The other big issue that people forget when deciding on the best weapon for a survival situation is the fact that you will likely be deliriously hungry, sick, cold/hot, thirsty and demoralized in a true survival situation. This means that while under the best circumstances you might have a chance with one weapon or another, under real world conditions it would be very different.

I think this may be why Native Americans often used bows in the 35-45 pound range. Such a weapon is extremely easy to use even when ravenously hungry or extremely tired. Probably more so than any other weapon.

http://www.primitiveways.com/Otzi%27s_bow.html

Überraschung 😁

Ich schieße einen 85lbs reiterbogen aus Ungarn. Ein Monster.

Naja mit 40lbs kann man vieles sicher jagen. Bei Wildschwein kann es Probleme geben.

das stimmt.

This is where I heard it- from 8:50 onwards Henrik Thurfjell (a Swedish bowyer/hunter) talks about hunting wild boar. I got the poundage wrong- but he says "probably less than 60 is fine" (for large game), 60lb will apparently even go through a moose.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRX-OHahbMI

I think the general rule of thumb has been a 60 pounder will kill anything in North America. And some will say less than that. I know of a guy that killed a moose with a 45 pounder. Moose are huge animals but an arrow is basically a flying razor blade so I guess that's not too surprising.

Too much fish will make you sick.  The guy that Robinson Caruso was modeled after ate goats after eating fish for a couple of months due to "watery bowels".

The thing with a bow and arrow hunter is where you hit the animal, even with a stone point.  Basically, you want to puncture both lungs and then you wait for them to fill up with blood.  If you hit the heart or some major arteries, that means they will bleed out quicker.

In 1914, Art Young talked a number of museums into letting him test their artifacts.  I don't recall exactly how many bows he tested but the draw weight spanned from around 25 pounds to 70.  Most were in the 40 to 50 pound range.  These were bows by primarily Plains tribes, so those bows were made for both warfare and hunting.  And two of the primary meat animals were bison and elk.  Elk can weigh up to 600 pounds (275kg) and bison can top a ton.

I have a 40lber at home and it hits with a good bit of force. Back when I was a kid, there was a guy at our archery club who used an 80lber, it was damn powerful. Used to put arrows straight through the foot thick packed foam target bosses. If you accidentally shot it into wooden frame you wouldn't even be able to get the arrow out! I can't imagine what these 120lb+ top end longbows would do.