I think this thread is fully applicable for us trad bowhunters, even if not fully 'trad'.
Over the last few days I've been setting up some Extreme FOC arrows for a friend, Wesley Mulkey. Wesley is a former Grorgia 3-D State Champion and, yes, he shoots a compound; in this instance a his hunting bow, set at 70#.
Wesley is an acomplished bowhunter too, with many, many deer to his credit, but he became interested in changing his hunting arrow setup after hitting three deer in the shoulder in the last two years, and losing all because his arrow failed to penetrate the shoulder bones. (He was not intentionally shooting at the shoulders; all three deer moved, jumping the string on his 300 fps+ setup). He also hit one deer in the spine last year, with an arrow that failed to penetrate, but did stun the deer. He had time to hit that one again.
Though he's an acomplished target archer, Wesley had never heard of bare-shaft tuning (or what Extreme FOC arrows could/would do). In fact, for his 'fine tuning' Wesley had always leaned towards tuning the bow to the arrow, rather than the other way around. Mostly, he started out merely intertested in finding/using a stronger BH and getting a bit more penetration with his hunting arrows.
OK, long story made short. I helped him bare shaft tune some Extreme FOC arrows. He was amazed that he could shoot 2" 30 yard groups with bare shafts, but neither he nor I was prepared for what was to follow. He sighted in with the fletched field points, then we changed out the 190 gr. field points for 190 Gr. Grizzly BH's (three 4" RW feathers, helically fletch). First three shots, from 20 yards: an under 1" center-to-center group. These three shots were on three seperate dots, with all three shots (entire shaft diameter) falling completely within the center scoring ring! A fluke? Nope. He retrieved the arrows and did it again! Then back to thirty yards. The group opened up to just over one and a half inches. At forty yards he still kept every shot WELL INSIDE the 3" target dot!
So, it looks like a he won't ever be able to use BH accuracy as an excuse ... and, at least for both he and I, it put firmly to rest the often-heard contention that traditional BH's simply can't be shot as accurately as the 'modern broadheads'.
We've also been testing the setup's penetration a bit, and I'll wager that he won't ever again have a penetration problem on a deer - or many other critters, for that matter! Wesley's promised an article for GON (you Georgia folks will know that one), and possible some other publications, sometime after he's downed a few animals with it - and, since he's seen what the setup does in testing, he plans to aim all his shots at shoulder bones! Should be interesting.
It ain't all trad, but the results have implications for us: right arrow, property tuned to the bow, and broadheads REALLY ARE accurate! If you're BH's don't shoot as accurately as your field points or target arrows, don't be too quick to blame the broadhead!
Ed