Heavy bows vs Light bows

[Dave Dawg]

Ok guys i've been wondering for a while now, is it better to have a heavier bow, or a lighter one? Of course if you want accuracy you have to be consistent, but is it more efficient to become accurate with a heavier bow or a lighter bow? Thanks!      

[**DONOTDELETE**]

You should shoot the heaviest bow you can shoot accurately.

[Tom Anderson]

Do you mean in draw weight or physical weight?

[Dave Dawg]

Draw weight.

[Dave Dawg]

i guess i shouldve put that  :D

[Scott J. Williams]

Right now I have the fewest number of bows I've had in twenty six years.  One is 62 at 28 inches, which is 58 at my draw, and one that is 52 at my draw.

I love the 52 pounder in Dec. and Jan. when I have nearly everything that I own on, for warmth.  I use to be a 70 - 75 pound draw weight shooter, and I shot them pretty well.  I have gone the other way, in the last few years. Getting old you see.  

It is truly a matter of personal preference, if I were planning to do a lot of hunting for dangerous game in Africa, I might go very heavy, but my quarry is whitetail deer, Hogs, and maybe a Black Bear from time to time.  I find that everything at and between 45 pounds, to 55 pounds draw will handle, and has done so for years.  

But just in case  somebody has a 75 pound, left-hand Black Widow they want to give a way,  I am sure I can see my way clear to shoot it....LOL

[Dave Dawg]

I was actually thinking about an 80 pound bow... would be a real challenge.  

[longbowman]

Dave,

[longbowman]

Dave,

[longbowman]

Dave,

I'm having trouble getting this posted, sorry.  Like they said above, shoot the heaviest bow you can handle accurately.  There's no reason for an average man to not handle 65# without a problem at all.  I shoot 80# and I love it but you have to shoot it and not just play around.  I shoot some quantity of arows everyday of the year.  As far as accuracy goes, I can win the local 3D shoots more than the average guy but it's hunting that I practice for, not tournaments.  There's a lot of opinions out there concerning this subject and you'll probably get most of them.  You'll hear the "need" thing passed around a lot but I never wanted to be close enough to the "need" weight to worry about it so I don't follow that crowd.  Good luck!

[SpankyNeal]

Coming from a 48 year old guy who's had three shoulder surgeries - 55 lbs with an appropriately heavy arrow, and a sharp broadhead is all that is necessary to cleanly harvest anything on this continent at trad ranges. Do your shoulders a favour in the long run and don't overdo it! JMHO and others will surely differ  

[dan ferguson]

If I get another bow I will probably drop to 60# or even 55# why? I think arrow options are better. when you go heavier, wood arrows become a problem to locate, You got to add weight to the carbon shafts etc. I,ll continue to shoot my bow because I like it but some days I,m tempted because of the arrow thing.

[James Wrenn]

Better would depend on who is holding the bow.:)Some are a lot stronger than others and might shoot a heavier bow better than a lighter one.As a general rule a quick glance at a stack of scorecards at an shoot will tell you they are the exception instead of the rule however.  :D  

I believe ever person has a weight range that they will be most accurate with.It is up to each to find it because this stuff is not one size fits all.If you try to make it such following advice from others you are just complicating things and setting yourself up for a fall.Shoot some bows and see what works best for you.Let others find there way.jmho

[SteveB]

Depends too on if you are an experianced shooter with acceptable accuracy or someone new trying to learn.

Steve

[WidowEater]

I like the bow heavy, its easier for me to hold steady on target with heavier pull.  Just like its easier to aim a heavier in weight rifle i guess.  Just like with the rifle though it only is good to a point. By the way im talking about draw weight on the bow and physical weight of the rifle.

[Curveman]

I started out with a 50# bow then thought I could handle a little more when it came time to order a custom bow. I went with a 60# bow solely because that was the legal requirement to hunt a moose in NH. Since I was close anyway I decided to buy that weight but made a special point of having someone very knowledgeable observe me shooting that bow to make certain I was not overbowed. It did took a little work to get to where I could shoot it all day comfortably however. Now bows in their early 60's feel every bit as comfortable as that 50# starter bow did. Now in fact, I have a problem getting a good release shooting that 50# bow on occasion. As someone said, these days with the new material arrows etc. there is no real reason to shoot a heavy bow except maybe when you want/need a heavy hunting arrow for certain game, etc. I know too many old guys shooting heavier bows not to doubt all that nonsense about "inevitable joint problems." I separated my left shoulder twice  and can still lift more weight than I ever could. It is disuse and being out of shape that is the greatest contributor to injuries and joint problems etc. In short, nothing wrong with shooting a heavier bow or even working up to where you can. There are certain advantages such as fewer trajectory concerns with a heavy arrow, etc as noted.

[tarponnut]

I would bet the average person shoots a lighter bow(45-50#)more accurately than say 60-70#.
Even though I can physically draw a much heavier bow(90#?)than I use to hunt with(I use 50# for deer and hogs), I don't shoot as well with them.
My 50# recurve and 530 grain arrows zip right through hogs, what more do I want?

I can understand going up slightly in weight for African game and large N.A.game to account for heavier arrow.
Just my 10 cents.

[Daddy Bear]

I'll defer to Tom Imler, Jr. and Fred Bear from their tag team articles on the subject that was published in Ye Sylvan Archer.

The links are through Tom Mussatto's web site:

Use Heavy Bows by Tom Imler, Jr:

 http://members.tripod.com/~tmuss/shotfrompast/imler.htm

Hunting Arrows by Fred Bear:

 http://members.tripod.com/~tmuss/shotfrompast/bear.htm

I share Fred Bear's opinion that a hunting bow of 60-70pounds is just right and can be easily used by most normal men. I find Bear's chosen bow weight and arrow weight to be "straight down the middle of the road" ideal and well balanced for everything from deer to larger NA game. I look at bows below this weight to be towards the lighter side and bows above this weight to be towards the heavier side.

Others may differ, Bear's 60-70pound middle of the road was light for Imler's 70-80pound middle of the road, and Imler's was light for Hill's 80-90pound middle of the road. But, all agreed on beginners starting light and all agreed on developing your ability to easily handle the progressively heavier weights until you find your own individual "middle of the road".

Daddy Bear

[WidowEater]

it seems that these days the lighter bows are "the middle of the road" and by light i mean 45-55.  I dont consider a 60# bow to be heavy by any stretch, but a 70# is getting up there especially in these moern times.  

In the compound world heavier bows are just a phase that every shooter has to work out of and then they settle on about 60 for NAmerican game.

To get better energy numbers in trad going up in bow weight is logical and since you must go up in arrow weight as you go up in bow weight you gain energy there too.

I myself have a terrible release so I use method of going up in weight so the string can better pull from my fingers as opposed to me having to let it go.  This is an old method of bad release treatment but it works for me.

[SilverTip]

I have shot 70 and 80 lb bows for over 25 years and I can honestly say I have not gained a thing from it. The game I hunt does not require that much poundage but when I was a young man I read about Paul schafer shooting those 80 and 90 lb bows and just had to have one. I'm 48 years old now and my elbow hurts every night that I shoot. I can't shoot a lower poundage bow as acurate because I really never learned a really good release. The high poudage does help in the release, If I had been shooting a lighter bow in my younger years I'm sure that I would have had a much better release now. To put it bluntly, if I would have listened to Paul and started out with a lighter bow I would be enjoying shooting my bow instead of hurting every night. There is no big rush just start out at 60 and if thats not enough for you just work your way up slowly.

       Billy