heh heh.. Yesterday I made some venison/pork carnitas and I boned out a pork butt in the process. (that sounds vaguely kinky) Anyhow, that left me with a nice pork shoulder blade to play with. A very heavy, thick shoulder blade. I stuck it to one of my foam blocks and shot it. It was 21 yards away. I aimed at the center of the ridge knowing that I'm not good enough to center punch it. As expected the shot was a bit off but I did catch a bit of the ridge. Oh, I was using a Bowtech equalizer set at 41 lbs, a dull muzzy 3 blade 125 grain head. 368 gr total arrow weight. About 39 ft lbs of KE. The hit. You can see one blade did hit the ridge of the scapula. You can also tell it was a very dull broadhead (one I've been shooting all summer) because it nicked the rubberband but did not cut through it. You can see the one blade did cut all the way through the ridge. After that, I gave the bone to the dog. :D This is not at all to suggest that I recommend trying to shot through shoulder blades. I don't... at all. I do get tired of being told that I should use a two blade, cut on contact head for my set-up tho'.
haaaaaaaaaaaa you go girl! cept i woulda used that bone to put in a pot with some greens and not gave it to the dog! sorry we're not on the same team this year but i'll be waiting for your posts!
Nice review. I think it just goes to show what a well tuned setup is capable of, regardless of DW/KE. Now you need to get a rage BH and go at it again LOL.
Thats a pretty cool experiment you did there!!! I've shot thru both shoulders on a doe at 40yds with a Rocket expandable a few yrs back and I was shooting 50lbs with my Allegiance. I was like OMG I actually broke the offside shoulder at that yardage and Im shooting a 400gr arrow By the way that actually did start to sound quite kinky for a minute there LMAO:D:D:D:D
Nice test. Impressive for 39lbs of KE. I was surprised by the penatration. Obviously your set up is well tuned and you had a nice strait arrow upon entry. I went through both shoulder blades of a 140lb buck before (shot from the ground), but I have had my arrow stopped cold by the shoulder of a bigger buck I didn't get (shot from a tree). Shoulder blades are still not anything to intentionally mess with for the bow hunter. How far was the shot?
Somebody send me one of those low KE rage heads and I try it on a comparable shoulder blade. (I have more pork butts... they were only .89 cents a pound. :D )
Since nobody has said it yet... Muzzy's are "Bad to the Bone" ...and yes, I would also like to see the Rage at 39ft lb KE...
Ummmmm, when you "boned the pork butt"....did it umm make any noise or wiggle or anything ? I'm just askin cause it like is causing me to make small mewing noises.... SB
I would put money on this thread turning into a Muzzy vs. Rage thread. Cool experiment Christine. I have to admit I'm very impressed with the results from your set up. That should just boost your confidence in your gear that much more.
Nice report! Great photos. You are right, it doesn't take much to go through the thin part of the scapula (of a deer), but even if you have a heavier pound bow, that ridge will almost always stop the arrow and you won't recover the deer. Over the years, I have unknowingly subjected myself to the experiment with scapula's. The time when I failed the experiment, I center punched the ridge of the scapula and it stopped my arrow dead. It was a 410 gr arrow, including the 85 gr SST hammer. That was with 68 lbs of KE. I also had a bow that shot with 88 lbs of KE and I'm not so sure that would adequately penetrate that spine. Especially on a huge 200+ lb buck.
I hear ya Greg, many, many moons ago I shot a big bodied buck in the shoulder with a rocky mountain ultra broadhead. (it had a huge set of blades and a dull, cone point) I was shooting a really anemic bow too. I think I hit the buck right on the ridge of the shoulder blade because my arrow literally bounced back off the deer. It cut the hide and I got a few drops of blood.. but that was it. Boy, if that doesn't humble your set up... nothing will.