Archery Penetration on Animals
Here are some past animals shot and the results. In my first years of bowhunting I did not have great success in animal recovery. When I was 16, I lost my first buck to a liver shot at 6 yards as he trotted by me while sniffing a doe. It snowed heavy that night and I didn't find him until a month later. I had less time during school, but after college I got back into bowhunting. In 2004 I bought a new Mathews Switchback and was only comfortable out to 40 yards, but I would practice out to 50 yards. I passed a shot at a 3 point muley in a 40 mph wind. He was bedded and unaware of me, but I didn't think I could make a killing shot through the shoulder blade. The next year, 2005, I packed in a couple miles into an area in the North Dakota badlands and didn't get within 50 yards of a buck. The next year,2006, same story as the year before.
2004 Mathews Switchback set at 63 lbs. Gold Tip 5575 arrows and 100 grain broadheads for total weight of 360 grains.
The next year, in 2007, I snuck within 19 yards of a doe and got my first muley. I am very proud of that deer. That year I also got a young pronghorn at 59 yards and another muley doe at 69 yards. I am not as proud of these as they were legal, but close to the road with little pursuit involved.
2007 Muley doe at 19 yards. Pass through on broadside shot with NAP Spitfire and dead within 100 yards.
2007 Muley doe at 69 yards. Exact same results as the first.
2007 Pronghorn at 59 yards. Pass through with arrow dangling by the fletching with Tekan 2 broadhead. Dead within 5 seconds.
The next year I shot another young pronghorn buck at long range, 63 yards, in a 25 mph wind. I made a liver or upper stomach shot. He cramped up and laid down within a 100 yards. I left him for 4 hours and I was just sick in the meantime. I spotted and stalked within 15 yards and finished him off; Thank goodness for both our sakes. That same year I also made a bad decision to shoot at a muley buck while he was walkin slowly at 55 yards. I missed. I may have made the shot if I would have practiced on moving targets and been comfortable out to 70 or 80 yards. I thought I could shoot out to the edge of my comfortable range, but with the movement it caused me to rush. Rushing at long range = Missing!
2008 Pronghorn at 63 yards with Tekan 2. Pass through on liver shot. Recovered within 100 yards.
2009 I again found a pronghorn buck near a road and made another long shot, 69 yards, in a 25 mph wind. I played 2 feet of wind drift with a 360 grain arrow and it drifted farther, but I got the liver and the buck. That year I also shot a whitetail buck at 75 yards with a NAP Spitfire. I felt I made good shot, in fact I high-fived my dad after the arrow impacted. I must have hit just forward and high of the lungs. I waited for 2 hours then followed a blood trail for 2 miles before he bedded. He ran into thick cover of a tree row as I approached and he was never seen again. There was a 2 foot circle of blood where he bedded, but it wasn't enough. His wound must have clotted when he bedded. I circled wide for hours and could never find the deer or another blood trail.
2009 Pronghorn at 69 yards with Tekan 2. Pass through with arrow dangling by the fletching. Recovered within 5 minutes.
2010 Bought a Hoyt Maxxis 35 and set at 63 lbs. Gold Tip 7595 arrows and 100 grain broadheads for total weight of 416 grains.
Then in 2010 I finally got a muley buck that I am very proud of. I knew where he liked to bed from the year before and when I got him, it was actually my 4th sneak on him in the last 2 years. I was rained on and soaked for days before I pursued him on September 10th from 1pm to 7:30 pm that day. I shot him in the heart at 91 yards.
2010 Muley buck at 91 yards. Arrow went through the heart and stopped at a rib on the backside. Died within 3 seconds.
2011 Muley buck at 23 yards. Shot from above and head on. Hit the backbone and he went down instantly. Grim Reaper Razortip broadhead penetrated 2 inches into bone.
2012 Muley buck in the pic at top of page. 30 yards straight on with Grim Reaper Razortip full penetration and dead within 3 sec.
