The old English longbow (warbow) was the most devastating weapon of its time. And it was often fired indirectly at targets over a couple hundred yards away. The arrows still penetrated armor and chainmale, so yeah I don't want to be anywhere near one coming down.

My father shoots the same old Browning wheelie he has shot for 40 years. His arrow is on the drop after 25yds. He has killed many deer with arrows that have entered the down side. I assure you the deer did not know the difference.

It is kinda fun to watch the trajectory.

Don't quote me on this but...I believe Howard Hill said an arrow will penetrate a game animal anywhere along its flight path or something to that affect.  Likely deer sized game I assume.  

Arrows tend to stabilize moreso the longer in flight, lending to enhanced penetration.  Not saying anyone should use this as an excuse for too long of shots, its just a theoritcal discussion.

Kris

You beat me to to it Mike, rememember the famous battle of Agincourt that put the longbow in the history books. Those looped arrows did some damage on the French so I do not believe that a arrow shot straight up would not do any serious damage.
Trivia, does anyone know any significant history from Agincourt?

From the moment that an arrow clears the bow it's falling at an accelerating rate equal to the time (in seconds)squared times 32 feet. An arrow traveling at an average speed of 180 ft/second for a distance of 60 yards will drop 16 feet. But remember that gravity pulls the arrow downward, but it's wind resistance that slows it down.

As for shooting an arrow straight into the air, that's a different story. Air resistance and gravity combine to slow and stop the arrow at it's highest point. Then it slowly turns and excelerates back to earth with the power of gravity and held back slightly by air resistance. I would estimate that the speed of the arrow when it returns to earth is almost the same as when it left the bow.

When I was an 11-12 year kid. I had a 35# bow out in a field on a wintery day. I was shooting arrows high into the air and watching them return in a group about 20 yards away. It was beautiful watching them climb to the apex, stop for a moment, and then watch the arrow change ends and excelerate back to the ground. This went fine until my younger brother (9-10 yrs.) came out to watch. After he promised to stay close to me I resumed my shooting as before. On the second shot he lost sight of the arrow, paniced, and ran straignt ahead toward the grouping of arrows. He was bent over and with his arms covering his head. The target arrow hit him square in the back just to the left of his spine. Because it was winter and he had a thick wool felt coat on, there was no penetration, but it knocked him flat to the ground, and out of breath. Later that day he had a nasty bruise about the size of a grapefruit. I shudder to think what a heavy hunting arrow would have done. Again, an arrow shot near straight in the air will return to earth at near the speed of when it left the bow.

Warning!!! Please don't get careless with those arrows. Even target arrows can be lethal.

I guess it depends on the speed of the arrow when it hit the animal. Whether its dropping or climbing is less of a concern. Smaller feathers help retain down range energy on those long shots.

QuoteOriginally posted by Bisch:
I'm not 100% sure on this but I think, even at 20yds, your arrow is falling by the time it gets to its target. Sooooo, YES, an arrow falling will kill animals.

Bisch

X2  My arrow is falling after about 15-16yds....and as a few guys pointed out some of the older books tell of guys killing animals over a hundred yards....and history teaches us about arrows used as early artillery.

My guess is yes, but I will never find out from experience unless I have too.

Shoot an arrow straight up and see if it penetrates skull.  On second thought, nevermind!

Heck yea, its going down hill and picking up speed.

I would ask General Custer...oh...that's right...