Make no mistake, we are (or should be) aiming for heavy bone more than a lot of hunters realize. I'm not taking about aiming for heavy bone on the entrance side, I'm talking about heavy bone on the EXIT side.
The aiming point on almost any quartering away puts the exit very close to heavy bone.
I was already very familiar with Ashby long before there was the internet or podcasts.
When I finally got to hear Ashby on a podcast, one thing he said really stuck with me. I paraphrase, but the importance of an exit wound is critical to the actual recovery of the animal. I didn't say an exit hole is critical for lethality, I said critical for RECOVERY of the animal.
And something else that I heard Ashby say very recently referred to the often heard comment that heavy arrows are for large or dangerous game and aren't needed for whitetails. He compared a cape buffalo rib to heavy bone on a whitetail and commented that some whitetail bones are actually tougher to penetrate than a 1 inch thick buffalo rib.
Almost to a man, we regularly hear bowhunters say they'll only shoot broadside or quartering away angles and I completely agree with that. But how many of the light arrow guys realize they are actually aiming for an exit location that may prevent their light arrow from actually producing an exit hole? And they wonder why the bloodtrail sucked.
The aiming point on almost any quartering away puts the exit very close to heavy bone.
I was already very familiar with Ashby long before there was the internet or podcasts.
When I finally got to hear Ashby on a podcast, one thing he said really stuck with me. I paraphrase, but the importance of an exit wound is critical to the actual recovery of the animal. I didn't say an exit hole is critical for lethality, I said critical for RECOVERY of the animal.
And something else that I heard Ashby say very recently referred to the often heard comment that heavy arrows are for large or dangerous game and aren't needed for whitetails. He compared a cape buffalo rib to heavy bone on a whitetail and commented that some whitetail bones are actually tougher to penetrate than a 1 inch thick buffalo rib.
Almost to a man, we regularly hear bowhunters say they'll only shoot broadside or quartering away angles and I completely agree with that. But how many of the light arrow guys realize they are actually aiming for an exit location that may prevent their light arrow from actually producing an exit hole? And they wonder why the bloodtrail sucked.