Bow Poundage for Pheasant Hunting

[ChumpMcgee]

#5648

I have been doing research practice and getting prepared to go on a Pheasant Hunt in South Dakota in a month. I have plenty of flu flu’s made and a couple different types of small game heads to use. I had planning on using my lighter weight bow since it is shorter and lighter and easier to carry. Now I am second guessing, the flu flu’s that I made work really good and only go a max of MAYBE 50 yards. My question is what poundage would be acceptable to hunt a pheasant?

Currently I have a 45# longbow with judo points, hex points, and I believe they are called Kondor points. Fletching I have both helical and traditional fletching.

I know that 45# is enough to take down whitetail but using it with flu flu’s I am a bit concerned about it. Any thoughts or suggestions on this would be greatly appreciated.

[Doc Nock]

#43085

I used to be deadly on Briar Chickens with a 12 ga… and since we have almost zero with clean farming these days, haven’t hunted them in a decade or more.

Guys I know who do what you’re doing, have used lighter mid-40’s bows and did quite well…

If dogs are involved in pointing and retrieving, the type head is a safety issue for the dog… flu’s were used by the guys I knew.. and shots were close over pointers.

Stinking ringnecks can danged near outrun a high brass load of 6’s. I don’t think you need to worry much about distance being too far.

Good luck! I can hit a few aerials, but wait on them to peak… not sure I’d ever try on a flushing pheasant!

[archer38]

#43188

Let me start by saying I’ve never hunted pheasant, but I have taken a few grouse with my bow and my 46 pounds is plenty to knock them over. I’d say shoot what you’re comfortable shooting and Good luck ! Sounds like a fun hunt !

[Ed Ashby]

#43449

It’d been over 4 decades since I bowhunted any pheasants but back then, after trying several bow/arrow setups, I settled on using my 70# Bear Kodiak bow with six-fletch flu-flu’s, rather than the ‘spiral fletch’ flu-flu’s. The heavier bow, coupled with the six-fletch flu-flu’s seemed to get to the target a bit faster, making hits a bit easier.

Ed

[ChumpMcgee]

#43860

I will be hunting with dogs….least I believe I will be. That is the main reason why I went with a non-broadhead approach. I am looking forward to the hunt regardless of the outcome. I have tried to find videos online of pheasant hunting with bows and a few videos are out there and I do have the In Flight Archery DVD that I have watched a few different times. I felt very comfortable to go out and hunt until I thought of the bow weight and how now a days it seems like majority of people are hunting with lighter weight bows than in the past. I don’t want to go out hunting and my arrow just bounces off the bird. Of course closer is better and plan on hunting….just thought I would try to get some feedback.

Thanks for the help and advice everyone!!

[Arne Moe]

#43910

I grew up living and hunting pheasant in SD. They are ONE TOUGH bird and frankly I don’t think the “small game” points are a good choice. Obviously, if dogs are involved you have to be careful. Check with SD Fish and Game. it USED to be that broad heads were required for upland game and waterfowl. That MAY have changed in the many years since I lived and hunted there — but you may want to check.

Good luck with it though, archery pheasant hunting is a LOT of fun!

Arne

[ChumpMcgee]

#43988

Thanks Arne that is a very good point. I will look into this now

[jpcarlson]

#45643

Time constraints may be a problem in addition to very low bird numbers out here this year! I would definitely build FOC arrows for this project as the added momentum with judo points will do its job well. I would also second Doc Ashby’s advice and use the six feather fletched flu flu with your lighter poundage to help get the arrow to the bird a little faster. Again, high FOC arrow setup will be worth it.

J

[ChumpMcgee]

#48496

Yeah I heard the numbers were WAY down this year something like 63 or 68% down from last year….crazy

If I get one then awesome, but honestly as long as I get a chance to shoot at a few then I will be happy 🙂

I have tested my fletching and honestly the flu flu’s with the 6 feather on it fly the slowest and do not go as far when I shoot them up at roughly a 45 degree arrow. I still got time to play around with them some more but need to practice more that what I have been lately. Hopefully I can get out more this week before it gets dark. 6:30 creeps up pretty fast these days.

