I have only been shooting traditional for a year and this is the first season that I have hunted whitetail and exotics traditional.
I had a great start to opening weekend. I found myself 12 yards from a monster 10 point while hunting the double bull.
I had the mesh down because I have always hunted with the mesh down and never had a problem when I was still shooting the wheels.
I drew back, anchored, and released. What stunned me was when I saw my arrow deflect upwards as it penetrated the netting. There were no limbs or obstructions in the path.
I completely missed the buck by a few feet over his back. I even aimed a little lower than I normally do with my wheels.
I was using the Zephyrs with the bleeder blades so I had 4 cutting surfaces.
I checked the netting and saw it left a diagonal straight line that went down and made about a 45 degree turn and continued on.
I am used to paper tuning my wheels and know that with wheels I should have had 4 slices when it pierced.
Shouldn't I have had the same thing with traditional?
The window I shot out of was at a slight angle to me. Would this have made a difference. It never did when I was shooting the wheels.
Any one have any insight on this? On Zephyrs and Double Bulls?
If you hunt out of the Double Bull, what broadheads do you use?
If you hunt out of the Double Bull, have you ever experieinced this and how can I correct it?
Thanks and I am glad I found this website.
First of all, welcome to the Gang, Joe!
Second... The Shooters Forum is about the act of shooting a bow, not about broadheads etc. Happens to newcomers though. Try posting in the PowWow forum, and you will surely get more responses.
Joe, my best hunting buddy and i have shot thru the double bull netting with 3 blade snuffers, wensel woodsmans, and 2 blade magnus stingers without problem. Our netting is pulled fairly tight...don't know if that could have caused a problem. Did you try shooting another arrow thru the netting after? Sorry i'm not a lot of help, but unless it glanced off the side of the window or the netting was extra loose, i don't know why it would have deflected. Maybe someone else will jump in.
Stupid question (Welcome to the Forum, by the way :wavey: ) but was your head razor sharp?
I've only ever shot 2 broadheads out of a blind (both Snuffers) The first was shaving sharp & I missed what I was shooting at by a few inches (Jackrabbit) The second was a blunted 'practice' head I shot immediately after, tsee if I could hit what I was looking at. It took a near right angle flight-path after going through the mesh. Looking at the 2 tears, the sharp head make a really nice, 3-sided cut, the blunt head tore a right-angled 'L' shaped hole, pretty much as you described.
Could this be a possibility?
the couple of times I've shot out of the db's I optd to not use the screen at all. I've only hunted turkeys out of them so my experience is limited. Dunno how deer would react to a wide open window...I had mine open on the bottom as far down as I could get it to allow me to shoot my longbow. Turkeys didnt mind!
I've never heard of the net effecting broadhead flight. I leave mine down for everything, and shoot fine through it.
The only time mines ever been deflected is the quill on my fletching has become wore or I didn't put a drop off glue on it after fletching & it lifted up enough that it snagged the mess upon release,resulting in a less than perfect arrow leaving the blind...
Have you tuned your setup? As in bareshaft tuning or the planing method? If your setup is way out of tune (not correctly spined arrows, incorrect nock point) you could be getting some funky arrow flight and the netting is making it even worse. I have been shooting out of DB blinds for about 4-5 years now with 2 or 4 blade heads. Only problems I have seen was if someone hit the material of the blind or the netting was not pulled tight. Or if a limb tip hits somewhere in the blind has caused it also. The only problem I have had with the netting is it messes up my depth perception. For some reason I have trouble judging distance looking through the netting. Now, I just leave the netting up. Problem solved. I would do like someone suggested above and shoot some more broadheads through the netting and see what the results are. Let us know how you get along and good luck.
Cade
Welcome to Trad Gang. There must be an explication why your arrow deflected besides the mesh, that is if it was tight and not just flopping around. I have shot many arrows through the mesh on my DB and through a piece that I use just to practice. I have never had one deflect, as stated prior to my post the netting does mess with your head and can cause you to shoot poorly when the heats on ;)
I have a double bull and have not had problems other than one time I shot the edge of the window but even that arrow flew straight.
Any chance you got too close to the screen and maybe the tip of the arrow touched the net before you released and maybe the arrow lifted off the shelf?