Question for all the stump slayers here.....what kind of arrows do you use? Do aluminium arrows hold up to this? Is wood even an option? Or should I stick with carbon? Also are you shooting field tips or blunts? I don't have tons of arrows lying around, I'm about to buy some more, been shooting carbon for years, but aluminum seems easier to get to that 10gpp. Just trying to decide what direction I should go with arrows.
I use carbons but I don't really shoot at stumps. I use Judo points and shoot at any tufts of grass, etc., not a hard stump. Aluminum will work fine if you don't abuse them.
When playing with stumps, footed carbon is the way to go. I have hit some awfully hard stumps and walked away clean. I got a little too confident with knowing my local stumps and quit using footed shafts, now two of my full lengths are 30s. Definitely foot both the head and add that 1/4" around the nock. You would be amazed at the damage that little plastic knock can do at an abrupt stop
Carbon is the toughest,and footed is almost unbreakable. Cedar will break pretty easily on tough stumps or things hit at an angle. Doug fir is a little better, and hardwoods are better yet, giving carbons a run for their money in toughness/durability. Easy to bend aluminum imo. Doesn't make the best stumping arrow.
Ya my wife and I both shoot carbons. We went stumpin not to long ago and had no issues. We shot some trees that must not have known they were dead and supposed to be rotting and didn't damage our arrows. Pulled out an insert on one arrow, but it was undamaged, just needs to be glued back in.
So far I have been using some woodies I had laying around with glue-on judo points. Lost a couple of them due to sharp angled hits or clean miss (hit rock). Now some screw-in judos are in the mail for my carbons, which are not footed. Hope it will be OK, since I have a low-poundage bow...
Happy stumpin', buddy!
IMO, carbons will not hold up well to stumps unless they are footed. Then, they are ok. Aluminums will take more than most give them credit for... but it helps a lot if you are good at straightening them. You WILL bend some. Wood arrows will break. Not as bad if internally footed, but they will still break behind the footing. But, they're relatively cheap, so there's that.
I make my decision based on what I'm hunting the next season with. My stump arrows have to shoot very close to the hunters. I love FMJs, but their diameter makes it expensive to use them for roving. Different if you're tuning up for Africa or some other huge hunt, but most times I want to find a suitable relatively inexpensive arrow that actually shoots like my hunters.
The Heavy Hunters kind of haunt me....they just don't break, even with a point blank hit into a basalt rock face. Can't hardly break them, but you can lose them, and -with a judo on the front- you're flinging $16+ out there with every shot(not counting the time and other materials you put into making them!)
We kid ourselves that cedars are cheap, but good shafts are approaching $300/100 now....that ain't hay! I know, I have a supply of old ones too, and I didn't pay that but I will when I need more! Feathers are near $50/dozen and points are near $40/hundred. We all love challenging ourselves and each other when we're stumping, but it's becoming important to actually pick a soft stump, and then HIT IT!
I use wood arrows exclusively. I've had more broke from animals than stumps. Most the time when mine have broke, it at BOP so the get aside for 4 point footing in the future. Got near a dozen in a bucket, takn me 2 years to get that many.
Don't rule out wood. They are tough!
Have any of you seen this video?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zW5r-fLHKDA
He is shooting the same arrows I have, with much more powerful bow. If this isn't a fake, I think I am safe.
Well, for sure I don't go around shooting concrete. I shoot AD hammerheads and have no troubles even when I hit one of those "petrified" stumps. Any arrows will do. It is just a matter of what you are willing to shoot at and if you care that your arrows get beat or not.
Nothing but wood here!
I shoot 2016 XX75 aluminum arrows and foot them with 2 1/2 inches of 2315 XX75 Game Getters aluminum shaft. I put the insert in the 2315 XX75 footing and it acts as a stop resting against the cut end of the 2016. It take a little measuring before cutting because the insert is about 3/4 of an inch. So your arrow itself is cut 3/4 of an inch shorter then desired. before sliding on the insert. I hot glue the footing on.
Works great.
PeteA
That's sounds like a nice setup. Have any pics of the ends of those arrows. Using them is your #45 bows?
Thanks for the info fellas, sounds like most shaft materials will work as long as I'm realistic about what I'm flinging arrows at. I've had good experience with carbon arrows so I'll most likely stick with that.
