F.Y.I. for ILL. bowhunters. The draw weight for bows in ILL. has changed from 40lbs within a 28 inch draw to 30lbs within a 28 inch draw.

Same thing with 50 pounds, if you do not have a shot, do not take it!

What do they mean by "within" a 28" draw???

I mean, does that mean that #30@30" is illegal when drawn 30", but a bow marked #30@28" is OK even if you only draw 24"??

Honestly, an up-to-date #30 compound is probably more "potent" than most 20- year-old compounds at #40 and maybe even a lot of old longbows at #50;

Don't get me wrong - I wouldn't go out much under #40 with a single-string unless I had to, but the technology has certainly re-written some passages in the rule book, and that is probably good news in terms of youth, female and older bowhunters....

A few years back it seems that there was some legislator who's daughter wanted to hunt but couldn't pull the minimum weight. I believe they lowered it at that time to 40.

Today's 30# compounds can do anything a 50# compound from 1978 can do.

A 410 will kill a deer as will a .22, but you can't use them. JMHO

Xbows in Illinois can have a draw no greater than 200#...Welcome to Illinois..I should reserve judgment until I hear the reasoning.

I believe the change is due to getting kids and women out in the field. Not sure what the issue would be, half of the mechanicals BHs only penetrate 6".

Actually crossbows have no weight limit as well as they are legal all season for everyone. Gov signed the bill on sep 10th . 30 lbs seems a little lite but I guess if you keep it close with s fine tuned arrow it will kill.

Got to know you effective range or ability no matter what your hunting with, 30# trad bow or a 7mm mag. Right?

They must have not changed it on their site. I was just there and this is whet it says. A long, recurve, or compound bow with a minimum pull of 40 pounds at some point within a 28 inch draw.

As I sit here looking at my 38#@28" zero glass, big hook, super recurve bow that stores the energy equivalent of a 52# conventionally profiled wood/glass lam recurve bow and throws 7.1gpp arrows at 215fps...8.2gpp arrows at 200fps....10gpp arrows at 184fps...10.5gpp arrows at 179fps and?...15.1gpp arrows at 168fps?...

I can't help but sense that the lawmakers have fallen far behind the 8-ball that is the recent advancements in bow performance.

Nor have I ever seen a WMO strolling through the woods with draw-board and calibrated digital scale in hand making this entire matter somewhat of a..."Non-Issue" LOL! ;)

It is 35# here in Indiana and does just fine. A friend uses 35# and gets a few every year on his farm. He uses a heavy arrow and keeps shots within 15 yards. Lighter the poundage the heavier the arrow and the shorter the distance : ) Basic physics.

Howard, It's in the new 2017-2018 Illinois Hunting and Trapping Regulations publication.

GF, "I mean, does that mean that #30@30" is illegal when drawn 30", Yes, if it's 30lbs after a 28 inch draw it's illegal.

but a bow marked #30@28" is OK even if you only draw 24"?? No, at 24 inches it would not be 30lbs.

I've always thought this was stupid and should just say at your draw length. In 57 years I have never been checked, and don't know anyone that has.

Peter, X-bows have a minimum draw weight of 125lbs.

Yes min is 125 but max is unlimited. It used to be 200 lbs but that is gone now.

GF, the regs say nothing regarding how far you draw the bow. So yes I am legal if my bow requires 35# of pull somewhere within 28" of draw even though I only draw the bow back to 25". That situation I described is obviously for trad gear. Compounds are another story. If I draw the compound until I reach the valley of my letoff I will have reached the peak weight the bow was adjusted to prior to reaching the valley.

Of course..... I know how Reality works, I'm just not sure that the people writing the laws do.

We've got a #40 minimum here, which is just nuts. Honestly, with my DL and a bow of average performance... I wouldn't choose to go lower unless I had to, but I wouldn't be shocked if a good quality "Kids' Bow" set to #30 @ 24" would throw a 360 grain arrow just as fast as I could get from #40... So let the kids hunt!!

And FWIW, if I had a kid who COULDN'T roll over a #35 compound, I'd figure there's always next year; I think there's nothing better than getting kids outside with a good mentor, but I'm not sure I think it's really a good idea to have kids doing the shooting 'til they're at least 12 or 13. At the very least, they should be to where they can take a Hunter Safety class and pass the test all by themselves...

I did forget to add these regs were put in place more for compounds.

