Draw weight is a topic that gets hashed and debated pretty often.

If this turns into another debate you guys are on your own. I for one am not going to debate how "I" shoot.

I just recently bumped myself up 5# in draw weight and there is an awfully good chance i'll bump up another 5# still.

I had bought a bow that was 50# used it all year, I had previously shot 55#.

Why the change? why shoot 60# instead of 50# ?

Simply put I like the feel of the added weight at full draw. Some cannot understand such a statement, and you don't have to, since I'm the one shooting.

One of the main reasons I really never can get into shooting a compound bow is I really don't care for the way they feel in the draw cycle. I enjoy shooting them yes, but not the same as a stickbow.

I do not care for all the weight at once, then a roll over, then your suddenly holding nothing. Doubtful I will ever grow used to such an awkward up and down draw cycle.

I prefer to feel a bow loading to full draw.

Ironically I find that on average I tend to hold a heavier poundage bow at full draw longer. Why?

Many have talked about how long they hold at full draw.

My answer is simple....as long as I have to.

Being a gap shooter and using the arrow, I consciously force myself to hold until the full length of the arrow is lined up.

The reason I on average hold a heavier bow at full draw a tad longer is simple...its harder to hold back and not as steady. That's rather common sense. Does that equate to being overbowed? absolutely not.

Being overbowed is when you hit anchor everything goes downhill from there and it gets harder to steady the bow.

That is not the same as hitting anchor then waiting an extra moment for it to steady.

Personally I much prefer bows in the 55# or 60# range.

My wife has a 26# bear tartar and I really do not care for it.

It may sound strange for some but I actually like to feel the draw weight at full draw, naturally everyone has different comfort levels.

I too I can shoot a 55#bow better thana 45# bow because I like to hold and fell the weight I will hold as long as 10-15 sec and than release guys will tell you can't do that I also more 60-63# bows than anything I love felling the weight of the bow Agree with you 110%

I'm in the same boat. For many years I shot up to 70# and also shoot gap, I too liked the feel of the bow "loading up".

Due to the ravages of time and a long career of physical work (I retire in 3 weeks!), I've dropped to mid 50's in bow weight. I do, however, shoot the same, hold the same as always.

Overbowed is struggling even to get to anchor and why you see the forward crouch and short draws on "some" people. Nothing is always and nothing is never though, and there is nothing wrong with liking and shooting heavier weights. I did that myself when I was younger...at least for a while. My difference is that I started out on bows around 45/50#..55# was considered heavy then and even special order at times. That start showed me what was necessary to do a certain job. Back then we also shot lighter target bows all summer so we learned to get off the string of a 35# bow just as easy as heavier weights.

In 1974 I bought my first 'heavy' bow, a 60# Herter's takedown, and learned to shoot it well. I even shot a PSAA State Tournament with it...224 arrows on Saturday and 112 on Sunday and did fine there as well. But as mentioned above, time and usage will take it's toll. I'm 72 now and still can shoot a 55 pound bow well, but I know I can shoot a 45 pound bow much better. And because I started out in those weights, I know they are sufficient for anything I'll ever want to hunt. So we're back to choices....which is a good thing.

I have a lot of respect for folks who shoot those plus 60# bows well into their upper age, and many of them still do it well. As long as you aren't doing something to hurt yourself and have the ability, then you are golden. Having that 55# bow in the basement also keeps me honest when I think I can maybe shoot a heavier weight. I won't shoot a bow that I can't handle well, but every now and then I have to show myself either yea or nay. Life is short folks so enjoy it as you like. You sure don't need to have anyone else sign-off on it.

I'd add that I also liked the feel and stability of the heavier weights, and the way the string magically slipped off the fingers on release.

My major adjustment required when dropping down to 53lbs was cleaning up my release. Not a real problem, mind you, just had to maintain back tension and assure my hand remained in contact with the side of my face from release to follow through.

It's all good.

Breathe....... Squeeze and Release......... Feel the tension melt away.......

