bow draw weight for elk?

[General Disarray]

general disarray....i believe my arrows are 31.5, and i wouldn't say that i have gorilla portions, i read a guide that said divide your wingspan by 2.5 as a starting point and it gave me inbetween 31.5 and 32 and drawing it felt the most comfortable and gave me the best anchor point at 32.5 so i stuck with it.  

Seriously, unless you're pushing 7 foot with arms that drag knuckles on the ground I would go into a PRO-SHOP and get measured.... I'm 6'2" and shoot a 29" draw very comfortably.  I shoot a lot of archery and have seen one shooter with a 32" draw length that could actually shoot it properly.  He's a big guy with long arms and knows what he is doing.  He was a top archer in the country for a while but now just concentrates on making Trophy Taker rests and sights.  If you're anchoring anywhere behind your jaw you're not a 32.5" draw length.

I'm only saying this because shooting the proper draw length is the very first step in shooting accurately.  The poundage won't be a problem at all.

[WDFW Hates ME!!!]

I am 6'4" and i have a 31 inch draw... I anchor my thumb nail in the corner of my mouth...

[funkster]

You can measure your own draw length at home! Make a fist,touch it to the wall and have a friend measure to the corner of your mouth. I'am 5'10" and my exact draw lenght is 29 3/4 but I feel more comfortable at 30" draw. If you have not already I would go have your bow checked for timing. I think your bow has a cam and a half and those do go out of time. I have had mine go out twice on me and the last time it was 2.5 turns out of time.

I know it is all personal choice and what you are comfortable with and is another touchy subject, but I feel to cut yourself at 40 yrds is cutting yourself alittle short. With the speed of today's bow and arrows shooting 300 plus fps, with the right set up such as carbon arrow with shorter vanes and a small diameter broadhead they get to 40 yards in a hurry very flat. With proper technique and alot of practice a experianced bow hunter can shoot out to 60 yards. I know about six archer's that shoot elk every year past 60 yards hitting them in the vitals. Un-ethical, I hear alot about those shots but have not really understood the term. A heart/lung shot at 5 yards or 75 yards is still a heart/lung shot. I'am not trying to get anyone to change there personal hunting ethics and I believe that a closer shot is always better 100%. But to say anything over 45 yards is un-ethical is alittle extreme IMPO.

[boneaddict]

No problem Funkster.  I just shot six arrows off of my front porch to my target that is 55 yards away, all in a tennis ball size group.  Its downhill, and I have never shot from there before.Actually I didn't range it until later.  I'm sure I can make the shot, just don't feel its necessary.  Just too many hthings that can go wrong.  Now when that 400 inch bull is 50 yards out and won't come any closer while I'm down in NM, lets see where my standards are at.   Honestly, even with my rifle, most shots are well under 50 yards.  On occasion I loft one, but the country I hunt is usually right in front of you or half a mile away.

[jackelope]

I'm 6'4" and my bow is maxed out at 30" draw and it puts the nock of the arrow right at the corner of my mouth. i think bill at nock point said the right draw length for me is about 30.5" and cut my arrows to 30 3/4" from the insert to the nock.

[funkster]

Yeah,thats is what I mean! I believe it is all about the situation and like you said if a 400 bull comes out at 55 yards and I can't get any closer, I want to be practiced up at that yardage and know I can shoot that far if I have to.


Here is a deer that I shot at 53 yards with my hoyt supertec.The deer only went 28 yards.

[Machias]

I guess I better stay away from this thread or I'll get myself banned.

[boneaddict]

Speak your mind, just keep it clean.

[jackelope]

this site is all about conversation....

[Machias]

"Speak your mind, just keep it clean."    I alway keep it clean.  This is a subject I am passionate about, and can get myself wound up pretty tight, which says alot cause I'm a very easy going guy about 98% of the time. 

All I'll say is when that 400 inch bull steps out THAT is the moment above all others you should use maximum constraint.  There is no doubt todays equipment can put the arrow EXACTLY where you are aiming.  But even at 300-320+ fps the time, in hunting conditions, is way to slow at those distances and way too many factors, out of your control, can effect the flight of that arrow.  At the exact momet you release, the elk's brain signals his legs to move so he can take a bite of grass 12 inches away, the wind picks up just a tad, and you have yourself a 400 inch bull with an arrow zipping through the EXACT spot you were aiming for, however the elk's stomach is now behind that spot.  You get to spend the rest of the season hating yourself because you know in your heart and mind that that animal, that magnificent 400 inch bull suffered, probably died, but even if he didn't he suffered none the less.  It's at that point, when the bull steps out you have to be able to get closer or be strong in your convictions that this is a close quarters sport and let the bull walk, to be hunted again another day.  Bowhunting is about getting close and I'm not trying to sound elitist, but it's about distance and angles and trying to take shots at relaxed, unaware game.  Even with todays bows zipping along at 300+ fps, whitetails can easily be missed at 20+ yards from dropping a full body length at the sound of the release.  Yes bows are faster, but they are not fast enough to elivaite those past problems of distance and time that archers have aways had to deal with.  Sure plenty of guys have made 40, 50, 60 +++ yard shots, doesn't mean they should.  Show me a guy who consistently takes shots over 40 and I will bet my paycheck he's wounded a bunch of animals or lost a bunch of arrows.  We have a pretty good 3D archery range here in Spokane, if someone could show me that they can consistently hit the 10 ring I'll be SHOCKED, and these targets don't move after you release the arrow, but they are in hunting type conditions.  I believe we owe it to the animals and the sport of bowhunting to close the distance.  There is already such a clamor against archery from non-archery hunters who say why do they need special seasons, heck they are shooting elk out at muzzleloader ranges.  Have you ever slightly pulled off a target as you were releasing?  Ever slightly brushed your shirt sleeve, bumped your hat, didn't see that little twig, lots of reasons to try and work in closer.  If the big boy walks out and you can't get any closer, guess what he's still out there waiting for you to come after him again. 

