|
|
Post by jimstc on May 14, 2018 14:00:26 GMT -5
A buddy I used to hunt rabbits with and I were talking about our compound bow practice routines. I started shooting a compound bow at 61 years old, four years ago so I consider myself a novice. I told him that I practiced at 15 to 30 yards. He said to practice at 50 yards. That was pretty overwhelming but I started about a year ago. I then pushed it out to 60 yards. I am now shooting 60 yard groups at 4 inches. ( not all of them of course lol ) I also seldom practice at less than 40 yards unless there are strong winds. My lesson learned was to push myself out of my comfort zone and it worked. Planning to stretch my practice range to 80 yards but not saying I would ever take that shot on a deer. It just makes those 30 - 40 yard shots so much easier.
Just my observation and wanted to share the experience.
|
|
davek
New Member
Posts: 19 
|
Post by davek on May 14, 2018 20:12:35 GMT -5
A buddy I used to hunt rabbits with and I were talking about our compound bow practice routines. I started shooting a compound bow at 61 years old, four years ago so I consider myself a novice. I told him that I practiced at 15 to 30 yards. He said to practice at 50 yards. That was pretty overwhelming but I started about a year ago. I then pushed it out to 60 yards. I am now shooting 60 yard groups at 4 inches. ( not all of them of course lol ) I also seldom practice at less than 40 yards unless there are strong winds. My lesson learned was to push myself out of my comfort zone and it worked. Planning to stretch my practice range to 80 yards but not saying I would ever take that shot on a deer. It just makes those 30 - 40 yard shots so much easier. Just my observation and wanted to share the experience. Good for you being in your 60’s and still shooting a compound bow. What kind of target are you shooting at being 60 yards out? |
|
|
|
Post by jimstc on May 15, 2018 5:29:40 GMT -5
Big square bag probably 2.5'x2.5'. I think it is a Morrell (sp?) It has a large circle in the middle and smaller targets spread around. It is the outdoor model so it stays out most of the time
|
|
|
|
Post by jimstc on May 16, 2018 15:15:55 GMT -5
Moved out to 70 yards today after working at 50 and 60 yards. Just shot 5 arrows as it was the end of my practice session.
Put three in the circle and two left about 2 inches. I'll take that.
Being 65 years old and shooting a compound bow is nothing to admire in my opinion. I won't let a number define who I am or what I do. My bow is a 60 lb Mathews HTR maxed at 60 lb draw. Trying to justify a 70 lb bow because of the sight adjustments I need to make at 60 yards+. My thinking is the arrow drop would be less at longer distances with more speed and kinetic energy. I am using a CBE Pro Tek Hybrid sight with a 5x magnifier and a 1x peep clarifier. Highly recommend that sight and set up for older eyes. Just thinking out loud.....
|
|
|
|
Post by onebentarrow on May 16, 2018 18:36:33 GMT -5
You are correct about less drop but the extra 10 lbs of pull could do a lot of damage to your hold and follow thru. Those things are more important to accuracy then high pull weight. I use to pull 70+ lbs 20 years ago but I found as I got older my accuracy fell off and when i started reducing the pull weight it improved. I am not saying you could not shoot or pull 70 lbs but shooting is suposto be fun and to me 70 lbs was not fun to shoot (loss of accuracy and strain on body) befor the elbow when I could still shoot. I am relegated to a crank cocking cross bow now. Wish I could still use the compound. But such is life.
Hope this helps
Onebentarrow
|
|
|
|
Post by jimstc on May 17, 2018 4:56:07 GMT -5
You are correct about less drop but the extra 10 lbs of pull could do a lot of damage to your hold and follow thru. Those things are more important to accuracy then high pull weight. I use to pull 70+ lbs 20 years ago but I found as I got older my accuracy fell off and when i started reducing the pull weight it improved. I am not saying you could not shoot or pull 70 lbs but shooting is suposto be fun and to me 70 lbs was not fun to shoot (loss of accuracy and strain on body) befor the elbow when I could still shoot. I am relegated to a crank cocking cross bow now. Wish I could still use the compound. But such is life. Hope this helps Onebentarrow Thanks for the advice. My thinking relative to a 70 lb bow was to dial it back to 62 lbs and gradually work up the draw weight. That is what I did with my current bow. Started at 52 lbs and gradually increased the draw weight to 60 lbs. And I don't think I can pull 70 lbs currently. LOL! Again thanks for the insight on the impact on hold and follow thru. I hadn't thought of that |
|
|
|
Post by Woody Williams on May 17, 2018 5:29:18 GMT -5
I used to shoot 72 pounds and I shot a lot... I paid for it. In 2001 my shoulders said no more. I then went to hunting with a crossbow. I have not pulled back a compound since then.