In 1982 when they found the Mary Rose, which sank in 1545, they could identify the archers from the sailors. There's a reason. Archery is hard on your body.

I shot 64 to 68 and a little 77 pounds for over 30 years. Majority was 68. That actually twisted my spine at my shoulder blades.

If I can give some advise? Warm up you arms and shoulders before your shooting sessions. After you're warmed up draw your bow back with your non-dominant side a few times. Then do the same at the end of you session.

Jake Kominski has a good Utube video on warming up. I think he's 28.

The shot is the same whether your shooting 30 pounds or 60. I think one of the things that makes the heavier poundage (especially with the longer hold) easier is bone on bone contact. THat also puts the arrow in line. Once you're on the back side of that bone on bone the release is an explosion.

It's all the same with 30 pounds, just harder to feel. If you can learn to shoot 30 better, you will shoot 60 better.

Bowmania

I agree. I shoot a 56# bow for hunting and have resisted the norm to lower the draw weight on my hunting bow. I like the cleaner release, the extra speed and momentum.

I can't say I actually have a preference for heavier vs lighter draw weight based upon my ability to complete the shot. In my case my lighter bows are in the 45# range and my heavier bows are in the 55# range. Not a huge difference to a lot of folks but it seems like a big difference to me. As of right now I am still able to shoot all of my bows. But for me and my personal situation I can only shoot the heavier bows for a limited number of shots before things get too fatiguing. The lighter ones I can shoot for much much longer.

As far as my release is concerned I actually find it easier to get a nice clean steady release when I am not working quite as hard to hold the bow back at anchor. Yeah the string pulls away quicker with the heavier draw but that doesn't make it a good clean release. Something I once heard from Dean Torges has always been a point of focus for me when shooting. He always said that at the moment of release both hands do nothing. I don't know if he said it originally or not but that is who I heard it from. And it emphasizes the importance of a clean release and a steady follow through. I do that much better with a lighter draw weight. And I can keep shooting much longer. Which makes me happy.

Part of my training routine is to shoot 3 arrow ends, holding on aim for 10 secs, so the whole shot from draw to expansion/release is around 13 seconds.

For me this builds stamina and control, my normal shot timing is about 3.5 seconds. Using 42# Recurve.

As a guy who has been interested in finding out what I am capable of and not wanting to put a roof on myself. I recently traded into a heavier Longbow that is close to 65 At my draw according to my scale. I have been shooting 50# for a couple years, and have no problem with the lethal ability of those bows, but I wanted to know how more would do. I like the added feel in full draw, though I now have to learn how to control myself and relax again in full draw. To anchor is still good, and I am gap shooting, the follow through is not there, but again I jumped 15#.. Yesterday. Thanks for the thread and am enjoying reading the posts.

-Bones

Bowmania...if you think archery is hard on your body....try laying block every day for 30 yrs.

I believe each of us has a natural rythm, and we shoot best when we find it. Mine seems to be in the neighborhood of +/- 3sec. I can hold longer, and have and will if needed, but things just seem to go with a natural flow in the 3 sec. range. For the record, I am 70 and shoot bows in the 68# - 75# range, mostly 68 to 70 @30" draw.

One thing to keep in mind about the archers on the Mary rose and the idea of them being "beat up"

these guys were not shooting 35# or 40# target bows.

I can only go by what I read whether its true or not I can't say but .....

According to Professor B. Kooi's estimations, the Mary Rose longbows varied in draw weight from 100 to 180 pounds. The biggest group of draw weights being in the 150 to 160 pound range.

Todays modern target bows and bows we hunt with....are not even close to being in that class of bow poundage.

Having recently acquired a 40# R/D longbow, same make and model I am used to shooting at 45 and 50#....low and behold I initially could not shoot it very well at all! Turns out I had to really focus on my release for quite a few sessions before I got deadly with the 40#. For whatever reason the release hand could not do its job well at all and the bow arm would move way too much following the release. It seems as if the higher poundage bow pulling on my string hand forced a crisper release from me. And my newly acquired lousy release was sending the bow and bow arm bouncing around. After many practice sessions I can now shoot the 40# better (more consistently shot after shot) than the heavier bows. But for that first shot or two I prefer the feel of the somewhat higher poundage bows.

