newbie question of the week

[terrym]

By Ontario law you need a minimum of...

39.7 lbs to hunt whitetail deer.

48.5 lbs to hunt elk, moose or black bear.

At a lower than legal poundage the arrow would be much more likely to just wound the animal and not actually kill it.

However from the advice I have received over the years most hunters prefer 45 lbs for deer, 55 to 60 lbs for elk or moose and 60 to 80 for black bear.

Also from one story someone told to me, a friend shot a white-tail deer with a 70 lb compound - the arrow went RIGHT THROUGH the deer and kept going another 30+ yards. 70 lbs is evidently overkill on a deer and completely unnecessary.

Same thing goes with bowfishing. A bow that is too powerful will drive the arrow right through the fish, which could complicate your ability to catch and extricate the fish from your fishing line.

The poundage translates directly into arrow speed, accuracy and distance. A 40 lb bow has basically double the speed, power, accuracy and distance of a 20 lb bow. Arrow speed will fluctuate higher and lower depending on the weight of the arrow, the weight of the arrowhead, and to some extent its FOC weight (Front of Center).

It doesn't really matter whether the bow being used is a compound, recurve, longbow, or even a shortbow. If its poundage is higher then the arrows will go faster. (However I should note that recurve bows are not available at very high poundages because they would break too easily. In contrast longbows can go up to 200 lbs+. eg. Howard Hill once killed a bull elephant with a 183 lb longbow - it took him 4 arrows to take the elephant down.)

Also many hunters use heavier arrows and thus in order to get the extra accuracy/speed/power they use a higher poundage bow to compensate. If the arrows you are using are heavier, you will want a heavier poundage.

The end answer however is that you should only be using a bow you can pull and hold steady - which means when it comes to poundage you want a bow that is above legal poundage, but you can also hold it steady.

Wow. I don't know where to start here but man have you been misinformed. First of all when an arrow whistles cleanly through there is no waste of power or "overkill". Dead is dead and a deer doesnt die quicker or slower no matter how fast the arrow went through. The arrow has done exactly what you want it to. You want clean pass throughs to get an entrance and an exit hole. Archery gear kills by blood loss, not energy and shock like a firearm. 2 holes mean double the blood loss and blood trail. You can't compare bowfishing with big game, apples & oranges.
Next whoever told you that people hunt deer with 45 lb bows knows nothing about current technology. You would be lucky to find 25% of hunters who use a bow lighter than 50 lbs. And 80 lbs for black bear again is laughable. Very few bowhunters could shoot an 80lb bow and the average bear weighs less than a whitetail buck. I have never had a problem getting pass throughs at 60lbs on black bears.
And lastly cam design has more to do with arrow speed than limb weight. I have a 60 lb bow that smokes my old 70lb one with equal arrow weight.

[Species8472]

(However I should note that recurve bows are not available at very high poundages because they would break too easily. In contrast longbows can go up to 200 lbs+. eg. Howard Hill once killed a bull elephant with a 183 lb longbow - it took him 4 arrows to take the elephant down.)

Recurves may not be available in high draw weights (vertical style anyways) but it has nothing to do with the strength of the bow - more to do with the strength of today's shooters. In fact the recurve design is inherently stronger. A 1000 years ago Mongolian heavy war bows were recurves that had an average draw weight of over 160 lbs. Today there are recurve crossbows on the market with draw weights of 290 lbs.