Hi All,

I am a long time lurker first time poster. I'm 55 years old and shoot a 60lb Palmer Classic Recurve. I can tell that I'm starting to become over-bowed. I'm looking at drooping down to a new bow at around 50lbs. My Question is how many of you hunt deer sized game with bows 50lbs or less and what kind of penetration do you get?

Thanks WINK

Wink, I mainly hunt with 45 to 50 pound bows and they have worked very nicely. It is better to be able to shoot accurately, then to be over bowed and not be able to hit the side of a barn. Bow you can shoot and control, plus a well tuned arrow and sharp broadhead, equals game on the meat pole! ...........Jim

45/50 pound bows are probably the most popular bow weight ever for hunting. Penetration depends on a lot of things. Your mileage may vary.

Wink, I shoot a 40# ilf hunting bow and get pass through on whitetails. If possible shoot an ILF hunting bow, the accuracy is amazing. Limbs are excellent and very reasonably priced, so you can have a set of 40# with 400 grain arrows and 50# with 500 grain arrows. These should shoot to the same trajectory, so you can practice with the lower poundage and finish each time with the heavier limbs.

At my age (pushing 70) I am now at 43 pounds. High performance bows and strings help lot. I also shoot high FOC. It works.

You get that arrow flying perfect... nothing to worry about.

Just starting to shoot under 55# bow setups,(I am pushing 73), and I like the ILF setups. Limbs can be reasonable and preform as well as custom stuff IMO and a lot of others as well. We read all the time about 40-50# bows killing game. Not sure about big hogs, but deer size an under shouldn’t be an issue.

It's not like this hasn't be discussed a gazillion times here, but since you have just be lurking you may have missed it. There'a s thread about every two weeks it seems.

Arrow flight and quality broadhead...sharp and flying perfectly will trump weight every time. My shots on deer are normally pass throughs, or complete penetration with only the feathers holding it in the deer. I've taken a lot of whitetails with sub 50# bows and there is plenty of history to affirm that those weights work very well indeed. We have guys right on this forum who kill elk and moose with sub 45# bows, so that should answer your question.

45# to 50# bow that is well tuned with a matched arrow and a sharp broadhead and you'll have nothing to worry about.

FWIW, most states that have a minimum put it at #35. I live in CT where they overregulate EVERYTHING, and here it's #40.

Those numbers are thrown out there with at least some expectation that "youth" and female hunters will be using those lighter weights in tandem with shorter draw lengths, which are generally conceded to produce lower velocities.

And those minimums were out there before compounds hit the scene.

So grab a good recurve or a quick longbow and go have fun. Just don't sell off the Palmer yet, because you may find that more practice time with the lighter bow allows you to get back into shape to where you can still shoot the #60 just fine... so long as you don't try to take 100 shots in a session with it.

Big difference between drawing #60 and controlling it once vs all day long, eh?

Shot my first traditional kill buck in the ventral spine. Arrow got about 6-8" of penetration. 11.5 gpp arrow and shot from a 45# Kodiak Hunter.

They've got some power for being light. My only complaint is the next batch of arrows for that bow I'm going to go down from 1916s and find a spine that shoots a 9gpp arrow. That's what my 65# Takedown is setup with and I'm very satisfied with the performance of that bow, just found what I liked.

What George said. Of course you can think about like this. Would you let somebody shoot you from 20 yards with a 50lb. bow and razor sharp broadhead?

And no...deer are no harder to penetrate then you or me.

Kilt my first bear with 44# Howatt Super D. Clean pass through. It served me well for a lot of years. >>>----> Ken

Call up Mike Palmer and get some 47# limbs for your existing Palmer riser and you will be set. His bows hit hard ---- and you will be more comfortable!

We are not any of us getting any younger. When I was young I liked to shoot heavy bows, up to 100 pounds, just because I could.

But you don't need 50 pounds to cleanly take deer, black bear, or even elk.

45 is ample, and 40 perhaps more prudent for mature archers. Actually, at lower weights, many, many of us have improved our form and accuracy so much that we are more deadly than when we were young and strong. Never underestimate the wily veteran. We get weaker but smarter, some of us. - lbg

Wink- Consider going with 45 to 47 pound limbs if you have a TD. You'll use that bow for years to come. With a good hit, you'll get complete penetration on deer. George is right that it's all about a sharp head and tuned arrow, not draw weight. With any draw weight, poor arrow flight means lousy penetration.

Joe

Sharp heads plenty of bow you have Moose to elk even. Its not the weight its the shot placement and the sharp head. I have driven right trough shoulders with 50 pounds with sharp heads. Penetration has a lot to do with the stance of the animal at the shot area to ya know. Angles restrict more than broad side as well. Lots of variables but 50 is more than enough weight.

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