Pass through or not?

[nock hunter]

Just wondering what peoples thoughts were on if it is better to have a complete pass through on an animal or to have your arrow stay inside and have it run with the arrow in the vitals? I'm curious because I shot a mule deer this year through both lungs complete pass through and it still went 300 to 400 yards.You see videos where an animal is shot and the arrow stays inside the animal and it only goes 30 to 40 yrds and dies.How much poundage does a guy really need?

[AkDan]

Dunno but I prefer a pass through instead of the alternative.  2 holes bleeding makes recorvey much easier imho.   I do believe they'll go down just as fast in most instances.  Just my opinion.   There are things happening in penetration more then bow or arrow weight!  Much has been written on it.   My worrys if i try to set up a bow to leave an arrow inside of say a caribou sized animal, what's that leave me for moose?  4 to 6" p enetrating bow?   Just doesnt make sense to me, course not much does  

[Danny Rowan]

What you see in the videos is not what really happens most times. Just cause they say it went 30 or 40 yards does not mean that is the case. Just like they say " I made a good shot" and you can clearly see that it was not a good shot.

I want a pass through for the same reason AkDan does. Only animal I ever shot without a pass through was a Bison and that was my fault, not my set up. I hit him in the elbow socket, still got the heart and he only went about 20 yards. That Ace 200 gr Express is an awesome head, still sharp when I got it out of the innards, big slice through the heart. I want my arrows around 800 grains in weight.

Danny

[John57]

I like to see a complete pass through.
It's not about how much blood you let out,it's about how much day light you let in.
Yet at the same time I've seen some pretty fast an devastating kills from quartering shots that didn't even get out the other side at all,one that chopped up the liver,lungs and heart,and the animal only went about 10 yards from the hit.
It sure made for some gory field dressing.
I very much agree with what's been said about on screen kills too.Some of them are obviously not what their claimed to be.
Heck,some are that bad their embarrassing to watch,so I wouldn't put much on them.

[Ray Hammond]

It's my belief after being involved in over 1000 whitetail kills here in Georgia(I formed an urban deer hunting group) that if you leave the arrow in a deer they can 'see' the arrow sticking out of their side and it PANICS then bigtime.

Wouldn't you be the same way?  Remember, a deer's eyes are on the side of its head, and they can see nearly all the way, if not completely all the way down their backsides without turning their heads and so getting a pass through in my opinion makes for a better scenario from just that perspective, not to mention you have two holes for a blood trail to exit from.

On top of that, if you are in a treestand without an exit wound, you could have a deer run for hundreds of yards BEFORE the first drop of blood hits the ground. Typically your entrance wound would be high, so the body cavity has to fill with blood first, before any comes out the hole...you would likely lose some animals that way.

[Terry Green]

Complete Pass Through...all the way, no ifs, ands, or buts.

But I will take a quartering away shot that might stick in the off shoulder.

I have found in my own experiences, that those that were hit in the off shoulder ran twice as far as those that I blew through broadside.  I figure the reason is that they absolutely knew they'd been hit.  I did however hear every one of them crash on the run.

[James Wrenn]

I like two holes just because it makes trailing easier if needed.I do like to shoot big broadheads however so sometimes that might not happen but I would rather put a 2" wide broadhead in there chest than have a small head pop out the other side.Of course I strive to put the big one through both sides all the time.  

[Aeronut]

I prefer a pass through.  The last deeer I shot hit the far shoulder and I found exactly two drops of blood.  The good thing is it only went 30 yards.

Dennis

[kctreeman]

I vote for the complete pass through also.  More blood to follow IMHO.  Also like the fact that my arrow is lying there and not broken so it can be washed and reused.

[Jerry Jeffer]

Based on the physiology of deer and thier inner workings, it is best to have a pass through shot. You want as much blood to leave the body as possible. Believe it or not, when blood remains in the body, the animal can go  longer before it's demise..

[LV2HUNT]

Except for spine shots, almost every one of the pass throughs that I have done or seen have been easier recoveries. Results differ but that has been my experience.

[ishiwannabe]

Yeah what Terry Green said...

[varmint]

I'll take a pass thru anyday....

