Penetration with wood shafts

[halfseminole]

You can get high FOC with wood, just switch to tanged heads.  Forrester is set up to make arrows that way.

[Doug_K]

I like my wood shafts, but I think i'm done using them for deer.

Last season, had a pretty decent younger buck come in at 20 yards, quartering to me pretty tight. Probably should have skipped the shot, but took it anyways. 63# bow, center punched the the shoulder, arrow broke off right behind the broadhead. Watched the deer limp off about 700 yards before I lost sight of him.

Found the broadhead maybe 20 feet from the shot, tip slightly bent about a quarter inch.

Might have happened with a weighted carbon, but I doubt it. No doubt that wood can be just as effective on a good shot, but take a stupid shot and hit something hard enough to snap it, and penetration is 0.

[monterey]

Do you have any pics of those tanged heads?

I am surprised that he does not use bubinga, a wood worker that I know has it in various sizes and cuts.  He said that is is his favorite wood and really easy and clean to work.  My next bow will have a bubinga riser.

[halfseminole]

http://www.darkknightarmoury.com/c-583-traditional-arrowheads.aspx

 http://www.medieval-fightclub.com/categories/Archery/Arrowheads/

I'm using tanged heads for my sirdan arrows and they're insanely tough.  Like split a sapling tough.

[Sam McMichael]

Wooden arrows are adequate for hunting or war. Tens of thousands of years of history can't be wrong. Tune 'em up and shoot 'em.

[frassettor]

Wood  arrows have taken a lot of animals over the years.They proven themselves over time.  Why not use them?  If you want to use a wood arrow, go for it!

[woodchucker]

I'm figureing "Skipper" will jump in here soon.....  

[ron w]

I shoot Alum, carbon and wood. Different arrows for different bows and types of shooting. Although not hunting, I have broke more Alum and Carbon stumping that I ever have with wood. If it's tough enough to stump with...........and history seems to agree, many game animals have fallen to a wooden shaft.

[K.S.TRAPPER]

Lol! Boy I'm biting my tounge on this one and will hold back but if you have had the failures your describing the quality of the arrows were probably lacking.

I've been shooting wood(Doug Fir) for 10+ years after getting rid of POC's and have never had one single arrow failure since. Most are pass thru's except turkeys, two, three and 4 blade didn't matter. Lots of animals and have had several arrows kill many animals with no damage and never have to straiten any of them. You get what you pay for, like said wood arrows have been killing animals forever cleanly and efficiently. IMHO

Tracy

[Homey88]

Thanks for the replies! It is greatly appreciated!

[Doug_K]

Originally posted by K.S.TRAPPER:
Lol! Boy I'm biting my tounge on this one and will hold back but if you have had the failures your describing the quality of the arrows were probably lacking.

I've been shooting wood(Doug Fir) for 10+ years after getting rid of POC's and have never had one single arrow failure since. Most are pass thru's except turkeys, two, three and 4 blade didn't matter. Lots of animals and have had several arrows kill many animals with no damage and never have to straiten any of them. You get what you pay for, like said wood arrows have been killing animals forever cleanly and efficiently. IMHO

Tracy

My story was involving douglas fir as well, from one of the top rated suppliers. Not going to name names, because I don't think the quality was an issue.

[doctari]

I have used cedar, douglas fir, and ash. My favorite is ash, I like the weight of them with a 125gr woodsman. I would like to even increase my broadhead weight. I believe the most weight you can shoot well with your set-up is the way to go, The arrows just thump and knock the you know what when you hit your game, that is what I want.

[kevsuperg]

My first couple of deer were killed with a 50# recurve and POC shaft's.
 Both mid chest shots at 15 yds or so , both pass thru's.
 Love wood but use carbons now for the convenience.
 At one time wood was all there was and were still here.

[two4hooking]

Originally posted by Sam McMichael:
Wooden arrows are adequate for hunting or war. Tens of thousands of years of history can't be wrong. Tune 'em up and shoot 'em.

Sam is spot on!

