Bow hunting...?

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robutacion

robutacion

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Joined
Aug 6, 2009
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Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
Hi peoples,

Some time ago I asked the question about bow fishing and my interest in learning how to shoot a bow. Bow fishing was what got my interest started but, I was getting into watching lots of YouTube videos about deer and pig hunting, particularly from USA that state of Texas seems to be crazy full of bow hunters and game...!

In the mean time I went to proper bow shops and had the fine line issues discussed with them and in no time, I had a 70lbs PSE Stinger bow set up that I could shoot but only set at 50lbs.

Lots of advice from them but more importantly, they made me aware of specific warm-up exercises that would also strengthen my shoulders in the process so that was good to know...!

I can practice at home anytime I like, up to 30 meters is no problem a good proper rubber target and I'm was set.

I was invited to join to a local (sort of, 45 minutes drive away) Archers club and they do everything including 3D which I really like. Every 3 weeks or so, I go there and shoot, most times in and official shoot, either paper or 3D so, we do a 20 target run, twice one in the morning and the other after lunch they supply at a minimal fee.

It has been 6 months since I joined, I went through the 3 months probation and I'm now an official/full member and I have had some fun but always trying to find someone that can put me into a place I can shoot a deer or any other animal, including the possibility to do some bow fishing but so far, I haven't had any luck...!:frown:

One of my most conflicting thoughts has been in regards of what the ideal compound bow poundage should be for hunting, for target shooting any 40 to 50lbs seems to be sufficient but, I believe 60lbs should be the minimum required to be able to shoot a deer up to 40 yards if need be

Speaking with other guys that I see shooting hunting set-ups at the club, most are shooting 70lbs that is what they hunt with and use to shot paper or other targets, they claim that, changing to lower poundage on their bows for the club shootings, would completely destroy the work they did to be proficient at 70lbs, everything would change and they don't want to go that way to which I agree and fully understand.

Based on that way of thinking and after a lot of training, I increased my bow to 60lbs as my very maximum I can shoot more than once, I felt it no doubt but, recalling my experience at the local gun shop that had a 60lbs second-hand bow for sale and that I tried, not only I can draw in completely now but I also can make multiple shots in the same day.

The average shot count in a paper or 3D shoot is of 20 targets, shot twice (morning and afternoon) so, a minimum of 40 arrows shot for the day, most times the afternoon run is a struggle for me, I'm yet to not complete the shoot, it may be hurting like hell but, I last to the end after that, don't ask me to make another bow shoot for at least 1 full week, sometimes 2 weeks before I fire a few shots before an official shoot at the club.

I'm happy with that, I know that if I get invited to go for a hunt, I can handle a bow that will have enough force to make a kill shot withing reasonable distances, the broadhead will have something to do with it and I've equipped my hunting arrows with quality and well-tested hunting tips so, I'm all set...!

I shot 3D yesterday so, my right shoulder is biting me like a mad dog, lots of DP cream and a heated rice bag over my shoulder until it gets cold, repeated a few times daily.

Now, the only thing that I need is to learn how to shoot straight, my best score was 689 out of 800 but about 650 in my average :frown:

I will get there...!:biggrin:

PS: Does anyone here would like to take my out on a hunt...?:smile:

Cheers
George
 
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Actually here in Washington State, it used to be (I haven't hunted for a few years) 40 pounds at 28 or 29 inch draw for hunting deer or elk or whatever. I shot competetively for quite a few years. I actually won a world indoor mail in tournament run by someone in Australia. If you want to hunt, shoot at a poundage comfortable for you. 70 pounds is a lot to hold and a lot of practice at 70 will wear out your shoulder. Especially if you practices like I did, a couple hundred arrows 4 or 5 times a week. 60 is a good poundage. 3d tournaments are great but don't discount paper, shooting a 3d at unknown yardage may seem like great hunting practice but shooting paper will help you recognize yardage better and will improve your skill level. Some tips. Shoot at a yardage you can hit with regularity in practice and get your confidence level up and then move on to the next, I guess it would be 10 meters where your at, we do yards here. Work on your form, blank bale shooting is great. I can recommend a book for you. Bernie Pellerite's "Idiot Proof Archery" It focuses on target archery, but in my years of archery. The best target archers have been GREAT hunter's.
 
CREID said:
Actually here in Washington State, it used to be (I haven't hunted for a few years) 40 pounds at 28 or 29 inch draw for hunting deer or elk or whatever. I shot competetively for quite a few years. I actually won a world indoor mail in tournament run by someone in Australia. If you want to hunt, shoot at a poundage comfortable for you. 70 pounds is a lot to hold and a lot of practice at 70 will wear out your shoulder. Especially if you practices like I did, a couple hundred arrows 4 or 5 times a week. 60 is a good poundage. 3d tournaments are great but don't discount paper, shooting a 3d at unknown yardage may seem like great hunting practice but shooting paper will help you recognize yardage better and will improve your skill level. Some tips. Shoot at a yardage you can hit with regularity in practice and get your confidence level up and then move on to the next, I guess it would be 10 meters where your at, we do yards here. Work on your form, blank bale shooting is great. I can recommend a book for you. Bernie Pellerite's "Idiot Proof Archery" It focuses on target archery, but in my years of archery. The best target archers have been GREAT hunter's.
Click to expand...

