The perfect compound bow setup for whitetails will be easy to draw and shoot accurately from a treestand when the pressure is on and your heart is racing. It will be properly tuned. And it will sling arrows with a relatively flat trajectory over modest distances to give you a healthy margin of error when it comes to range estimation.
There are a lot of different modern compound bow setups that will deliver this kind of performance. After all, what we’re asking of rig is very achievable in today’s era of excellent bowhunting gear: make accurate and consistent shots at 40 yards and in. Below I’ll detail my whitetail setup. You’ll see that it’s simple and straightforward, which is what I love about it.
The Bow
This fall I’m shooting a Bowtech Core SR which has a 33-inch axle-to-axle measurement and a 70-pound peak draw weight. However I’ve got the bow cranked down to about 66 pounds so it’s easier to draw from my stand on an icy November morning. I’ll happily sacrifice a little speed for easier shooting during the moment of truth.
What I like most about this flagship bow is how easy it is to tune. With its Deadlock feature I’m able to paper tune and tune for broadheads without having to move the arrow rest. Plus, after shooting it all summer, I feel plenty confident with it.
But here’s the thing, all of the flagship bows we reviewed in our 2024 bow test would make great whitetail hunting bows — there are a bunch of great budget bow options, as well). This is why it’s so silly to me that the bowhunting world is full of brand loyalists (AKA, fanboys) who swear a specific brand is better than all the others and always has been and always will be (Mathews vs Hoyt people, I’m talking to you). Through the years, all companies have changed their cams, risers, and grips, which all have an impact on the shooting experience in any bow model. In other words, a 2014 bow from Brand X will likely be vastly different from the 2024 model.
It all comes down to how comfortable you are while shooting any given bow — how the grip fits your hand, how the draw cycle feels to you, how easy the bow is to hold on target. The only way to know which is the best whitetail hunting bow for you is to shoot a bunch of them head-to-head.
Arrow & Broadhead
I’m shooting Easton Axis Long Range Match Grade arrows, which I’ve come to love through my summer shooting. It’s a 4mm micro-diameter arrow, so it will penetrate better (because it has better sectional density) but it also has aluminum half-out inserts. These put more weight up front for better FOC and they allow me to run standard field points and broadheads. The AAE Hybrid vanes are noticeably quieter than the popular Blazer vanes I used to shoot.
The perfect broadhead pairing with these arrows is a 125-grain Sevr with a 2-inch cutting diameter. These broadheads make tuning a breeze (they have a practice mode feature so I can make sure my go-to hunting arrow shoots exactly where I want). I’ve had excellent results shooting this broadhead at hefty Wisconsin whitetails in the past and I have a lot of confidence in it. I think for most deer hunters, a mechanical broad is the best choice, and it’s hard to beat a Sevr.
Overall, my arrow and broadhead weigh 473 grains, which is right in the sweet spot for a deer hunting arrow. That’s not too light where I have to worry about penetration (or lack thereof) and it’s not too heavy where the arrow begins to drop dramatically beyond 30 yards.
Read Next: Best Broadheads for Deer Hunting
From my bow, the arrows shoot 273 FPS. I don’t care about speed (and neither should you) but it is a good indication of trajectory. With this setup, my 20-yard pin hits about 3 inches low at 25 yards. My 30-yard pin hits about 3.5 inches low at 35 yards. This gives me some wiggle room in terms of range estimation. This is critical, because there’s not always time to range a rutting buck as he chases a doe by your stand.
Sight
I grew up shooting a fixed, multi-pin sight and that’s what I still have mounted on my bow today (this year it’s the Black Gold Pro Hunter). I know there are good reasons to shoot a single pin slider — a clear sight picture and a fine aiming point being the primary ones — but I like being able to simply aim and shoot (and not dial) at any range.
Regardless of which style sight you shoot, it’s critical that you’re able to shoot it well in low light conditions. In most places we’re able to deer hunt that means 30 minutes before sunrise and 30 minutes after sunset. On a cloudy day in the woods, that could make for some pretty dark shooting conditions.
I see many bowhunters today trending toward smaller peep sights and finer pins, because they are more useful for long range shooting. That’s cool and all, but this makes lowlight shooting nearly impossible. Remember, we’re not trying to make a perfect shot at 90 yards, we’re trying to make a good shot at 30 yards in fading light.
Other Accessories
You can spend a small fortune on bowhunting accessories these days, and if you’re a true archery gear geek, then knock yourself out. But if you’re just trying to hunt deer, and save some cash, then keep things simple. I suggest adding a quality drop-away rest, a compact quiver, and a basic stabilizer to your setup and then call it good. All of these features will aid in more accurate shooting without overcomplicating your rig.
Today’s drop-away rests are ultra-adjustable and they make fine-tuning easy. Most all of them do a great job of holding the arrow in place before and during your draw, which all but eliminates the need for a Whisker Biscuit-style rest.
There are a handful of streamlined quivers that do an excellent job of holding your arrows close to the bow. The important thing here is that the design keeps the bow balanced. So if you hunt and shoot with your quiver on, you’ll notice less pull to the side. Tight Spot and Bowtech’s Centermass quivers both have lots of adjustability to help you get your bow balanced properly.
Stabilizers really do help you shoot more accurately. In our bow test, three archers shot top bows with stabilizers and without stabilizers from 50 yards. The average group size without stabilizers was 3.033 inches. With stabilizers, the average group size was 2.451 inches. I’ve found a 10-inch carbon stabilizer to be ideal for a whitetail hunting bow.
Final Thoughts on the Perfect Whitetail Hunting Bow Setup
Through months of practice I’ve grown to love my setup and all of its features. Shooting feels comfortable, natural, and fun. And this is all we should expect of a modern high-end whitetail hunting rig. It’s up to us to do the rest.