Dr. A — a professional bowyer friend of mine told me lately that in recent years, the average weight of recurve and longbows he’s been building on custom order has dropped from 60-65 to 50-55, as the average trad bowhunters age “matures.” So your info on how to maximize the dangerusnous (to game!) of slow-shooting, lighter-draw bows is Really Important! More now than ever before. If we are “mature” and ain’t listening to you, we are fools. So much thanks to you, sir. bb

i would speculate that a perfectly placed shot with the PROPER arrow/broadhead combination would be lethal on almost ANY live game.

over the years, i’ve used only two blade broadheads after seeing what devistation they perform on live game when being PROPERLY sharpened.

i recall one three-blade head that broke off a blade in the animal and some four blade that i couldn’t get to fly correctly no matter what i did. (all were replacable blade heads)

i think that, in all likleyhood, it’s confidence in yourself to make the CORRECT shot along with confidence and knowledge your equipment will do the job when applied CORRECTLY.

Sometime back in the 90’s, I remember the Black Widow catalog had pics & a story about Ken taking a nice bull elk with a 45# bow.

With all due respect, I’m not sure quite where this discussion is headed. Of course you CAN kill an elk with a #45 bow, but that certainly doesn’t mean that light bows are an optimal choice for heavy game. And I agree that bow weight is not necessarily the most important factor in delivering a lethal arrow, and that many of us shoot heavier bows than we need. (I’ve dropped back from bows in the low #70’s to bows in the low #60’s for most North American game.) But draw weight still has its place in the equation. Among other things, it’s hard to shoot a heavy arrow with a light bow, and I think we all agree that arrow weight is a very important variable. As for the theory that aging bowhunters need to shoot light bows… come on! I’m in my 60’s, can still shoot #70 bows comfortably, and can move up to #80 with practice if need be.I do that by working to stay in shape. The real point–as I tried to make in a recent piece in the magazine–is that despite all the dithering over equipment one hears nowadays, the most important variable still is and always will be the archer. If we spent more time shooting our bows and out in the woods studying the game so we can get closer when we shoot, we wouldn’t have to worry so much about what we’re shooting. Cheers, Don

Doctor Ashby

I read with intense interest most of your printed research work and I feel the bowhunting world owes you a debt of gratitude for your thorough insights. I agree that heavy, two fixed – bladed solid broadhead equipped arrows will deliver enough force to kill any game animal and that FOC is a factor. However, a 41 pound bow delivering a 650-700 grain arrow has got me a little mystified. Can that weight of a bow actually send an arrow of that weight with what we would call a smooth arrow flight, enough to effect a proper placement and penetration?

:?::?::?::?: How about a reply to the last question from Buckhorn73? I own a 40# recurve but also want to shoot an arrow over 650g.

There’s somne good reading on 40# bows and EFOC arrows in Dr. Ashby’s 2008 Study upate, part 2. The results are pretty astonishing, I liked the results for the 620 gr arrow with 32% FOC.

My interpretation, and I stand to be corrected, by increasing arrow mass and weight distribution the retained energy will be sufficient to optimise the cutting ability of the broadhead.

The variable in this equation is velocity, velocity affects the retained energy and trajectory.

A lighter bow produces a lower velocity (for a given arrow weight) so the trajectory will be steeper with faster drop off, that faster drop off means that range estimation becomes more critical. Retained energy will also dissipate more rapidly once past its optimal point as velocity reduces.

EFOC will exaggerate the drop off and reduce effectiveness beyond the optimal point or range?

This then illustrates the importance of matching the arrow to the bow to optimise the performance at traditional bowhunting ranges, or to the individual’s abilities.

Consider that archers in prehistory used naturally tapering shafts with heavy stone points these may be considered EFOC, I wonder what their take on this would have been.

Hmmm…..Mark.

I’m missing something.