what would you recommend as the minimum draw weight for hunting black bears? Thanks in advance

My 2010 black bear took 25" of arrow from a recurve I draw to 48lb.

My buddy killed a really nice black bear on the same trip with a recurve he draws to 40lb.

Both bear were taken with a 125 grain 2-blade head.

I saw an old black and white film which showed Fred Bear shooting an arrow 'through' a black bear in brush with a 40 lb. recurve. Me...I'd want at least 50lbs. 60 better!

50 will do it with ooomph to spare.

In this video Tracy was shooting 40#@25".Although if you can shoot more accurately, I would.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEbxXTw2pRs&feature=player_embedded

The minimum,thats legal in the state you hunt.

Forgot to add,that Larry Hatfield has taken numerous Bear,with a 40 lb bow.

Kinda depends on the size of bear you're shooting at!  Bears have thin skin and small ribs so you don't have much to worry about.  They have sharp teeth and claws though.

most places have minimum weight requirements of 45 pounds.  Any bow that will take a whitetail will take a blackbear.

Ontario, min is 48.5# AT or BEFORE 27.5" of draw.

40 will do the job.  Shoot the heaviest weight bow you can shoot straight.  Accuracy is a lot more important than bow weight.  If you going after Grizzly I would up to at least 50 lbs and preferably 60.

You can comfortably kill any north american big game animal with 55 pounds.

QuoteOriginally posted by Trad-Man:
You can comfortably kill any north american big game animal with 55 pounds.

I agree I shoot a 55 pound Tomahawk longbow with a 620 grain arrow that is tipped with a VPA Terminator 175 grain flying at 170 fps. You can't tell me this won't shoot through any animal on this continent.

60" Big Jim Buffalo Bow 43@27...  pass thru 29 paces...

coaster500...At what moment, did the ole booger bear enlighten you that your set-up was too light?

Whatever your set-up happens to be, you must command realistic confidence.

Great work!!!

Just bought my first trad bow: 55@ 28 and I draw more like 30. All my arrows from my compound don't really work for my new bow but after I get the setup I'm hoping to go do some bear hunting this spring. Glad to hear that it's bow enough for anything I'll need it for. Hopefully I'm man enough to shoot it  

That's plenty of bow Shane.It will work on much larger game too.Black bears ribs over the vital area are relatively thin,not much bigger around than a pencil.When properly double lunged,they don't go far at all.

Thanks Jim, I'm not too familiar with hunting bears.this will be my first go at it. Just noticed you are from Montana too, where abouts?

I'm in Whitehall.

Nice. I'm in Bozeman