"Old Guy" Question...??

[achigan]

I’ll be 70 at the end of the year. I started Trad just 6-7 years ago with a 43# Longbow. I’ve had three rotator cuff surgeries and considerable arthritis in hands and lower back. I’m still shooting 43 and feel like I’ll be there for a while to come. (Sure hope so, my PL II is due any day!)

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Chuck, by no means am I telling you what to do.  But I know you and think after the long hiatus, you picked up the bow again and just over did it. You're an all or nothing kind of guy when it comes to tasks at hand.  Shoot what's comfortable.  40 is enough. Hope you dont have damage but dont be afraid to try 50 again after you had a chance to retrain muscles. Good luck this year.

[woodchucker]

Well Charlie, you know me brother LOL

I'm on Big Jim's list for a new Mag A-handle
Might put the 50# limbs on that when it gets here

[Cyclic-Rivers]

 

[Bluefeather]

I turned 66  back in April and started having problems in my left shoulder. It hurt to pull 50# bows so I dropped down to 45# and now I'm at 40#. The shoulder feels good at that weight so that's what I'm hunting with.

[Gdpolk]

I dropped weight in my mid to late 20's, and for darn good reasons:

• I love to shoot and I shoot often.  As with anything, this sets you up for repetitive use injuries later on like carpal tunnel for office workers, bad knees for runners, etc
• I started noticing a LOT of elderly archers dropping weight and more importantly complaining of shoulder injuries.  We are talking big, strong, healthy guys here that just wore their joints out
• I started reading about things like the Ashby reports and what is actually needed to get good penetration on game animals and how arrow design may actually be more important than bow weight
• I looked hard at what I hunt and it's mostly medium sized game (deer, pigs, black bear) and small game (squirrel, rabbit) with the hopes of one day an elk and I soon realized that I just don't need the bow weight.

I'm now in my early 33.  I'm strong and healthy and young. I can easily shoot bows in the mid 70 to mid 80 pound range accurately and hold at full draw for several seconds while still having a good aim and clean release.  My two bows both come in at 53.5lbs at my 29" draw which is fairly light BUT they can ethically hunt everything I ask them to hunt and I can target shoot them all day long without strain and stress on my body so why bother going up in bow weight when literally nothing that I hunt is large or thick skinned enough to need it?

[dnovo]

I’ll be 65 in just several months. I’ve been shooting since I was 5. From my mid 20’s til about my mid 50’s I shot 60-68#. I’ve gradually moved down from there to 57# for a few years then to 53# the last 7-8 years. I’ve spent 44 years working home construction and that’s where my shoulder pains come from. I pulled something in my left shoulder last winter and had to drop to 48#. Since I don’t know if I’ll ever get to elk hunt again I’m happy with that weight for deer.
I don’t feel that shooting heavier weights ever hurt me. In fact shooting regularly helped my shoulders not ache from work.

[Kelly]

Was on a steady decrease in weight from the mid to late 1990’s when at 68# to 2009 at 42#. Now 42# is at my upper limit, mostly 35-40, +/- a couple, mostly minus. This started with TP issues, then progressed with back issues plus age where I’ve lost a lot of strength/muscle tone(never had either of these to begin with).

[Huntschool]

I am 73 yo and have gone down to the 40-45 lb range after shooting 50-55 lb's most of my archery life.  The results...  well they are great.  I have heart failure and COPD. I feel good shooting and because of arrow and bow technology I dont really need all that poundage. 

Last years kill was a complete pass through at 20 yards on a decent 8 pt.  I can live with that and I dont hurt.

[GlennKY]

I am 66 and my issues have never been joints, it’s my heart that has driven my decrease in bow weight.  Like most I have dropped about 10 pounds.  I shoot Widows,  I had PSA recurve limbs made at 44 to replace the 55s, the PL longbow is 45.  I have an old Quinn I shoot targets and practice with that is 41.  Honestly I am confident in the poundage and used the reduction of weight to thin the herd to the three.
With the extra funds from bow sales a 40 pound PTFX is in my future.  This will be my last one so I’m making sure I order the perfect combination of woods for my eye.

