had the same results on numerous smaller hogs up to 150lbs, and with the bigger ones I would get penetration up to fletching most of the time with a few pass throughs.

Now with that being said I always waited for the best possible shot, and my longest shot that I can remember was 22 yards on a deer. Most of my shots on deer were around 18 yards and with the hogs I would say average was 10 yards.

The arrow setup I have been using is a 550 grain AD Trad Lite with 250 grains up front. Recently just started setting up some arrows with 300 grains up front and I will tell that I am more than pleased.

Since I have had to drop down in weight I will say that I think a lot of my success has come from shooting the heavier arrows but that is just me.

If you are worried about hunting with a low poundage bow do not. The only thing I will say is shoot as heavy as you can comfortably and accurately.

Good Luck

CS