I think it runs deeper than that. I theorize it’s an ideological issue with Bowhunting. Sure it was heavy arrows before, but then lighter arrows were invented. This was in the pursuit of speed. Then the “speed kills” era came into Bowhunting with theories that one could beat a deer jumping the string if they have a light setup.
Add the celebrity hunters on cable networks telling us that we, too, can have their success if we buy xyz.
Now comes YouTube with THP, the Ranch Fairy and other non-celebrities with hours of footage and the science (Ashby foundation) to back their findings up. And it turns out, you can’t really beat an animal jumping the string with speed. Even crossbows can’t beat a deer jumping the string!
That’s a hard pill to swallow if you’ve got a shop and it’s loaded with lightweight speed items because that’s what you’ve been taught & believe.
The Ranch Fairy doesn’t make it any easier because he IS annoying. Hell, he’s the Joe Exotic of the Bowhunting world. But the Ashby methods he lays out are effective.
Most people aren’t going extreme FOC/weight, but look to land in the 15-20% FOC range with a 500-600gr arrow. If that can improve lethality, why fight it? I think the pursuit of speed with bows will continue, because adding more power does = more penetration. But I think meshing better bows with the “new” FOC arrow stuff will be the standard soon.
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All I know for sure is I ain't old (27 + 2 days) but I worked in a shop for 5 years. I'm not sure why we're suddenly so interested in a report from an African big-game hunter that's been around a hot minute, but if it's that fairy fella to blame I can't wait for him to go the way of the overdraw rest.
Most of the arrows will kill most of the deer most of the time, if they hit. Most of the customers will miss most of their deer most of the time. You do hit a kernel of truth when you say we have merch to move, and we're not adapting new tech until we know for sure most of the people want it most of the time.
Speed does kill, because that speed number correlates to energy. Horsepower, if you will. Do with the energy what you like. Flat trajectories are nice. So are arrows that make it through rib cages. Thing is, most bows have a flat enough trajectory and enough energy to blow through deer at the distances most archers can hunt at, assuming the setup is correctly tuned and not slinging an arrow practically sideways the way a lot of the ones I saw were.
If you are smarter than the old man at the shop, why are you there? That sounds Richardish, but I'm serious. Nobody goes to a shop because they love handing a stranger their bow and paying them extra money to do things they could do themselves. You went to a shop for help, and the old man "helped" you. He just didn't say what you wanted to hear, which is what I had to do a lot of times. I didn't like it any more than the customer. I poo-poo'ed a lot of ultralight arrows and huge expandables the same way I now poo-poo grizzly sticks and insert kits. Deer ain't that hard to kill, and most people are focusing more on hunting forums and gear specs than they are on what it takes to put broadheads in lungs. Namely a quiet and easy-drawing, forgiving bow that's easy to tune and easier to shoot; plus practice in field conditions and the development of a killer's instinct that you only acquire by shooting at a lot of animals. Talk to John Eberhart, Dan Infalt, or our own
@WHW about what gear you need to kill deer. It ain't much!
"But I like to tinker," folks say! Cool. The tinkering gets old after a while though, and nobody gives a fig about your rig but you. Especially if you walked up to my counter with gear that didn't pay my rent, which it sounds like is what you did to that old dude. I had a guy in my shop that sounds like your young dude. He liked to play, so we eventually decided to give him more free time to play.
Now for the 180. Archery shops are dying, and I believe most of them deserve the fate because they're not smart enough to keep up with the world. They can't keep the inventory, the hours suck, the waiting for service sucks, etc. BUT, the advantage you get from a shop is that old dude who isn't impressed with you or the 2021 product catalogue.
If you don't like what the old man says, i highly recommend spending $600 on an ez green press and a draw board. Work on your own stuff, work on your buddies stuff, maybe moonlight a little. See how long it takes you to become the old man after you have to argue with somebody who can't adjust their rest or serve a peep but knows you're an idiot.
Sorry to be blunt. Personal topic for me and I just had to break into my own vehicle after my wife locked her keys in the trunk. Lol
