Light Traditional Bows for Big Game

Colaborador Antonio Treviño. 

Fuente TraBow

If I were to narrow down the main reason people shoot poorly with traditional equipment, I would say, without a doubt, it is shooting too heavy of a bow. That’s it—most misses explained in a nutshell.

I attribute people shooting too heavy of a bow to misinformation and peer pressure. For example, I have had many people tell me I couldn’t shoot elk with a 40 lb. recurve, or worse yet, I have heard hunters tell others it is unethical to use a light bow. That is just ridiculous. For good reason, most states have a minimum draw weight ranging from 35 to 40 lbs., while some states have no minimum at all.

I shot a 54 lb. recurve at my draw for about 30 years and killed animals from deer to moose using it. I tore my rotator cuff a few years ago and dropped my weight down to Colorado’s legal minimum of 35 lbs. on my Hoyt Buffalo. With that set up, I killed several deer, bear and elk cleanly. Recently, I jumped up to 40 lbs. at my draw on a new mag riser Bear takedown. This also got the job done just fine and I have taken elk, deer and antelope with it.

Growing up reading Fred Bear’s Field Notes and watching some of his adventures on T.V., Fred Bear became a hero of mine. Now, shooting his takedown design is like a little tribute to him when I carry it. Even though my bow is much lighter than his was.

A light bow is deadly out to as far as you can accurately shoot as long as your set up is tuned. By tuned, I mean an arrow that is flying perfectly and that has 9 grains or more of arrow weight per pound of bow weight. I believe Fred Bear always recommended 10 grains of arrow weight per pound of bow weight, which is still a great standard in my opinion.

A solid and consistent anchor is key to shooting accurately, and lighter bows make it easier for people to comfortably draw and anchor every time. What’s interesting is if you look at average traditional bow weights back in the ‘60s and ‘70s, it was 45-50 lbs. In the ‘80s it was 55-60 lbs. What’s crazy to me is that as traditional bows increased speed and performance, people were buying and trying to shoot heavier traditional bows instead of bow weights going down. I attribute a lot of this to people switching over from higher poundage compounds and misinformation that heavier bows are necessary to harvest big game.

Although back in the 1950-1970s most of the recurves sold were lighter poundage bows, many of the early bowhunting pioneers actually shot heavy bows. Back in their prime, Fred Bear shot 65 lbs., Art Young shot 75 lbs. plus, and Howard Hill was known for his 115 lb. longbow. My point is that most traditional bows today with the new designs, string material, limb material and glues are outperforming the older bows. These factors increase performance along with the use of small diameter carbon or aluminum arrows, allowing for better penetration. It’s easy to see how today’s traditional bow of much lighter poundage is equivalent to the heavier poundage bows some of our early archery mentors shot. My point is, if you want to shoot more accurately, try a lighter bow. Odds are you will be happy you did.