Just curious if anyone ever changes their draw weight in the off season? I was shooting my older Mathews Monster as high as 80# but it was not enjoyable to shoot and I ended up slowly tuning it down to 70#. Now with my new MR7 Monster I'm shooting it at 67# which is no problem but I just took a half turn off the limbs so its at 65#ish and it feels even better. My question is am I letting myself get weaker by tuning the weight down? I'm hunting wild boar and Elk so I really don't want to ever go below 65# but I'm wondering if I should crank the limbs up to 70# during off season so 65# is smoother during the season. My other concern is what is the change in weight going to do to my bows accuracy every time I change the weight? Thanks for any advise you may have.
I am actually working on upping my poundage for 3-d shoots and what not. But I will also keep it up once I get it where I want it.
Mine is never changed from 71#. I shoot everyday with my job, though, so the off season does not affect me much.
I'm shooting at 66# right now and will hunt with that weight. I see no reason to change it. You will lower it as you get older in most cases. Trust me on this. lol
I would say stay at whatever is the most comfortable. An arrow coming out of a 67#, 70#, or 80# is still going to kill a deer, bear, elk, boar, or whatever. I am sure that at 67# though you are probably able to shoot a heck of a lot more and you maybe more accurate because you won't be as focused on the draw. Shot placement I think is the most important. I shoot a Diamond Fugitive at 67#, the bow says IBO 337fps, at 67# with a 28'' draw I am only shooting like 270-280 at most with a Carbon Express Piledriver. I can shoot at 70#, but whats the point, especially on those colder stiff days. I have heard of people not being able to draw their own bow in colder weather cause they had it turned up too much.
i keep mine at 70. i try and shoot often though to keep my arm and shoulders built up i have no desire to shoot more than 70 though to many health problems that might keep me from bowhunting
I do not change my poundage ever. I have mine set at 68 pounds and Im comfortable with it, and I feel its "enough". You said you had your at 80 and didn't like it. I would not go that high if you don't feel comfortable. Beside, that much weight in the winter time, when your cold and stiff would make it just that much tougher to pull, IMO. Since you don't like 80, I would back off to whatever you do end up liking, retune and call it good.
There is no off season!!!! From deer i jump to turkey and from that i jump to groundhog and other small game
Thanks for the input guys. Sounds like I should love the weight I'm with It is so much easier the lower the weight is and I don't think this my bow is suffering for lack of speed. Honestly. Just between us. It's was kind of a mental thing when I first started bow hunting. I wanted to shoot the highest weight I could handle. Then I grew up.
I shoot all year with a 70lb bow to build and maintain strength, and then hunt with a 60lb bow. This way when I'm cold and stiff from sitting on stand the 60 pounder still comes back with ease.
I must be the odd man out. I turn my bow down to 63-64 lbs during the off season if I'm going to be shooting a lot - mostly just to make it more enjoyable and so I can shoot longer without getting tired. When hunting season gets closer I'll crank it up to 68-70 lbs and get ready for hunting season. Not that I necesarilly need it, but I like to think a little extra oomph helps.
I'm the opposite of Justin. I turn mine up to 68-70 during the off season and can shoot this comfortably. Then about a month before season I turn it down to around 63lbs. I hunt whitetails and I have no need for anything higher than that. Plus, i can pull and hold 63 for a very long time after conditioning myself all year at the high weight.
