Lighter bow + heavier arrow + mexican eagles = deer down

[cthorness]

Thanks for telling us about your hunt.

[Neutron]

Congrats.  I just bought a Damon Howatt Balboa 45#@28".  Tell me more about your arrows I am just getting started trying to figure out what I want to shoot out of it.  Hopefully next year or maybe late this year I will take one with it.  It was made in 1968 or 1969.  Kind of cool to be shooting a 40 year old bow.  Anything with a trad bow is a trophy.

[Fishnhunt]

Thanks Neutron. Post some pics of your bow if you have em. Yea it is cool to be shooting with a 40 year old bow.  My bow is much older than me.

Before telling you about my arrows let me first list some caveots b/c I dont want to lead you astray.  I'm better at hunting than at tuning!

- I used O.L. Adcock's online tuning literature to dial in the nock point via bareshafting.  It worked great and a big thanks to Mr. Adcock for keeping that info online!  However, I have NOT dialed in the spine via his bareshaft planing method b/c I keep having to cannibalize bareshaft arrows and turn em into fletched hunting arrows as my hunting arrows get broken or lost.  

- A lot of guys on here are good enough archers to group improperly spined arrows consistently in tight groups.  The flight might not be pretty and the arrow might be inefficient b/c not all the force is linear behind the broadhead (both of which will serioulsy hamper penetration) but those arrows can still be grouped. Try to avoid this.  Its a pandoras box. I am kindof guilty of it now and trying to claw my way out.  

- I believe my 500s are too stiff for my bow even w/ 300 grains up front (100 in the brass insert, 200 in the broadhead) and as such I am downsizing to 600 spine carbons in a few weeks. At that point I will take the time to properly bareshaft plane using Mr. Adcock's method.  

- My Arrows are now at 588 grains. A few weeks ago they were at 515 and some of my arrows had a tendency to impact to the left of where I aimed.  Im not talking about bareshafting nor am I talking about an arrow being butt left in the nock point when sticking in the target.  Rather, I'm talking about a fletched arrow impacting to the left of where you are aiming.  That could have been a spine stiff indication OR it could have been poor form.  I have since added 75 grains and am now lobbing these arrows w/ the 40 lb bow.   I'd love to know the feet per second.  Left / Right accuracy (ie windage) seem to be better and elevation has been retrained in my brain.  However, I still want get 600 spined carbons, spend more time tuning, more time working on form (I see no reason to even attempt to tune until form and release are consistent), and shoot a 500-550 grain arrow out of the 40 lb bow.

Having said all that here is my current setup with a finished weight of 588 grains:

A full length Axis ST 500 spined carbon (the really skinny ones), with three 4 inch fletch, a heavy reflective wrap, and a 100 grain brass insert in the front.  The broadhead is a 125 grain wensel woodsman glued to a 75 grain stainless steel adapter making a total broadhead weight of about 200 grains.  Wish I was shooting something w/ more character like wood.  I went from Alum to Carbon to save money and have less breakage. Ha ha that was a joke I am breaking more carbons than I was bending alums.  Eventually wood would be nice.

For the rest I will defer to the other guys on this site who have much more experience than me.

Good luck!

[gonzo959]

Congrats on your deer.  If you want a challenge try hunting MI.  It has been a challenge just seeing deer this year.

[NorthernCaliforniaHunter]

DUDE! Good job on the paragraphs!    

If your arrows are flying well and hitting with the nocks pointing straight, then the left of target impacts might be corrected with an adjustment of the brace height. Try raising it a hair at a time and see if that makes a difference.

[Fishnhunt]

Ha ha. Thanks I am finally learning how to write....now if I can just condense!

Thanks for the tip too.  Theres a LOT of stuff I'm still trying to learn and the tips will help no doubt!