Right now I am shooting an Elite GT500 at 70lbs. The bow has 80lb limbs on it if I really wanted to crank it down and max it out. Couple guys I know say that unless I max the draw weight out, I am losing a lot of performance from the bow. I've never shot the bow through a chronograph to get the actual FPS, but the guy at the archery shop figures with the arrows I'm shooting (Maxima Red 350 with 100 G5 T3's) I'm probably around 280-290. Now that's fast enough for me and on top of it all, I'm comfortable and confident shooting the bow at 70lb draw. So......am I really losing that much performance from the bow by not having the limbs maxed out?
My thought has always been, wait until you have been sitting completely still for 4 hours in freezing weather and then try drawing back 80 lbs. Ive had times where I cant get 70 lbs. back in that case ( and yes, I can easily draw 70 when shooting). I keep mine set around 62-65 lbs. PLENTY of energy to kill a deer. Heck, my mother has plenty drawing 45.
Are you hunting water buffalo? If not, then no you most certainly don't need to crank it up to 80 pounds. Yes bows are more efficient when at their max settings, but in your case there is no need to be drawing back 80 pounds. It's just harder to do, especially once it starts getting really cold. Unless you lift and shoot 6x a week and are in insanely good shape, you are just more likely to blow out a shoulder trying to pull too much weight. Coming from someone with a shoulder injury, its not worth it. If you are really that concerned about it, I would switch to 70 pound limbs.
I think accuracy is much more important than speed. If you are comfortable you are more accurate than if you are struggling. I have my obsession set at about 62 lbs...plenty of speed and impact on the target and easy to draw and hold. Can't think of why anyone would need an 80 lb. draw unless they just want to brag to their friends that they can shoot that high. If you can't hit the target I don't care how heavy your draw weight is....you won't kill your deer.
While you will certainly lose FPS backing off, assuming you're properly tuned, with today's modern equipment, you absolutely do NOT need to be shooting maxed out. You will be just fine, and as a few have eluded to, the lower draw weight equates to comfort, and ease of draw in less than ideal conditions.
Ill put it this way....at 80lbs your Elite probably won't draw like an Elite.That should be enough reasoning to stay at 70! or even dropping down to 60 wouldn't hurt.
Yeah...I'm not worried about speed at all. Id rather be comfortable and be able to put the best shot possible on an animal and make the kill as quick and humane as possible. Its not a macho man contest for me and if i wasn't good with my bow set the way it is now, I'd get something different. Nothing to prove to anyone at this point....... Thanks for the replies!
Let me know when you find one, might as well match since I am shooting in that draw weight range as well.
Just killed my deer at 60lbs. I had it at 70 and I was talking to my hoyt rep about it. He explained kinetic energy etc to me. We talked about sitting in the stand when it was really cold and trying to draw. I took his advice with zero regrets.
