Hunting season is here!
Targets have been worn out, cardboard animals pierced and punctured so many times that parts had to be replaced. Magnificent shots have been made, hitting tennis balls, pieces of string, stumps, and imaginary hearts on bear-shaped bushes. Unfortunately various slumps have weighed heavy on the mind, and the realization that a poor shot is just a half-second of inattentiveness away keeps me on edge.
And then there is the experience that the one gopher didn’t immediately die from being hit with a judo point. A gopher. Weighing less than a pound. What am I doing, thinking I can kill a deer, or maybe even an elk?
Time to put the worries to bed. My old chest freezer finally wore out, and we were left with a few pieces of thawing, freezer-burned pork ribs that would make a perfect medium to try out my bow and arrow set-up.
To recap, I shoot a Stalker Stickbows Jackal longbow, set at 47 lbs, and Easton Axis Traditional arrows, 400 spine, RMS Cutthroat 250 grs broadheads, for a total arrow weight of about 558 grs.
I shot at the double-stacked racks of ribs from 20 yards, and at a single rack at 30. Here is a ten second video of the 20-yard shot: Arrow vs. Spare Ribs
In the photo, the top ribs came from the double stack, the bottom is a rib from the single stack.
I hit ribs in both racks on the 20 yard shot. The broadhead cut through both (about half-width, as both were a glancing hit), and plowed on deep into the block material, as the video shows. On the 30 yard shot I hit a rib full-on and split it apart. The arrow hit a stack of heavy cardboard that I had used to patch up the center of the block, and that stopped the arrow pretty fast.
Although there was little science bothering my testing approach, and repeatability of the test can only be achieved by happenstance, it did show that my set-up has some power. Two stacks of ribs were no match for it at 20 yards, and even at 30 yards it still has enough power to split ribs.
I will go into the field a little more confident now. I hope everybody has a wonderful season, bringing home lots of great experiences, and hopefully filling a freezer. And maybe at the end of year you will hang some antlers or horns in your den as well.
Be safe!