Many "can you take a deer with 35-40 draw weight" threads. I like reading them. No complaints.

Let's investigate the "other side" of the concept.

With what draw weight have you LOST/missed the most deer/big game?

It could be a "hit, but not recovered", or" just plain missed". Please differentiate in your reply.

This could be difficult for people to answer, as you have to publicly fess up that a game animal was lost. Honesty counts. No one is presumes an honest answer equates to lack of hunting ethics/respect for harvesting your quarry.

71 pounds only due to poor shots or things that happened a twig something that wasn't seen before hand.

More fake news on bow weights and BS like all this.

Sharp head and properly placed shot!

Do most of you really hunt or shoot animals? LOL

I have missed animals with 45# when I was younger, 55-65# in college, and 64-71# now. Just depends on what weight I'm shooting, misses happen. On the other hand my current bows really do a number on pigs !!!!!

50-55#. Never lost one with my heavier bows, but that has nothing to do with the bow. The ones I lost bolted on the release and ended up as high scapular hits.

50-55#. Never lost one with my heavier bows, but that has nothing to do with the bow. The ones I lost bolted on the release and ended up as high scapular hits.

Since you prefaced your post the way you did...If you’re looking for confessions of people using 35-40 # I don’t think you will find many, simply because there aren’t many compared to higher draw weights. Every single animal hit and not recovered as well as misses will be with the draw weights that people are using, not a draw weight they are not using- just saying. Since most hunters are using more than 40#, most losses and misses will be +40#. But if there is any meaningful information to come out of this, here you go... I’ve bowhunted with trad gear 45 years. Probably 37 of those years I used 60-65# bows. I’m sure this is the draw weight that I’ve missed the most game with, because that is what I used the most. I don’t feel it had anything to do with the draw weight, but a lot to do with what was going on with me- operator error.

I concur with pdk.

I’ve shot over/under a bunch of elk and deer when I was shooting 55+ pounds.

Much better success since I reduced my draw to 44-46#, much more consistently accurate for me.

If you shoot at enough deer you're bound to lose a few no matter what poundage you're shooting.

35 pounds.

Lousy shooting wounds game, not a particular bow weight. Whether you like 70 pounds or 40 pounds you will do well if you're accurate with it. Otherwise, poundage means zero...it's about accuracy.

I was trying to recall deer I lost, but I believe it was four over fifty-four years of bowhunting, none in the last thirty years though because I got damn choosey about taking a shot. It took me awhile to understand the physical attitude of a live deer. Once I did, the wounded ones went away.

old buck nailed it!!

Lost one deer in 34 years with a 70lb. compound about 15 years ago. Took a shot I shouldn't have and made a bad hit. Terrible experience and one I hope to never have again. I've killed a lot of deer since then but have been a whole lot pickier about my shots.

I lose deer with rifles.......

I've only lost one deer in my life and it had NOTHING to do with the bow, but rather an obstinate landowner. I've killed a ton of critters in my life and have never shot a bow over 60#, for what it's worth, mostly with a 50# bow.

Everyone will miss occasionally...it happens. Not finding a poorly hit animal has nothing to do with bow weight but has a lot to do with your blood trailing skills. It's easy to lose an animal if you give up too quickly or don't know what you're doing.

Bow weight ( and i do use lightweight bows exclusively) has been no factor in any gamee, deer or otherwise that i have failed to recover.

Anyone that really hunts understands that as a buddy of mine will tell you--- when you shoot a deer 10 things can happen and 9 of them ain't good. My number 1 reason for failing to recover an animal is my shortcomings, not the equipment.

Is someone using a light bow at a disadvantage? Not in my book-- i wouldn't take a shot with a 50# bow that i wouldn't take w 35#.

I hadn't lost hardly any until recent years, and I just happened to be using light bows at the time. I have always been pretty picky about my shot when it comes to deer, even in my compound days. I don't like a moving deer at all, and only shot over 30 yards once in my compound days. Shot lots of deer though, due to liberal bag limits. Don't shoot more than 2 or 3 a year anymore, but the deer are pretty spooky around here probably as a result of lots of coyotes, feeder use, and how much I am out on the property chasing hogs. I would really have to think about it if the question was about hogs. I kill alot more of those, and those suckers don't stand still very much, so your don't always hit them where you think.