I prefer wood...animals are just as dead.

[tracker12]

Originally posted by Doug_K:
I like my wood shafts, but I think i'm done using them for deer.

Last season, had a pretty decent younger buck come in at 20 yards, quartering to me pretty tight. Probably should have skipped the shot, but took it anyways. 63# bow, center punched the the shoulder, arrow broke off right behind the broadhead. Watched the deer limp off about 700 yards before I lost sight of him.

Found the broadhead maybe 20 feet from the shot, tip slightly bent about a quarter inch.

Might have happened with a weighted carbon, but I doubt it. No doubt that wood can be just as effective on a good shot, but take a stupid shot and hit something hard enough to snap it, and penetration is 0.

I had the "exact" same experience with a weighted Carbon shaft this past year.  Arrow had nothing to do with the lost deer just bad shot placement on my part.

[WESTBROOK]

Originally posted by Doug_K:
I like my wood shafts, but I think i'm done using them for deer.

Last season, had a pretty decent younger buck come in at 20 yards, quartering to me pretty tight. Probably should have skipped the shot, but took it anyways. 63# bow, center punched the the shoulder, arrow broke off right behind the broadhead. Watched the deer limp off about 700 yards before I lost sight of him.

Found the broadhead maybe 20 feet from the shot, tip slightly bent about a quarter inch.

Might have happened with a weighted carbon, but I doubt it. No doubt that wood can be just as effective on a good shot, but take a stupid shot and hit something hard enough to snap it, and penetration is 0.

Taking "stupid shots" with any arrow will yield poor results. Othe arrow materials probably wouldn't have killed it either....just lamed the deer worse.

Never unsterstood why people think they can take firearm shots with an arrow.

If the tip of the broadhead bends because of hit angle anything can happen.  I once had a Microflite 12 with a Hill head, epoxied ferrule with a few serving wraps around the end, blow when I hit a rib shooting almost straight down off a ledge. I do not know if I killed the deer with shredded fiberglass or the nearly sideways bent broadhead that was still stuck on part of the shaft.  A buddy of mine years ago bought a new bow that was 12 pounds heavier, but did not want to get new arrows.  "they'll just have to work." is what he said. They were much too long for him and I offered to shorten them for him.  I got him to test shoot one of his broadheads, they kicked a pretty big S curve for 12 yards and were flying straight at 20 yards, so he declared them good enough, "no need to cut these down". First week of the season, he took an eight yard shot, hit a rib and the Bear broadhead snapped off, zero penetration. A month later he shot that same buck again, with his shortened, this time good flying arrows and got a pass through.

[dragonheart]

Originally posted by Bjorn:
Like some others here my son and I only shoot wood and I have some observations.
If you buy quality wood keeping shafts straight has never been a problem for me regardless of bow weight.
Never had a shaft break in the animal; we have had shafts break outside the animal crashing into trees and the ground.
Carbon and alu can be skinnier than wood and a skinny shaft will penetrate better
In my experience penetration is more about shot placement than anything else including bow weight.

...and there are variables in a hunting shot we simply cannot control.  Shot placement, while a variable we have some control over (skill level, experience, choice to take a given shot), Animals move.  

You have a 50-50 chance anytime you shoot at game of hitting bone.  Yes, wooden arrow are effective.  I guess having only 43 pounds of force on board, based on my own experience with wood arrows shooting much more bow than 43 pounds, leads me to the conclusion to not recommend that material for that setup.  

Our choice in arrow material is a variable we can control.  I have shot a lot of critters with wood arrows, probably more than any other material.  I still would not recommend that material to an archer shooting below 50 pounds.

I just believe that those lighter set-ups need to focus on other areas for penetration performance, since the force is limited.

Broadhead choice, skinny shafting material, quicker recovery from paradox, and mass weight are variables in the arrow equation that can be utilized to maximize penetration.  that really helps when we do our part, but the animal moves or we get a bone hit...

[monterey]

Ed, thanks for those links.  I see several there that might be fun to experiment with.