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Light arrow failure?

Nutterbuster

Nutterbuster

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2017
Messages
10,069
Location
Where the skys are so blue!
Took a hard quartering toward shot with an arrow that has maybe a 350 grain total weight. 100 grain schwacker expandable up front.


I know, I know. "Glad it's working for you, wait until everything doesn't go right." That's about the 6th time it's gone right so far in one season and 2 days. I've messed up a lot of shots, and they've all been my fault. Not the equipments.

Practice a productive amount. Take good shots. Accept that 300fps pales in comparison to 2,000 and that things go wrong. A bad death by arrow is probably worlds better than a good death by coyote or starvation.

Don't worry about it. Get out there and sling some shafts. I know I'm PUMPED to throw some twizzlers and flappers now.
 
Nutterbuster said:
Took a hard quartering toward shot with an arrow that has maybe a 350 grain total weight. 100 grain schwacker expandable up front.


I know, I know. "Glad it's working for you, wait until everything doesn't go right." That's about the 6th time it's gone right so far in one season and 2 days. I've messed up a lot of shots, and they've all been my fault. Not the equipments.

Practice a productive amount. Take good shots. Accept that 300fps pales in comparison to 2,000 and that things go wrong. A bad death by arrow is probably worlds better than a good death by coyote or starvation.

Don't worry about it. Get out there and sling some shafts. I know I'm PUMPED to throw some twizzlers and flappers now.
Click to expand...
Fake News!

Ok I’ll go watch you vidja now.
 
Don't know if I'd try that shot with that equipment on one of our bucks up here in Maine that might dress out at #250 but seems to work on them little dinky southern bucks. Also, I don't think the results would have been the same if you had pulled that shot a couple of inches and hit the front shoulder. Just saying. Congrats on the kill though.
 
Yup. Light arrows can kill deer. Heavy arrows can kill deer. Just like different saddles, climbing sticks and platforms, we all value different qualities and benefits differently. Do your own reading, research and testing and at the end of the day shoot whatever YOU are confident in.

Nobody else’s opinion matters when you’re at full draw on a deer...
 
Well thats typically not a high percentage shot, but I see your shooting a crossbow. The good ones generate a ton more energy than compound bows. Congrats on your deer
 
Nutterbuster said:
Took a hard quartering toward shot with an arrow that has maybe a 350 grain total weight. 100 grain schwacker expandable up front.


I know, I know. "Glad it's working for you, wait until everything doesn't go right." That's about the 6th time it's gone right so far in one season and 2 days. I've messed up a lot of shots, and they've all been my fault. Not the equipments.

Practice a productive amount. Take good shots. Accept that 300fps pales in comparison to 2,000 and that things go wrong. A bad death by arrow is probably worlds better than a good death by coyote or starvation.

Don't worry about it. Get out there and sling some shafts. I know I'm PUMPED to throw some twizzlers and flappers now.
Click to expand...
Nice video. 2.5 minutes and you communicated all that was relevant. I watched the whole thing.
Nice shot too. I don't think any arrow would have trouble penetrating at that entrance wound.
 
@Nutterbuster I think there are positives and negatives to both ways of thinking. One thing for sure is if your not shooting enough weight to penetrate that shoulder bone you might as well shoot something that leaves a big freaking hole. Shooting through brush can frig up the shot regardless of foc and broadhead choice. I have decided I didn’t need to tuck it tight to the leg and when you put a 2” hole through the back of the lungs you can usually watch them fall in sight. I think the rage hypo are a little more efficient and penetrate better but the schwackers penetrate good enough. People complain about the entrance wound being small on the schwackers but it’s about the same as my 200 grain grizzly single bevels. Straight sticks with sharp points will kill stuff.
 
bj139 said:
Nice video. 2.5 minutes and you communicated all that was relevant. I watched the whole thing.
Nice shot too. I don't think any arrow would have trouble penetrating at that entrance wound.
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It wouldn't, because even with a hard quarter-to it was behind the shoulder. Whether the deer is 50lbs or 250lbs, there's not a lot of difference in the toughness of lungs, hearts, livers, and the rest if the squishy bits.
 
Where you shot that deer looks exactly like the type of terrain where I saw deer last year. Grassy ground cover between smaller trees. I'm going back there next hunt.
 
I would never take a hard quartering toward shot . It's a low percentage shot. I have to much respect for the animals I hunt. I taught Bow Hunter safty courses for years and we would teach ethical shot placement and a hard quartering towards was not one of them. That's just my opinion and you may disagree with it and that's ok .
 
