Draw Weight

Wapiti Warrior

New member
Jul 20, 2017
7
Hey everyone! New archery and hunter here. About a month ago I increased my draw weight from 65 to 70. Its not difficult to draw but I noticed my shots are is well grouped as they were at 65. Should I just have the shop drop my weight on my bow or do I need to stay at 70 for elk hunting? My 20-50yd groupings are staying within 4 inches but once I get to 80 yds they are closer to 8-9 inches. Is that small increase of weight throwing off my mechanics and causing decreased consistency? Thanks for the help
 
65# draw weight will definitely kill an elk. 70# might just be causing your arms to be slightly more fatigued and causing you to shoot a bit less consistently. Increasing the draw weight would also make your bow shoot differently. If you have arrows that worked well at 65#, they may not fly the same at 70#. Might need to get arrows with a proper spine for the change in draw weight. I'm no expert, but that's my 2 cents.
 
X2 with what Bull_Fighter said.
When I first cranked my bow up to 70lbs it was doing two things.
1) Causing me to fatigue quicker
2) Causing me to shoot quicker


Your mind is trying to pick that spot to focus on while your arm is sending up a signal saying "hurry up and release this thing"! So instead of giving your best effort at aiming small and missing small, you're possibly being clouded by other direct or sub-counsious thoughts.


Once I caught on to that I went back with the logic that if it's not broken then don't try to fix it.


I've killed three elk with my bow set at 59lbs (ranging from 440-493gr)
They had no issue with a pass through.




I hope you get it all sorted out!
 
said this on another thread somewhere but I have a TON of friends that have gone from 70# down to 60# in the last 5 years or so..... If you shot 65 well, go back to it. It's plenty to kill an elk. whatever lbs will do you no good, if you cant put the arrow in the boiler room. Look at the performance that some of the traditional guys are hunting with and it'll give you a whole new appreciation of what you think you need out of a compound.
 
Bows are so efficient now even 50 lbs can be more than enough.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 
I've never shot anything over 53# and even shot 45# back in my recurve days...

Let me clarify that statement... I shot heavier draw weight bows but never hunted with anything over 53# and 45#...
 
I had a guy ask me the same question at my local archery shop the other day as he was having his new bow set up. Mine is set at 62 lbs and I killed a big bull just fine with it last year. He said his is set at 70 and he missed a bear and a deer this year already. He also said he likes shooting out to 100 yards and that's why he needs it set at 70 lbs. Way too many archery hunters have it in their heads that they need to be pulling 70. Today's arrows, broad-heads, and bows are so good that we do not need to kill ourselves to be effective. Stay with 65 if that was getting you good accuracy and let the arrow and broad-head do the rest. Have you ever watched a filmed elk hunt where the hunter said he would have gotten the bull had he only turned his bow up a few more lbs? Me neither. Good luck out there!!
 
Mine is at 63lbs.


Last Saturday, my arrow blew thru my cow elk at 60yds and didnt stop

100gr SlickTricks  - total arrow weight 420grs
 
i'm going down to 60 soon.

my 70lb bow is maxed out, and it only pulls 66.  i kinda like it there and wont be twisting cables to bring it back up.

i cant imagine a world to live in where i am drawing my bow back on an elk thinking, "gah..i wish i had 10+ more draw weight"

the lady that owned one of the bowshops i used to visit shoots 45lb..she has killed a lot of elk.  i pulled her tiny bow back and it felt like a toy..but she puts me to shame with her list of kills.  she is this tiny little asian lady. 
 

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