[OldbowKY]

#51033

Did a pheasant hunt a few years back, hit 4 of 10 birds I shot at, 2 dropped and 2 keep going “Judo points”.

They are tough birds. Next time I plan on using blunted broad heads,that are dog safe.

55# Shrew w/ 3-5″ helical uncut.

[ChumpMcgee]

#51719

The blunted broadhead that you speak of are you just refering to the rubber blunts? Just curious I would like to use a few different types of broadheads just to see if one works better than another.

[OldbowKY]

#51773

Tory, No take an old steel BHD and round the tip and dull the edge, 3 BLD Bodkins work good for this.

Just think safe for dog.

[ChumpMcgee]

#51944

I think I know what you are talking about. I think I will have to try this out, I have heard of guys doing something similar but I am pretty concerned about the dogs safety still.

[handirifle]

#53430

I haven’t hunted ringnecks for 45 years, but when I did as a kid in Ohio, I had mixed results, with my shooting, not the kills. Every bird I actually hit, died.

I did exactly what oldbowKy mentioned, except mine were just dulled from shooting into the ground. I never owned or shot over dog, so that was not a concern, but I didn’t want pass thrus, since I also was not shooting flu flu’s. Mainly cause I had never heard of them, and only owned a few arrows anyway.

I shot a 35lb recurve, and even with dull heads, they buried to the feathers. Flu flu’s might not hit quite that hard. A trade off on the flu flu’s would be to trim the height of the feathers for a bit more speed. The six feather ones cut a little over normal height should work pretty well for that. Worth a try.

[Ed Ashby]

#54096

“Back when”, I had the best results when using sharp broadheads. The head I used most on birds was the Herter’s Ram MX; a rigid 4-blade.

Speed of the six-fletch flu-flu arrows can be regulated by the size of the fletching. I used six, shield-cut 4″ feathers; pretty fast.

Ed

[ChumpMcgee]

#58418

Dr. Ed Ashby wrote: “Back when”, I had the best results when using sharp broadheads. The head I used most on birds was the Herter’s Ram MX; a rigid 4-blade.

Speed of the six-fletch flu-flu arrows can be regulated by the size of the fletching. I used six, shield-cut 4″ feathers; pretty fast.

Ed

How far would the arrow travel???

[Bruce Smithhammer]

#61268

Dr. Ed Ashby wrote: “Back when”, I had the best results when using sharp broadheads. The head I used most on birds was the Herter’s Ram MX; a rigid 4-blade.

Speed of the six-fletch flu-flu arrows can be regulated by the size of the fletching. I used six, shield-cut 4″ feathers; pretty fast.

Ed

As usual, I have to agree with Ed here. I’ve chased ‘ditch parrots’ a bit with a bow, and I would recommend against using Judos. I can almost guarantee you that they will do nothing except bounce off of a pheasant in flight, especially when combined with slow-moving flu-flus (I’ve seen it happen, more than once). As others have said, pheasants are tough birds.

The bottom line with pheasants is that you are probably going to have to make a choice between an arrow that has the penetrating power to actually drop a pheasant, and worrying about an arrow that might travel too far to likely be recoverable if you miss. Arriving at a setup that achieves both is tough, imo. I just commit to the fact that I’m probably going to lose some arrows when I go pheasant hunting.

Obviously, if you are hunting with dogs, then you don’t want a sharp broadhead that could slice up a dog’s mouth.

I would suggest looking at a penetrating point, even if it’s just a sharpened field point, backed up with a Zwickey Scorpio that will slide down the shaft as the point penetrates and limit full pass-throughs), rather than a Judo-type head, and if you are going to stick with flu-flus, go with the minimum amount of fletching needed.

And have fun!! Chasing pheasants with a bow is a blast!

[ChumpMcgee]

#7664

I have actually filled down some field points just for this reason! I am going to try it and it maybe a learning process for next time! I am looking forward to it and if I am luck a bird will run into my arrow and deside to give up on the life 🙂

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