Should I be upping my poundage?

[mtnbound]

I’ve been shooting the same Matthew’s creed xs since ‘14. Always had it set at 58lbs, 29.5 draw. It goes up to 70. 475gr arrow. Have migrated back and forth between fixed and mechanical, shooting mechanicals lately. Always killed dear with a double lung shot, yet to arrow an elk.

Really enjoy being able to hold at full draw forever, and shooting all day at the range with minimal fatigue.

A few months ago, I heard a guest on cliff grays podcast say that 65lb minimum for elk….

With elk in mind, should I be pulling a higher draw?

Your poundage is fine with a sharp broadhead; you will get plenty of penetration. That said, if I were shooting mechanicals, I would probably bump the weight up to 65 lbs, depending on the head's opening style.

 

[Coyote Commander]

Not directed at the OP because its a legit question. But this subject always irks me because I hear the talking heads advocating shooting as high of poundage as " comfortably possible" and only shooting "fixed heads for elk " then they turn around and say something absurd like "accuracy is everything". Hunting setups are tradeoffs plain and simple. No choice is easy and you should shoot what gives YOU confidence period.
The science is pretty simple. Getting an arrow into the breadbasket of a bull elk in a vulnerable position does not take much energy. Smart broadhead and arrow choices and even smarter shot selection and execution choices is all you really need. The latter being the one we hunters really struggle with. It sounds good to wait for a 20 yard broadside shot when watching primos videos. Then you get your first chance in a week of hard hunting and the bull is at 40 slightly quartered too, or 15 yards frontal, or heavily quartered away at 34 after you paused him looking over his shoulder with frantic cow calls and a few dead pine branches sprinkled in for flavor. Suddenly, having a margin for error in your setup that combines penetrating capability with sufficient accuracy to confidently turn less than perfect shot opportunities, into very high percentage shots fired seems like a good idea.

My poundage test is A) I need to be able to draw the bow with minimal movement seated with butt on the ground and legs straight out. B) hold at full draw for at least a minute and still fire an accurate arrow at 50 yards. C) let down the bow in a controlled manner once fatigued. If it passes these three tests my confidence level is high that I will be able to build sufficient accuracy to put the arrow where it needs to go, while also maximizing energy potential.

So to boil all this down, you just said shoot the most weight you can comfortably and accurately handle.

Just with a lot more words.