Interesting that you say that, at home my paper targets are regular round archery targets but at the club, what they call paper shoots, is not paper at all and are no round, they are made of some sort of vinyl material and have animal images so, we are shooting at animals printed in the flat targets.

The 60 lbs I'm shooting, feel OK for the first 12 or so arrows and I don't need to shoot the events twice as most people do, I will never compete for any high-grade scores with my $600.00 beginners bow as they call here, looking at the dedicated target shooters their Hoyts and their very expensive sights, strings and everything else they use, $3,000 minimum would be needed just to match their equipment, I'm not going to go that pass nor have 2 bows one for hunting and the other for target shooting, I can't afford that nor is the main reason I got into archery, hunting some animals is my goal, club shooting allow me to learn from better and more experienced shooters than me and practice not alone...!

Cheers
George
 
Congrats George! Sounds like your off and running so to speak. I grew up shooting bows from a very young age with my dad and have been bow hunting since I was about 13. One thing I have found is if your muscles are soar or hurting and your struggling to draw the bow while shooting, you are not helping your form building or learning any. Don't over do it. Its all about being consistent until you build muscle memory and good habits. That's when you'll see your score go up and your confidence rise. In the US the minimum is 40 lbs. That's not a lot for taking long shots. I've killed deer from 5 to 30 yards, but most of my shots were less than 20 yards. That's just how I set up when I hunt, but I also hunt with a custom made recurve bow and homemade cedar shaft arrows and not a compound so my range is much less. I used to hunt with a compound but switched years ago to up the challenge and support my goal of making recurves someday. I currently just make my own arrows from turkeys I've harvested.

You will find it can be a very expensive sport and hobby. The leading compound bow companies like Hoyt and Matthews come out with new stuff every year and make good money at it. lol Its nice to have the top of the line technology and there are plenty of people that will try and sell you it but I know just as many guys that are successful hunters and great shots with their $100 bows from Walmart. Bottom line, keep it fun and enjoy yourself!

John
 
George,
My son is an AVID bow hunter and bow fisherman! I don't mean to brag but he is very good. Just shot a musk ox a couple months ago in the arctic at -60 degrees! (brought me a set of horns so I could make pens from it!)
I'm not sure but hearing him talk you may be using too much poundage - I guess it would depend on the type of bow and all its settings. I know they have gotten very scientific.
I copied your post and sent it to him and asked him to read it and see if he can offer a critique or advice on how you are going about this! Will send you his response!
Good luck and don't hurt your shoulder and not be able to cut pen blanks!!
 
60 pounds is a good starting point. Personally I would never shoot a 70 pound bow. If your shoulder is hurting after 12 arrows or so I would have your pro shop turn down the poundage if possible. If you are not experienced with archery I would not turn it down yourself, you may harm the bow if you turn it down too far and it comes apart, or maybe hurt yourself. But please stop shooting if your shoulder hurts and wait till another day and slowly build up your strength. Even just shooting a few arrows a day will build your strength. I shot a couple hundred arrows a day, but that was after years of shooting to be able to do that and not be fatigued and also I shot 60 pounds. Remember that a 60 pound bow shoots faster than a 70 to 75 pound bow did 25 years ago with the new technology and lighter arrows, so the high poundage people are only wearing out body parts and most of them can't shoot that accurately at that high of poundage. Don't dismiss the equipment you have. First off PSE has been a prominent company in archery for a long time. Hoyt does a lot of advertising and has a few pro shooters. It is not the equipment, it is the archer. You can buy the best, newest and most popular stuff out there and I have seen people do just that and they can't shoot worth a darn because they don't practice enough and don't practice right.
 
Last edited:
keithbyrd said:
George,
My son is an AVID bow hunter and bow fisherman! I don't mean to brag but he is very good. Just shot a musk ox a couple months ago in the arctic at -60 degrees! (brought me a set of horns so I could make pens from it!)
I'm not sure but hearing him talk you may be using too much poundage - I guess it would depend on the type of bow and all its settings. I know they have gotten very scientific.
I copied your post and sent it to him and asked him to read it and see if he can offer a critique or advice on how you are going about this! Will send you his response!
Good luck and don't hurt your shoulder and not be able to cut pen blanks!!
Click to expand...

I'm open to all kinds of suggestions, particularly from those that have the experience so, I will be looking forwards to your son's reply, thank you.

The fact that I'm having troubles with the 60 lbs poundage on my bow for club shooting the competitions (40 arrows minimum) that tells me that the 60lbs is till too much and that my shoulder is as bad as I ever thought it would be, from doing other things.

