it was once believed by most historians that in the medieval age the most powerful longbows used in warfare could only have varied between 90 to 110 pounds draw weight... .. (they didn;t believe the human body could do better than that even with training ... and even knowing that boys were trained from the age of 7 in medieval wales and england)..... ..... ..
but then a few historians began claiming medieval warbows must have gone up to 160 pounds after howard hill proved a longbow of 160 pounds draw could be handled without difficulty by a man well trained and conditioned from his early teens..... he used a longbow of 160 pounds draw in his prime to hunt the big 5 game animals in africa... ...... but then when the ship mary rose was raised, longbows still in their watertight protective containers were recovered and measured.... and they started at 130 pounds minimum all the way up to 200 pounds draw... .
...none of those bows had been used yet when the mary rose sank.... and they were so well preserved that they could still be strung and shot almost 500 years later .... or in the case of the super heavy bows strung and machine tested...... ...some of the human skeletons recovered from the wreck showed upper body bone structure consistent with a man having grown up from childhood training with a bow and who researchers believed could have been capable of using those heaviest of bows as a grown man in the peak of his strength... (around 30 to 40 years of age)...
when i first joined this family my dad had a handmade longbow/warbow of around 135 pounds draw... it was 76 inches long and considerd a self bow because it was made of one single stave of wood.... .he kept it at a fire station and shot it out back of the station during slow down times. ..i rmember he was able to shoot that bow easily up to 300 shots in a single day before becoming fatigued... but he was also in his mid 30s and in top shape...... .. that bow threw a splinter many years ago and is now a wall hanger decoration.... .... tradtional wooden longbows... like the human body... become weaker with age and continual use.... and are destined to break or wear out eventually....which is why none of the bows from the medieval period survived to today... .and the only reason the mary rose longbows did survive was because they had been undisturbed in airtight containers and at very cold temperatures under water for all those years.....
the warbow my dad has now which is 110 pounds draw - is the 3rd one he has owned since that 135 pounder... it;s 76 inches long and is hickory with a bamboo backing - making it a little more durable and less likely to splinter... ..(it came from a christian owned company called rudder bows that is now out of business)... ...at 65 yo he can shoot that one around 20 to 25 times in a singe day before he has to give it up... ..but his main hunting bow is a custom damon howatt longbow made of african hardwoods - with fiberglass backing.. ...that bow has a reflex/deflex design - and has a draw weight of 83 pounds.. ... about 64 inches long and perfect for bowhunting.....
his goal in the past couple of years has been to shoot that 83 pound bow at least 144 shots a day to stay in shape... .... but he says eventually he will have to give up shooting both those bows and move down to a lighter draw weight... . ... the bow i have is made very similar to his 83 pound howatt just with much lighter draw weight...(a little over 60 pounds).... ...i was trying to build up to one day be able to shoot a similar bow of 70 pounds draw weight..... or even his main hunting bow of 83 pounds.. but it ended up being a pipe dream.... i haven;t done well trying to move past this one i have now ..and i think i hit my peak already....