Hunting Bows

Hunting and harvesting a white tailed deer is no easy feat to do, no matter how you do it but when it comes to bow hunting it is about as hard as it gets. Bow season comes in on October 15th and runs through February 10th. As far as weapon of choice is concerned you have a couple of options, a compound bow, a re-curve bow and a crossbow. A hoyt compound bow is what I use and I would say it is the most common. It uses cables and pulley's to relieve some of the tension from the shooter when he draws the bow back. They even give the ability to choose how many pounds you want to have the bow set on, the poundage determines how fast the arrow will fly when released. Legally you have to be pulling back at least 35 pounds to hunt with it, this is mainly for youth bows because you need to be shooting with enough speed to make an ethical kill on a deer. Most adult bows give you a range from about 45 pounds to 80 pounds to choose from, I have my bow set at 65 pounds so that it is easy to pull back but still has plenty of speed with mine shooting at around 285 feet per second. A re-curve bow is a traditional style bow, like what you would see Indians shooting in the movies. There are no adjustments available for these bows on poundage, it mainly relies on how far back you pull the string. The further you pull it back the harder it will shoot. This is probably the least common of the styles available to hunt with. Lastly the cross bow which is becoming more and more popular. It basically looks like a compound bow that is turned sideways and is set up with a trigger system so it is pretty much like shooting a gun. They shoot much faster than other bows and is much easier to shoot but it is a great option for someone who wants to bow hunt but has shoulder or back issues and is not able to draw back a regular bow. These bows can reach up to speeds of around 400 feet per second.