This is why the heavy arrow set up will trump a 400 grain arrow with a mechanical broadhead every single time. Of course we never plan for port shots or the variables that cause a less than optimal hit however a plan B is always good to have. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
great video..good info...I am guilty of shooting light arrows.. 390 gr and a Rage head. I have killed over 35 with set ups lighter than, but Im gradually getting to heavier arrows.. I have a very short 26.5" draw. it's hard to get heavy arrows and keep a decent speed of 260-275 fps. But I will not lie. I have hit shoulder before, twice. it didn't end in my favor,,, I am still working my figures and numbers to hopefully find about a 425-450 gr arrow that will allow me to shoot one pin to 25 yds and call it a day
I ordered one of the Ranch Fairy test kits from Sirius Archery, Tried them a bit, but change to a QAD HDX so I'm going to have to re-test them. Looking forward to trying them out more. The 2 that shot best with the Whisker Biscuit weighed ~715 and ~645 with no fletching, a little heavier than my 390gr .400's ;-)
You absolutely can kill deer with light setups but like I said this video is confirmation that plan B is better than relying solely on shot placement. There simply isn’t an negative attributes to heavy set ups. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
yeh I can't ever see me shooting over 450 gr...just no need in it for me. especially for deer here VA. I think at some point you get diminishing returns for a short draw guy anyways
Ranch Fairy has the DikDik bow, 43# @ 26" shooting heavies quite nicely and killing big hogs. Not trying to change your mind, just interesting to watch. I think you are right about needing a heavy on whitetail, until the deer moves and you catch heavy bone anyway. edit to add: I haven't shot any deer with a bow, so I guess I'm kind of talking out of my butt ;-)
lol! well I just killed my 65th deer with a bow.. never have shot any of them with an arrow over 400 gr...and over 40 with big mech heads! so i go against the grain, pun intended! lol
go get em man! Our dog hunting season starts here Saturday, so i will toting the Browning A5 and hearing some sweet hound music
for the most part and the average guy with a 28" + draw length I agree.. Speed comes easy to yall. For short guys, we play hell...I am not talking about 300 fps+ I am talking about getting 250-275 fps... I don't take shots over 25 yds usually. But I would shocked if I could get close to those speeds with a 475+ gr arrow.
Nope, ill stick with my 425-430gr set up, over 90 bow killed deer thru the years, even going thru the scalpula several times on 180-200+lb bucks using Steelheads/XL's and fixed heads .... nope, I'll take my 285-290 fps and a 430ish gr Arrow on big deer any day of the week .. see my signature for details
after playing the the Ranch Fairy test kit, I'm going to try some of the 'adult arrows' These will end up just north of 650 gr, bare shafts are really quiet off the bow, and fly great. Should be interesting!
When it comes to arrow weight - I will concede that heavier is always better. However, I personally believe there is a point at which it no longer matters as much as people believe it does. That point being somewhere north of 500 grains. Beyond that, I don't personally believe you're gaining any sort of major benefit. Especially considering you only need to get 8-12" of the arrow into the chest cavity of a whitetail to kill it. Sometimes less. The last time I checked, a deer's chest cavity isn't 5 feet wide. Once you've penetrated far enough to take out the vital organs, nothing else matters. It's purely for show and to make us feel warm and fuzzy inside. You can blow through the animal and your arrow can end up in the next county for all I care. The deer won't be any more dead. You can use this one video as an example of how the heavy arrow and fixed head worked out for the hunter - however, I can show you dozens more where a big mechanical head resulted in significant damage, bleeding, and ultimately a recovery that a small fixed head may not have. I say "may not have" because we have no idea what would have happened in either case. It's easy to play armchair quarterback when nobody can prove you wrong. As for the broadhead argument - that one I'll fight you on all day long. You will not change my mind that the bigger the hole, the better the chance of recovery. You also won't change my mind on the fact that most shots, when they miss the mark, are further back than they are forward. Speaking from my personal experience along with the experiences of dozens of tracks I've personally been on, or ones my friends/teammates have been on, 80% or more of them are for shots that are further back than