Just something to consider.....
|
|
|
|
Post by onebentarrow on May 17, 2018 9:39:45 GMT -5
You are correct about less drop but the extra 10 lbs of pull could do a lot of damage to your hold and follow thru. Those things are more important to accuracy then high pull weight. I use to pull 70+ lbs 20 years ago but I found as I got older my accuracy fell off and when i started reducing the pull weight it improved. I am not saying you could not shoot or pull 70 lbs but shooting is suposto be fun and to me 70 lbs was not fun to shoot (loss of accuracy and strain on body) befor the elbow when I could still shoot. I am relegated to a crank cocking cross bow now. Wish I could still use the compound. But such is life. Hope this helps Onebentarrow Thanks for the advice. My thinking relative to a 70 lb bow was to dial it back to 62 lbs and gradually work up the draw weight. That is what I did with my current bow. Started at 52 lbs and gradually increased the draw weight to 60 lbs. And I don't think I can pull 70 lbs currently. LOL! Again thanks for the insight on the impact on hold and follow thru. I hadn't thought of that Did you use a scale on your bow or are you saying it is pulling 60 lbs because the limb bolts are bottomed out. I have had bows that would go past specified draw weights buy a lot just by tightening the limb bolts till just befor bottomed out If you did use a scale and the bolts are not bottomed out you may be able to increase the poundage some (or a lot) and see if the weight increase has any effect on your accuracy. Good luck Onebentarrow |
|
|
|
Post by jimstc on May 17, 2018 10:00:46 GMT -5
I used to shoot 72 pounds and I shot a lot... I paid for it. In 2001 my shoulders said no more. I then went to hunting with a crossbow. I have not pulled back a compound since then. Just something to consider..... Thanks Woody! |
|
|
|
Post by jimstc on May 17, 2018 10:06:44 GMT -5
Thanks for the advice. My thinking relative to a 70 lb bow was to dial it back to 62 lbs and gradually work up the draw weight. That is what I did with my current bow. Started at 52 lbs and gradually increased the draw weight to 60 lbs. And I don't think I can pull 70 lbs currently. LOL! Again thanks for the insight on the impact on hold and follow thru. I hadn't thought of that Did you use a scale on your bow or are you saying it is pulling 60 lbs because the limb bolts are bottomed out. I have had bows that would go past specified draw weights buy a lot just by tightening the limb bolts till just befor bottomed out If you did use a scale and the bolts are not bottomed out you may be able to increase the poundage some (or a lot) and see if the weight increase has any effect on your accuracy. Good luck Onebentarrow It has been awhile since the tech at the Pro Shop increased the draw weight but I seem to recall that he did use a scale. Based on your thinking I will go have it double checked just to be sure. I am confident that the bolts are bottomed out though But I will double check that too. Thanks again for the insight. |
|
|
|
Post by jimstc on May 17, 2018 11:03:18 GMT -5
Just got back from the Pro Shop. Owner tested the bow draw weight: 55 lbs. I asked how that happened. He knows that I shoot a lot. Cable stretch. These are the original cables and I have shot the bow over 8,000 times in the last year. So he is going to replace the cables and tune the bow and set it at 60 lb draw weight.
Live and learn.
I did learn that string stretch actually increases arrow speed because it increases draw length.
