Bow draw

[Navesgane]

I purchased a 70# PSE brute force to upgrade my PSE 60# Stinger. I can shoot the 60# bow from any reasonable position for a good while. I was aghast when I got the new bow and couldn't budge the string! I consider myself a fairly fit person and can pump out 20 pull ups and 100 crunches in a minute and all, even tho I'm only 150# at 5'6. I took a few turns off the new bow but my arms feel like jelly after about 6 shots with it. I don't shoot year-round but do workout year-round. Do you all find that consistently shooting builds the archery muscles (I'm guessing it would) or do you just stick with whatever weight you feel comfortable with? I guess what I'm asking is can I grow into this new bow and eventually work up to full draw weight?

[Ryan Conkle]

You can absolutely grow into the new bow...I work out on a regular basis as well and am in pretty good shape, although in my experience, nothing builds up the archery shooting muscles' better than just repetition of shooting the bow. lol

[lamrith]

In short yes, you can build up, though everyone will have their own max.

I just did the same, I have been shooting 60 for about a year, I started shooting again about a month ago and was tired after a few shots, but gradually was getting better. I was even considering buying 70# limbs for my bow to grow into for next year. 2 weeks ago I stumbled on a incredible deal for a E35 @70#. Guy even brought it to my place to let me try a few shots. I could barely draw it but yeah I did not let him leave with it.. Now I have had to start over conditioning which can be a challenge when you are trying to also make sure the bow is sighted in and ready to hunt! I will be hunting with this bow set at min safe weight

Back it down a hair more if safely possible and just keep shooting, you may not be able to get it all the way back down to 60. Elite recommends only 2 turns from max, that gets me to about 63#, not much but that is 3# more than I am used to and I am having to go thru this regiments myself.

Focus on quality of shots, when tired it is very easy to get lazy and break form. Don't do that. Shoot a quiver or two take a break, come back later shoot another set. Call it a night and see how you feel in the morning. It is very easy to overdue it and mess your shoulders up muscling it but you may not realize it until the next day. If you just feel tight and not sore then do the same thing for a few more days or a week. By then you should start feeling better and you can increase the reps. Once you get reps up a bit then you can look at adding some draw weight, thought if you want to hunt it this year I would just keep the weight were it is and focus on dialing in that bow. As long as you are consistent with the bow, even if you can only make 10shots before getting tired, you are ok. When that bull screams and comes out from behind a tree you will think you are drawing a toys R Us bow and not even remember it..

[Navesgane]

Thanks for the info guys. Gonna make the two hour drive to the nearest bow shop to get some more advise on set-up. I currently have 300 grain carbon arrows with 100 grain tips/broad heads and need to find out if it's adequate for the bow and what weight it's currently at.

[lamrith]

Thanks for the info guys. Gonna make the two hour drive to the nearest bow shop to get some more advise on set-up. I currently have 300 grain carbon arrows with 100 grain tips/broad heads and need to find out if it's adequate for the bow and what weight it's currently at.

The weight is important in some ways, but not the most important. 400grn arrow weight is a nice weight. Lighter means faster and flatter shooting, heavier means more energy on target. Pros and cons to both. Keep in mind your hunting regs too. Here in WA we have regs that make it difficult to go for a super fast hunting bow compared to other states. 300Grn minimum weight, but then also have to meet 6grn/# of draw weight. Your 400Grn would be legal up to 66# draw here in WA. If they are goldtip arrows, there is a weight kit you can buy too, so no need to throw them out, just add 20grn in the nose (Or you can buy 125grn tips...)

What is the spine on the arrows and your draw length, those will both be a factor you difinitely need to think about more than weight. 70# draw I would probably be using 300spine. I am sure are a bunch more bow pros here than me that can really tell you hard #'s, but I have found it is definitely better to be overspined than under. I run 300spin on my 60# as 340 was marginal given my draw and arrow length. That is serving me well now going to heavier draw bow as I do not have to buy all new arrows. Too soft a spin and the arrow flexes to much, it will cause erratic flight and drive you crazy. WAY to light and you risk serious injury as the arrow could break on release and they tend to go thru your hand. Your arrows should have spine information imprinted on the shaft.

[ishy]

Is the Brute adjustable? Not sure I would try to make that jump in less than a month. Next year you'll be fine, but it will take time to get those muscles up to shooting 70. I shot 70 and even 80 for a while, but have moved to sixty and I shoot much better under lots of conditions at 60. You need to keep in mind that if you are struggling on a warm afternoon in the yard to get 70 back you won't even be close after shivering for hours with a huge bolus of adrenaline when you see those tines. I know from experience on what would have been my biggest whitetail after belly crawling for 500 yards in the snow. I was looking back into the trees for hand signals from a friend, when the buck decided to come over the last knoll towards me. I couldn't get my bow back if my life depended on it.

[TurkeyBowMaster]

I have one of the hardest drawing 70 pound bows and it became easy for me after I started back shooting a recurve. I work out with bowfit strength trainer almost every day and shoot the recurve every day. When I gram the compound it feels like a 40 pound draw.