2013 I shot an elk at 16 yards and did not get a pass through. The elk layed down within 30 yards and he was recovered the next morning, but I was dissatisfied with the penetration. I was shooting a 2010 Hoyt Maxxis 35 set at 63lb compound with an IBO speed of 320 fps. Arrows were standard diameter Gold Tips and Grim Reaper Razortip broadheads with a total arrow weight of 416 grains. No bones were hit in the elk and the shot was very close so the arrow should have passed completely through the animal. I realized elk are much different than deer and I needed to make some changes. I read a lot and decided on following advice from the guys at Alaskan Bowhunting and Grizzly Stik arrows. They suggested cut on contact broadheads and as heavy an arrow as possible while still being able to set all your pins in your sight.
The next year in 2014 I went to heavy arrows with cut on contact broadheads. I shot Gold Tip Pro Hunter arrows with the Gold Tip weight system screwed into the back of the insert and 100 grain Magnus Stingers totalling 630 grains. I was very accurate out to 97 yards with these and I took a decent Montana mule deer at 81 yards. Those heavy arrows require accurate ranging within 1% of the distance or you will miss a deer-sized target. But the heavy arrows hit so hard that this arrow passed through that buck in MT with a head on chest shot and it exited in front of the hip. It had so much speed left after it left the animal that I never even found the arrow. I also shot 2 bull elk with those arrows. I passed through both elk with broadside shots. The first was at 40 yards and the bull didn't even know I was there except for the noise of the arrow hitting the hillside after the pass through. He slowly walked off and I never saw him again. After the blood trail of that fine bull got washed out by rain I lost the trail and the bull. I was very dissappointed but I had no choice but to keep hunting. A couple days later of this same year I had a chance at a huge bull around 350 inches and I passed up the shot. I lost that first bull on Monday and had this huge bull on Wednesday at 43 yards. I had drawn and guestimated the range at the low 40's and just didn't dare shoot. I let down and tried to range him but kept hitting an evergreen between us. After about 5 seconds I got his exact range of 43 yards, but he started to trot after his cows and out of range by then. A week later I shot another bull at 57 yards with another good shot behind the shoulder. That arrow went through except for the fletching. Same result though as I trailed the bull for a couple hours and left him for the night. Came back the next day to a blood trail that was washed out completely by rain overnight.
The 600 grain arrows hit extremely hard, but range estimation between 30 and 50 yards is so critical that you can't be off by more than 2 yards in order to hit an elk's vitals. After this hunt I realized I can estimate range within a couple yards out to 50 yards but I need an arrow that will hit the vitals if I'm off on the range by 2 or 3 yards at 45 yards. So I went to a micro diameter arrow using a fixed blade broadhead around 500 grains total weight. And I absolutely love this system so far.
2004 Mathews Switchback set at 63 lbs. Gold Tip 5575 arrows and 100 grain broadheads for total weight of 360 grains.
The next year, in 2007, I snuck within 19 yards of a doe and got my first muley. I am very proud of that deer. That year I also got a young pronghorn at 59 yards and another muley doe at 69 yards. I am not as proud of these as they were legal, but close to the road with little pursuit involved.
2007 Muley doe at 19 yards. Pass through on broadside shot with NAP Spitfire and dead within 100 yards.
2007 Muley doe at 69 yards. Exact same results as the first.
2007 Pronghorn at 59 yards. Pass through with arrow dangling by the fletching with Tekan 2 broadhead. Dead within 5 seconds.
The next year I shot another young pronghorn buck at long range, 63 yards, in a 25 mph wind. I made a liver or upper stomach shot. He cramped up and laid down within a 100 yards. I left him for 4 hours and I was just sick in the meantime. I spotted and stalked within 15 yards and finished him off; Thank goodness for both our sakes. That same year I also made a bad decision to shoot at a muley buck while he was walkin slowly at 55 yards. I missed. I may have made the shot if I would have practiced on moving targets and been comfortable out to 70 or 80 yards. I thought I could shoot out to the edge of my comfortable range, but with the movement it caused me to rush. Rushing at long range = Missing!
