Saturday, June 14, 2008
Ease Up On Your Draw Weight
I’ve seen it thousands of times. The strongest looking guy on a 3-D course has muscles in his spit, and he delights in telling others how he pulls 92 pounds or some such thing.
He tells others that he is dead-on at 50 yards, and his arrow speed is well over 300 feet-per-second. He usually insults others by asking them how much weight they draw.
If they answer 55 pounds, 60 pounds or 65 pounds, he criticizes them for not shooting more poundage. Such jokers attend one or two 3-D shoots, and then wonder why no one wants to associate with them.
Other than because of a personal belief, there is no reason a person should be pulling 90 pounds or more. It’s not needed, and drawing that much weight doesn’t make most people a better archer.
In fact, one could argue the case that too much weight can make them a worse shot. How so?
It’s easy. Anyone who draws that much weight is an accident waiting for a place to happen. There used to be a guy that came into my archery shop, and he had to retune his bow after every four or five shots. The vibration of the shot was so violent his bow would go out of tune.
Once, the bow blew up when he shot an arrow much too light for his draw weight. The bow disintegrated in his hand, and only through good fortune, did he escape serious injury. He was cut up some when things started flying off his bow.
A month later, as he cranked his bow up another two pounds, he drew it back with visible difficulty, and shot one arrow. It was on the second shot that he blew out a couple of shoulder muscles, and the last thing I knew he was pulling 55 pounds. His he-man days were over.
He no longer razzed other hunters about their meek draw weight. He learned a lesson he’ll never forget. Too much draw weight will cause long-lasting injuries.
The one thing such macho guys believe is that pulling heavy-duty weight helps them. Another guy I used to know cranked his bow up to 85 pounds, and he knew he was teetering on the ragged edge of too much draw weight. He gritted his teeth, and when he shot, he would miss the kill zone by a foot or more. He wounded too many deer, and also wound up hurting himself.
Most of the deer shot in Michigan and other states are taken at 20 yards or less. It doesn’t take a heavy draw weight to shoot a razor-sharp broadhead through a deer with 35-40 pounds.
One woman I know is extremely accurate. She has good eyes, good form, and has shot over 250 chipmunks and red squirrels around her home using a bow and arrow. She rarely misses, and if she draws on either one of the small rodents, it was dead but didn’t know it yet.
She gradually built up her strength to draw 38 pounds, and she shoots deer every year. She shoots arrows clean through the deer, and that points out the two things any bow hunter needs to be effective in the deer woods. They need to be able to accurately shoot arrows, and must shoot arrows tipped with razor-like broadheads.
Most factory broadheads are not razor sharp. If you shoot a replaceable blade broadhead, choose one with the sharpest possible blades. If you choose a fixed-blade broadhead, choose a two-blade head than can be sharpened by hand.
We use a flat file to get the broadhead reasonably sharp, and then we put the finishing touches on with a stone. The tiny burrs on the edge are removed on a leather strop like the ones barbers once used.
It doesn’t require he-man strength to shoot a deer. It does require accurate shot placement, and very sharp broadheads. A bow shooting an arrow at 180 feet-per-second or faster, and an arrow tipped with a very sharp broadhead, is far more effective than a bad hit from an arrow traveling 300 feet-per-second.
It’s a matter of concentration and skill rather than one of brawn and bluster. A cool hand, under pressure, can place an arrow accurately, and the sharp broadhead does the rest.
Which scenario do you think works the best?—The Whitetail Wizard