Steve Schulz made a 62 yard shot on this 76 inch Wyoming Antelope this week. Congrats!
As bowhunters, many of us have had at one time or another had a deer react a certain way after we released our arrow. They seem to “duck” or as most folks refer to it as “jumping the string.”
But is this really the case?
Depending on the distance we are from the deer, do they react to the sound of our bow or the sound of the arrow and broadhead that is whizzing towards them at 250 to 350 feet per second? Would the type of broadhead, either fixed or expandable, cause a different sound which would cause the deer to react differently?
So my friend Dave and I thought it’d be fun to conduct a unscientific experiment to test my silly theory out. We used his Mathews Switchback bow which shoots over 300 feet per second and the following broadheads:
- Slick Trick
- Rage
- 3 Blade Muzzy
- Tekan
- Montec
You can see the test in our above video. The results are clearly inconclusive. I’ll leave it up to everyone to come to their own conclusions. Or, should someone conduct a more thorough test, I’d love to see the results.
The one thing which sticks out in my mind that could potentially be a red hot topic of conversation at this years deer camps is this:
If a deer does react to the sound of the “BOW” at close distances and as a result “jumps the string”, which could cause you to miss or even worse, wound the deer, could it make more sense to take longer shots so that the deer does not get scared and jump the string or duck after you shoot?
The idea being that if they don’t hear the bow, and the arrow or broadhead is a non-issue, then maybe they will be more at ease at the point of impact and cause more folks to……drum roll please…..make more “ethical” shots.
I’ll be the first to say that what may be an ethical distance for me may not be for you. Too many factors come into play. Each archer and hunter has different levels of confidence and proficiencies. But that’s a whole other topic of conversation.
Anyways, just thought I’d throw these thoughts out there.
PS – Montec and Muzzy broadheads provided by Gannett Ridge Hunting Equipmnent
A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending and filming a LIVE educational event hosted by Rocky Mountain Archery in Fort Collins, Colorado. Trevon Stoltzfus of Outback Outdoors, gave the attendees some great insight from a survey he conducted with some of the top hunters in America asking the question, “How to be a 10 Percenter?”
Regardless of the industry you’re in, typically the 80/20 or 90/10 rule comes into play. Also known as the Pareto principle, it basically means that the top percent account for most of the results. Knowing this, how does one join this elite group?
After interviewing many folks who were consistently killing deer, he came up with 5 key characteristics that 10 Percenters share:
1. Visualization
2. Preparedness
3. Persistence
4. Motivation
5. Aggressive adapability
Take a look at each one and see what characteristics you share. There are many other variables that come into play as well, especially when it comes to killing big deer, or any deer consistently for that matter.
A couple of the most important, in my opinion being:
1. You have to actually be hunting where big deer or any deer actually exist. Many places simply do not have the # of deer per square mile for someone to be consistently killing a deer – e.g. Adirondack mountains of New York.
2. You have to put in the time. It’s unrealistic to expect to kill a deer or even a monster buck just by walking into the woods. Many times, we need to spend hours, days and weeks just to see a deer.
Needless to say, it was awesome hearing some of the stats and feedback Trevon received from his survey. It really helps me focus on what I’ll need to be doing in the future on my hunts.
Thanks again to the folks at Rocky Mountain Archery for allowing me to film and to Trevon for his insight.
I’ll be filming the majority of this season but may have a chance to get on some whitetails myself. So I’m making sure my Bowtech bow is in tip top venison slaying shape.
The nice folks at Rocky Mountain Archery are doing their thing. Can’t wait to get it back. It’s on!