Seems that You have a bunch of people making the regs that do NOT know one end of an arrow from the other? "This IS NOT the WAY to ENLIGHTENMENT!" I'm a bit skittish about 30#. 35# and up seems more reasonable. Just my stupid opinion

I currently have an ILF bow that has 30 pound limbs so it draws 40 pounds with my Morrison 13" riser. I draw 27". Now my state minimum is 40 pounds at 28". I will have a lot of explaining to do to a warden lol. I'm not sure if the law means as long as it is 40 at 28" that's fine so I cannot draw the 40 at 27"? I doubt a warden here will even be able to answer the question. Can you imagine explaining well they are 30 pound limbs however I have a 13" riser therefore...... I would need experts explaining at my trial!

it means it has to hit 30# when it is drawed to 28" so yes 27# at 27" would be legal but i would have my bow marked 30@28 not 27@27

Kansas did away with any minumim several years ago, thought they were excluding too many women and kids.

I have an idea, let's tether deer to stakes out in the middle of a mowed field so that we can attract more women and children to the sport. That will make it easier for them to kill something, and then they will want to continue on with hunting.

What a joke. What happened to looking forward to being a hunter, whether by age or strength, or both. Are we getting that desperate?!

We're by far the minority so most new regs are set with wheel bows in mind. A good 30 lb compound will shoot faster than most 50 or even sometimes 60 lb stickbow. It sounds to me like the "within 28" mean its peak weight before letoff. Wth the letoff it might be 10lbs at 28,lol. Before cams in 82 or 83 compounds shot about the same speeds as old stickbows.

WhitetailHtr,

My oldest daughter has been shooting archery, competitively, since she was about 9. She can probably outshoot most people here on a blue/white NFAA indoor round, with a traditional bow.

However, she is 5'3" tall and weighs 105 soaking wet. Sitting down in a blind on a cold day, it's all she can do to draw her 35# compound bow in a controlled manner, the way you need to when there is a deer within range.

Would you prefer she does not bowhunt?

I'm glad she has the opportunity because sitting in the blind with her on our hunts has created some of the best times she and I have shared over the years.

Well said John (Limbwalker), some of these people only think of themselves, and many have no clue the power of a bow..period. Rather than postulate on how smart they are about things, maybe they should take a 30# bow, and a well tuned arrow with a broadhead, and see just what it will do. That itself should open some closed minds. If you've never done it, you can't speak to it intelligently.

We don't need to compare it to a compound bow, we simply need to try it and see what happens. As much as we like to think we need a 418 Rigby to kill a slight deer, my bet is a properly tuned 30# bow will shoot right through one, or at least get double lung penetration. This great outrage we see in these discussions would do nothing but cause a shortage of new hunters. Chances are good that if we get them into hunting with 30#, they will automatically want to go heavier as the get into the sport. Forward thinking actually is an asset.

John her 35lb compound probably shoots an arrow with more speed and authority than most of our hunting bows ,lol.

"... Missouri regulations do not require minimum draw weights, but 40 pounds or greater is recommended. Archery hunting is about getting close to a deer and making a good, ethical shot. Don’t feel pressured to shoot the heaviest amount of draw weight. It’s more important to hit where you are aiming." copied from MDC's website

Oh, and George you might try taking your own advice.

That's the same as what Wisconsin has.

"I mean, does that mean that #30@30" is illegal when drawn 30""

Yes, because the bow is not capable of 30# at some point within a 28" draw.

"...but a bow marked #30@28" is OK even if you only draw 24"??"

That is also correct. It's kind of a silly thing about the way IL words the regulation. Wisconsin simply states a minimum draw weight of 30#. It's been that way for probably as long as anyone can remember and it's worked out just fine.

OK, "within" does make sense in the roll-over context. Good deal.

I think I've posted in this thread already that I'm not too keen on rushing kids into hunting, but physical strength is not why. And I believe I would trust Limbwalker's judgement.

Odd thing... that Mathews Genesis cam; guess the draw force curve on that is pretty much a flat line, so one of those would draw #30 from just a couple inches all the way back.

I actually think it's not a good concept for the programs where those bows get used (because the smallest shooters draw the same poundage as the largest), but (apart from limb quality), that should outperform the hardest cam on the market. Maybe not too enjoyable to shoot compared to a good 'curve or LB. but pretty well optimized from an energy storage standpoint....

JRW a lot of states do that on stickbows. Its a certain weight at 28" or in some states its just marked weight. Which means in Ohio with its 40lb law at my 32" draw a 35@28 marked bow is illegal for me even tho at my draw its around 47 or so.

well you can't exclude people

Look guys, state Fish and Wildlife agencies are hurting big time right now. Ever since the economy took a nose dive and states stopped subsidizing our outdoor recreation with general revenue dollars, the agencies who manage state fish and wildlife and parks have struggled to make ends meet. This is one reason those state game commissions are approving things like crossbows and reduced draw weights. To sell more licenses.

