It seems most people on here hunt mainly whitetail. I seen a few bear, elk and moose remarks, but not many people tend to hunt those game full-time. I was just doing a little experiment on how much KE people are using regularly for the bigger game animals. My buddy out west uses a D350 and is getting somewhere in the low 80's for his KE and hunts larger game.
I hunt Whitetails only right now, with aspirations to pursue elk, bear, moose, pronghorn, and mulies in the near and distant future. I shoot 532 gr FMJ's out of my 70 lb Z7X 262 fps giving me just over 80 ft/lbs of KE. I think id feel comfortable hunting for all of the above with this setup.
Shoot I dont know what my KE is. Im pulling 70# on my allegiance with 28" CX maxima hunter 350 and muzzy phantom mx bh's if somebody wants to figure it out. 29" draw. Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2
I've been bear hunting for 23 years. I shoot a recurve that's a whopping 155 fps. Not much for KE but I shoot heavier arrows. I'd say 90% of the 10 bear I've killed so far I've had complete pass throughs. Most of them times I was using a 1 1/4 cutting diamater 3 blade Snuffer. Average distance these bear would die Is about 40 yards. I've had 4 of them die with In 20 yards. The biggest bear dressed out at 325lbs. He went 18 yards after a double lung/heart shot. I took out both ribs, complete pass through. I've been elk hunting 7 times out west. Still haven't released an arrow yet. I use the same arrow set up that I use for bear but Instead I throw a 2 blade head on. It will work just fine. My dad and a few of his traditional buddy's have shot their share of elk shooting a tad lighter arrow then what I use.
Whitetails for me....their are some giant black bears around but the only one I have ever seen was a bout 250-300 lbs. and I shot at 16 yards.....I have seen pics and read in our state's sportmans mag about some 600+lb ones...
Deer, Moose, and Bear up here. Don't get too caught up in the numbers. Shoot what you are comfortable and confident in. That is the biggest key to success. My hunting rigs are usually set around 60-62lbs and My arrows usually weight between 330-370.
I've been fortunate to have hunted a lot of different species. As for the largest, moose (all 3 species) and elk. Have also hunted brown bear in Alaska, bison in Montana and water buffalo in Australia. I used a 52 pound Mathews on the elk and moose. I shot a 62 lb bow on the brown bear and buffalo. Will be using 52 lbs on my Tule and Roosevelt elk hunts this fall. My wife killed a P&Y elk with her 42 lb bow at 40 yards. Almost had a complete pass through. Fortunately it didn't hit any ribs.
