Elk Arrow Weight?

[grizzly_]

If all goes well, I will draw a Wyoming elk tag in a premium unit outside of Cody this year. I've shot deer with a bow, but never an elk, which leads to my question...

I've read every article I can find on the battle between Momentum vs. Kinetic Energy, but wanted the opinions of the guys who have real-life elk-hunting experience and not just guys that write articles from their 40 acre plots back east.

My current setup is a Bowtech Insanity with 29" draw shooting 401.2 grain arrows at 311 fps (actual chronographed speed).

My setup produces the following:

Distance---------KE -----------Momentum--------- Velocity

0 -------------- 86.2 ---------- .5536 ---------------- 311
30 ------------ 77.6 ----------- .5251 ---------------- 295
40--------------75--------------.5162-----------------290
50--------------72.4-------------.5073-----------------285
60--------------70--------------.4984-----------------280
70--------------67.6-------------.4895-----------------275

Some people say that I should bump the arrow weight up to the 450gr range to increase the Momentum, but I wondered if that was actually necessary or if I am better to stick with the setup that is already broadhead tuned and shoots great with G5 Montecs. I have 2 dozen brand new arrows with inserts already glued in so unless there is a way to add weight to them, they'll just be wasted if I switch arrows. Also, my sight is already taped/tuned to these arrows so a heavier arrow would really have me starting at square one.

I have plenty of time to make the change and will buy heavier arrows if necessary, but wondered your guy's thoughts. Thanks in advance.

 

[Neighwp]

Ideally, in my opinion, you'd be shooting a heavier arrow. I've always tried to stay over 425 and really want to be around 450. Are you shooting a 125G broadhead?

 

[ccc23454]

400+ with a quality broadhead your fine. Mine are 415? With the montecs and kills elk dead. Dont overthink everything, put that energy into practice and training. Crank up weight and focus on placement, to me that is always what matters most. Good luck with draw and hunt...

Chris

 

[SteveE]

You are shooting exactly what you should be with your bow imo.

Speed kills in todays world of small diameter shafts. Period. End of story.

All the heavy arrow, broadhead - increase KE talk is old school fat shaft aluminum jazz where they are launching in the 220fps range.

Love your solid one piece broadhead choice.

I have shot both thru frozen deer and steaming bulls. It is not even close on penetration.

 

[WapitiBob]

Where you hit will have more affect on penetration; get close, hit him right, and you'll watch him fall.

 

[standard_lengthy]

There is a gritty bowmen episode where Tim Gillingham explains that shot placement is the most important part of penetration. If drop at distance is negated by having a flatter shooting arrow, you are more likely to have a better shot. I only hunt on 20 acres so shows what I know!

 

[grizzly_]

I only hunt on 20 acres so shows what I know!

Point taken, I didn't mean to offend. My bad. I was more speaking of close-distance shots at smaller whitetails as opposed to the open spaces and potentially longer shots at larger elk.

Thanks for all the advice. If anybody has any more to share, I'd love to hear it too.

 

[BlakeA]

Where you hit will have more affect on penetration; get close, hit him right, and you'll watch him fall.

This ^^

I think you have a solid setup. Accuracy and confidence in your weapon go a long ways. 400+ gr. Arrow for elk is plenty. Good luck on your hunt!

 

[gus_270]

Arrow placement is most important, your arrow weight is fine. My first pass through on an elk was with a 403 grain arrow, where as I have had heavier arrows not pass through at a fair amount closer than that bull. Practice, close the distance and put that broadhead where it needs to go. You'll be packing meat in short order. People get really spun up over weight, FOC, vanes and other things.

 

[Elkmagnet]

What you have is ok for elk my question would be how often will you be hunting elk? If you find yourself doing a lot of elk hunts then you might add 50 or so gr. If it's only occasional and you regularly hunt deer then stick with what you have.

 

[805Bowhunter]

I have listened to John Dudley talk about this a lot and tend to agree with his methodology, regarding arrow weight especially as it relates to speed and fixed blade broad heads. Once you get over 285fps with a fixed blade, they become very difficult to tune/group. I have always been told to get the arrow weight as heavy as possible but keep it at the 280-285 range. You will have a lot better ease tuning which will make your shots much more accurate. Additionally, your bow will be quite a bit quieter if you can add 50ish grains. The setup you have is fine, but you are going to really have to work hard to tune those broad heads out to long distances (maybe you've already done this) before heading out to the field with that speed or youre going to be hitting all over the place...literally. Montec's are great cut on contact heads but at that speed you could be hitting all over the place even at 20 yards. Additionally, Montec's have a tendency to make quite a bit of noise at higher speeds. You may want to have someone stand in a safe spot (behind a house or tree etc) downrange so that they can listen to how much noise they are making. I had a friend shooting them at around 320fps and they were whistling quite loud.

It may be easier to change your sight tape etc rather than spend that time trying to tune those things at that speed. Just my two cents. I'd rather be a hair slower (285 is still quick) and quieter with a heavier arrow that I know is going to hit spot on...especially if you have to take a 60-70 yard shot. An arrow that is not tuned could be off by feet from that distance.

 

[TimeOnTarget]

I would worry more about FOC than arrow weight.

 

[Festus]

This ^^

I think you have a solid setup. Accuracy and confidence in your weapon go a long ways. 400+ gr. Arrow for elk is plenty. Good luck on your hunt!

If starting from scratch, I would probably start off heavier, but sounds like you have it all dialed in where you are at.
They say some broad heads can be tricky to tune at those speeds, but not impossible, in my opinion/experience.

Hope the draws treat you well. Look forward to your story and pics...

 

[huntrfish]

If you have everything set up for you/ your bow/ your shooting style...etc, and you have that thing dialed in...why change? IMHO, you look at 20 years ago, guys were killing elk with WAY less technology, speed, etc.

Shot placement is key to success. Keep practicing with your current setup, shoot straight and get close...you'll be fine.

 

[grizzly_]

A sincere thank you for all the advice.

The bow is shooting fist-sized groups at 50 yards with broadheads so I'm pretty confident in its tuning. It sounds like the prevailing wisdom is to get close, shoot the setup that is already accurate, and aim small. Thanks again for all the help.

 

[GAbearclaw]

Are montec's sharper than they used to be? I shot them for a while and the pot metal never could get hair popping sharp. My only elk kill was with a slick trick and I am terrified to screw those things in without a broadhead wrench they are so sharp.

Good luck getting the tag!

 

[Brendan]

I agree with the comment above that tuning gets more difficult (and less forgiving) as arrow speed goes up. A lighter arrow shot faster is also louder.

If it were me, same as 805 above, I would increase my arrow weight until my arrow speed was around 285 FPS. A lighter faster arrow will work with good shot placement, but a heavier arrow will be more forgiving of poor shot placement.

 

[Badger_55]

All good things said on here. I shoot 506gr arrow now. When I upgraded from 437gr I truly noticed the difference right away in the sound of my bow and the flight of my arrow. I am still right around 292fps through the chrono. My groups tightened up significantly at 60-100yds. But I also increased my FOC (14.4%) as well so I am sure that had a lot to do with my grouping past 60. I had greater issues with the fixed blade with my lighter set up than I do now with the heavier arrows. I have read good things about the Montecs and Strykers from G5. I have tried the Shuttle T's as well and they shoot nice and flat but my best fixed broadhead to date is the Grim Reaper Micro Hades. I feel like I am right where I need to be for anything I wish to hunt.
All that said, it sounds like you have a bow in hand that is shooting well for you and your confidence. No need to change that. Then all of those finished arrows that you have in hand wont be a waste of time and money either. Confidence is everything!

Good luck on the draw! Let us know what you end up doing.

 

[Carnage2011]

I think people over analyze this. Your arrow setup is perfectly fine and will do the job without a problem. Shoot the bull in the lungs/heart and you will have a dead bull.

My wife shot this bull with a 52# bow and a 25” draw at 45 yards. She shot him through the top of the heart and clipped the lungs as well. Complete pass through and dead bull. He had the biggest body I have ever seen.

 

[Badger_55]

Very good point, that is a stud. Congrats to you guys!