they are forward. Liver/gut shots are far more prevalent than pure shoulder shots. When you're passing behind the ribcage through nothing but soft tissue, it doesn't take a 650 grain arrow and single bevel head to push through. In every single instance besides a direct shoulder shot, I would prefer a mechanical head with a large cutting diameter. Shoot them behind the ribs, give me a big mechanical hole. Shoot them in front of the shoulder, give me the mechanical. Shoot them IN the shoulder, give me the fixed head. A shoulder blade covers what, maybe 15% of the surface area of a whitetail between the throat and the back leg? Why is everyone so obsessed with building arrows to hopefully cover them in such a minority of shot instances? I'd rather focus on the more likely scenario - which is one where I wish I had a 2" cutting mechanical on the front of my arrow. Chances are high I'm hitting somewhere in the red so I'm going to plan for that scenario. When it comes to the optimal setup for killing whitetails, I will take a medium-heavy arrow (450-500 grains) with a big ass mechanical broadhead any day of the week, 100% of the time. I want enough force & momentum to open up as big of a hole as possible, and push that arrow through the animal as far as I can. Every ounce of energy in my arrow I want to be transferred into the deer when I hit it. All that leftover energy in your "adult" arrows when it comes out the other side is wasted energy that could have been used to cause more damage to the animal. Period. Adult arrows aren't the cure to what ails most bowhunters. Getting closer to their animals and making better shots is. People need to stop looking to their equipment to make the difference in their hunting success, and start looking at themselves. When do we get to debate the explosion of quartering-to and head-on shots that people are now taking? I need to grab some extra coffee and stretch my typing fingers out before that one.
I'm certainly not saying that one way is better than the other, nor am I trying to change anyone's point of view. I plan on only taking closer shots (<25yds), and am not interested in hard quartering to, or head on shots. As with all things in life, we all have to make decisions on what we feel is the best course of action - for us. I'm new here, didn't realize this was a controversial subject. I'll keep my arrow weight to myself going forward.
LOL. No need to keep opinions to yourself. Debates are good for the soul! My question would be if you're planning on close shots at standard shot angles (broadside or quartering away) why the need for the ultra-heavy setup?
Justin your diagram is flawed which is my entire point of the post. Other than that I agree with a lot of your points. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Another well stated position. I understand that hitting bone is a bad thing is most cases. I try my very best to not ever do it. I have hit the scapula twice in my life and lost both deer, simply because they probably lived to tell about it. Most of my 65 bow kills have been on the money or very close..meaning a few liver/ gut shots and a few spine..all unintentional.. So for me, I tend to either shoot too high sometimes, which equates to a clean miss or spine shot or too far back, which equates to gut/ liver.. I don't take quartering to shots. I like the broadside or quartering away. I love and I mean love Rage broadheads.. I have killed a lot of deer with them and I will continue to do so. I know my limits with them and I act accordingly
I'm not sure there is a 'need' for a heavy setup, as long as everything goes right. Good shot, deer doesn't jump the string, etc. What I do like is the reduction of sound when shooting the heavy arrows, no moving parts in broadhead, ability to resharpen and reuse broadheads, etc. I'm not naive enough to think that a heavy arrow with a single bevel head is going to make up for a lack of effort or skill on my part. I think, based on the available information I have seen, that it is simply a setup that I want to try. I have lightweight arrows, with mechanicals. Do I think that they are capable of taking deer? Of course. If I pull a shot or the animal moves at the shot, do I think I'd like the capabilities of the 'Plan B' arrow as Dr. Ashby calls them? Of course. To each his own. As I said before, I didn't realize this was such a controversial subject.
It's only controversial with people not willing to hear other people out. Fortunately, myself and Justin are pretty level headed. We both have been doing this a long time and we both have real life experiences to go on. I just want people to understand that 99% of what we worry about never comes to pass.. be it light arrows vs heavy arrows.. mech heads vs fixed heads...Democrat vs Rep..LOL
