Minimum Draw Weight Requirement

[Tradcat]

I know that kinetic energy, arrow placement and sharp broadheads are necessary BUT what is your opinion on the minimum draw weight to ethically hunt anything in North America ? Please advise..
                                    Thanks,
                                           Tradcat

[elkken]

In Washington state the minimum is 40#'s I believe. We have moose and elk to hunt in our state and 40#'s is a tad on the light side ...

[mtsouthpaw]

Montana has no minimum draw weight.  This has worked very well for us in terms of keeping crossbows out of the archery season.  No one can make the argument that they can't draw X number of pounds - it's simply up to them to ensure they have an effective setup which will ethically kill the animal.

[ChuckC]

A large ( in my eyes) problem with those rules is that they make a large assumption.  They equate draw weight to the effectiveness of a projectile in causing a lethal wound.  There is a whole lot involved and the parameters change.

Weight is always used to equate adequacy, although some 40# bows might be as fast as a 60# bow.  Certainly arrow weight, correct spine, broadhead efficiency and sharpness all play a part as well.

The big problem is coming up with a fair and equitable ( and, most of all, knowledgeable) description of necessary adequacy.

That will take a bit to overcome.
ChuckC

[Bowguy67]

In NJ where I teach hunter ed it is 35 lbs. while that will shoot through a deer production bows are 35 at 28". Most aren't pulling this

[LittleBen]

So few people are hunting with trad bows that I don't think it even makes sense to write the Regs with traditional bows in mind. Us trad shooters are the minority, and typicallly not the instant satisfaction types. Most of us choose a setup very carefully.

In NY it's a 35# minimum and that seems reasonable, although I'm sure a 25# children's compound probably shoots a heavy arrow as fast or faster than my 40# selfbow .... so what's it all really mean anyway.

I would rather thatbthey just publish guidelines or recommendations, and not regulations on draw weight.

[Bowwild]

There should be no regulated minimum. Hunters will self-regulate as they strive to succeed.

[Workaholic1]

Here in Kansas when i was growing up the minimum was 50# for deer.  Dont remember if elk was legal back then or not.  Turkey sure wasn't.  Bought a set of training wheels in 83 to make the weight.  My 35# recurve wouldnt have cut the mustard.  Never did make it into the woods with that bow.   Now it's the bow must cast an arrow so far.  All a bunch of malarkey as far as I'm concerned.   Should there be a minimum?  Yes, to make sure your bow has the intestinal fortitude to kill the animal you are hunting.  What should it be i dont know.  Maybe a minimum at your draw length and being able to put 10 arrows in a pie plate with your hunting rig at 20 yards....  not just something like the bow says 40# at 28 so im legal....

[ChuckC]

No shooting competency test for me thank you.  If so, why not make it 50 yards ?  I kill deer at less than ten yards, why should i test at twenty.   See the issue ?  If i can't pass the test at twenty should I not be allowed to hunt, even though i never shoot that far ?

[Workaholic1]

Don't get me wrong.  A competency test isn't the answer.  However when i was i Guam it was effective at keeping just anybody who could pull back a bow from being in the field.  Draw weights are what they are.  A measure of how much force is required to pull back the string.  A minimum might help keep somebody  from going out with a 25# bow and just injuring a deer.  A competency test might help keep somebody from thinking they know what they are doing and then doing a gut shot because they thought thst was right.

The only good answer on this is to have a mentor who has been bow hunting for several years to teach the new person.  Unfortunately its not always easy to find that.  If i mention at work that i hunt, 95% are going to look at me like i grew another head, the 4% will say that's cool, and the last 1% will be rifle only.  And to make things worse, I'm sure most people are in similar situations.  That makes it rough on all of us, but I'm sure thats why the state regs have things like minimum draw weights or minimum distance the bow can shoot..  just my 2 cents though.

[myshootinstinks]

In Wyoming it is 50# for elk/moose and 40# for deer size game but I know of several that hunt elk here with bows in the mid 40s draw. Of the few times I've encountered a conservation officer in the field I've never been asked to show the draw weight markings on the bow or test the bow on a scale for draw weight.
   We would all agree that accuracy and sharp broadheads are more important than draw weight but to my knowledge no game & fish departments try to regulate those areas.

[YosemiteSam]

I can't imagine that an army of guys with 25# traditional bows are going to cause much damage to the population of any game species.  If they're good enough to get in close enough for a shot with a 25# bow and can execute that shot, they will have put in enough time to learn that they need more draw weight.  Traditional archery has some self-selection.
 Yes, some deer may get wounded but I find it unlikely that it will have much of an impact.  The same isn't true for compounds and rifles, though.  An idiot with a trad bow can only do so much damage before wising up.  An idiot with a compound or rifle can do a lot of damage and may never wise up.