[John Cholin]

I'm 71 and a very slow learner.  I started out shooting 65# bows @ 28" but drawing 30 back when I was in my teens.  In my 30's I ended up shooting 60# @28" bows drawn 30 " because that was what I could get, and I have stuck with that set-up.  My current bows are a Bear TD 60# @28" drawn to 30 " and a Fox High Sierra 64# @29.5" but I am drawing 30" on that one, too.  I used to lay-off shooting from December through March but I have recently found that I takes too long to get "back in shooting shape" now so I shoot year-around. 

Maybe, one day when I grow up, I will need to ease off on the bow weight.  So far my arm and shoulder bones and joints have not given up on me.  Thank you, Lord.

JMC

[Wudstix]

I believe that shooting consistently is key to maintaining bow weight.  Things happen, but I believe that taking time off and then jumping right back into that heavy bow makes it harder on the body.  So continue to stay at it and enjoy the ride.
 

[woodchucker]

Well, chasing the hound dog for 2 years, sure was fun!!!

Probly didn't help my bow shooting though...

[slowbowjoe]

Started shooting when I was 41, with a 40" semi-recurve. Felt light pretty soon, and moved to a 45# recurve. 66.5 now, current bow is 43@28. Shot a couple 46/48 R/D's in the last few years; they felt like my upper end, and pushing it a bit.
I'm a skinny little guy with a collection of back/shoulder issues (always my right side, string arm), losing strength quite noticeably, but somehow the wight hasn't changed that much. Feel it more though.

[Dave Lay]

I agree with wudstix in that shooting often and being smart about it is really the key to maintaining  bow weight if a person wants to do that. I’m 66 and have always shot 55-65 lbs for 40 plus years. I’ve broken both bicep tendons in separate accidents, had multiple misc. surgeries and just had prostate removal and 38 days of radiation for prostate cancer. I kinda freaked out while going through the radiation thinking I wouldn’t be able to shoot my favorite bow, and had my Bowyer buddy build me a longbow in a lighter weight thinking I would really need that. He is 70 and shoots 41 lbs and shoots through several deer a year so he recommended a bow around 45 at my draw, so I had him build it , a great RD design bow, but I have a hard time with it, Its very comfortable to draw and shoot but I cant get a consistent release with the 12 lb lighter bow and it just feels so different, I did kill a deer with it Saturday and the performance was great with a pass through , but my shot placement wasn’t as good as I’m used to. I can easily still shoot my 57 lb recurve and will be hanging up the lighter bow till I actually need it , which I hope is several years away.  So the lighter weight bow with proper arrows performs great but for me , I need to work on it during the summer if I find I need or want the lighter weight.

[Ceb]

I killed my first deer in 1972 at age 19 with a 43@28 Bear takedowns. The next year I traded for a 60# set of limbs and shot 60 to 68# for years. In 1992 I built a 64@27" longbow that I shot for over 20 years.

A few years ago I wasn't happy with my ability to really control that bow, so I went back to a Bear takedown with 53# limbs. This year I'm shooting 48# limbs. I guess now at age 67, I've almost come full circle.

[Tom]

69 here and started shooting at 8 with a 25# fiberglass Bear-killed many frogs with it as my Pop (grandfather) liked frog legs. Killed my first deer with a 45# Bear Golden Bear solid glass bow in 1965. When I came back from service I used a 65# Widow and killed many critters with that bow. Jump to my mid 40's and went to 55# bows and now with shoulder issues and two new hips and eye lenses am back to mid 40# and still filling the freezer every year. This is probably the poundage I will end with as I still find it comfortable to shoot. I've shot with guys much younger who shoot higher #'s who say they just want to be shooting at my age. I just tell them to enjoy the journey regardless of what weight they shoot. Best to all this fall.

[kopfjaeger]

I'm 62 years old and haven't dropped my bow weight yet. I've been shooting 60# to 65# since 1969. But I do realize as I get older I'll have to drop my bow weight at some point. 

[degabe]

I'm shooting about 45# this fall and not doing well at it. Tore my some muscles in my upper arm and it doesn't work good right now.

[Wheels2]

So far, so good.  Just turned 60.
Two years ago I shot a 55# Hex 7.5 Covert Hunter but I had to shoot 3 times a week.  Last year I dropped back in weight and was shooting 46#.  Currently shooting 48# ILF while waiting on new 52# Hex 9h limbs for the Covert Hunter.  Covid outbreak and restriction has hit the UK, so my new liimbs are delayed, so I might be hunting with the 48# Morrison.