Archery Let Off Rules

[LOlson45]

This is my first year of archery hunting and I just got a bow. The bow is set at about 60lbs draw weight and has a 75% let off. I read some of the regs and couldn’t really make sense of the let off rules. Is my bow set up legal for here in Washington?

[Bob33]

It is legal. Let off is irrelevant.

[LOlson45]

Thanks a bunch for the reply. What about when the 2020 game regs say “it is unlawful for any person to hunt big game animals with a bow that does not produce a minimum of 40 pounds of pull measured at twenty-eight inches or at full draw”?

[huntnfmly]

Your bow is set to 60 you're good

[LOlson45]

Thanks again for the reply. Just out of curiosity, what do the regs mean when they say this?

[huntnfmly]

It's meant mostly for traditional bows just like it says pulling that back must have 40# at 28in.
A compound bow needs to be a 40# draw weight minimum

[Tracker0721]

It’s for us trad people mostly. Like my girlfriends bow is #40 at 28” but she draws 25”. So really her bow is only 33lbs or something. So she needs a new bow if she wants to hunt.

[dilleytech]

Thanks a bunch for the reply. What about when the 2020 game regs say “it is unlawful for any person to hunt big game animals with a bow that does not produce a minimum of 40 pounds of pull measured at twenty-eight inches or at full draw”?

Your bow “MAX” poundage must be at least 40 pounds. That has nothing to do with the weight of draw at full draw “after let off”. There used to be a max let off of 75% but I think they did away with that..

The minimum poundage is to ensure a bow is capable of clean kills. If the poundage was measured after let off no one would be legal. My 70# bow would measure 10#.