lightest poundage bow for deer?

[Irish Bowhunter]

My son wants to deer hunt with me this year and I wonder if his 35lbs. recurve would be sufficient to kill a deer.

[Don Stokes]

Most certainly, if his arrows fly straight and his broadheads are razor sharp. Many deer have been killed with less.

[D. Key]

35 Lbs. is plenty for deer, again provided that his arrows are spined properly and a "scary" sharp broadhead is attached to the business end.  Just be sure to check with your local Game authorities to ensure 35 Lbs. is legal and whether a Hunter Safety Course is required.  Some states require a 40 Lb. minimum.

Best of luck to you and your son.

[Highlandwarrior]

I agree with Don, but keep the shots close, and make sure he can reliably place the shot well. Proper shot placement is always key, even with 100# bows. Hit'm is the guts or worse and they'll go forever, especially if pushed.

[Irish Bowhunter]

Thanks for the input! Can't wait to hunt with him this year! He'll be pumped to hear his bow is enough!

[Irish Bowhunter]

I'll put him in a stand with a point blank shot!Give him a slam dunk!

[rastaman]

i did a quick search on the Georgia DNR regs for minimum weights but i couldn't find where they had been published for this year.  i think 35lbs is sufficient, but for some reason i'm thinking Georgia has a minimum 40 lb weight limit....could be just my old grey matter....

[Orion]

Is it 35# at his draw length?  Does it meet a minimum weight the state might require?  If so, have at it.  Good luck.

[Irish Bowhunter]

I did not find a minimium draw wieght for Ga. in the regs. This bow I just won at the TBG banquet.
All my bows are 50lbs and up. Too much for him. this bow has a rattle snake backing but no shelf or rest. I plan on adding a flipper rest to it.

[Night Wing]

I'm ordering me another hunting bow and it's going to be 35# at my 30" drawlength. I want it for casual target practice, hunting bullfrogs, rabbits and javelina, but I wouldn't hesitate one second to use it for deer hunting where I live in Texas. Our whitetailed deer aren't as large as the ones are in the northern states of the US.

[Pat B]

Ga regs are very vague. No draw weight and also vague about arrows..." must be a broadhead type arrow...". It will probably be up to the discretion of the DNR officer you encounter.
   A few years ago, Mike Treadway shot a 5x5 elk with one of his 41# bows and it was a pass through shot.  If your son can put the arrow where it need to be, I'd say he would be OK with 35#.
  Giving him a point blank shot might not be a wise decision. Movement becomes more of a factor. There are no "slam dunk shots" that I know of on a live animal.   Pat

[Coop]

I shot a doe with a 43# longbow, that was the lightest I have used. But with proper arrow placement with a sharp broadhead, lighter weight bows are quite deadly.

But Orion makes a good point. If it is 35#@28 and he only drawing 25" or something you are talking a bow under 30#.

[cdworks]

know a guy that had a pass through with a 32lb bow

[Rick McGowan]

I really hate these threads, everytime people rush to praise how deadly lightweight bows are "when everything is perfect" and mostly its based on what someone told them. The problem is when someone is just starting out, they don't have the experience to know "when everything is perfect".

[Night Wing]

A deer shot in the lungs from an arrow is a dead deer whether the arrow was shot from a 35# bow or a 55# bow. A deer is a thin skinned animal and the lungs of a deer take up a large space inside a deer's body which makes a good target for a bowhunter. The lungs are my preferred target when bowhunting for deer. If I can't get a lung shot, I don't take the shot and let the deer pass even if I was shooting a 55# bow. My Longhorn longbow is 41#s and my Blacktail T/D recurve is 42#s.

[D. Key]

Let me elaborate on my post.  I once had a deer (Doe) walk directly under my tree stand and turned quartering away at 6 steps.  It was a very still afternoon and I was hunting with my 52# Sweptwing recurve.  Due to the stillness, I only drew about 12" (or about 30#)  I released the arrow and it struck the back rib, angling thru the vitals and exited in front of the off shoulder (not a pass thru but exited about 6" past the broadhead).  She only ran about 75 yards before piling up.

I was shooting a 2114 aluminum arrow with a 125 grain "scary" sharp Zwickey Black Diamond.

Hope that experience was "first hand" enough.  In reading above, I don't ever remember deer hunting "when everything is perfect"...If it were perfect, we would call it Kill'in instead of Hunt'in.  IMHO

[Mr.Magoo]

You can certainly kill deer with 35lbs., but it's a marginal weight in my opinion.  Frankly, if 35lbs. were what I had to shoot, I'd look for compound compatible with a finger release (don't know if they still make those anymore.)

[Rick McGowan]

Theres a VAST difference between a deer thats ALMOST at a perfect shot angle and one that isn't or one thats at ALMOST the perfect distance or just a little past it or a deer thats PERFECTLY still and calm or one thats on alert and ready to bolt. Also a very big difference between deer, I know guys that have killed does that weighed less than 20#'s field dressed and guys that have killed bucks that weighed in the 300# range live weight, what may be perfectly adequate for one, isn't necessarily so for the other. ONE instance is hardly a realistic test for the adequacy of anything, I can site quite a few instances of poor penetration from bows that were borderline and the one thing that will or at least should sour a new bowhunter is having an animal run off with an arrow in it and not finding it.

[Don Stokes]

Arrows kill by hemorrhage, not speed or force. Any bow that puts the arrow through the chest will kill the deer as dead as the strongest bow on Earth.

I'm assuming that Irish Bowhunter will mentor his boy properly, and make sure he does his best. There's only one way to gain the necessary experience... just do it. We have to start somewhere, and this boy is lucky that he has a dad that's willing to take the time to get him started right.

[pintail_drake2004]

I know of alot of deer that were harvested with 30# bows. depends on what is legal in your state