Accurate shooting,razor sharp heads and straight flying arrows are everything when it comes to deer sized game.I would not rank poundage very high whether its low of higher poundage.

Never lost one I shot through the vitals. :)

the last deer I shot at with a 60# self bow,, hit him in the horns,,, broke my best arrow,,and lost my lucky broad head,,, never could find him,,:)

Here’s my guess - most guys will end up having lost the most deer with whatever weight they started out with. Rookie mistakes vs older & wiser.

I took a few STOOOPID shots early on, but always missed clean. I did give one a slight scratch - creased the backline with one blade out of three, but that one doesn’t count as a Stupid shot, nor a “lost” animal for that matter, given a 100% chance of survival.

But (luckily for all concerned) I learned pretty quickly to not take the stupid shots. No, I have not killed hundreds of deer. Never set out to take more than 2 a year and I’ve been picky about my shots since I got past the point where I had anything to prove to myself...

30 years ago I lost a deer with my 75# compound bow when I hit the shoulder.

I annually kill more deer than almost anyone I know I hunt with trad bows compounds muzzleloader & rifle & I'm confident in & with all of them & unfortunately the occasional bad hit happens your question doesn't make sense to me unless your trying to get someone to admit to beying over bowed & wounded animals because of inconsistent accuracy due to it

Only ever "lost" one. That was with 50#. Did finally find him...a week later!

So the guy that is a more discriminate hunter and chooses to take fewer animals is somehow not as good of a hunter or shot?

That is some strange logic. Yes there are many hunters that have been hunting for 40 plus years that have only lost a few animals. There are many reasons for this which is personal to the hunter.

I personally find this thread ridiculous.

Side on, I shoot everything low behind the front leg. Thinner hide, lighter bone, sizeable target. One of my best friends was shooting wild boar with a buddy of his- who happened to be a very well known hunter and author. My friend was shooting them behind the front leg with a forty pond bow and killed everything he hit. His friend was shooting them in the shoulder with a seventy pond bow and didn't recover any. You could kill a deer with a twenty five pound bow if you slip a two blade broadhead between its ribs. I also reckon hunting large game with three blade heads should be illegal with very light bows. The sports stores in the small country towns around where I live sell a very limited amount of archery gear. It's common to see kids heading out the door with full length eighty pound spine arrows and three blade bodkin heads they can't sharpen. That bothers me. JayInOz

By "lost" I assume you mean unfound, obviously mortally wounded deer. Everyone has had some missplced flesh wounds,or hit a non lethal spot such as a hard bone! The deer survives just fine...but you "lost" it! Like that big Muskie that throws the lure at the boat! You sure didn't "catch" him!

I don’t think a public discussion about losing deer is smart fellas

60 pound compound, back in the day. You just can't hit poorly hard enough.

Bowguy, wadr, I disagree. First, this isn't quite as 'public' as you may believe. Second, if we are *not* seen as caring about our mistakes, and seeking to improve, what does *that* say about us?

How about a "What Day Of The Week Have You Lost The Most Deer"?

Answer.....The day that I shot poorly!

Since switching to a crossbow with a scope, I've never lost a deer I shot.:)

Congrats. Dumbest post this week. No offense. Nothing else to do?

35# or less. :>)

Please. Not constructive. And my apologies to the OP. Just tired of subjective subjects that do nothing but fill space. Only thing worse, listening to a conversation about this. Less is more.

This is such a bizarre question . If all you've ever hunted with was 40 lbs., then obviously that's the answer .

I've lost one deer in over 30 years of bow hunting. That was the result of her trying to cross a swollen river after having been stuck. She tried to cross 30 yards after being hit .

The question does make sense to me if it's centered around poor accuracy due to being over bow'd Vs. lack of penetration due to being under bow'd. I've shot heavy and light weight bows over the years. I've settled on the heavier ones above 60# for what I believe are just a few good reasons. I'm convinced that accuracy, a cool head and close shots on unsuspecting flat-footed game are the real key factors. Unfortunately I think most of us take some bad shots and lose too much game before realizing that a bunch of things need to be just right before we let go of that string.

