buddy and I attempted a little stump shooting this morning...broke most of my arrows on dead looking logs that were like steel. We were using "the hammer" blunts and usually they just bounced off our targets putting a ton of stress right behind the point. Judos are kind of expensive, but would they even work on real hard logs or standing trees here? Im in Nebraska and everything is frozen solid out here. Im down to pay for the judos if it will allow me to do some roving without worrying about snapping half my quiver every time I went out.

I lost four in an outing a few days ago. Lost, as in casualties/breaks. Shooting woodies. Easily replaced.

Tradbowhunter had an article a couple of years ago where the guy made stumpers out of bolts, Tnuts, stout spring and nylon bushing.  Get they'd absorb some of the shock.  I foot my carbons w aluminum and it makes them pretty tough.

Shoot wood arrows and go have fun.  If you worry about breaking them, you'll never test their abilities.  Not to mention, it gives you a reason to go make more.

Below is some I made up to do some testing.  They all have performed well.  Tomorrow, I'll be out abusing them more and having fun with my boys, and friends.

Yes, these are footed rabbit/stumping arrows.  The left is footed with South African Pink Ivory, straight Douglas fir, the last one is footed with African Blackwood.  All the shafts are Douglas fir.

 

I've done that before , see a nice stump with moss and when you shoot it , you find out it's harder than woodpeckers lips .

I don't shoot "stumps".  I shoot leaves, flowers, etc-things I know aren't "arrow killers".

Busted one last week shooting a "clod" of dirt, ended up being a rock.  Who knew?

To answer your question the frozen season is tough on arrows.  The judo's can bend by the spring, the hex is my go to stumping blunt in warm weather, but not good on frozen stumps either.  The hard rubber blunts will crack.  

I've been known to inspect my stump in the dead of winter with a old fixed blade knife and then walk away and shoot.   If its your land tie out some empty plastic laundry detergent jugs.   Best of luck!

If your not breaking arrows or looking for them your not shooting enough. I have broke more footed carbons than a good old cedar arrow. Yea I break one now and then......just part of the game. Plus they smell good when the break.....lol

That's why I shoot at weeds, clumps of grass, mole/pocket gopher hills, cow pies etc.. Rare occasion here in Colorado to find a properly rotten stump to shoot at! We even go so far as to GPS a spot if we find one elk hunting and navigate through it while hunting_

Friends and myself try to stump shoot weekly here in NE  Pennsylvania during the winter months.  Most of us use aluminum arrows with screw-in Judo points.  We all shoot 45-50 lb. bows.  Rarely due we destroy an arrow, might bend one, but can straighten it for the next shoot.  Yep, we loose one sometimes, due to a glance-off.  I have to say, if we were shooting wood shafts, we would be leaving the woods with fewer arrows in our quiver

Mike, out of curiosity, how much do wingnuts weigh?

QuoteOriginally posted by Hermon:
Mike, out of curiosity, how much do wingnuts weigh?

Just took it off and put on my scale.  The wing nut in the picture above weighs 117 grains.

so no one sees a markedly better arrow survival rate from one blunt to the next? is that the consensus? Just have to be careful to choose soft targets?

Thanks

I agree with what you said.. Wide heads like hammer heads and even hex heads hitting something hard obliquely tend to torque the shaft and break it right behind the head.  Happens to me all the time.  Judos don't do that as much, but themselves bend.

Standard blunts seem to work fine for me in cold weather, in terms of not breaking, but they tend to snake more under stuff.

Frozen trees are tough, just the way it is...
Ash arrows with hex heads have held up about the best for me.  Stump shooting is what I like to do best of all things arrow...
ChuckC

thank you Chuck! Just ordered some and Ill try to be more careful.

I shoot XX75 - 2016 aluminum. I foot my stumping arrows with 2" piece of a 2215 aluminum shaft I think it is. To bullet proof but dang close too it.
Combine these arrows with judos and you should be GTG!

I find standard steel blunts the best compromise for cost and effectiveness in slaying frozen stumps and root balls, as well as the occasional dead pine that registers 50+ on Rockwell scale.

Aluminum shafts, footed both internally with carbon and externally with aluminum still ended up bending on me so I switched to cheap carbons footed with 1" 2117's.  Breakage is nearly nil with bows up to 55# and 600+ grain arrows.  Not a ton of rocks in this part of MN.

Always nice when a rotten lookin stump is actually that, a rotten stump. Hit rock once in a while, but my footed Gold Tip Trads holds up real good. Been tipping them with Judo's, hex blunts and rubber blunts. Doesn't really matter what I shoot my arrows at. They either stick, or they bounce back. Worst ever happened is a lost nock or two. Of course shooting a #35 bow probably helps a bit...

QuoteOriginally posted by Recurve Addict:
so no one sees a markedly better arrow survival rate from one blunt to the next? is that the consensus? Just have to be careful to choose soft targets?

If you shoot wood arrows, try a set of Douglas fir shafts from Surewood.  They have been the best for me.  I usually end up losing them long before they break, and I typically put mine thru the destruction test as often as possible.

The picture I posted on the first page, shows douglas fir that has been footed.  It's only my opinion, but I do not believe Fir needs to be footed.  I do it to gain FOC, and well, it looks cool.  

As for durability, I've busted (tore actually) a FMJ shaft with a 300 grain small game blunt on the front. That was a wrist sized piece of Ironwood that cased that when the head hit the side of it and held on while the 685 grain shaft's momentum continued to follow thru.  In contrast, I've taken a full length Surewood Douglas fir shaft (630 grain total weight) and shot it from 20 feet into a live oak tree, recovered my arrow, and continued on the stumping session with the same arrow.  Both shafts were shot from the same 55# longbow, just a year apart.

Nothing is immune to failure, if you are willing to push the limits to find out what those limits are.