2008 Pronghorn at 63 yards with Tekan 2. Pass through on liver shot. Recovered within 100 yards.
2009 I again found a pronghorn buck near a road and made another long shot, 69 yards, in a 25 mph wind. I played 2 feet of wind drift with a 360 grain arrow and it drifted farther, but I got the liver and the buck. That year I also shot a whitetail buck at 75 yards with a NAP Spitfire. I felt I made good shot, in fact I high-fived my dad after the arrow impacted. I must have hit just forward and high of the lungs. I waited for 2 hours then followed a blood trail for 2 miles before he bedded. He ran into thick cover of a tree row as I approached and he was never seen again. There was a 2 foot circle of blood where he bedded, but it wasn't enough. His wound must have clotted when he bedded. I circled wide for hours and could never find the deer or another blood trail.
2009 Pronghorn at 69 yards with Tekan 2. Pass through with arrow dangling by the fletching. Recovered within 5 minutes.
2010 Bought a Hoyt Maxxis 35 and set at 63 lbs. Gold Tip 7595 arrows and 100 grain broadheads for total weight of 416 grains.
Then in 2010 I finally got a muley buck that I am very proud of. I knew where he liked to bed from the year before and when I got him, it was actually my 4th sneak on him in the last 2 years. I was rained on and soaked for days before I pursued him on September 10th from 1pm to 7:30 pm that day. I shot him in the heart at 91 yards.
2010 Muley buck at 91 yards. Arrow went through the heart and stopped at a rib on the backside. Died within 3 seconds.
2011 Muley buck at 23 yards. Shot from above and head on. Hit the backbone and he went down instantly. Grim Reaper Razortip broadhead penetrated 2 inches into bone.
2012 Muley buck in the pic at top of page. 30 yards straight on with Grim Reaper Razortip full penetration and dead within 3 sec.
2013 I shot an elk at 16 yards and did not get a pass through. The elk layed down within 30 yards and he was recovered the next morning, but I was dissatisfied with the penetration. I was shooting a 2010 Hoyt Maxxis 35 set at 63lb compound with an IBO speed of 320 fps. Arrows were standard diameter Gold Tips and Grim Reaper Razortip broadheads with a total arrow weight of 416 grains. No bones were hit in the elk and the shot was very close so the arrow should have passed completely through the animal. I realized elk are much different than deer and I needed to make some changes. I read a lot and decided on following advice from the guys at Alaskan Bowhunting and Grizzly Stik arrows. They suggested cut on contact broadheads and as heavy an arrow as possible while still being able to set all your pins in your sight.
The next year in 2014 I went to heavy arrows with cut on contact broadheads. I shot Gold Tip Pro Hunter arrows with the Gold Tip weight system screwed into the back of the insert and 100 grain Magnus Stingers totalling 630 grains. I was very accurate out to 97 yards with these and I took a decent Montana mule deer at 81 yards. Those heavy arrows require accurate ranging within 1% of the distance or you will miss a deer-sized target. But the heavy arrows hit so hard that this arrow passed through that buck in MT with a head on chest shot and it exited in front of the hip. It had so much speed left after it left the animal that I never even found the arrow. I also shot 2 bull elk with those arrows. I passed through both elk with broadside shots. The first was at 40 yards and the bull didn't even know I was there except for the noise of the arrow hitting the hillside after the pass through. He slowly walked off and I never saw him again. After the blood trail of that fine bull got washed out by rain I lost the trail and the bull. I was very dissappointed but I had no choice but to keep hunting. A couple days later of this same year I had a chance at a huge bull around 350 inches and I passed up the shot. I lost that first bull on Monday and had this huge bull on Wednesday at 43 yards. I had drawn and guestimated the range at the low 40's and just didn't dare shoot. I let down and tried to range him but kept hitting an evergreen between us. After about 5 seconds I got his exact range of 43 yards, but he started to trot after his cows and out of range by then. A week later I shot another bull at 57 yards with another good shot behind the shoulder. That arrow went through except for the fletching. Same result though as I trailed the bull for a couple hours and left him for the night. Came back the next day to a blood trail that was washed out completely by rain overnight.
The 600 grain arrows hit extremely hard, but range estimation between 30 and 50 yards is so critical that you can't be off by more than 2 yards in order to hit an elk's vitals. After this hunt I realized I can estimate range within a couple yards out to 50 yards but I need an arrow that will hit the vitals if I'm off on the range by 2 or 3 yards at 45 yards. So I went to a micro diameter arrow using a fixed blade broadhead around 500 grains total weight. And I absolutely love this system so far.