Increase draw wt.?

[tonyotony]

I'm in my third season of bowhunting, with a compound. Got my first deer last year, at 50lb draw, inside 20 yards. My shooting is getting more consistently accurate, but when I shoot at the 38-40 yard targets, it seems like forever for the arrow to get there! Do I turn up the draw wt. slightly, to compensate for maybe the strings stretching out over a period of two or three years of shooting? I'm very comfortable shooting anything around 20 yards or less, but feel that maybe I would have better, faster, more consistent arrow flight further out, if they had a little more "umpff" behind them. It just seems to me that the further out the target, with a low draw wt., the arrows are more apt to drop off or get pushed by the wind, when present.

[hookset6969]

TONY I don't know how old you are but draw weight has to be something that is determined by how strong you are and what you are comfortable pulling. And if your strings are 2-3yrs old and you shoot often you might want to get them replaced.

[GTOHunter]

You can probably have the draw weight turned up on your bow and it will be a little faster shooting bow,but as Hookset6969 mentioned....can you draw back your bow and hold it while still being accurate and on-target?Another thing to consider is when you turn up the draw weight on your bow you may have to reset your 20 and 30 yard pins?

[Stickman]

Increasing draw weight will get you there faster, but if your form is off or you torque your bow, the longer the yardage the more inconsistent you will be. 

[tonyotony]

Thank you for the advice. It's no problem pulling what I'm pulling right now. if I have time to go to the range, I'll turn up the draw wt. slightly and see how my arrows fly, knowing I may have to adjust my sight pins. If I don't make the time to do this preseason, I'll just keep things the same for this season, and just keep practicing at targets and 3D's(mostly), under 40 yards, knowing that my best chances for a clean kill will be around 20 yards or less, probably like most folks, I believe.

[Woods Walker]

Don't forget that whenever you change draw weight, you are also changing the spine requirement of your arrow, not to mention possibly nock height, noise, and a maybe a host of other tuning issues. That's the drawback of shooting one of those "faster than greased lightning" compounds!

For these reasons, messing with anything right before the season starts is probably not the best of ideas.

[tonyotony]

Wow! I'm leaving it alone!!

[vambo991]

Tony, you're not going to need a stiffer-spined arrow just moving up to , say, 55 lbs. Try it.. you can always turn it back down.

[DeanoZ]

ORIGINAL: Woods Walker

Don't forget that whenever you change draw weight, you are also changing the spine requirement of your arrow, not to mention possibly nock height, noise, and a maybe a host of other tuning issues. That's the drawback of shooting one of those "faster than greased lightning" compounds!

For these reasons, messing with anything right before the season starts is probably not the best of ideas.

WW said it best...not something I'd want to tinker with just before or during the season.  Even a  modest 2-3 pound increase can alter the spine requirements of your arrow and may call for stiffer arrows.  Something else to consider, how many deer have you shot over 30-40 yards?  Personally speaking 30 is my longest shot and my average has been between 15-20.  I'll practice and walk back tune out to 40, but would not feel comfortable shooting a live animal beyond 30.  I know we all suffer from the need to ensure our equipment will perform at max tolerances, but most often its not our equipment but our own inherent foul-ability as humans to keep up with our equipment. [;)]

[Michigander]

Tony, 50#'s is more than enough to kill a deer out to 40 yards. If, and only if you are comfortable that you can put the arrow in the right place at that distance. The biggest issue is being sure of the distance and your accuracy at that distance. Speed doesn't kill, accuracy does. Are you shooting carbon or aluminum? If you're bent on more speed and are using aluminum, you may want to try carbons. But, at this point in the game, I wouldn't do much more than practice with your current set-up.

Good Luck!