"Todays modern target bows and bows we hunt with....are not even close to being in that class of bow poundage."

That's because Deer don't wear Armour lol

"According to Professor B. Kooi's estimations, the Mary Rose longbows varied in draw weight from 100 to 180 pounds. The biggest group of draw weights being in the 150 to 160 pound range."

That's extreme stuff for a commonly used weapon. Any information on how the good professor made these estimates?

Twostrings the bows were recovered from the ship wreak (which were very well preserved) examined by experts and then confirmed the draw weights by Warbow Bowyer's in making copies.

Zetabow...Your sure correct about that!

I for one am glad I don't have to shoot a bow capable of piercing armor.

Don't think anyone with enough shooting experience to know about fundamentals, should be limited to bows too light in draw to do whatever they need to do, like go moose, grizzly bear, rhino or elephant hunting, if that's their thing.

When I pulled 40% of my body weight, I couldn't shoot over 200 arrows in two days. Know this because I tried shooting some field archery tournaments with that bow and found out the second day shooting those 56 targets (times four arrows), about sore muscles, and serious accuracy problems. Especially on long shots where I might hold a bit longer. However, could use that bow for hunting and now days, it would be just fine for 3-D's.

If you need a heavy bow, just get one, but get out and use it often. If only one bow can be acquired for all types of shooting, then get one "just heavy enough".

Walking the 3D course at our club, bringing my bow to full draw, and holding a heavier weight(60-77#) forces me to focus on just about every shot. It’s nice to shoot 50-55# outside, but my focus fades after about 10 shots. After that, everything about my control/form/release gets sloppy. Then I get frustrated and I want to stop shooting. I like shooting 55 and down at our clubs 20 yard indoor range, but that’s bc I know I’ll only be doing it for an hour or so max.

I actually shoot a lot mostly every day I shot twice today, early this morning and once again before supper.

Every now and then I get to shooting and can't quit..I think ah heck i'll shoot one more round, then go pull my arrows and ah just one more...and on and on.

knock on wood it hasn't caused me any problems yet, but I don't shoot bows over 65# much. I kinda got to liking 55#-60# with 55# being a pretty good all around weight.

I enjoyed shooting the 50# recurve this year, nice bow, but I think i'll go back to 60 for now. For no other reason other than I enjoy it.

I don't hold more than a second or two when I'm hunting or shooting 3d but at practice I hold no less than 3 or 4 seconds to help build and condition muscles.

Shade mt

I was there when they brought the ship up and I know three of the Bowyer's were allowed to examine and measure the original Warbow.

Depends what you consider high poundage?

Most top IFAA Longbows don't shoot over 50#, a 5 day world's is grueling both physically and mentally. I only person I know is UK's Paul Meeson he was shooting 60# Longbow, last year he broke 400 on a Field round, the only person I know that's done it officially in competition.

Zetabow. That would have been VERY interesting to actually be there when they brought the ship up.

It's a little off topic here but many do not really consider the fact that archery is pretty much world wide I would imagine? and that it is as old as ?....who knows?

But certainly older than much of the mentality of leatherwall and Bowsite.

The English warbows were really something. I've always felt that although its all archery, they are in a class by themselves.

It would be interesting to hear if anyone on here has ever hunted with such a heavyweight bow.

edcore,

Seriously, how is that relevant?

Edcore, depends from where heavy starts. Mauro Nespoli used #58 bow in competitions Brady Ellison used #56 bow in competitions There are a lot of Korean archers that are using #55 bows. What was your point?

One thing to keep in mind about the archers on the Mary Rose and archers in that time is they didn't live to be 65. I'm betting some of those archers were 30. What ever they did to their bodies with 100+ pounds, we can do to our bodies with 65 by the time we get to 65. It's not pleasant.

