Hello Guys! I was just wondering why they don't give finished arrow weight on statistics when a bow hunter takes a deer on the show? The broad head type, arrow, and bow are all interesting but having a finished arrow weight would lend some context to the performance of some of the shots we see on the show, particularly when no pass through occurs. You could even show KE for further reference. Do you ever show hunts from out in Arizona? Thanks, W
I doubt that most people know what the exact finished weight of their arrow is. As for AZ, we don't have any team members who hunt out there.
Well this is the Internet, so I would expect most people to know their exact specs of everything involving their bow setup - bow speed, arrow finished weight, KE, FOC, momentum, drag resistance of their arrow based on degrees of fletching offset, elevation, relative humidity and wind speed at any given time. For the record my finished arrow weight is a touch over 500 grains. No idea what speed my bow it shooting it at or what my FOC or KE are. They're enough to kill stuff, which is pretty good.
I realize there are probably arguments aplenty online and elsewhere about all the physics of bow hunting. And no doubt all those other factors can change lots of performance in the field.. The reason I asked, and why I will still hope that Arrow weight makes it into the stats, it when watching one of the recent episodes, I was trying to figure out why the shooter didn't get a pass through. The shot was close, ground blind, and decent placement. Your arrows (Justin) seem to pass through consistently. This persons shot did not. The proof is in the pudding in most cases. I would bet his arrows weren't 500ish grains like yours? Or maybe he hit a bone on the other side... Who knows. Just trying to learn more... Thanks for the answer none the less!! You Illinois guys make me jealous. You seem to step on deer right out of the truck!
When it comes to IL, just like every state, the deer density and quality of hunting can change from place to place and farm to farm. For instance I hunted a farm on Sunday morning and didn't see a single deer. On my way out I pulled 2 cameras that had been there for 10 days each. Between them there was ONE deer photo. Not every piece of property in IL is equal but if you're on the right one it can be some of the best deer hunting in the world. As for arrow penetration, this is something that gets talked about a lot. Aside from the weight of your arrow I think shot placement has the biggest amount of influence in penetration. You'll notice most of the shots that don't blow all the way through are in tight to the shoulder. Not necessarily the bone, but the heavy muscle surrounding it. Trying to push an arrow through that versus a few inches further back where there's nothing more than hide, rib cage and soft tissue is a world of difference. Likewise the closer you get to that shoulder the more likely you are to encounter some sort of heavy bone either on the way in or the way out. Of course that's going to affect things as well. I believe most of the shots you see from our guys that don't go 100% through and clear the other side are due to this. If you look back to 2010 I shot a big bodied buck I called Little Mac. He was around 220 lbs on the hoof and I put the arrow right through is shoulder. At the time I was shooting a 450-ish grain arrow with a tiny 1 1/8" diameter fixed blade head from a 70 lb bow that was IBO rated at 340 fps. By all accounts I should have blown right through him, but that muscle was enough to slow the arrow down so it only buried to the fletching and broke off when he ran away. Two weeks earlier I shot an equally sized buck with the same setup and my arrow passed through him and stuck 8" in the dirt on the other side. Same setup, different amounts of penetration, same basic results - dead buck. Another thing to consider when you look at penetration is how well your bow is tuned. There's a lot of guys out there, probably even some of our team, that are hunting with bows that aren't 100% tuned to the best of their ability. If your arrow isn't flying dead on straight it's going to take some momentum out of it when it impacts the target. IMO that's one of the most underrated factors when it comes to penetration. As for your original question I'm going to guess most of our team are shooting arrows right around the 400 grain mark. Here's a typical setup you'll probably see when watching our show. Carbon Express Maxima RED 350 - 9 grains per inch @ 28 inches = 252 grains Insert - 11 grains Maxima Bulldog collar - 4 grains CX Launchpad lighted nock - 19 grains NAP Killzone - 100 grains NAP Quikfletch - 30 grains Total finished weight - 416 grains IMO for whitetail hunting 400 grains is plenty to give you good penetration. It's all about putting the arrow in a spot where it's going to penetrate the best and making sure it's flying true.
Im right at 478 for my deer arrow. Well that's my only arrow beings all i hunt here in ohio is deer haha Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk
