Welcome to TheOhioOutdoors
Wanting to join the rest of our members? Login or sign up today!
Login / Join

Well It Happened. Drew an AZ Elk Tag.

brock ratcliff

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
25,130
261
An inch per yard is pretty easy to calculate, Joe. You have a rangefinder. An elk has a kill zone the size of a car hood.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jackalope

"J"

Git Off My Lawn
Supporting Member
58,934
288
North Carolina
That’s a lot drop in a short distance.... I shot logs outta a wheel bow and didn’t have that back in the 90’s Hoyt Heat 230FPS
 

jagermeister

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
18,269
237
Ohio
19 inches seems excessive. I'd have to shoot mine to know for sure, but I'd say mine is more like 8-12" drop from 20-40 yards... And that's with a 60# bow and heavier arrows than you're shooting. You may want to double check your nock point and/or rest height. If your arrows are coming off the string nock-high it's going to exaggerate that arrow drop from 20 to 40 yards. I don't know. 19 inches just seems like a lot, even for that setup. Makes me wanna pull mine out of the case and fling a few arrows tomorrow just to see.
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
39,106
274
19 inches seems excessive. I'd have to shoot mine to know for sure, but I'd say mine is more like 8-12" drop from 20-40 yards... And that's with a 60# bow and heavier arrows than you're shooting. You may want to double check your nock point and/or rest height. If your arrows are coming off the string nock-high it's going to exaggerate that arrow drop from 20 to 40 yards. I don't know. 19 inches just seems like a lot, even for that setup. Makes me wanna pull mine out of the case and fling a few arrows tomorrow just to see.

Worth a look if you would. Check the nock point and walk back some paper further than a yard and see.
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
39,106
274
An inch per yard is pretty easy to calculate, Joe. You have a rangefinder. An elk has a kill zone the size of a car hood.

Very true. I switched sights to a black hills ascent verdict 5 pin with a slider. So I've got plenty of adjustment. Lol.
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
39,106
274
Scrap the idea altogether. Take your new stick and string! Lol. Teasing of course but. . . Wouldn't that be a rush!

tenor (2).gif


For as much and long as it took to draw the tag they're lucky I don't scrap a bow for a 30-06. Lol.
 

brock ratcliff

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
25,130
261
Personally I don’t think the rate of drop is all that abnormal. I think most folks are delusional regarding their bow’s trajectory. In fact, the vast majority of bow hunters aren’t good enough archers to shoot a group well enough to notice the difference. There is not a bow made that will shoot the same POI from 20-40, but I’ve read they exist. Every bow I’ve ever owned has always been a safe estimate to calculate one inch per yard- and that includes the one you’re working on. In other words shooting a 26 yard target, a safe shot would be placing the 20 yard pin six inches high. That’s not to say a faster bow is not flatter, obviously. But the difference is not that great. Masons 3D rig is much quicker than mine, but a deer or in this case an elk would not know the difference, except an elk may in fact lose the use of both lungs vs just one.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jackalope

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
39,106
274
Personally I don’t think the rate of drop is all that abnormal. I think most folks are delusional regarding their bow’s trajectory. In fact, the vast majority of bow hunters aren’t good enough archers to shoot a group well enough to notice the difference. There is not a bow made that will shoot the same POI from 20-40, but I’ve read they exist. Every bow I’ve ever owned has always been a safe estimate to calculate one inch per yard- and that includes the one you’re working on. In other words shooting a 26 yard target, a safe shot would be placing the 20 yard pin six inches high. That’s not to say a faster bow is not flatter, obviously. But the difference is not that great. Masons 3D rig is much quicker than mine, but a deer or in this case an elk would not know the difference, except an elk may in fact lose the use of both lungs vs just one.

Very true words brock. I'm going to shoot my 360gr normal hunting arrows and see where they land. As you say it may not be that huge of a difference between the two. The 260 grain ones are way too light and under the recommended 5 grains per pound that most manufacturers recommend as a minimum arrow.
 

jagermeister

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
18,269
237
Ohio
Worth a look if you would. Check the nock point and walk back some paper further than a yard and see.

Just checked mine. Here are the results:

Strother Infinity - 60# draw weight / 29.5" draw length
Arrows = Easton ST Excel 300's, 29.25" carbon-to-carbon length, 150-grain head... Total Arrow Weight = 506 grains.

Drop from 20 to 30 yards = 2-3"
Drop from 20 to 40 yards = 12-13"

19" of drop seems like a lot to me, but it's certainly not too much to overcome. Like Brock said, an elk is a huge target. If you can estimate yardage within 5-8 yards I don't think you'll have any problem hitting vitals. I'd definitely opt for the heavy arrow instead of the flat-shooting one.
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
39,106
274
Thanks man. You're seeing a 12-14 inch drop from 20-40 with an arrow thats 60gr heavier. I was just looking and it looks like I might have some slight vane contact on the Pro V shooting cock vane up. Center shot is good and they fly good through paper at a yard off the bow, but I do see some vane skuffs on the arm.

Something else I just realized is the FIL has his distance markers at meters and not yards. Fuggin FITA guys. Lol. Anyways that equates to 43.75 yards not 40.

Back to the bench.
 

jagermeister

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
18,269
237
Ohio
Thanks man. You're seeing a 12-14 inch drop from 20-40 with an arrow thats 60gr heavier. I was just looking and it looks like I might have some slight vane contact on the Pro V shooting cock vane up. Center shot is good and they fly good through paper at a yard off the bow, but I do see some vane skuffs on the arm.

Something else I just realized is the FIL has his distance markers at meters and not yards. Fuggin FITA guys. Lol. Anyways that equates to 43.75 yards not 40.

Back to the bench.
Lol... Fuggin metric system. Well that would certainly put you a little closer to where I'm at. 4 yards past 40 makes a pretty big difference.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 5Cent

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
39,106
274
Aight. Took my regular hunting arrows over tonight. Don't be laughing at groups or POI, the bow nor me are dialed in yet. :ROFLMAO:

350gr (yellow + white fletch)
445gr (green fletch)

This was shot at 40 yards with 40 yard pin.

20190606_205859.jpg




40 yards with the 20 pin. POA top target.

20190606_210635.jpg




That penetration difference though

20190606_205915.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: Big_Holla

brock ratcliff

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
25,130
261
Did you shoot them both at 20 as well? If not, I can promise you your POI is lower at shorter range too. So with sights adjusted according for the heavier shafts, you’ll see the trajectory is not nearly as different as you imagine at this point.
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
39,106
274
So looking at it. Shooting the 20 pin for 40 yards has about 11 inches of drop on the 350gr arrows and 17 on the 445gr arrows. A difference of 6 inches.