Apex7 said:
I would never take a hard quartering toward shot . It's a low percentage shot. I have to much respect for the animals I hunt. I taught Bow Hunter safty courses for years and we would teach ethical shot placement and a hard quartering towards was not one of them. That's just my opinion and you may disagree with it and that's ok .
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I respect that. A quartering toward shot is not my first choice, and I used to pass on a lot of them because the shoulders and ribcage are kinda designed to keep pokey bits out of squishy bits. If they weren't deer would have died off eons ago because running at breakneck speeds through thick woods and charging each other with spears on the front of your head is kinda conducive to producing puncture wounds.

Trouble is, a lot of quartering-to shots end up in folks' laps because if you're stationary in a place with no deer, and then deer show up, they tend to be moving toward you to a degree. This buck was headed almost straight towards me, and would have undoubtedly ended up directly below me. At which point I'm sitting there with some sweat action going on and a running thermacell. Kiss that shot opportunity goodbye

The good news is that shoulders run pretty far forward on a deer, and there's lots of stuff you can hit that isn't shoulder even at that angle. On a calm deer at close range and with a cool head behind the shot, I feel very confident about it. That's the 2nd deer that I've taken with a quarter-to in the past year. Neither touched the shoulder, and both deer went less than 20 yards.

But I would much rather take a quartering away or broadside shot and will hold out for it if I think it is a reasonable assumption that it will present itself, because you are right, the odds are higher.
 
Nutterbuster said:
I respect that. A quartering toward shot is not my first choice, and I used to pass on a lot of them because the shoulders and ribcage are kinda designed to keep pokey bits out of squishy bits. If they weren't deer would have died off eons ago because running at breakneck speeds through thick woods and charging each other with spears on the front of your head is kinda conducive to producing puncture wounds.

Trouble is, a lot of quartering-to shots end up in folks' laps because if you're stationary in a place with no deer, and then deer show up, they tend to be moving toward you to a degree. This buck was headed almost straight towards me, and would have undoubtedly ended up directly below me. At which point I'm sitting there with some sweat action going on and a running thermacell. Kiss that shot opportunity goodbye

The good news is that shoulders run pretty far forward on a deer, and there's lots of stuff you can hit that isn't shoulder even at that angle. On a calm deer at close range and with a cool head behind the shot, I feel very confident about it. That's the 2nd deer that I've taken with a quarter-to in the past year. Neither touched the shoulder, and both deer went less than 20 yards.

But I would much rather take a quartering away or broadside shot and will hold out for it if I think it is a reasonable assumption that it will present itself, because you are right, the odds are higher.
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How much of a factor was the xbows ability to hit within an inch of the placement of the crosshairs at a reasonable range, in your thinking?
 
bj139 said:
How much of a factor was the xbows ability to hit within an inch of the placement of the crosshairs at a reasonable range, in your thinking?
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Honestly, I don't believe that within 30 yards I shoot a mini any better than I used to shoot a compound. Accuracy definitely helps. Calm deer help. Calm hunter helps. You don't get those all the time. But while I definitely understand the physics of heavy arrows and hard objects, I don't see how they help those 3 factors. Put a frazzled hunter on a wired deer, and I don't think the odds are good regardless of what you're shooting.
 
Good job on putting that buck down quick! One question though: is it still considered a twizzler if it's cut down to 23 inches? Flapper for sure but surely the dynamic spine of a shorter arrow would remove it from the category of a twizzler? Semantics I know... I'm gonna go out and ponder that point while I try to stick a critter this evening.
 
heretic said:
Good job on putting that buck down quick! One question though: is it still considered a twizzler if it's cut down to 23 inches? Flapper for sure but surely the dynamic spine of a shorter arrow would remove it from the category of a twizzler? Semantics I know... I'm gonna go out and ponder that point while I try to stick a critter this evening.
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I don't know. It's definitely not an adult arrow. Maybe an oompa-loompa arrow. Small and unassuming, but somehow very unnerving...
 
Nutterbuster said:
Honestly, I don't believe that within 30 yards I shoot a mini any better than I used to shoot a compound. Accuracy definitely helps. Calm deer help. Calm hunter helps. You don't get those all the time. But while I definitely understand the physics of heavy arrows and hard objects, I don't see how they help those 3 factors. Put a frazzled hunter on a wired deer, and I don't think the odds are good regardless of what you're shooting.
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I pretty much agree. Now if I was crawling up on bedded bucks like THP and taking front on shots I might feel different. I very rarely spot a bedded deer from the ground in my woods. You are either tripping over it or watching it bed from a tree. I think the speed difference and cutting diameter more or less even the playing field. The super heavy arrow and heavy duty broadheads add a few inches of lethality to the front of a deer. I feel that a 2” diameter mechanical adds a little faster death on the back end of the vitals and an increased chance of finding one hit farther back. It really depends on ones hunting style as which will perform better and it’s up to the hunter to know the limitations of ones equipment and hunt accordingly. Mechanicals do funny things sometimes but they are also more forgiving. I know tuning is everything but I take a bunch of funny angles shots with less than perfect form.
 
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