Orion and Mcbugland gave great advice. I use Gold Tip blems 1535 and beman 600mfxs (no longer made) carbon arrows properly footed according to chart listed on TG (you can do a search). I did add to my arrows T-Nuts--these are commonly available in your hardware store and used for woodworking---they look like a threaded washer with 3 or 4 upturned points. I take a field tip with me when purchasing them--find the size that you have to just slightly drill out a little bigger to get it to sit between the field point and the arrow shaft. These are inexpensive and work well to keep arrows from burying deeply into stumps and usually keep them from burying under grass and leaves. There was an article in Traditional Bowhunter Magazine a year or two ago where the guy even added a nylon bushing and spring to the T-Nut arrangement for even more shock absorbtion. Gotta love stumpin!!
A good tip for stumping is to use the easy out field tips....Just wiggle them and they come out of wood nicely..
Wood arrows (pretty much all Doug Fir's) and Judo's are all I use these days for stumping. And I'm out quite a bit, as I have both time and thousands of acres accessible right outside my door (I'm a lucky guy-especially since my wife supports my love for the bow!).
Tried carbons for a year or so, a few years back, thinking their durability would be worthwhile. Never liked messing with the carbons though, or the "feel" of 'em. We chose to go back to, and stay with wood, and haven't looked back. Got the tools, and learned how to assemble my own, which is less expensive, and satisfying/enjoyable as well.
I don't question that carbons are more durable. They are also not repairable ( I've been repairing broken tips with RepArrows lately),
and get lost just as easily as any other arrow.
Not preaching here at all, just offering my experience and preference, since it was asked.
Stumping is funny and carbon arrows are very durable but when you hit something hard,the arrow can have a failure that you not can detect by eyes.
I recommend you ,in case of doubt,to bent the arrow near you ear,so you can detect small or big crack,nobody want a arrow who break at the release, no ?
Wood is tougher than you might think, but it pays to pick your stumps cautiously. Punky stumps and logs are just fine; it's the fresh ones that break arrows. But that can happen with any arrows material. As with hunting, pick your shots judiciously. Except for the broadhead, I shoot the same arrows at stumps that I do at deer.
I use what I hunt with....Fir(wood) and Aluminum. I shoot both arrow types from all my bows. I made up 6 AD Trad Lites for roving and small game and just may use them the next few months. Much tougher than wood or aluminum.
All wood here...
Stump with what you hunt with... great advice
Slowbowjoe X2
Nothing wrong with doing a walk up on a stump to see how old it is before taking a shot. You're not at a competitive event. I'll often carry a tennis ball if I think the stumps are going to be to hard, and if the grass isn't too tall (I'll often walk a trail)throw it out in front of me and shoot it. It's easy to get creative with this stuff.
I use old aluminum shafts bought at garage sales and swap meets spray painted red with a weighted .357 case glued on. Lost a few, but haven't destroyed one yet.
For general roving I use my aluminums with a Judo point. For shooting actual stumps I use arrows made from oak dowels from Lowes. The points are plain glue on steel blunts.
Wood only-ash, hickory, ramin, maple, Superceders (poplar). I kill trees-they keep jumping in front of my arrow, hard stumps, logs. Any arrow will break if you hit at a bad angle.
I stump shoot weekly but seldom shoot at stumps.
Use judo's and shoot at leaves, grass clumps, pine cones, there are a million things to shoot at other than stumps that are not hard on your arrows and are better practice and by the numbers, offer way more shots.
Plus its Mich easier to explain where you are aiming when stumping with a buddy if you shoot small easy to identify targets. Its harder to explain where the good hit is on a stump.
If you are gonna shoot at stumps look for rotten or old stumps not new or fresh ones. I personally think you should be stump shooting with the same arrow set up you hunt with so the arch, trajectory, feel, etc is the same. This makes stump shooting (even though shooting very few actual stumps) the best practice for a bowhunter.
I think a lot of people shoot at stumps because they think they need to shoot at something that stops their arrow. The judo is the backstop! Its the judo that stops the arrow. The target can be anything from a hanging acorn to a side of a mountain and everything in between.
Living in a country where the only form of bow hunting allowed, is stump hunting we pick our arrows accordingly. So far I've been shooting woodies with judos, but I am going to try alu and carbon as soon as the stumps emerge from the snow. I have shot at rock-hard stumps which had my arrows bounce back without any problem. That is with pine-arrows. Carbon and alu will be tried out as soon as the snow goes away.
I really hate the fu#$£€n snow!!!
Beman 400 MFX'x with 1" of 2016 aluminum outsert tipped with Zwickey Judos...simply awesome and indestructible.
Quote
"Any arrow will break if you hit at a bad angle." SELFBOW19953
Not as much as you would think...I love wood arrows as much as anyone but until you have tried the setup above or the equivalent, you will not be convinced.
Kris