Under 50# bows and Simmons Sharks

[Nathan Killen]

Anyone use Simmons sharks with bows under 50# ? My bow is 47#@26" and im going to shoot carbons out of it and total arrow weight will be around 550 with weight tube 50grn brass insert and a 165grn simmons interceptor broadhead. Im going to be hunting mostly whitetails but a black bear is a posability. So anyone out there have a simmular setup and very happy with it ? I just worry the simmons is to large a profile for my setup.

[owlbait]

James Wrenn use to have a bunch of info on a very similar set-up. Worked great for him. I shot 2 deer with a 50# bow and 600gr arrow with the big TreeShark and had good results. Didn't get great penetration but the bloodtrails were short.

[JamesV]

I have shot all the simmon heads and they are fantastic killers. My setup was 54# @ 30" draw recurve with a 680 gr. arrow. With your short draw and at 47 lb your arrow might be borderline with that head. You know experimentation is part of the fun of trad archery, if you have the heads, build some arrows and shoot them during the off season.

James......................

[Winterhawk1960]

My Blacktail is 45# @ 29" and my carbon arrows weigh 460 grains with the brass inserts in them. I draw a true 29 3/4". I used the Centaur big game, single bevel broadheads which are also a concave shaped head and larger than the Simmons broadheads you are talking about. I made my first traditional kill with this set-up this past November and it performed flawlessly and left a blood-trail that Ray Charles could have followed.

I'm gonna order me another 6 of them. Just like with ANY broadhead, if you put it in the right spot......you will be happy with the results. They make an awful nasty looking hole in a white-tail.

Winterhawk1960

[elkken]

I am shooting Simmons Land Sharks out of a 49# Big Jim Thunderchild. I shot an eight point buck and a hog with it in the last few months. Deer was a pass through heart shot but the hog was not a pass through, hit behind the shoulder slightly quartering with good penetration. Hog went 60 yards and was down for the count, about a 75# hog. Just be sure you get them sharp. Great blood trails on both.

[Rob DiStefano]

i gotta admit i'm a bit leery of wider blade heads (twin/quad, and triple) with bows under, say 60# or so.  i had just one 1st hand experience with a wider triple on a hog with a 565gr arra outta 53# that didn't pan out well.  i went right back to the narrower woodsman that kilt a pair of hogs with pass-thrus.  for twins, i like the looks and heavy build of the tusker concorde.  just made up a buncha arras for a coming hog hunt with 'em.  hope to get at least one bloodied.

[LCH]

I shot 2 does with a 160 grain Landshark using a 43# @ 28" Hummingbird longbow. I was using Goldtip 3555's total arrow weight was 470 grains. One doe was around 90lbs and the other around 110Lbs. I had a pass through on the bigger one the broadhead lodged in the opposite shoulder of the small one.LCH

[Tajue17]

I have a bunch of tresharks and I shot one into a hanging towel hung over a railing from a 50# bow and it did not go through where the pioint did and then caught the arrow,,,, but a 3- blade VPA did from the same bow..

now that was a free hanging towel and I wondering about hitting a solid mass,, I think the trade off might be with a 2" wide treeshark that you may not get a pass thru but the blood trail should be about the same as if you did, I think.

[$bowhunter$]

i myself would be nervous but i guess if its sharp and is placed right it could get the job done and leave ya with a river of blood. tryem out.

[BigJim]

Pass through is great, but how much energy do you want to waste on dirt. A soft hit on both sides, ie flesh and ribs, and most any sharp head should go all the way through, but hit something tougher and most any set up will stop at the opposite side. I use a very heavy set up, both arrows and bow. But if I hit leg or shoulder on opposite side, I'm not getting a pass through. The advantage to heavier tackle though is that at least I get two holes.
I would much rather have a large hole going in (especially one that doesn't close up) and leave the broadhead inside to do more dammage than one small hole going in and no exit.
Twice this year, I had high hits in the chest and angled down into the leg bone with no exit hole. High hits are normally very little blood. Yet with the big head that I use, there was huge blood trails.
The heads I have had made are no doubt expensive, but there are several companies making stamped heads of the larger size that are cheaper and will do nearly the same dammage.

Bigjim

[RC]

I`ve killed a bunch of deer and pigs and have been hunting with guys that have killed lots of critters with All the Simmons heads with bows around 50 lbs.I would shoot them now but I don`t have the patence to sharpen them. I can get them very sharp but it takes time. I can put a file on a Mag I,No Mercy or woodsman and be ready to hunt in minutes.RC

[free2bow]

I used an interceptor with no bleeders and a longbow that I pulled to 45# at 27 to harvest a doe.  She went about 35 yards...But, of course, shot placement is the biggest part of the equation.

[Real Buckmaster]

Im shooting 44# Morrison ilf at 26" with a 35/55 goldtip and a 220 grain head and have shot several big bucks with no issues what so ever. Good penetration and complete pass through s behind the front leg.

[scruff]

I have had great luck with the Simmons 165 gr Interceptor.  I glue them onto swedged 2216s.  Last year was my first year using them.  I had seen them back in the '70s at a MS Bowhunters Jamboree, when Jerry Simmons had a booth.  I just could never get them sharp.  Last year a buddy from NC showed me how to sharpen them and I watched the you tube video.  I shot a few deer in NC with them and a 151" (gross) buck in IA.  I was very impressed with the blood trails and all were pass throughts. These were all shot with a 50# Bighorn.  I had been shooting zwickeys for 40 years (mostly 2 blade deltas).  I have nothing bad to say about zwickeys-great head, I just like the way these simmons open up a hole and penetrate.  They'll be on my string in CO for my annual elk/bear hunt this Sept.

[Onlyaspike]

Im hoping the Simmons Landshark 165gr heads I just bought do the trick out of my 45# Dorado this fall. I also bought a pack of the Woodsman Elites to try out. Both heads fly GREAT and have the same POI as my fieldpoints.Now I just hope (PRAY) that they do the trick on a whitetail this fall.

[bayoulongbowman]

ditto , what Rob said...seen , happen...mark

[AMB]

45# Quinn Stallion and Beman ICS 500

 
Interceptor, 30 yards, pass through

 
Treeshark, 22 yards, pass through

 
Treeshark, 15 yards, no pass through(hasty shot)femoral artery, bloodtrail was 3 feet wide

[drewsbow]

42 @ 28 pulling close to 50 at my draw with a 825 gr bamboo arrow and tree shark. He went less than 30 yds , the arrow was lodged in the off shoulder. Drew

[Ringneck]

Man, Drew. I wish I had your powerstroke of a draw!

[fedora]

Guys, I have been bow hunting for 38 years and have used a little of everything. What I mean is wood, carbon, aluminum, muzzy broad heads (the old ones), Zwickey, bear ect. The equipment today is awesome. The bow are faster for the poundage, the broad heads are tougher and we are better shots.  I think if you use a arrow 10th per pound od bow weight with a razor sharp broad head and you put it in the kill zone you will be successful.  Good hunting. I shoot a Kota or belcher recurve 50@28, gold tip 5575, 200 grain a bowyer brown bears or 200 grain vpa, 5.5 inch right wing feathers.  I can shoot well enough to puts 3 arrows on target with the fletchings touching from 20 yards and regularly practice from 40 yards.  

I give most of the credit for my confidence in my equipment and my shooting to guys on this sight that have given me advice.