Newbie Archery Question: Does draw length affect poundage?

[djnoodle]

I picked up my first bow this year. It's a PSE Stinger 3G with a 60lb max. I want to back the limbs off a bit, say 5 or 6 lbs. My dealer already set the draw length to its shortest possible - 25.5" and he set the limbs at the full 60lb draw weight. I can pull it well enough but I want to see if 5 lbs lighter makes me more accurate.

Did the dealer shortening the draw length lessen the poundage below the 60 lbs that he set the limbs to? Or does that only affect the feet per second of the arrow travel?


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[Crunchy]

Short answer is No. 

[hughjorgan]

Your draw length does not affect your poundage, but lowering your poundage will affect the spine of your arrow.

[DIYARCHERYJUNKIE]

The limbs will still pull sixty.  Or whatever there set to.  The shorter draw length will give you less fps and ke though.

[djnoodle]

Cool. That is what I thought.

So the law says that you have to use a certain poundage for big game, but it does not make mention on the fps or ke. So I should be good, correct?


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[dreamunelk]

Are you having problems pulling 60#?   If yes, than being it is after the seasons I would say start working on strength while maintaining good form.   What is your accuracy issue?  This can get real complicated.  Assuming you arrows are spined correctly and you can hold your bow at full draw through the realease you may have form issues affecting accuracy.

[djnoodle]

I don't know what my accuracy issue is. I am hitting about a 6 in area with 5 shots. I am not having issues pulling 60#, but I am a bit wobbly holding it at draw for any length of time. I was just wanting to see if going to 55# would help my accuracy.


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[dreamunelk]

Hopefully some others on here will chime in.  Several are far better versed in explaining the art of archery then I am.
Sounds to me like you may be a little heavy and may have some form issues.  Start Googleing around for video on archery form and check your self.  Now long have you been shooting?
I would stick with shooting five shots and concentrate on form.  Take a break and shoot another five later.

Hopefully your dealer is a proshop and not a mass retailer.  Would not hurt to go back and ask them to watch you shoot a few arrows. 

[djnoodle]

I've only been shooting twice. Literally two times.


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[bowNarrow]

The only issue I see is that your a new archer and yor muscles aren't used to shooting a bow. Once you shoot for awhile you will be able to hold more steady. You can't just come out and expect to shoot perfecty. archery takes lots of time and practice

[BABackcountryBwhntr]

Being new the odds of bad habits being created are very high. You should back the bow down as far as you can while staying within the spine of yout arrow and shoot. Slowly work up to 60lbs.

[hogslayer]

You need to establish a shooting form/routine that is the same every time.  Everything from where the string touches your nose and the corner of your mouth to the slow breath you exhale while holding full draw.  If pulling 60 LBS isn't an issue than i wouldn't go down any weight.  If you are trying to hold your arrow back for more than say 5 seconds you will start to notice your pins become a little wobbley.   Watch some you tube videos on proper form, How to position the bow on your hand/not punching the release.  Stuff like that makes a big difference.  Try not to focus on how many arrows you shoot in one day, but how many of them were serious focused shots.  I only shoot 3 arrows and make them all count and then wait for other people to finish. 

[dreamunelk]

I've only been shooting twice. Literally two times.


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You are expecting too much at this point.  Spend a few hours watching videos on form and reading.  You have a long way to go and much to learn.  Impatience will not make you a better archer.

Hogslayer provided some very good advice.  Follow it!

[djnoodle]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I will keep it at 60# for now and watch some YouTube vids on proper form and technique.


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[hogslayer]

Where do you shoot at?  I am in Seattle and could meet up with you and shoot for a few hrs and help get you dialed in.

[djnoodle]

I shoot at my dad's house in Morton right now. I am planning on shooting sometime soon at Lucky Shot Archery in Chehalis. Either this week or next.


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[LongTatLaw]