Was it the reason why I left for so late learning how to use a compound bow? I was totally mad about archery when I was a kid but I never used a proper bow of any kind so, the ones I would make were usually lightweight and very fragile/not durable but, I had my fun and the neighbours kept looking for their cats...!:eek::wink::biggrin:

Cheers
George
 
Holz Mechaniker said:
Hate to say this George, but if your shoulder is hurting... You are doing it wrong. Back muscles I can understand.
Click to expand...

Hi hear you mate, I only wish you could tell me what I'm doing wrong, one of the reasons I joined to an archery club was to request more experienced shooters to spot my imperfection while bow shooting and correct me on the spot.

I have had a few guys that did actually pointed out a few things and I try to follow their advice, I do ask for anyone to say something if they feel they can help, I'm modest enough to accept that and appreciate any help.

What I would like you to have in mind is that, I have a bad spine that is also affected at the neck level, my shoulder may the worn-out from too much use of it since a little boy, it may also be affected by many bad falls I had in the past so, I may have problems shooting any bows at any poundage, I haven't yet tested myself that far but, I start to think that, I may be better by reducing the bow poundage to 45lbs of 50lbs and work my way up and see if multiple consecutive shots will provoke the shoulder pains, I may try that but I need to give the shoulder a complete rest from bows for a week or so until it recovers and stop hurting and then, start again...!

Cheers
George
 
CREID said:
60 pounds is a good starting point. Personally I would never shoot a 70 pound bow. If your shoulder is hurting after 12 arrows or so I would have your pro shop turn down the poundage if possible. If you are not experienced with archery I would not turn it down yourself, you may harm the bow if you turn it down too far and it comes apart, or maybe hurt yourself. But please stop shooting if your shoulder hurts and wait till another day and slowly build up your strength. Even just shooting a few arrows a day will build your strength. I shot a couple hundred arrows a day, but that was after years of shooting to be able to do that and not be fatigued and also I shot 60 pounds. Remember that a 60 pound bow shoots faster than a 70 to 75 pound bow did 25 years ago with the new technology and lighter arrows, so the high poundage people are only wearing out body parts and most of them can't shoot that accurately at that high of poundage. Don't dismiss the equipment you have. First off PSE has been a prominent company in archery for a long time. Hoyt does a lot of advertising and has a few pro shooters. It is not the equipment, it is the archer. You can buy the best, newest and most popular stuff out there and I have seen people do just that and they can't shoot worth a darn because they don't practice enough and don't practice right.
Click to expand...

Increasing or decreasing the bow poundage is not a problem for me, I learn how to do it right.

Yes, new bow technology is making faster and quieter compound bows and I'm also aware of some of the new models that claim to have a very smoother draw at fair poundages and that will be something that I will look into it a little further but I would expect those bows to be also fairly expensive.

With what I've got, the bow should be capable to shoot better than what I can, I'm yet to have the bow inspected properly for any factory miss alignments or any other defects that need to be corrected if all possible, most of the "expert" guys seem to focus more on the equipment/accessories the bow has, draw and arrow length, I never saw anyone checking the cams, limbs, and the main parts that the bow is made of.

I have in fact shot some of the bows the experts have and at 20 yards I would make a group tighter than I never been able with my bow and more importantly, no flyers as I often get with my bow, I ask myself, why...?

There is one aspect that I most certainly have to change and that is changing the bow poundage to allow me to practice at home in between club visits, the number of times I go to the club as everything to do with my inability to shoot the bow every week, even if I don't shoot it at home for practice so, going to the club about every 3 weeks and when there are competitions shoots, without touching the bow is between is certainly not the way I will ever shoot any better and or built the muscles necessary.

So, am I doing things wrong..? I have no doubt that I am, am I aware of everything I'm not doing right...??? I doubt...!

With all this said, there is one thing that worries me and that has nothing to do with club shootings or practice at home, and that is the very reason I'm handling a bow, hunting...! with it be able to shoot efficiently/kill shot at average distances..?

How close do I have to get, unless I'm in stand that no one uses up here, they all walk all day, up and down hills, I have a blind and I would like to put it some place where animals live nearby, no feeders up here either, so shooting distances increase and that worries me however, there is one thing that I always had a passion for with any shooting tools and that has been, long range shooting, I love to make those shots, I know I'm limited with a bow, any bow however, I see (YouTube) often guys shooting deadly compound bow shots at 80 and more yards/meters, that will be something a 45 or 50lbs bow will be ever able to do, huh...?:frown:

Are you going to say that I'm watching far too many YouTube videos...??:smile:

Cheers
George
 
As far as shooting distances. That will be determined by how confident you are at which distances. 40 yards is a great distance to hunt, the more you go over that the more things go askew, mistakes are amplified and loss of energy in the arrow. Go get you bow tuned, that may be why you shoot differently with a different bow. Unless the bow is not the right draw length for you. A pro shop should be able to get you setup properly. Remember "practice doesn't make perfect, Perfect Practice makes perfect", practice good shooting habits and not bad ones. Archery is muscle memory, if your muscles remember bad habits, you will shoot bad.
 
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