Edit to add: the bolts are bottomed out
|
|
|
|
Post by onebentarrow on May 17, 2018 11:43:23 GMT -5
Did you use a scale on your bow or are you saying it is pulling 60 lbs because the limb bolts are bottomed out. I have had bows that would go past specified draw weights buy a lot just by tightening the limb bolts till just befor bottomed out If you did use a scale and the bolts are not bottomed out you may be able to increase the poundage some (or a lot) and see if the weight increase has any effect on your accuracy. Good luck Onebentarrow It has been awhile since the tech at the Pro Shop increased the draw weight but I seem to recall that he did use a scale. Based on your thinking I will go have it double checked just to be sure. I am confident that the bolts are bottomed out though But I will double check that too. Thanks again for the insight. You are welcome! I shot bow for 35+ years. If you want to talk on the phone pm me your no. I love talking archety,hunting and fishing and would love to give you my opinions on the subject of bows,arrows,and the things I learned along the way. Also if you go to 70 lbs the arrow spline you have now may not be stiff enough to handel the extra poundage and give you fits in the accuracy aera. |
|
|
|
Post by jimstc on May 17, 2018 12:29:47 GMT -5
It has been awhile since the tech at the Pro Shop increased the draw weight but I seem to recall that he did use a scale. Based on your thinking I will go have it double checked just to be sure. I am confident that the bolts are bottomed out though But I will double check that too. Thanks again for the insight. You are welcome! I shot bow for 35+ years. If you want to talk on the phone pm me your no. I love talking archety,hunting and fishing and would love to give you my opinions on the subject of bows,arrows,and the things I learned along the way. Also if you go to 70 lbs the arrow spline you have now may not be stiff enough to handel the extra poundage and give you fits in the accuracy aera. Absolutely will do! I going to start over with my bow at 60 lbs. I'll need to re sight it and see how it shoots. Your point on the arrows is well taken. I am still using the same specs as I did at 50 lbs. When we paper tuned the bow after moving it up to 60 lbs the tech suggested new arrows. Guess it is time. |
|
|
|
Post by medic22 on May 17, 2018 15:18:04 GMT -5
Also consider string stretch. When I bought my new bow I was pulling 63#. Shortly after getting a deer I took it to get a new string put on and it was pulling 57# due to string stretch.
Shoot the lightest weight that you can comfortably kill an animal with. That number will vary per person. I can pull 70# but choose to keep my bows at 63#.
|
|
|
|
Post by onebentarrow on May 17, 2018 19:27:43 GMT -5
You are welcome! I shot bow for 35+ years. If you want to talk on the phone pm me your no. I love talking archety,hunting and fishing and would love to give you my opinions on the subject of bows,arrows,and the things I learned along the way. Also if you go to 70 lbs the arrow spline you have now may not be stiff enough to handel the extra poundage and give you fits in the accuracy aera. Absolutely will do! I going to start over with my bow at 60 lbs. I'll need to re sight it and see how it shoots. Your point on the arrows is well taken. I am still using the same specs as I did at 50 lbs. When we paper tuned the bow after moving it up to 60 lbs the tech suggested new arrows. Guess it is time. If you are shooting good groups I would NOT get new arrows untill those were bad or I turned the bow poundage up. A person can get by with a slightly less spline than recommended some times. It all depends on how the bow/arrow/poundage work together. I would not start out under splined but if I turned the poundage up and it still shot good I would not worry about it. Seams like I heard some where that a.bow shoots best at peak weight but donot quote.me on that Onebentarrow |
|
|
|
Post by jimstc on May 31, 2018 13:09:13 GMT -5
Absolutely will do! I going to start over with my bow at 60 lbs. I'll need to re sight it and see how it shoots. Your point on the arrows is well taken. I am still using the same specs as I did at 50 lbs. When we paper tuned the bow after moving it up to 60 lbs the tech suggested new arrows. Guess it is time. If you are shooting good groups I would NOT get new arrows untill those were bad or I turned the bow poundage up. A person can get by with a slightly less spline than recommended some times. It all depends on how the bow/arrow/poundage work together. I would not start out under splined but if I turned the poundage up and it still shot good I would not worry about it. Seams like I heard some where that a.bow shoots best at peak weight but donot quote.me on that Onebentarrow Your comment that a bow shoots best at peak weight is born out by my experience after the cables were replaced and the draw weight was set at the max. My 20 to 40 yard groups are extremely small. Much more so than before the tune up of the bow. Longer distances have tighter groups too. |
|
|
|
Post by oldhoyt on May 31, 2018 15:25:08 GMT -5
Verify that broadheads fly true and you're good to go. Spine issues (if you have any) are more noticeable with broadheads.
|
|
|
|
Post by genesis273 on Jun 1, 2018 15:44:14 GMT -5
I've been doing the same 50-60 yards out. 40 and in I use a golf tee as my aiming point (aim small, miss small). I've tied some balloons to my target also and shot them at 60 yards. Nothing special about doing that. Just fun watching them pop.
|
|
|
|
Post by jimstc on Jun 3, 2018 7:50:03 GMT -5
I've been doing the same 50-60 yards out. 40 and in I use a golf tee as my aiming point (aim small, miss small). I've tied some balloons to my target also and shot them at 60 yards. Nothing special about doing that. Just fun watching them pop. I really like the golf tee idea. I am going to try that today. Thanks. Another thing I do is to hang a string on the target vertically and shoot at the string |
|
