What speed should my bow setup produce?

By Grant Woods,

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Hey, my name is Jared, I don’t want to disturb you too much; just wanted to say thanks for all of your videos as they’ve been beyond educational and entertaining. Also I want to include my thanks and admiration for including our Creator in each of your episodes. I do have a quick question, as this is my first year bow hunting.

I recently took my first bow shot at a doe, and my range was off. That mistake I understand and will correct, but one thing I noticed was the speed of my arrow seemed very slow compared to that I see in your videos. I’m at a 65 lb draw weight with a 29 inch draw length; using Carbon Express 250 shafts with 100 grain heads. What that fps comes out to be I don’t know. I was just wondering if I should up my draw weight to the maximum the bow has to offer (70 lbs), or finish out the season with the draw weight I’m use to?

Sorry for typing so much, I’m sure you all are always busy, but I’d like to learn from the experts. Thanks again for all you do for us viewers, and thank you for your time reading this. I hope and pray that Mr. Glen Woods has a speedy recovery and is back hunting with you all soon! Thanks again.

 

Jared,

I sincerely appreciate your prayers for my father!  We return to the Mayo tomorrow for his second chemo infusion.

I shoot a Prime bow and a heavy BloodSport Impact arrow (430 grain including a Havoc broadhead).  I pull 62 pounds and have a 29″ draw.  This setup shoots 268 feet per second. The speed of sound is approximately 1,100 feet per second depending on several conditions.

So – the difference between 250 and 300 feet per second is very negligible in terms of deer ducking arrows.  The speed of sound is much faster!  I find that a quieter bow is much more important than a fast bow!

Another consideration is that most modern bows tend to add about 10 feet per second for each additional inch of draw weight.  They only add two to three feet per second per pound of pull. So adding five pounds to your draw weight won’t add much speed. I strongly suggest only shooting as much pull weight as you are comfortable and shoot accurately!

 

October 27, 2015