Bowmania

Bowmania, these days you have better food and there is a place called Gym that you can train. Those archers did not. They were training to shoot heavy bows to get a better life in a very rough world. Let's not transform shooting heavy in a Boogie man story: if you shoot heavy Boogie man will cripple you. The bows "cripple" as much as wearing a bag in same hand daily. And nobody is teaching kids to alternate.

I have to chuckle to myself when I think of my own journey.

When I got back to stickbows after a stint with compounds, I had several cheap recurves, working my way up in draw weight.

When I found a trad shop near Utica, N.Y. that had several lefties, I took a road trip and bought a 60#@25" Bighorn 1 pc. Shot my first buck with it that year.

The following year I went back and bought a 55# Brackenbury Shadow. I shot it for a while and even though it was one of the smoothest bows I ever had, I sold it because it was too light.

A couple years later when I started making bows, I had a longbow that came out too light, even after piking it down to 62" it was only 55#. That too was a wonderful, smooth drawing and shooting bow. But, I sold that one too because it was too light.

Back in those days I had a masonry business and was used to slinging brick, block, chimney flues and such, and so those bows were a breeze to shoot. I was actually most comfortable with 65- 70#.

Now as I age, I'm most comfortable with 45-48#. I think we just have to shoot what feels good and we can handle accurately.

30 years ago I could shoot 60# but I rarely shot over 50# (in tourney the speed gain is so small), it was a time of guys shooting 65-70# Longbows and I was often given a hard time for shooting a "boys" bow, they didn't like it because I would sometimes win Nationals by nearly 100 points.

I wasn't trying to get an advantage, at 5,7" I knew my limits and kept to them

It got to a point where they tried to change the rules, Hill style bow (from one bowyer) and min draw weight of 65#

The whole thing was thrown out AS it was quite clear what the agenda was.

The point is to shoot a draw weight you can handle without injury (you have to think long term as well) and dont let someone elses ego dictate what you should be shooting, I am not just talking draw weight either.

It's no fun to do something you love most of your life and have to quit because you pushed your body too far.

Correction to the above post, my first buck with the recurve.

It was a Brackenbury Drifter, not a Shadow.

Dale in Pa. I remember that shop! That was a long time ago.

You can long hold a heavy or as light a bow as long as you want, I don't care. I find it very handy to not need to hold long to be accurate.

I’m inclined to agree with the notion that a higher weight can really command your attention... which is pretty much the last word in barebow archery, IMHO. Perfect form will not avail you much if your mind is wandering.

I’m probably nuts to even think about it, but I’m still contemplating going up #10 or so.... Right now, with my heaviest bow I’m drawing about the same as my age... about 41% of my weight. Another #10 would take me up to about 46%-47%....

But then you have to define accurate, to some pie plate at 20y is accurate, to others that's not even average.

Then you have to determine the accuracy of the bow, a primitive selfbow isn't going to be as accurate as an ILF Stringwalking.

My Stepson as a cub shooter shot fast (no more than 1 sec) at the distances he shot 10-15 yards he was deadly. When he became Jnr and he had to shoot out to 50y max, his shooting was so awful that he quit Archery.

So I would also ask the type of distances your shooting and what you consider "not long to hold", if it's like my Stepson then it doesn't work at the distances I compete at, so the training I do is very much required.

A lot of factors go into why we do certain things, most fits into the type of shooting we do. It's good to understand and appreciate different requirements for all the various shooting styles.

A good group at 20 yards for me is 6 arrows in about the size of a grapefruit, a really good group is 6 in a tennis ball from 20 yards. With my target bows it was almost always that tight, but that slow motion crap doesn't count much when hunting, when one quick arrow in a bunny is always a good group.

In reading posts regarding the archers of yore, and the heavy weight warbows of the times, yeah...those were TOUGH dudes!

The English archers craft was a life long discipline. The longbow was the machine gun of the middle ages...a "game changer" on the field of battle.