Most,actually all but one,deer that I've taken with a pass thru have gone less than 45 yards.The only one that wasn't a pass thru was a spine shot,dropped in his tracks.

Better blood trail to follow,quicker bleed out.

[Archer 1]

Compleat pass though all the way, usally a better blood trail, and the animal goes down quicker. At least that is what I have found.  

[Charlie Lamb]

Don't HAVE to have a pass through, but really like it when it happens.

Agree with Terry! The flagging arrow makes em run... big time.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Hey guys! I've never taken an animal with a Traditional bow, But our small group of archery hunters have taken 34 elk in the last 16 years, and God knows how many deer....the deer are like rabbits to us out here in Oregon. I can offer opinions on just about every kind of shot senario imaginable, and the two hole theory of a pass though is good if the shot is low or angled down like from a tree stand. Most of our group are stalkers, so we are usually dealling with either up hill, down hill, or on the flat shots. Pass though shots are common with compound bows IF, and i say "IF" the shot placement and angle is right.The angle of your arrow is the most important part. Think of shooting a plastic barrel full of water....The closer you shoot to the bottom of the barrel, the more water is going to leak out....I know this doesn't take into account the vitals, but when you get a hole in the botton of a critter, they leak more....PERIOD. I've seen many text book high lung broadside pass thoughs on level ground that never resulted in a harvest due to no blood trail at all....Take that same shot and lower it 4" on a deer, or 8" on an elk, and it looks like someone used a spray gun with red paint though the woods, pass though or not.....So my experience is this: From a tree stand or a steep down hill shot: Pass though is best. Up hill shots are nice!. You get a hole in the bottom, pass through or not.... When sooting on level ground hitting high is bad, pass though or not.A mid body shot i would almost prefer that arrow to stay in the animal. 9 times out of ten they break that arrow off and leak just as good as a pass through. I like a quartering away shot the best. a low shot for the heart ends in the arrow usually through the liver & lung , and into the inside of the rib cage or shoulder on the other side. If you get the heart...10 to twenty yards and they are down. Even without a pass through they don't run far at all.

Bottom line is shot placement, and angle of entry. Poke a hole in the bottom.....They leak more.....I'd rather shoot a lower heart shot and miss completely than get a high double lung pass through.....Been there.... done that....lost some nice critters that way..... Shoot for the heart guys and you'll harvest more critters.

[Bill Carlsen]

My experience with this situation (from a tree stand) is that if the arrow stays in there will be blood. As soon a the arrow comes out or is pulled out the blood stops. I think it is because the arrow still being in the animal keeps the wound open and the blood can flow out of it but the skin covers the wound when the arrow is removed. I prefer the pass thru...almost never stops leaving blood. I have vowed because of an incident with a a very large deer I lost this year (because I did not get a pass thru and lost the blood trail) that I will no longer take shots that do not give me a high percentage of getting a pass thru.

[Orion]

Just like on TV, we often think hits are better than they are, particularly on those animals that got away.  A long trail on a "double lunged" animal just might not have been double lunged to begin with.  Any animal shot through the lungs with a sharp arrow yielding a complete pass through isn't going to go far and won't be very difficult to track.

[bowhawk archer]

I caught a show yesterday on the Outdoor Channel, Whitewater Trail I believe, that went over this topic. The host of the show first started talking about arrows. He stated you can hardly find any wooden arrows anymore, and went on about carbon and aluminum. This brought up the first red flag. He then went on to say that he prefered an arrow to only go into a animal only half way. That way when the animal ran through the woods, the broadhead would tear up as much of the vitals as possible, and have a short recovery. He also stated that an animal that had a pass through would run about 300 to 400 yards, if it stopped at all. I just can't believe some of the shows that are on, and the inaccurate info they are giving out. Almost all of my shots on deer are pass throughs, and they hardly ever go more than 75-80 yards.

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May Your Arrow Drink of the Whitetail!

[Naphtali]

Pass-through potential is the better alternative.

1. To create the potential within your arrow-bow as best you can gives you some wiggle room regarding poor range estimation and not quite hitting your intended point of aim.

2. Arrow that remains within the animal serves as a "stopper" for the wound; it will bleed less than a clear wound.