The thought to increase the draw weight on my bow when I was younger was not one that ran across my mind often. In fact, I was pretty stuck on never raising my poundage above 60 pounds. As I went farther down the road that is bowhunting though, I quickly decided that it was something I wanted to look into. Why? Well, for one I would be able to deliver more kinetic energy downrange, which would result in better penetration. As an avid bowhunter, I always hope for a complete pass through on animals and this would aid in that. Another reason was specifically for longer range shots. This would increase my arrow speed. Increasing draw weight would close the gaps between my pins, which would give me the ability to shoot even farther than before. That is something I’ve really began to love over the years. Watching my arrow sail into its mark from 100 yards is a great feeling.
The process of increasing my draw weight wasn’t hard, but it did take some time. I encourage you to approach it in the same way. If you jump up too early, you are asking for injury. If you are injured, you can’t shoot your bow. I am not a fan of that. Here are some things to keep in mind before bumping up your poundage.
The first thing I will tell you about this is that you really need to put the brakes on and start small. Don’t jump from 55 pounds up to 70 in one go. The muscles that you use when drawing a bow are some that don’t get much attention. I’ve heard of gentlemen that are straight gym rats that can’t draw 70 pounds. This is a process and it needs to be treated as such. If you are sitting at 55 pounds, I wouldn’t increase more than 5 pounds at a time. It might not sound like much, but after you shoot for a bit, there is a difference. When I started doing this, I could pull 55 pounds, but not 60. After going through this process, 70 pounds draws like butter for me now.
Less is definitely more in my honest opinion with this stuff. This continues to play off of the philosophy above. However, here we will be talking about repetition. If you are anything like me, you will spend hours on end shooting your bow and trying to perfect your craft. Usually, these sessions extend way passed the point of exhaustion. It’s an obsession and a way of life for that matter. When it comes to increasing your draw weight though, I would advise that you slow down a bit. Instead of shooting a dozen arrows before dinner, only shoot 3. No, that isn’t what we are used to, but neither is the weight you are pulling. By shooting only 3 arrows a day in the beginning, you are just adapting yourself to the heavier weight. After doing that for a few days, increase to 6 arrows. You see where I am going with this? Slowly increasing your reps will substantially decrease the possibility of injuring yourself in the process of all of this. Take the time and build those muscles and your endurance. You won’t regret it.
Okay, okay! There is a lot of “hoop la” around hitting the gym for bowhunting. Let me ask you a question though. When is the last time that you ever heard someone complaining about being in too good of shape? Said, nobody ever. I’m not saying that you have to be a gym rat. That is completely unnecessary. For the purpose of what we have been talking about though, it is only going to aid you. If you take the time to build strength and endurance in what I will call “bow muscles,” I am of the opinion that it will not only help increase your draw weight, but increase longevity in said muscles. Your body is sort of like a vehicle. Vehicles need to be maintained in order to keep running good and we are no different. So, do you have to spend 2 hours in the gym every day? No. I would advise that you give yourself regular tuneups though.
…too much of a good thing, is not good at all
This is huge and definitely something that I need to work on myself. Based on my experiences, the only way that I know how to get good at something, is to do it as much as possible. If I have learned anything from that, too much of a good thing, is not good at all. This goes for anything in life, not just increasing your draw weight. By overworking yourself, you are inviting bad habits into your shooting. This is a physical thing, yes. It is also a psychological one though. If you know when to hang up the bow, you will decrease chances of injury and those bad habits. That’s the hard part though for me. Knowing when to quit. I am not a quitter and never will be. So, sometimes it can be hard for me to realize when my shooting is suffering due to overworking myself. My natural instinct is to fix the problem on the spot. Sometimes, the way to fix the problem, is to not do anything at all. This is more of a mindset thing that bounces off what we talked about with reps earlier. However, I thought it was important to mention. Let the process unfold and don’t force your way to the finish line. You will get there. Slow and steady wins the race.
As much as it’s important to not overwork yourself, it is equally important that you remain consistent in your efforts. This is essential for all of this to work. Yeah, you might only start shooting 3 arrows at a time, but do it every day. That’s the only way your body is going to get used to doing so. I notice that if I take big breaks from shooting, which isn’t often, my body can feel that. For instance, I might be sore after a shooting session at the range. That is something that doesn’t normally happen when I am shooting consistently. Even if consistently means 1 arrow a day. Once I am sore, that might cause me to take a short break from shooting, so I can recover. I like to avoid having to do that. This is also going to build muscle memory, which is something I am huge on. Trust me, you will forget everything you know once a giant buck is standing in front of you. Being able to function on auto pilot is where that deer will end up in your freezer and not over the ridge.
Do you have to increase your draw weight? Absolutely not. If you are happy where you are, then stay there. In the end, this is all personal preference to the hunter at hand. Many folks out there have the mindset that I used to have and don’t see a need to ever draw more than 60 pounds. That is totally fine and more than enough to humanely harvest big game animals. If you haven’t caught onto this though through my writing, I am big on progression though. Whether that means increasing your draw weight, being a better shot, or being a better person, look ahead. In my eyes, increasing my draw weight was going to open up more opportunity to be a more effective bowhunter. I successfully did so, and don’t regret it a bit. Keep this stuff in mind if you are in the same boat, but when the sun sets, do what is comfortable for you.
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