After nearly ten years of not shooting archery, I purchased a PSE Brute X this past February. Unsure if I would stick around, or if I’d go into a bow buying frenzy after a few months, I made two decisions. The first being to get an entry level bow, and the second being to get one rated at 60lbs draw weight, and save the heavier 70# bow for when I was ready to upgrade to something like a PSE Freak or EVO.

Taking a step back, let me say that I believe way too many archers and bowhunters are hung up on numbers. Sure, your draw length, weight, arrow weight, kinetic energy and arrow speed (FPS) all play a vital role in the overall performance of your bow and arrow flight; but let’s face it: My 60 pound bow at 30 inches of draw will kill a deer just the same as a 70 pound or even a 40 pound. Taking this into consideration I decided when getting back into the sport that I wouldn’t care about the numbers, and just shoot to improve my skill, and to have fun.

Keeping that in mind, I’ve shot my bow with the draw weight remaining exactly where it was when it came off the rack in the pro shop, and until last week, I had no idea what that weight was. The limbs on my bow were rated for a 60 pound draw and they were backed off one or two turns, I had room to crank up the poundage.

As it turns out, the original limb setting was producing a 61 pound draw. I had the bow cranked down to the max and am now getting just a hair under 65lbs on the draw. I shot a full session at that weight last night and man, I did not think 4 lbs would make such a difference. My muscles are a bit sore today!