I had a great evening hunt last night, seeing one buck I would love to shoot and a pile of other does and small bucks. Tonight should be even better with some precipitation and a good cool down.
Sad story time.. Saturday evening, I have the 10" I wanted dead to rights 15 yards feeding...I see this monster a buck working towards me from the other side. This damn thing made that "big 10" look like a fawn. He comes, 30yards, dead broadside, perfectly calm, head up. I put my pin in the armpit, let arrow fly, it hits the shoulder and I watch that tank run to the woods with about 7" of penetration. Wait 45min, sneak up to wood line to see if can see a bright nocturnal in the woods, nothing. Skirt the field edge looking into the woods for any sign of light, nothing. Go back to where he went in, found my arrow, snapped, nocturnal snapped as well. Back out, try to look Sunday. Spent at least 6 hours with 2 others walking zigzagging back and forth looking for any sign. Found some tracks, but not a speck of blood. So, I text @LittleChief, tell him I'm selling all of my hunting gear and I'm done...for ever. He talked me off the ledge, I haven't sold anything. This is the 3rd...yes 3rd big buck I've lost in a row. Now that I have had a few days to chill out, I have a huge issue on my hands. The arrows for my Helim are obviously not setup heavy properly to punch through a big deer. I think they are like 435gr +/- with the muzzy trocarHB. I still have not setup my new Halon arrows, but not sure how long that's going to take. I'm a busy fella. I've ordered new arrows built by Ranch Fairy through Sirius Outdoor Group...final result should be ~600gr w/cut on contact broadheads...I'm not F'ing around anymore. Even if it doesn't go through, it should give me time to jump put of tree, and tackle whatever I've shot at for a knife kill.
That sucks. Everyone hits the shoulder at some point and it usually never works. It’s definitely worth a try with really heavy arrows that way there’s a better chance of poking through the shoulder. I tend to stay away from there since I have a short draw and shoot lower poundage. I use QAD exodus and my arrows are 420ish and haven’t had any problems, but I also stay away from the shoulder . You will break this curse, never give up.
I try to avoid shoulder too, but did up my arrows to ~530gr for elk/deer a few years ago (halfserts, 125gr magnus bh and a 4 vane config). Last deer I shot was high and front of the shoulder as it turned, but I did hit the spine, shattered a vertebrae and it fell where it stood. I put a second through the back and it penetrated through the sternum. For me 600gr would be too much drop for my old bow, but I’m a believer in heavier arrows. Good luck and resight when you get your new arrows…
That's a fact. This would have been my best buck, except for hitting it in the shoulder. It's the buck in my avatar. I shouldn't have taken the less than ideal shot that I took. If you look closely, you can see a blood stain in the shoulder area. I was happy to get these pics a week after the bad shot, because it let me know he was no worse for wear. Plus, he came back to the exact spot after the incident.
The heaviest arrow option is have right now is my easton axis that have 50 grain inserts with a 125gr head Total weight somewhere around 535 total grains. Too heavy for my liking My bow 335 ibo 29.5 draw just over 60 pounds My ideal arrow weight would be between between 450 and 475. I've had 2 arrows that were not complete pass through ever, 1 was a slow old bow (Parker blazer) with really light arrow scheels brand shaft with super light insert on a 30ish yard shot shooting a magnus stinger Other was 20 yards with a large rage went through on slight quartering away and hit offside shoulder, so it went all the way through chest cavity out the armpit and smack offside leg bone. That was a 500+ grain easton axis I don't think you need 600 grains
I called the Archery shop and we went over my setup, I'm down to ~550 per the calculator. May have over reacted, but talking to that shop, I'm getting a perfectly balanced and tuned arrow that will fly well, rather than the factory fletched ones I typically buy and slap a bh on. I still have the bare shaft arrows I'm going to use to practice building and tuning etc. just for fun/learning.
forecast calls for this weekend to be back in the 90's..... yuck on the 14th it looks like the change it coming, not a huge change but highs in the 70's is way better than highs in the 80's
I should have added, this is a behind my left should shot and it WAY closer than. I know that because I shot at a doe in this same spot early last year (September 15th) and went clear over her back. yellow is trails orange is stand red is path of deer in picture headed south camera is on east of north south trail
You do have them on cam in the morning, if you can get in clean then go for it. In my area I usually wait for pre rut to hunt mornings.