I know you guys know this, but it's an interesting subject. There's a reason the French chopped off 3 fingers of an archers draw hand upon capture!

Real light bows feel wobbly and torsionally weak, punishing a bad release.

Bowmania I'm betting I can do everything I did when I was in my 20's only better, and I'm 53

I agree eventually that will change, but half the problems you have at 60....are because you didn't keep yourself in shape when you were younger...that's a fact friend.

When I was 53 I was still hunting with bows from 64 to 96 pounds. then one day my middle release finger came unglued. I shot a few arrows, only 30 to 40 arrows, out of my old 89 pounder last summer. I could still shoot it, but I don't remember it pulling that hard ten years ago when I was 56.

I know two older bow hunters. One now in his seventies always shot 70 pound recurves. He was a super strong guy. Short and stocky really muscular. The other gentleman tall and and lanky always shot light bows. He is in his 80's now. Guess which one can shoot the heaviest bow now? Right the guy who shot the light bows. My poor friend has horrible shoulder and neck issues. Both of these gentleman have shot a lot of arrows. I know of another who used to shoot 70 pound longbows who has had to drop down in weight because of neck and shoulder issues. I dropped down to 50 several years ago to save myself some grief. I can still pull 60, but I don't even though my release is better with the heavy weight bow.

The first year that hunted with a extra heavy bow, I was not ready for it. the same bow shooting at dandelions was not the same bow when a nice big buck was coming my way. I worked so hard to get it back that my aim was way off. A fellow with a 45 pound Bear Kodiak Hunter with about a 27" draw. he put a Bear head straight through that nice buck and I helped him drag it to his pickup. The next year I was strong enough for the big bow, but his under 45 pound recurve would still put an arrow through a big buck. By the way, I never shot a deer with that particular bow, I did get pheasants, ducks and four geese with that bow. Could be the heavy draw helped with a crisp release. It could also be that a moderate bow of 70 pounds or less would have done the same. I can say that a certain 50 pound longbow and now a 55 pound longbow prove to be very good at hitting small fast game. Choices, I am not sure how much better one is versus the other.

One thing to keep in mind...everyone is different. I'm glad of that.

Sometimes I need to just sit back and realize, just because I've never experienced injury, don't mean someone else won't .

I've been pretty fortunate, I shoot a lot, plus I'm very active physically, I don't sit around much. I've had some minor pain, lol... well actually I should re-phrase that, minor pain is pretty normal.

I had to go to the doctor a couple years ago, I think it was about the 3rd time in my life maybe, can't remember what it was for...but I remember him asking me "when did it start hurting" I said I didn't know..He said "how can you not know when it started hurting"

lol.. I said doc I hurt every day, on any given day I might twist my ankle pushing a wheelbarrow of concrete over rough ground...smash my finger with a hammer..cut myself on re-bar..get sun burnt..or have cold numb fingers, or have fingers that crack and bleed from laying wet block or brick...I often have a backache, and I just tore all the hide off my arm setting 120" concrete lintels over a garage opening, and I got a big splinter in the palm of my hand that's starting to fester.

You learn to ignore it......no I can't relate to this injury stuff knock on wood...either that or maybe I'm just better at dealing with it? don't know.

I did hurt one of my fingers about 10 yrs ago, probably should have went to the doctor but didn't. for a couple years it bothered me shooting bow, especially bows over 55#...I just ignored it, and eventually I guess it healed, don't bother me anymore.

I just like the feel of a bow with some draw weight to it...nothing more...nothing less.

bwshooter....keep in mind the older guys you mentioned.? someone else might have shot 70lb bows all their life and never suffer injury...Not everyone suffers injury from shooting bow.

I developed "Trigger finger" in both hands, I dropped the draw weight not because I can't hold the weight but so I can continue shooting.

I will need surgery at some point but I've been advised to leave it till it's really needed, procedures have improved but when my Dad had it after 4-5 operations they removed two fingers.

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