On draw weight..Ill say two things that sound contradictory but they arent. The state law for deer I believe is 40lbs and 40 lbs will certainly produce enough kinetic energy to kill a deer. And tons of people kill elk with a 50lb bow every year so no need to get caught up on draw weight. That said, you want every lb you can comfortably draw and shoot with proper form under realistic hunting conditions. The more draw weight...the more kinetic energy...some might argue but much like horsepower...I dont believe their is any such thing as having too much available. Honestly though...the secondary benefit in increasing kinetic energy is the primary win...flatter arrow flight path...  the lower the lbs...the more of a hail marry arch. The higher the lbs..the more laser beam the shot...the two benefits from flatter slight path are 1. easier to thread the needle/ shoot through windows...as you will often be forced to do when hunting... higher draw wt...more deer hit..less overhead limbs half way to target hit. The 2nd benefit (I know...the first was long) is that flatter flight path means less impact from minor mistakes in distance judgement (this statement will get some people butt hurt but oh well). In the back yard...you know to the inch how far away your target is and with enough pins you could probably smack oranges at 100 yards with a 20lb bow....  but when an elk is coming in screaming and you guess a path and range a stump and he comes in 20 yards to the left...and ya gotta guess the range in reference to your ranged stump... increased draw weight means minor mistakes matter LESS. being off by 5-7 yards at 40 yards with a 70lb draw bow...will not significantly change your point of impact...if you are pull 40 lbs and at 40 yards your off by 5-7 yards in your estimation...that will likely result in a marginal shot. Im speaking in generalities...but it illustrates the concept.
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All that said, back it down a turn....each limb bolt...practice there...work your way up once your body is used to this request for muscles that have never been tapped before...Thats all Id say about draw weight...
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That said, when it comes to accuracy...there is a lot...A LOT to it. but 3 things instantly come to mind...One could assume all of this is a non-issue given your newly bought bow shop bow...but...I find skill at bow shops VARY greatly...sooooo,

1. is your bow tuned? how? eye ball'd? laser tested center shot tool? the old school paper tuned? Are you shooting broadheads and getting 6inch groups...or field points? (i dont know FP's..I practice with BH's). have you paper tuned your arrows and set up to your BH's if your shooting broadheads? tunning your bow is like zeroing your rifle scope..if its not zeroed..no matter how good a shot you are...your equipment isnt properly aligned and you wont hit anything.

2. are your arrows properly spined? spine = stiffness...arrows oscillate in flight and if the stiffness doesnt match your draw weight...the vibration isnt harmonic and you get poor accuracy.

3. Site picture alignment. What size is your peep? many HUNTING sized peeps are huge..so you can see your pins andd yet be all over the board. I use a pretty small peep...so small it can be an issue in low light conditions...that said, peep isnt everything...I have several "anchor points" my peep starts it...but Theres several pressure points that I ensure tough the exact same spot on my face...a crease in my wrist touches my lower ear...my first thumb section lays on my jaw... my thumbnail hits a precise spot on my chin....the string lays at an exact axis on my cheek. Honestly...you could probably remove my peep and I could get pie plate groups out to 40 yards using my ancillary anchor points.  beings precise to perfectly repeated anchor points will be absolutely necessary to achieve excellent accuracy
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hope that helps...im no expert...but Ive been doing this a long while....if anyone on here that argues they have a better way or Im wrong....Id go with what they say...lol

[djnoodle]

I think my arrows are properly spined.  They are for 55-70 lbs and I am shooting 60 lbs.

Is my bow tuned? No. That is something that I want to do. But I don't know where to begin. I don't deny that I need a ton of practice and that I need to learn the proper technique and form as well. But I want to make sure that my bow is setup properly so that I don't develop some bad habits trying to compensate for something that is setup wrong with the bow. I'm not saying Cabelas did a bad job tuning it to me, but I'd like to check their work, no what I mean?

My peep sight seems very large to me. But it seems to be working.


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[Little Dave]

My dealer already set the draw length to its shortest possible - 25.5"

Hmm... a red flag in that.

I got my first bow at Cabela's.  They set me up with a nice bow and I could shoot it fine, or so I thought.  I have long arms, so the dealer set it to the longest possible setting - "31"

However, no matter how much I practiced, I could not get reliable groups.  I found out why.  Despite my alias on Hunt WA, I'm not little.  That's what they called me when I was a kid.  These days I can just about reach the ceiling when sitting on the sofa.  To shoot right, my draw length needs to be about 34 inches.  I decided to have custom compound bows built, one a Martin the other a Hoyt to that size and right away I jumped up from a reliable last place to about forth or fifth in league shooting right behind the guys with swell tournament bows.  Then as seems to be the norm for new archers, I ruined a few arrows doubling up on the same target until I came to my senses about how much an arrow costs.  So for me, the grouping problem was all about draw length.

Buyer beware: dealer don't care! 

To them, a bow that fits right is a lower priority than moving inventory.  Bows are kind of like shoes that way.  The bow needs to fit you right.   A lot of people will just buy the standard shoe even if their foot is a funny shape... then all day long, "unh... my back hurts," etc.

Consider treating yourself a trip to a pro-shop.  You might need a custom bow that is smaller than standard size.  Fortunately for you, you may not need a custom bow case.  Now I sure liked that first bow, a Parker, but I faced the facts... I couldn't use it how I wanted to.  So I sold it to someone that could use it.  Oddly enough that first year I won a PSE bow in a drawing... couldn't use that bow either.  It didn't have a setting for ape length, so I brought the prize bow to Texas, buddy of mine down there wanted it.