Archery Draw Weight for Game Calculator

Minimum draw weights for hunting are set to ensure adequate arrow energy for ethical, clean kills. Most US states regulate minimum draw weight for bowhunting.

Common state minimums (US):

• Small game: No minimum in most states
• White-tailed deer: 35 to 45 lb minimum (most states 40 lb)
• Elk: 45 to 50 lb minimum
• Bear: 45 to 50 lb minimum
• Large or dangerous game: 50 to 60 lb minimum

Draw weight and kinetic energy: At a typical 28-inch draw with a 400-grain arrow:

• 40 lb draw: 34 to 38 ft-lbs (minimum for deer)
• 50 lb draw: 42 to 48 ft-lbs (deer and elk)
• 60 lb draw: 52 to 58 ft-lbs (good for deer and black bear, adequate for elk)
• 70 lb draw: 62 to 68 ft-lbs (elk, moose, black bear)
• 80 lb draw: 72 to 78 ft-lbs (all North American game)

Recommended minimums for ethical hunting:

• Small game (rabbit, grouse): 25 lb
• Wild turkey: 35 lb
• Deer and antelope (whitetail, mule deer, pronghorn): 45 lb
• Black bear: 50 lb
• Elk: 55 lb
• Moose: 60 lb
• Grizzly bear: 70 lb minimum

Kinetic energy and momentum

Draw weight is a legal threshold. What actually goes through the animal is energy and momentum, and the calculator reports both:

KE (ft-lbs) = arrow weight in grains × speed² / 450,240

Momentum (slug-ft/s) = arrow weight in grains × speed / 225,218

The widely used KE bands are under 25 ft-lbs for small game, 25 to 41 for deer and antelope, 42 to 64 for elk, black bear and hog, and 65 upward for moose and the big bears. Momentum below about 0.4 is thin for anything larger than a deer, whatever the KE figure says.

Arrow weight effect: Heavier arrows (500+ grains) from a 50 lb bow may out-penetrate lighter arrows from a 70 lb bow, because a bow delivers a fixed amount of stored energy and a heavier arrow captures more of it. If you do not chronograph your setup, the calculator estimates speed from the table above and adjusts it for arrow weight using KE ∝ m / (m + 120), where 120 grains stands in for the effective mass of the limbs and string. That is a rough model. Fifteen minutes with a borrowed chronograph beats it every time, which is why there is a box for a measured figure.