Broadheads

[Scott CWO]

Penetration! I want the arrow to exit. I've seen too many elk wounded by someone's white-tailed deer setup with mechanical broadheads that do not penetrate enough. It is pure physics that energy used to open up is lost for penetration. A balance is needed. I prefer a fixed two-blade for elk and larger animals. Archers need to adjust their setups to the animal just like rifle hunters. It's funny how rifle hunters will own several rifles with several different calibers and bullet weights but some archers try to hunt almost everything in North America with their white-tailed deer setup. Elk are 4-5 times the size of a deer.

 

[BenKK]

May I ask, out of curiosity, what would the average whitetail setup be in terms of draw weight and arrow weight? I don’t know much about deer hunting but I’m interested in learning.

 

[DillonG]

May I ask, out of curiosity, what would the average whitetail setup be in terms of draw weight and arrow weight? I don’t know much about deer hunting but I’m interested in learning.

I don’t know what would be considered average, but I shoot 70lb draw weight and an arrow total weight of 527 grains. Works very effectively on IL deer.

 

[Scott CWO]

A lot of hyperbole on here. Arrow flight is very important but what happens after contact is made and penetration is what kills the animal. We have 35 archers on our schedule this year and have been doing this for 35 years. We have three elk units and four deer units, not to mention the moose, sheep and mountain goat draws yet to come. We will probably end up with close to 40 archers this year. I’ve seen WAY TOO MANY animals lost to lack of penetration due to two things, shooting too far and mechanical broadheads that open up too much to penetrate and get BOTH lungs. If you don’t get both lungs on an elk, you’re screwed and a complete pass through is even better. I’ve guided some seriously accomplished elk archers with multiple 350”+ class bulls to their credit who live in western states and hunt multiple elk states each year. Most of these guys have switched to two-blade heavier setups for elk and penetration. The same philosophy for tough, large African animals makes sense to me.

 

[firehuntfish]

Penetration! I want the arrow to exit. I've seen too many elk wounded by someone's white-tailed deer setup with mechanical broadheads that do not penetrate enough. It is pure physics that energy used to open up is lost for penetration. A balance is needed. I prefer a fixed two-blade for elk and larger animals. Archers need to adjust their setups to the animal just like rifle hunters. It's funny how rifle hunters will own several rifles with several different calibers and bullet weights but some archers try to hunt almost everything in North America with their white-tailed deer setup. Elk are 4-5 times the size of a deer.

Spot on!

 

[firehuntfish]

If you don’t get both lungs on an elk, you’re screwed and a complete pass through is even better. I’ve guided some seriously accomplished elk archers with multiple 350”+ class bulls to their credit who live in western states and hunt multiple elk states each year. Most of these guys have switched to two-blade heavier setups for elk and penetration. The same philosophy for tough, large African animals makes sense to me.

It absolutely applies to the larger African game as well.

A great deal of very creative and effective marketing has gone into the broadhead market especially where these expandable mechanical broadheads are concerned. Unfortunately, these folks care more about selling broadheads than they do about bowhunting ethics. While some mechanical designs have their place and perform well when part of a proper overall set-up, more often than not they are used by bow hunters whose set-ups do not generate enough momentum to overcome the friction loss created by mechanicals.

I would only add that penetration is the result of not just broadhead choice, but an equation of an overall proper combination of near perfect arrow flight, total arrow weight, front of center weight distribution, and the best possible broadhead and arrow shaft selection. A poorly tuned bow can result in the loss of penetration nearly as badly as the wrong broadhead design. Conversely, too light of an arrow lacking adequate f.o.c. will produce similar poor penetration results. All that said, broadhead design is the easiest part of the penetration equation to address for most bow hunting applications.