While doing some last minute scouting of my hunting grounds yesterday, I stumbled upon the skeleton of a whitetail buck.  It's antlers were missing, so I suspect it succombed to last winter's cold.  I brought the scapula home and scheduled an unofficial penetration test for early this morning.              

I mounted the scapula flush against my 3-D target, and grabbed my favorite osage bow and a fist full of ash arrows, tipped with 190 Grain Grizzly's.

     

I took my shots from 10 yds.  My unwitting assistant took the punishment well.                

     

The test produced at least 3" of penetration, to the back of the broadheads.  Undoubtedly, the 3-D foam impeded that to a healthy extent.  The third arrow went in the best, due in part to damage caused by the first two hits.

     

The Grizzly heads survived, unscathed.  I'll resharpen them and stick them in my quiver for this season's hunts.  I couldn't pull the broadheads back out of the bone, so I had to break the shoulder off to remove them.

     

Next, I wanted to see what a direct hit on the ridge would do.  (I moved up to 5 yds for that one.) To my surprise, it split the ridge.  But again, previous damage played an obvious role.  I doubt that would be the case with a fresh shoulder bone in good condition.

   

What does all of this demonstrate?  Well, admittedly not much.  I fully appreciate that bone brittled over half a year's worth of weathering on the ground is not as strong as living, healthy bone.  But it reaffirms my faith in the toughness of Grizzly's and does give me some degree of confidence that if I do hit the flat part of a whitetails scapula, I might get enough penetration to bring the critter down.        

Add to that, it's kinda fun to do!  

Ash arrows are a good choice for a penetration test. As someone wrote long ago, they're  "hevy to geve a good strype".

Not to take away from your "test" (or the tons of fun while performing it) but what makes a scapula so diffacult to penetrate is that is "uncased" in muscle, there-fore being surrounded by a giant "shock-absorber".

Basicly.....Your arrow hits the deer and your broadhead cuts through skin and muscle untill it hits the scapula.....then as the broadhead is penetrating the scapula,the force of the arrow is pushing the scapula against the muscle behind it,there-by absorbing alot of the arrows "force".

To get a better idea what I'm talking about next time you find a scapula mount it to an old foam couch cushion (or pillow) you will see what I mean.....

Any way.....COOL PICTURES!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for sharing My Friend!!!!!

No doubt, the "test" was fun.  I may go back and scratch in the leaves to find the other scapula and try some other heads.  The skeleton only lays about 250 yds from my back door!

Excellent points there woodchucker. I hit a deer in the scapula and got in right in the spine of the scapula with a snuffer. Few days later the buck was eating in front of me with just some Neosporin and a little bandaide on the shoulder.

Leg

I did a similar test with a day old bull elk scapula set loosly against a clay bank. Used my PSA V Widow at 56 lbs and Axis 340's with the 160 gr Grizzlys and 100 gr steel broadhead adapters for a total arrow weight of 595 gr. The arrows penetrated the scapula easily and went a foot or more into the clay bank.Grizzlys were in great shape after the shooting. I believe Woodchucker is absolutly right in his assement but I'm also confident that this combination will get the job done if I ever accidentally hit an elk in the scapula.   P.S. These kind of evaluations and assessments are what I really enjoy about this sight, keep up the good work.

Good stuff...Next time you find one and get the chance, try is at a quartering angle or elevated like in a tree stand instead of square/90 degree text book. I have no doubt we tend to take angled shots we shouldn't. Angled shots into bone, even tiny ribs deflect our arrows much more then most would think and limits penetration even worse then "square" shots do....O.L.