I used to hunt a federal military installation and you had to have your name painted on your arrow and report all hits. I hit a buck high in the shoulder area and the arrow didn't penetrate. The next week the game warden told me "I saw your deer a couple of time this week." I asked him how he knows it was my deer and he said: "How many deer are walking around with a long orange shaft and white fletching in it?" Oh, 50# BTW.

The only deer I "lost" was with Bear Whitetail compound in the mid 80's, during my three year compound phase. Hit the buck high, as he bolted right at dark and didn't find him until next morning. "Gentleman" with a pistol on his hip was field dressing a stiff buck that had a wound high over the liver but no arrow, and he put an arrow in its neck and claimed he just shoot, it. Young guy with a compound bow - zero, dude with pistol on his hip - one!

Iwander's response wins the prize.

"The question does make sense to me if it's centered around poor accuracy due to being over bow'd Vs. lack of penetration due to being under bow'd."

I have received several PM's on this thread. Iwander's concept was the basis for my PM replies.

The other factor is: "depends on what you are using.". One pm reply I wrote was (sic): "If 45# was the most-used draw weight for deer hunting, then you would think there would be the most misses, or lost deer-just due to pure numbers."

I think the replies echo the concept that "lack of success" ( to describe it broadly) in trad deer hunting has much more to due with factors beside draw weight itself;BUT, when "lack of success" occurs, WHY does it occur?

One factor could be due to being overbowed, which can challenge the Hunter's accuracy. This would be further magnified by the "part time" archery hunter that is primarily a firearm hunter, but has a set up which if too much for him/her to handle for the 20 shots/year taken as hunting prep. Maybe this is 50,or 55#? Who knows. By the responses, certainly experienced, dedicated trad ( and some compound bow shooters) had " lack of success" events- for a variety of reasons. So it wasn't just not being accurate/able to handle the set up.

The other factor is on the other side of the spectrum, where "lack of success" may be due to lack of penetration, not necessarily related to "not breing able to handle a light bow- (whatever you define as "light", ?39#?). Then, maybe a new tradition hunter DOES have trouble handling that draw weight. Coupled with cold weather, waiting for hours, getting only one shot, never practicing from a tree stand etc).

You never/rarely read about "lack of success" with low draw weight bows- but they must happen. Maybe that population ( numbers group for statistically study) do not visit trad hunting forums. Let's face it, most people who read/participate on leatherwall would be classified as " having trad experience", whether being hunting- or target-based. Even do, "lack of success" deer hunting with "light" bows have a reason. What is it? My guess is lack of penetration, maybe too far a shot, certainly placement.

I appreciate all the responses. Thanks for sharing. The take away? There are many factors that are involved to achieve a successful hunt. It includes: arrow placement, shot discipline ( take it or wait?), range, penetration/sharp broadheads- and arrow mass/gpp, practice and some luck.

FWIW, readers may view some replies as "harsh" directed to my post. Just want to let folks know that some of the posters also sent PMs to clarify their comments. All very politely and in good spirit, so there should not be any concern of "bad feelings.". No worries, and life is fine.

Another takeaway from this is we have a true ethics-based, group that are responsible sportsman. That isn't a new research finding, just something that clearly came through.

Thanks for your comments.

My wife has shot most of her deer with bows that pulled 38 pounds at her 26" draw, never lost any of them. In the past 20 years i have seen many deer lost because of poor shots and hits with mechanical broad heads. Often the prime cause is guys shooting at deer after hours in near total darkness. If you ever tried to aim at something through a peep sight in the dark you would know what I am talking about. Often these same individuals will take a guessing shot by looking around the peep sight and basically trying to take their first instinctive shot with a fully equipped compound and hit high and left from their tree stands. The game wardens are aware of this and one has a night scope with him at all times. I always quit with 15 minutes left to go with P.M. hunting, Figure if you cannot see the hit, you cannot take the shot.

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