Honestly, I'd like to see guys who take 60+ yard shots be banned from bowhunting, but that's just me.

[jackelope]

well said...and i think that most of us on here would agree with you, including boneaddict.
i think his comment was a tongue-in-cheek kind of thing...kind of like joking, but i'll let him speak for himself...but that would definitely be the ultimate test of your hunting ethics/morals/restraint and i don't know how many people could/would not take that 50 yard shot.
i find it real fun to shoot targets at 50-60-70 yards in my little experience, but i don't think i'd ever have the confidence to shoot that far at an animal.

[WDFW-SUX]

I'll say this about the distance factor. In the last Ten years archery equipment has changed more than in the last 40 and there are a ton of guys I know who are more than capable of shooting the X at 60 yards all day long with field points.  With laser rangefinders and the new types of broad-heads that fly IDENTICAL to field points 50 yards is a very easy shot for someone who has taken the time to hone there skills. I recently shot a 3D at Kenmore and scored  a 10 or better on 37 targets out of the 45 targets. I had a kill shot on every single target some past 70 yards and I don't consider myself one of the better shooters out there.  Given proper angles and the mood the animals are in Id take a 50 yard shot and not even think twice about it. Every one is different but with the advances in technology  effective shooting distances have increased greatly with out a doubt.

[Ironhead]

I hear ya WDFW but, the one thing that hasn't changed in all those years is the fact that 1 step at 55 yards and you just gut shot an animal or hit shoulder bone, one big gust of wind and the same results. Technology has changed but mother nature hasn't.

[funkster]

Very good points have been made, atleast posters have good reason's behind there statements! This is a really good forum.By now on other sites I have lurked on people would be in all out keyboard war. It says alot for are state of Washington and it's hunter's.

I have a video about shot placement and it says that the lady with the most big game records shoots a bow at 52lbs, so yes, 60lbs with good shot placement will work! The point I was trying to make is if you don't get that perfect shot,the higher the poundage = more speed which =  more kinetic energy you will have. Thus = a shoulder bone won't stop the arrow.


Machias,I agree with most of what you said. I love getting close to big screaming bulls and I would love to take a elk at 20 yards and under and that is even what I'am hoping and planning for. I agree 100% that closer is better. Where I differ is to limit yourself to a yardage number such as 40 yards and to say anything over that is just un-ethical. It is all about situation and yes I have passed on elk before even at 20 yards for those reason's you said branches,uphills and downhills and that is why I haven't haverested an elk yet. I'am not out there just to get a animal. If the situation is not right I will and have passed up game. Until I feel 100% sure about the shot, I will not take it, I'am 100% for no animal suffering and I'am 100% about shot placement that is why I practice so much.


Jackelope,Bill is a great guy! My family has been going to his shop for 20 years. My dad took me there when I was 12, just this year I took my 10 year old son up to get his first "real" bow. Bill knows bows!

[Machias]

Archery only seasons are much longer in most states and even have more liberal harvest because the whole concept of bowhunting was the added difficulty of getting close enough and being able to draw without being detected.  Once we as a group start condoning shots out to 60 70 80 yards, becasue the equipment can do it, we as a sport are doomed.  I love compounds, been shooting them all my life, but if the trend goes to laser range finders, 90% letoff, etc etc and shots out to those ranges are consider acceptable then I will have to side with the traditionalist and go back to equipment restrictions which limit the effective ranges of the weapons.  The way it's heading I'd support bare stickbows in archery season and the rest can use their equipment in rifle season.  In the past 10 years, with last year being an exception, I have gotten a deer every year with a rifle, none have been over 75 yards, most have been rattled into less then 50.  I have always dismissed the guys talking about equipment restrictions as blowhard elitist, but honestly if the bowhunters in general move in that direction I'll have to be on the other side.  Bowhunting was never about hitting a ping pong ball at 80 yards, it was about the quest to become a better hunter then a rifle or muzzleloading hunter, pushing your hunting skills to the limit, not your shooting skills.  

Look you fellas that don't see anything wrong with long range shooting, I am NOT trying to demean you, I figure you probably didn't have a mentor that stressed those values, I'm trying to just get you to take a step back and think of bowhunting as a whole.  If you make that shot and something out of your control happens and you wound an animal, what impact will that have on the sport, what impact wil that have on your hunting soul?  Can you wound animals at close range?  Absolutely, but your odds increase dramaticlly as the range increases.

Sorry to have hijack the thread.