How to pick a recurve bow for upcoming hunting season? Be ready...

Hunting Recurve Bow

A good hunting recurve bow, just like a compound bow, should have the ability to shoot straight and far enough so that you are a distance away from your prey yet able to have the arrow make a clean kill. This means it has to come with a few specific characteristics so that you can achieve your intended purpose which is to subdue your prey.

What to Look For in a Hunting Recurve Bow

These are the things that make a good hunting recurve bow. The choices above in our best recurve bow for hunting carry these criteria.

1. Has to Have Enough Draw Weight

The first and foremost thing you need to have is a draw weight that’s high enough to get the job done. At the minimum, you are looking for a recurve bow with at least 40 lbs., preferably 45 lbs. to hunt.

Reasons for getting at least 45 lbs. of draw weight.

• a. It has to meet your state’s hunting laws and regulation guidelines. While all states have their own rules, most have a game minimum of 40 to 45 lbs. You’ll be able to hunt any small and medium-sized game using this weight.
• b. It has to have enough force in order to carry over long distances with relatively good accuracy. The higher the draw weight the further and straighter the arrow can travel.

The further your shots can travel more accurately the further you’ll be able to take the shot from. While ideally you want to get within 30 yards or less, a powerful bow will give you the flexibility of shooting your prey from 20 to 40 yards depending on how stealthy your hunting skills are.

The closer you try to get to your prey, the bigger the chance they can hear or smell you. Or you stepping on some branches or making noise that scares them away.

• c. It has to have enough power left to pierce through the animal's skin after traveling the distance.

Aside from covering the distance between you and your prey, the arrow still has to have enough energy to make the clean kill. Otherwise, your shot will go wasted.

• d. If you’re hunting larger game, like grizzly bears or buffalo, you’ll want even higher limb weights, of at least 50 to 55 lbs and above. This will guarantee you’ll be able to take on any game you want.

Just as important as the draw weight is you need to have to ability to fully control the bow to take good accurate shots. Otherwise, your time in the wilderness looking for prey will go wasted. Whether you’re hunting, turkey, deer, rabbit or elk you’ll need to hit them first before your bow’s draw weight can do any damage.

Here are some ways to tell if you’re safely able to handle a draw weight.

• a. Take a seat and get into your bow shooting position with just your upper body. While seated, draw your bow to the maximum draw length you usually do. You should be able to hold this steady and let it back down without struggling or shaking.
• b. Another way is to use you regular archery form and draw your bow, point it to your target, hold at the anchor for 30 seconds without shaking or having problems doing so.

Being strong enough is one part of the sport that everyone can benefit from. Whether you’re trying to get up to higher draw weights or just want better control and stamina. A good way to get stronger and prepare yourself to shoot heavier draw weights is to work out your archery muscles. Our archery exercises section has more information on how to improve your draw weight.

2. It Should be Quiet

Next, you want your bow to be quiet. This ranks second to having the proper draw weight when it comes to hunting. Bows that make noise when you draw it or lots of vibration upon release aren’t well suited for hunting game because their keen sense of hearing will allow them to move or avoid your shot using their reflexes.

Any small movement they make means your arrow is now headed in the wrong direction from where you aimed it at.

The good thing about this is there are a lot of quiet hunting bows since manufacturers know that this is an important factor for hunters. Moreso, archers have the ability to adjust the brace height as well as add silencers and stabilizers to lower the string noise level.

3. Bow Length Just Right for You

For hunting, the ideal bow will be short and light. This will allow you to maneuver around trees and bushes without banging your bow. Low bow weight also allows you to carry it for miles without getting tired when the time comes to shoot.

So what bow lengths do hunters like, usually at least 58 inches, with many around 60 inches and slightly over that. This gives you just a good enough bow to have a smooth steady shot yet not too unwieldy when you need to stay hidden in a tree stand. The best recurve bow for hunting is one that has a long enough bow length yet isn’t bothersome when you get out in the wilderness.

While these bow lengths are ideal, you need to consider which one works for you depending on your height, build and comfort shooting it.

Apart from bow length and weight, a good hunting recurve bow will either have a camo pattern or simple color scheme that doesn’t reflect and stays inconspicuous in the wilderness surrounding.

4. Price

Finally there’s price. Our table lets you choose the best recurve bow for hunting that fits your preferences. This includes price. This is why we break up the choices, with some being the industry’s top of the line hunting bows, while others being more entry level hunting models.

Keep in mind, high end or entry level, all the recurve hunting bows listed above are excellent for hunters. It is in their features that they differ.

What you want is the top quality bow that fits your budget. This way you can enjoy your hunt without sacrificing any other part of your lifestyle. For the top choices at each price level, see our best recurve bow list.

Difference Between Target and Hunting Bows
You’ll often hear people say that a hunting bow is different from a target bow. Why? Because they’re made for different things, manufacturers design them specifically to excel at their intended purpose.

So what are the differences between Target Bows and Hunting Bows?

1. Speed

Target bows are made to shoot faster. That’s because of a number of things we’ll cover here, including the use of lighter arrows and more tuning. Hunting bows on the hand, don’t shoot at fast, though there are some very fast hunting bows. A very well tuned competition recurve using lightweight match arrows can achieve arrow velocities of 200 FPS and over. Hunting recurves generally will range from 130 FPS to very fast ones at 160+ FPS.

2. Target Bows are Designed to Shoot Lightweight Arrows Safely

Because they’re built for speed and accuracy target recurve bows are made to shoot lightweight arrows that get to the target as quickly as possible. Even with light arrows, these bows are able to shoot steady shots. Hunting recurves, are the opposite, you want heavier arrows to achieve a larger amount of force on impact to take down your prey.

3. Color

Recurve bows for hunting usually come with similar looks. These looks come in mainly one of three categories, the traditional elegant hardwood look, adorned with camo or is a single dark color usually black. These serve a purpose of allowing the archery’s equipment to blend with the environment which is usually leaves, bushes and trees. Target bows, on the other hand, are often bright and colorful.

4. Shooting Frequency

Target and competition recurve bows are made to be shot very frequently with lots of arrows taken during a given practice session. That’s what they’re built for.

The weight and build of hunting recurve bows make them more designed to be shot less per session. Let’s face it when you out hunting you aren’t out there with the goal to shoot tons of arrows at an animal. You want one true shot that makes the clean kill. That’s what they’re designed for.

While there are differences in draw weight, since hunters need to use at least 40 to 45 lbs. of draw weight to effectively take down their prey, many target archers use lower weights. This, however, isn’t always true especially with elite competition archers and their recurve bows which use just as high draw weights, some higher than hunters do.

5. Bow Length

Because you need to carry your bow out in the woods while you trek looking for prey. A very long hunting recurve bow becomes troublesome if it keeps hitting twigs and branches. Not only does this make noise scaring away any potential prey, it can damage some of the more delicate parts of the bow.

So while long recurve bows shoot more smoothly and offer more stability, hunters have to compromise between practicality of bringing a longer recurve while hunting and its shooting ability. So what you often see is a hunting bow that’s between 58 and 64 inches with 60 inches being somewhere among the more widely used.

Target recurve bows often have lengths between 66 to 70 inches.

6. Target Bows Have More Tuning Done To Them

While some hunters do a lot of tuning to their bows, majority do the regular tuning to make it shoot accurately with little noise. Target archers though live and die with how well tuned their bows are. There is a lot of analysis on the limbs’ speed as well as adjustments made to not just to the bow but also the arrows.