To Foot or not to Foot

[wojo14]

#4129

OK, so I received a bow from a good friend to try out and possibly take on a moose trip this Sept. I need to get shooting 1 bow now and get used to it for my hunt. With my plate being very full from now till Sept, I want to shoot this exclusively. I will not have time to play with other bows.(Actually to stop the temptation, I gave all my bows to a friend to hold for now)

Ok, sorry, back on topic…

After shooting it last night and starting the tune process, I am liking this bow and I am getting close on an arrow. I can post the details when I am done, but I will tell you the shaft is the tuff Beman MFX Trad shafts, and 300 grain points.

This is going to be a moose set up and will use on the whitetails this fall. My question is, should I foot it? Moose have big dense bone. Any guys with experience shooting big things, how important is it to foot?

The reason for my question is because I do not want my arrow to fail, but also, I really do NOT want to foot…

I hope DR Ed will chime in.

[David Coulter]

#32617

Wojo, I don’t have footing experience, but it’s hard to imagine footing giving that much more strength than a long brass insert and a quality stainless steel adapter inside your broadhead. I’m using Beaman ics bowhunters and a stumper has to take a pretty straight shot inside a rock to damage it and then it’s only knocked out of line not broken.

By the way, I’m probably 300 miles from you so if you need a real safe place to hide your bows…. Dwc

[wojo14]

#38812

The further away, the better!

I have tested arrows on hard surfaces in the past and sometimes the point will drive right into the shaft, which in this case will loose energy. I know moose have big bones….

I really dont want to foot, but I am wondering if I should…8)

[David Coulter]

#39010

That’s interesting. I haven’t had a point be driven back into the shaft. The brass inserts I use have a collar. I’ve had shafts split a little, but nothing that allowed the point to be driven back. One thing I didn’t think about when I wrote yesterday is that I put aluminum collars on my stumpers, both front and back. You might consider trying one of those. Prior to using the collars I might get some splitting on the end of the shaft after a solid impact with a rock, even on the nock end. Now I don’t have that problem at all. They only weigh 5 grains, so adding one on the front wouldn’t change much at all. best, dwc

[Stephen Smiley]

#40813

I have been experimenting with footing arrows recently. I seem to have a lot of bad luck when I miss and hit the only rock in the area. Normally when that happens the shaft splits (carbon) and is ruined. Since I installed footing I have damaged only one arrow and the point bent but the shaft was not damaged. I have not hunted with them yet but it seems to me to be a noticeable difference in the strength of the assembly as a whole. Footing does not seem to affect flight characteristics at all.

[smiley1]

#53518

An aluminum footing most definitely helps with the structural integrity of a carbon arrow provided the arrow is well tuned to the bow. Is it necessary? Probably not, but could be helpful if heavy bone is encountered. Another benefit is the increased FOC. I’ve been footing all my carbon set-ups for the past three years and have been satisfied with the results. Steve

[Ed Ashby]

#54163

Simple answer: foot it! You MIGHT never need the extra strength but what do you lose by having the extra strength there – “just in case”? Nothing. You just MIGHT need that extra strength SOMETIME, and if that ever does happen you will probably never know you really needed it. On the other hand, if you DO ever need it and it’s not there and you WILL be sorry it was not there.

Ed

[Stephen Graf]

#62153

What the Doc said is 100% true in my book.

When I shot carbon arrows, I footed them just so I wouldn’t break so many when roving. $10.00 for a carbon shaft is too much to lose on a rock.

That said, now that I’ve gone back to wood, some of my stumping arrows costing no more than the price of the nock (home made turkey feathers, 38 brass for a blunt) I don’t worry about losing one here and there.

[Ralph]

#10469

Hey Dr. Ed, you just sayin you never know where you might just “??put your little foot, put your little foot, put your little foot right down”??? :D:D

[Ed Ashby]

#18261

R2 wrote: Hey Dr. Ed, you just sayin you never know where you might just “??put your little foot, put your little foot, put your little foot right down”??? :D:D

Yep, I’ve done that more than once!

Ed

[David Coulter]

#33562

R2, you talking Texas? dwc

[Ralph]

#34029

Why not, with a little entertainment too 😀 Got lots of country in which to put our little footed shafts. 🙄

https://youtu.be/aWBvKAN8CBs

Footed shaft testing grounds………easy, go somewhere else to shoot……

[David Coulter]

#29516

I can picture a couple jackrabbits dancing to that tune while your arrows are rattling off those rocks! Dwc

[jpcarlson]

#19036

Another way to look at the question of “to foot or not to foot?” is easy to answer. Build a UFOC arrow, put a blunt or field point on the unfooted shaft that is the same weight of the broadhead you will use, and go and shoot something really hard! Try a stump, then a hardwood, then a fence post, then miss a target and hit a rock. Boom, your carbon shaft will mushroom out just behind the point. Without footing, you have lost all of the time invested in tuning that shaft, building the UFOC arrow, and now it is worthless. Not to mention what the good Doctor said, and the fact that sooner or later you will need that strength behind the heavy point of the UFOC arrow to hold it together while it goes through bone or impacts something hard. You can’t see the rocks on the other side of the animal where your arrow will end up after it passes through:)

Just my two cents, based on experience:)

JP

[Forresterwoods]

#20330

Hardwood arrows would nullify the need for footings…however I like a FULL ARROW TAPER starting 1.5″ from the front of an 11/32 shaft. (After 1.5″, immediately go to 5/16 all the way to the nock). This will accomplish several things.1) Gives you a stronger shaft at the weakest section just behind the point. 2) Get a better selection to fitting broadheads to a 5/16 shaft..(hardwood shaft spines 60-65#). 3)Most important is better penetration. An 11/32 point end followed by a 5/16 arrow shaft has the best penetration possible!

[David Coulter]

#21718

JP, a version of footing that I use on my stumping arrows is the aluminum collar. It works great and I don’t have any issues with the mushrooming that I would occasionally get. I suppose it would not work well on a broadheaded arrow, as it makes a lump behind the insert at the top of the shaft. That would most likely ruin all the best efforts to gain penetration. But for stumping, it’s the ticket.

When I finally decide to try wood again, I’m sure I’ll go with one of Forresterwood’s hardwood shafts. That seems to make the best sense so far.

best dwc

[jpcarlson]

#54559

Kevin, I appreciate that you make very nice Hardwood Arrows, and believe they won’t need a footing. The fact still stands that one cannot reach even moderately high FOC with a Hardwood arrow shaft without shooting unreasonably heavy broadheads in weights not being produced. That leaves those of us out there who wish to shoot high FOC arrows playing with Carbon arrow shafts, and Carbon arrow shafts need to be footed when they are FOC arrows. There is a cascading effect with all of this, like with many things in hunting. If you can shoot a high FOC arrow (and that means building it with the lightest, strongest shaft material available for your draw weight and point weight), you can use a lower weight bow and still have a more efficient arrow. This is all laid out and documented in Dr Ashby’s research.

JP

[Forresterwoods]

#55429

Well said JP. However there are variables to be considered that alter the outcomes. The main variable is that there are what’s known as ‘soft’ hardwoods that are many times stronger than most softwoods and in some cases weigh LESS than some softwoods. For instance I have some that spine 50-53# and weigh 280 grains…as well as 80# spine that weigh 400 grains! (I find there are always more options available in life than we care to think of).

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