Hunting arrow speed ?

[1hornhunter]

Anyone with info please help.  I am new to traditional archery however I have plenty of time behind a wheel bow.  I always hunted with heavy arrows however now that I am shooting a longbow I am looking for advise.  My bow is 58lbs at 28"  My draw is 27" and I am shooting a 2018 aluminum arrow with a 200 grain point/BH. with 3 4" feathers.  This set up shoots great and they chrono at about 170 fps.  Is this fast enough to hunt with?  I dont plan on shooting much past 20yds (self imposed limit). I understand the placement is more important than speed however just curious if this is enough or should i try something else?  Any advise is appreciated.  Thanks

[TxAg]

plenty of speed

[centaur]

That's plenty. Put arrows where they need to go and the animal won't care how fast he got shot. Enjoy your plunge into the world of trad archery.

[Friend]

Provided your arrow is properly tuned, you are obtaining very nice speeds at an estimated 10.7 gpp arrow.

Sounds lethal and Plenty fast!

[wtpops]

Sounds like you have a killer setup there to me. Enjoy and have fun

[Bjorn]

More than enough!

[JamesKerr]

That's about the same speed my setup shoots and even for the jumpy whitetail deer of southern Arkansas it works fine.

[Weasel]

That's plenty fast and about average, I think. Back when I first got into traditional archery (1989), I asked Jim Brackenbury how fast his bows were. He just smiled and said, "There ain't a deer alive that cares how fast you miss it".  

Over the years I've proven him right on more than one occasion.  

To put you at ease, I think there's been a ton of venison put in the freezer by folks right here on this board shooting a set-up similar to yours.

Enjoy!!

Jerry

[chopx2]

Plenty fast enough. I'll take a quiet bow at 150fps over a noisy one at 200fps

[BowHuntingFool]

Originally posted by wtpops:
Sounds like you have a killer setup there to me. Enjoy and have fun

I agree! Have fun!

[Shan]

I'll take a quiet bow at 150fps over a noisy one at 200fps

X 2

[Bob Stager]

It all depends on how far you want the arrow to bury in the dirt after the shot.  Bob

[ron w]

You are good to go for just about anything!  

[Hatrick]

Sounds like a great set up to me. If you can hit where you're lookin you should be able to put plenty of meat on the table.

Good luck and enjoy the stick and string.  

[Shawn Leonard]

Sounds fine too me, my hair covered computer just shoots a faster arrow better. All the bows I am shooting now do 190-200 fps. at 9gpp. or a tad lighter. I am a firm believer you do not need 10 or 11gpp. if you are shooting bows over 45#s or so. As long as your arrows is tuned to perfection and you shoot it well, that set-up will kill anything in North America. Shawn

[ishoot4thrills]

Excellent!

[Rob DiStefano]

for the most part, it's not about arrow speed, it's about a well flying arrow that's of a decent mass weight, with a really sharp cut on contact broadhead that you can consistently place in the right spot on game, at realistic hunting distances.

arrow speed can be important under certain situations.  i'll be headed to solana in january, and those texas deer are wired CRAZY spooky, so i'm shooting arrows at slightly UNDER 9gpp!  you do what you gotta do as the critters and hunt venue dictates.  

[Altiman94]

I wonder if anyone's ever done a study on the sound of bows vs. a deer's reaction.  The reason I ask this is because no matter how fast (even the compound bows) your bow is, it's not shooting faster than the speed of sound.  Meaning, that the sound of the bow gets to the deer before your arrow does.  So does a 'loud' bow really cause more reaction from teh animal than a 'quiet' bow.  I suppose on some level it surely does, but how much?

I thought about starting another thread over it, but this thread seems to be the appropriate place?

I think it has more to do if the deer/animal is already wired up.  Any noise will cause them to jump.  But, does a quieter bow really aleviate this?  Or, will a faster bow be a better solution over a slower, quieter bow since the deer has less time to react?

[fireball31]

Sounds like the perfect setup to me.

[Rob DiStefano]

i don't think the question is can game like deer hear the string before the arrow arrives, because even at 5 yards, i believe they sure can.  

i think it matters if the animal thinks the noise is absolute deadly danger or if they're unsure.  

i think that "wired" deer are on hair trigger alert to any noise they hear that isn't part of their habitat.  and that would be a plucked bowstring, no matter how much silencing is hung on it.  i know this full well after spending a few dayze in tree stands at solana.   :D  

AIM LOW!!! ....  solana wired!