Draw weight for other than whitetail

[JustJake]

Wondering what draw weight in a recurve I would need if I were to try elk or bear hunting.  Any thoughts?  Would love to hear personal experiences.

Thanx,
Jake

[chamookman]

I'd say 50 lb. to 60 lb. would be more than enough, tipped with a scary sharp broadhead shot a reasonable range. Shot placement is what it's all about with either. My .02 - Bob

[aaron]

If you do google search for your question, you will come up with hundreds of threads in dozens of sites. It is one of the most common questions. There is no one answer to the question, but many will say it is not about how many pounds you pull, its about accurate shot placement. A well placed shot with a sharp and well tuned arrow from a 40 lb bow will take out a bear or elk. A poorly placed shot, or a dull head or an arrow not flying straight will not kill anything even out of a 100 lb bow.
Another way to look at it is ... use a bow you can comfortably shoot and restrict your range to the distance where you can put 9 out of 10 arrows inside a 9 inch circle.

[JW_Halverson]

How heavy can you shoot EASILY?  I have over-bowed myself time and again when I was first shooting a bow.  I really was caught up in Magnum Thinking.  Bigger guns/bows kill better, right?  I don't know why I bought in to this concept, when I had bagged two deer and a mess of antelope with a .223 already.

45-50# draw weight will easily break the heaviest rib in the biggest bull elk in the Rockie Mountains, so long as the arrow is well matched to the bow and is tipped with a properly sharpened broadhead. 

However, if you are struggling to get a good release causing arrows to wag like a happy dog's tail at dinner time, you are risking hitting the animal at one extreme or the other of the wag.  That can cause the arrow to turn on impact and go all catty-whompus into the animal.  I saw that happen with my first deer.  What should have been thru the bottom ends of both lungs caught just a little of one lung, some liver, and a lot of gut.  What should have put a deer down in minutes left a deer struggling most of the night until she finally expired. 

And it wouldn't hurt to study up on the internal structures of the elk and the bear as well.  Their lungs/heart/liver are placed somewhat differently than those of deer.  That means you need to adjust point of aim for each animal slightly in order to get the best results from the broadhead. 

[mullet]

It takes no more for a Black bear then it does a Whitetail.

[jayman448]

I would go as low as 45 but no lower. ive seen government regulations saying its legal at like 35 in some places but id want a little more punch. my thoughts are this : 1accuracy is most important, 2 you only have to make it as deep as a vital, 3 fred bear killed huuuuge game (elephants) with his 70 lb bow. even a moose is no where near an elephant.

[JoJoDapyro]

Everywhere I have looked up the minimum weight of a bow it is #40. Alberta is #40, Utah is #40 Louisiana is #40. I would think that #40 is the off the shelf number for a reason?

[jayman448]

Got to remember tho that a fourty pound bow can be well under 35 # depending on draw weight. Got to take that into consideration too

[Pappy]

Ya off the shelf bow as usually AMO what ever weight at 28 inches 40@28 then you loose or add 2 or 3 lbs per inch depending on draw, back to the question, I would say 45/50 will kill most anything in the states, as has been said with proper shot placement and arrow set up.
   Pappy

[Lee Lobbestael]

I think draw weight is just too relative of a measurement with primitive bows. Different woods and different bow designs cause the performance from bow to bow to vary a lot. That being said, I have shot through whitetails with a forty pound self bow with close to 2" of set. I don't think bears are any harder to kill than deer.

[DC]

They just have an entirely different attitude when you don't kill them

[JustJake]

Thanks for the replies.  I figured I could google it, but I find it much more interesting to get first hand knowledge and comments.  I did notice for all the comments no one mentioned actually downing any larger game.  Anyone out there shot an elk, bear, moose, elephant, or whatever with their bow?

Thanks again, I was surprised (and glad) to read no one thought I needed an 80# bow.  Not that I have any plans for such an adventure right now (whitetail are more than a challenge at my skill level).  But a guy gets to thinking you know.

[jayman448]

buddies wife killed a doe faster then hes ever seen with a bow. shot hit one lung, totally took off the tip of the heart and took out the other lung. it bounded once and crumpled before its hooves hit the dirt a second time. I know that's not the moose or elk story your hoping for but its sure a testament to shot placement.

[bradsmith2010]

lots of different and correct opinions on this one,,,but take into consideration how hard the bow is shooting,,not so much the draw weight,, and how far you plan on shooting,,, and weight of the arrow,,,, 

[PAHunter]

I did a good amount of research on this last year for an elk hunt.  I ended up with a 62# selfbow with 780gr arrows.  I'm confident that was more than enough.  The key to a kill is to get into both lungs.  So I'd now consider my setup more than enough.  Though I'd be nervous with a 50# bow for elk myself though surely it's possible to kill an elk with one.  Of course not all bows are created equal so some make 50# that shoot faster than my 60# i'm sure.