There is a cause and effect here. Most of us enjoyed taxpayer subsidized recreation for a big portion of our lives, but that gravy train is done and gone. State agencies no longer get the general revenue funds they used to get, and rely more on license fees, entry fees, drawn hunt fees and camping fees than ever before.

Has anyone on here actually been checked by a game warden for the poundage of bow they were using? I have asked this question before on here and so far, no one has answered in the positive. If a GW has found no other reason to hold you, they are not going to waste their time on something that is hard to prove. Your bow may be marked 30#@28, but what chance will it read that when they scale it? Maybe yes or maybe no. bvd

GLF,

I ran into the same problem here in Illinois. Under the old rule (40# within 28") the legal minimum for me and my 32" draw was around 52#. But the guy I know with a 24" draw could legally hunt with around 34#.

How many here would stand in front of a sharp broadhead tipped arrow shot from 30#? Or 25#? 20#?

I wouldn't and think noe of you would either.

Has anyone actually performed a scientific experiment to determine what the minimum draw weight, length, arrow weight, arrow velocity, etc., etc. is generally lethal on a whitetail deer? Probably not. The minimums are arbitrary. How would they write the law that prevents a person from taking a shot with obstructions or from a bad angle? Do they have a way to measure broadhead sharpness? Do they allow mechanical heads for trad bows? Do they have a minimum arrow weight? Hows about a minimum FOC?

Kelly,

"How many here would stand in front of a sharp broadhead tipped arrow shot from 30#? Or 25#? 20#? I wouldn't and think none of you would either."

Nor would I stand in front of a sharp broadhead shot out of a 5# bow, but that's not exactly the litmus test for lethality. :)

lmao I wouldn't stand in front of a bbgun but that doesn't mean its a ethical and lethal weapon for big game, . Lmao someone always throws that in.

The laws are being changed for the majority, not for us but for the much more powerful compounds. Ohio alone has around 400k compound and crossbow hunters. The U.S. has about 21.6 million archers. Of target archers about 25 percent shoot stickbows. Of bowhunters about 11 percent shoot stickbows. So you see hunting laws are made with no consideration for stickbows.

A woman my good friend met ( he builds his own longbows, kills Bear and deer with his bows), worked for Fred Bear in Grayling Mi in the 1970"s. She had a bear bow the guys made for her that was 28# at her draw. Now of course she had the best coaching and equipment\set up you could ever wish for. Anyway she had killed 28 MI whitetails with that set up at the time my buddy met Her. Now, every year deer are missed and wounded with much heavier set ups.

Jinkster put it well--- pulling less weight does not necessarily equate to diminished results at the terminal end. With the wide variety of trad bow designs its definitely apples and oranges if all you look at is draw weight.

Sadly, there will always be some who measure themselves by the draw weight of their bow.

There are so many bad shots made because of poorly tuned equipment, super light arrows, poorly chosen flimsy modern broadheads, poor shooting ability, and general bowhunting ignorance that I consider arguments about draw weight to be pretty much irrelevant.

I think that's silly to even think much less say. I know of no one who measures themselves by the weight of their bows. maybe in the sixtys but now? That one of the light bow guys arguments because it kills some of them that some guys like heavier bows. Shoot what ya want but let others do the same without childish remarks. My point was the laws are set for compounds so since they're not thinking of you just use common sense.

GLF, plenty of guys measure themselves by their draw weight. Yes, even here. But it's getting better. The years of "if you don't shoot a 70# Hill bow you aren't a real man" are thankfully well behind us.

However, I have coached recreational and competitive archers for decades now, and one of the first questions a young man will ask another young man is "how much weight you shootin'?" Every time.

I think what Gary is objecting to is the oh-so-frequently-expressed idea that anyone who shoots over [this week's officially-sanctioned draw weight] is an overcompensator with penis issues. Just so happens he's a Big Dude who enjoys watching a target wobble on impact. If I could draw and control #70 or #80, you can bet your butt that I'd have a bow in that class ready to go hunting at all times (and frankly, if I could completely control #80, I would not expect anybody to be bold enough to offer an opinion on my preferences. Not in person, anyway! ;) )

But yeah, young bucks are always sparring. It's What They Do.

FWIW, I worked out a data table; a 400 grain arrow at 160 fps packs about 23 ft-lbs of KE. A 350-grain arrow at 170 offers 22. Those numbers fall short of what you get fro a 500-grain arrow cooking along at 180 fps (36 ft-lbs) but that's also pretty much the Gold Standard for whatever you want to hunt on this continent, with the possible exceptions of polar bears, Kodiaks, etc....

Too bad nobody has ever been able to do a study to determine the 90% Confidence threshold for KE, given a requirement of complete penetration (meaning 2 holes) on a 140-pound whitetail.

If you have already registered, please

sign in now

For new registrations

Click Here