Why Low Poundage ?

[kiiwosewinini]

I have been shooting a 70# hickory flatbow.  I have started building a new self bow that I am aiming for #55. I think that 55# is nicer and sweeter to shoot. I will therefore shoot it more, practice more, enjoy it more, and ultimately it will do the job just as well as the 70#er.

[beachbowhunter]

Terry's bow is so heavy, it makes him lean over just to shoot it...check the picture up top   :D

[dcmtex]

I always liked bows between 55# and 65#. My release was always better with those weights. Once my shoulders started making noise I dropped back to 51# to 55#. I've been shooting 51# for the past 8-9 years and its been plenty for hogs, deer, and elk. If I decide to make the brown bear trip I've always wanted to make I will shoot the 60#. I just don't like hearing the creaking when I get in that weight range  
In other words, you Aussies are just stronger than us yanks...but you know what they say about smell  

[vermonster13]

Shoot the bow you shoot best. I can still shoot 90#, but the bone spurs on my shoulders don't like me much when I do. So i stick around 56-60 at my draw.

[Terry Green]

If a 55#er will do the same job as a 70#er.....

Then will a 25#er do the same job as a 40#er?

If yes...will a 10#er do the same job as a 25#er?

Sorry........still cracked up  

[Terry Green]

Beachy........I shoot like that no matter the weight.

Here's another one for ya.....

I shoot 70#s cause I like to shoot all day....I just can't do that when I get over 80#s   :D   ...like gofer hunt above, we shot all morn and all afternoon with bows over 65#s.

Bows are tools as well as weapons, and sometimes you need a bigger hammer.  Try building a house with a tack hammer, and you'll soon wish you have a bigger hammer.....so it is with bows, some animals we hunt need a little more punch....some of us want a little more punch.....and that's OK.

Charlie.......where ya at?

[Dr. Ed Ashby]

I've been shooting bows from 70# upwards ever since I was 14 years old. After near a half century of being so 'overbowed' my shoulders may be starting to go now ... I've felt like a whimp ever since I had to drop back to a hundred pounder! LOL!      

Ed

[Charlie Lamb]

I hear ya Doc! The last couple of years I dropped back to 65# and feel like I'm just not getting the performance I want.
Fully intend to get back to around 75# by mid summer.

I've got this Jack Howard Gamemaster Classic that bumps 75# at my draw and what it will do with a 750 grain arrow will make your jaw drop.

It is in fact a matter of conditioning and little more as far as I'm concerned. It always seemed to me that the more a guy hunts the more he gravitates toward heavier bows.

[bowdude]

I have an older brother that was an old style on your hands and knees cement finisher.  He shot 90 to 100# compounds up till just a couple years ago.  He is now 63.  He dropped down to a reasonable weight of 70.  PSE and one other company had actually GIVEN him bows to shoot before they hit the market because he would shoot them in league and wear them out!
  As for traditional bows, the efficiency falls off so badly after 55 to 60 #s for most it is not worth the effort.  Its not how hard you shoot a few times its how often you shoot that makes you better! I think my wife said that.  

[beachbowhunter]

Just joshing ya Terry. In fact, I just saw video of you shooting (MBB) and your bow was so heavy it bent you over backwards. Didn't seem to affect your shooting though..  

[PigStikker]

My bow is so heavy, I can kill a large moose with a flu-flu arrow tipped with a rubber blunt.   :D

Matt

[DarkeGreen]

does anyone know of a "study" that shows how many fps you gain with the same arrow when going from say, 50# to 90# in 5 or even 10# steps? I wouldn't mind runing some numbers from high to low. I'm betting just as it is in the world of compounds, bow design makes more of a difference than draw weight. I would like to know for sure though. I've only ever owned 2 traditional bows, both under 60#. When I shot compounds I shot a 100# bow for a couple years. I upgraded bows and discovered a 60# bow out performed my old 100# bow on game by a long shot. I bet with traditional bows curves, material, limb width, ect will issue the same findings.

[Dr. Ed Ashby]

Yep Charlie, last year I bought ten bows from the estate of one of the early bowhunters in Africa, a Frenchman who lived there (West Africa) and started bowhunting Africa about the same time as Hill. Only three of the bows were below 80 pounds draw, and four were over a hundred! Except for an original Hill bow of 65# (by far the lighest draw of all the bows) the 'light weight' bows look like they have hardly been used. Some of the heavier ones are well worn. I have a friend who knew the gentleman (and is the one who put me on to the estate sale). Both he and the gentleman's daughter (who lives in Canada) tell me the heavy bows were still in routine use up until just before the old fellow died a couple of years ago, even though he only shot targets and small game for his last few years. Guess his shoulder must have finally wore out from shooting those big bows!    It is merely conditioning, and the will and persistence to learn to shoot high poundage. Build up slowly and stay up!

I really wish I knew the stories those old bows could tell of those early African hunts. All I've been able to find out for sure is that he took A LOT of game with them. I've started using two of them bows a bit when I hunt, and have taken game with both. It's a good feeling; using an old bow with a prior history. Pure fun.

Ed

[DarkeGreen]

I did a quick search and if I can believe the review test on the bows I found it appears you can gain as much as 70 fps by changing bow design and on a very high end modern longbow you gain up to 1.5 fps/lbs...up to a point.

[bjk]

I doubt fps could go up, KE obviously will, but not fps...10gp# (not inch...thx Dave) @ 28" (as a measure) is 10gp#, no?  

I can be enlightened, though.


I have a very sissy shoulder and can't pull the heavies for all put a few shots...it's 55#-ish or less for me.  Compressed nerves, rotator cuff, bone spurs, no ligaments, cartilage...Healthy shoulders and heavy weights are easy, man...you wanna try machismo, try shooting with a shoulder that doesn't move, flex or rotate    

[DarkeGreen]

If you use the same arrow (or same arrow weight) and the heavier bow provides any advantage it will have to show up as an increase in speed.

[vermonster13]

You need to increase arrow weight by 10gp# not inch. Arrow length won't change. Yes the KE will increase.

[DarkeGreen]

I agree if you increase the weight of the arrow the KE goes up and not the speed. I was taking the approach you use the same weight arrow to determine the gain and the calc the required weight you need to add. I think we are all on the same page now.  

[Coachy]

Well ,, I wasnt expecting all these replies    
  Just for the record , I don't eat Vegemite , hate the stuff   :mad:

 Thanx for the replies    

[GrayRhino]

I bought some Vegemite once and brought it home.  I figured it must be pretty good stuff since so many Aussies love it.  I tried some on toast and man.....it was just plain awful!  One smell and my wife threw the whole jar away!