Big Country, thanks for having enough skepticism to do that testing, and for taking the time to do it.

This entire thread is a spinoff of Rangeball's 'arrow weight revelation' thread on the tech forum. Some of you have said how sick you are of my 'fixation' on heavy arrows, so you know I've been trying to tell people for months that going for allout speed doesn't do as much good as legend tells. Someone mentioned new shooters being turned away by thinking they have to know the exact yardage. Well, naturally, I've got a different point of view on that.

Quite frankly, I've seen more people give up on bowhunting in total frustration because they tried to start out with the fastest rigs they could put together. A few of them have listened to me and moderated their setups, shooting slower arrows and are now doing quite well. Most have it in their head that if they can't shoot at least 270 fps, then they they don't have a chance to kill a deer. That is the worst thing about this speed business. Newcomers tend to believe what someone more experienced in bowhunting says, especially someone that works in an archery store (notice I said archery store instead of a pro shop), without digging around and experimenting themselves, or at least trying to get other viewpoints, to find out if it's true or not.

Speed is good. All through the history of archery, people have done everything possible to increase arrow speed. Problem is, speed comes with a price, in accuracy and control. Someone that is a highly skilled shooter can make use of a lot of speed. A novice shooter can not. Nor do they even need to. As Big Country's tests show, they can be successful hunters with moderate setups that are easily controlled and they can shoot accurately.

This thread has turned nasty in spots, and I would be lying if I said I didn't expect it. But at least some people have finally started thinking about what I've been saying all along.