I wish I was comfortable hunting with 41 pounds. I got a new bow that is about 10-11 pounds lighter than my normal hunting rigs. So much more comfortable to shoot!! With comfort comes more accuracy for me I guess. This isn’t a will it kill a deer thread at all. I know it will. Sharp head, right spot is key. I just wish I could build that confidence. Only hunted with 50 pounds plus for my whole life. I know it’ll do it but also feel I should hunt with as heavy a bow as I can shoot accurately. That’s always been my philosophy.

Truth is if you weren't getting the 50lb, pound bow to full draw and you weren't getting a good clean release (and based on your own observation you probably weren't) there is probably -0- performance difference between the 2.

Deer are basically like shooting a bag of water barring a direct bone hit. There is not large muscle mass as compared to a Moose or Elk. I don't shoot what is considred light bows, but one day I might need to, and 41# is plenty for a deer with proper shot placement and just about any sharp broadhead. Let it go, tune out the B.S. and move on, you will be fine.

I’ve killed a few deer 2 bears and a turkey with a 40# and Doug fir arrows weighing 500+gr. Just got another new 40#journeyman on Monday love that weight and I have SO MUCH MORE shot control.

Confidents comes with expireance. I like venison, I bow hunt with 40# bows. I eat venison every year.

40 is a fun weight. I can shoot all day with one. But it seems like I get weak if I don't pull out at least a 45 pound bow for a couple dozen shots a day.

I’m finding #45 to me a good number for me. Just super light, smooth and capable.

I'm getting a 40 pounder. I have a 50 pound Savannah. Feels like 55 though. Really struggle with it. It whips an arrow though. But if you can shoot consistent, the 10 pounds and arrow speed don't mean squat. JMO

The only reason people get-it, after all these years, is that they never used light weight bows to hunt with and have been brain-washed into thinking you need a 65# bow to shoot a whitetail with. Some of us started with 40# bows and did just fine so we know the history of what works. 40# will shoot as fast as a 60# with matched arrows. Then it only becomes the mass of the arrow that does the job. Also what fdp said.

Shoot what weight you can shoot comfortable and accurate. For bowhunting just make sure your in the legal weight limit for your state, and don't care what anyone else thinks.

It's a relative. I dropped 11 pounds. Fifty to 39 and gained 6 foot/pounds of energy.

Do to coaching I'd bought some 28 pound limbs to 'help' students. I shoot the 28 pound limbs more than my hunting bow.

Bowmania

I've seen Ken shoot. Pretty sure he can consistently take deer no matter what he shoots.

I shot a small buck last season with a 42@26 Hill that I carved down a lot, I was trying to see if I could get it low enough for my wife to shoot. I was still hunting pheasants with sharp but worn down broad heads on cedar arrows. The less than one inch wide Hunter's Head is out there in the switch grass somewhere. The little 6 pointer, didn't go more than 50 yards. My wife is recovery from a bad broken arm, I just order a cheap 26 pound bow for her as a recovery bow. No, she will not be hunting with it, but struggling with bow weight is never a good thing, I proved it to myself one year. A very heavy longbow that got way stiffer when I was infected with a bad case of buck fever, I missed and a fellow with a 45 pound bow that he maybe or not pulled to 27", shot the nice buck after it went by me. That was 44 years ago, the funny part is a 45 pound Bear Kodiak 60" shooting a cedar arrow and pushing a Bear Razorhead could kill a large Iowa buck back then.

Here's what many dont consider. 50 # is about 25% more than 40. If a 40# bow gives 10 inches of penetration. A 50 will give you 12.5 inches. Will that make a critical difference? Maybe on elk or moose, but not on white tails hit where they should be hit.

I'm not sure where the idea came from about heavy traditional bows. It's BS for most hunting. Depending on the actual performance of the bow. Don't take that much to get threw the first set of ribs. After that don't matter much. If you ain't in the bread basket poundage ain't going to matter much.

All, of you guys make me feel real good. I have a Bear Kodiak Magnum 53#. I shoot it pretty good but for me its heavy. I had the opportunity to pick up a Browning Nomad Stalker 40#. I think I'm going to be a lot more confident and comfortable. Any recommendations on arrow weight?

I've killed a couple deer with heavy bows that I woulda not killed with light bows, and lost a couple that I probably woulda killed with a heavy bow, so heavy bows offer an advantage. This in a career spanning 40 years. And to make enough difference to write home about, the bows have to be really heavy, 60# or more. Bottom line....shoot the heaviest bow you can shoot accurately under hunting conditions. If that's 40#, make good shots and eat lots of venison.

Very interesting comments. Like I said, I know it’ll kill a deer. I think I’ll give the 41 pounder a go. To the guys who say I probably wasn’t getting my 50 pound bows back to anchor, I gotta respectfully disagree. I see, and know there is a performance difference. I can shoot a heavier arrow with more velocity out of a bow that is 10+ pounds heavier. More mass, same speed, more momentum. I do realize I don’t need that extra momentum. Just have a hard time convincing myself to have confidence in it all. Bigiron, I have found that 11 grains per pound is what I like. Though, I’m sure, 9-10 grains is sufficient. Good luck, sir. Chuck(76aggie) thanks. It was a great time shooting with you. I don’t know why we didn’t do it again this year. Maybe at the summer shoot up at cowtown!

My personal experience after over 50 years of killing Iowa whitetails is use what works. I had a 96 pound longbow get about 20 times the penetration as a 38 pound longbow, taking almost the exact same shot in two different years. The 38 was needed because I tore a muscle in my arm lifting weights, so i could be strong enough to shoot the heavy bows. Up hill about 9 feet and out to the edge of the field about 18 yards. the difference was bare frozen ground versus standing corn. the arrow with the light bow stuck in a corn stalk two rows past the very large doe. Both deer died with in a few feet of the same cedar tree, over 100 yards from the hit. With a high performance bow, I would not go nuts over arrow weight or yardage, I prefer easy penetrating broad heads on any bow/arrow combination. I have seen a case where a super heavy arrow shot from a suppose to be very fast recurve get pathetic penetration in the rump of a buck. The guy had many tree stands, a fancy caddy suburban thing a crew to high his tree stands for him, signs for windshields that told people that he would appreciate their cooperation and not hunt his privately claimed public land, a four shorter draw than he claimed and arrows that flew like crooked tree trunks. Arrow flight and accuracy matters more than money. He told my wife that she didn't get pass throughs, after she did, because he didn't get pass throughs. He was half right, and his rump hit buck was never found or seen again.

I'm shooting a 38# Coy Pup longbow and a 45# Texas Recurve and am sure either one will do the job. I'm shooting a 450 gr. Arrow out of both of them and at twenty yards they zip along. I wouldn't shoot past 25 yards at a deer but my accuracy has greatly improved using light bows.

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