Lightest Poundage with selfbows?

[Bentstick81]

  I have a 46# @28' hickory boardbow that i'm deer hunting with. I shoot a more or less, floating type anchor. So i know that sometimes i may not get the full 46# while hunting. The minimum weight for my state is 40#. Just wanted to hear what the lightest weight self (board) bow everyone has taken deer with? This is my first year deer hunting with a bow i made for myself. I've been using recurves for approx. 13 years. Thanks.

[Pappy]

I have taken them with a 45@26 but I don't always get to full draw so I am sure it was less,
didn't get a pass through but killed the deer just the same.
      Pappy

[Bentstick81]

 Thanks pappy. Looks like we are the only ones who use lighter poundage bows.  I pretty much have to due to my tendonitis in both elbows. That stuuf is no fun at all.

[Ryano]

Well I haven't used anything lighter than 48# but I got a pass through with that bow.  I wouldn't worry about it. It's all about shot placement. It doesn't take much to put a sharp arrow into a deers rib cage.

[Kegan]

You're not the only one shooting lighter weights. Quite the contrary. Heavy weight hunting bow shooters are the freaks

[stringstretcher]

I shoot and hunt with 42 lbs.  Have never had penatration problems when put in the rib cage.

[JW_Halverson]

I made a kid's bow outa a hickory board, came in at 32#, 48" nock to nock, had a set of 23 inch poplar arrows that were 5/16th shafts.  The kid that got it shot a lot of cottontails with it and his father glued on a broadhead and shot a small doe at 10 yds.  Broke a rib going in, didn't get pass-through, but the deer ran over to the tree row behind the barn and died in a few minutes.

I do not and will not recommend ANYONE AT ANYTIME go lower than a 40# bow for hunting deer. That idiot got lucky.

[kayakfisher]

They say with age comes wisdom, I used to shoot heavier bows fifty's and sixty some pounds. But as I have gotten older and the problems with age ,set in arthritis ,tendinitis,and all the irises . Coupled with siting in a tree stand for hours on end in thirty some degree weather with the cold air blowing down your neck and then that deer walks in at the wrong spot and you have to draw. It is allot more easer to shoot a forty five pound bow ,so thats what I have been shooting for the last four years.
                       Dennis

[kylerprochaska]

I haven't yet taken blood with one of my self bows but I do have to say that the bow I am working on for my grandpa is 40 @ 28 and it is just as quick with its slightly static tips if not quicker than my 75@28 hunting longbow...and it is much more accurate too...I may have to make myself one with the same stats for next years season...im almost sure that i could get a full pass through with good shot placement.

-Ky

[billy]

I've hunted with a 40 # self bow but haven't gotten the opportunity to take a deer with it...yet.  I honestly believe that the most important factor is shot placement....period.  I've made 30# lb. bows that shoot surprisingly fast, and I believe that if the arrows were tipped with small, sharp stone points that even a 30 pounder would be effective on a deer at close range.  However, I would shoot at least 40 lbs. just to buy you some added insurance in case the shot doesn't hit where you want it to. 

[FlintWalker]

I got a pass through on a doe with a 46# self bow. Hit her in the center of the rib cage and the arrow exited her off side arm pit.
 I've killed several with a 40# FG recurve...an old slow one too.

[Traxx]

I would like to see anybody tell Ron Laclaires wife,that she is just lucky,to take deer every year with her less than 40 lb bows.That woman has probably killed more deer than just about anyone on this site.Better yet,id like to see anybody call her an Idiot and leave there with their teeth.LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[TBod]

Intersting post.

How about 150 fps with a 500 grain arrow. Is that enough? Thats possible with an effective 40# right?

[Traxx]

Yes,that would be enough,but that would be a very efficient 40 lber.