I've never given much thought to shock delivered with an arrow that has a stopper behind the head. My thoughts are that because of the lack of blood trail, I can more easily find the bird with my arrow flagging out of it. Plus, if their wing is in the strut possition when I shoot, it makes it more difficult for the bird to fly with the arrow remaining in the body. Also, with the head remaining in or near the vitals as the bird moves along after the shot, the head will continue to cut, causing more damage and maybe shortening the birds travel.

Keep in mind that your target is about the size of a tennis ball and the head doesn't need to penetrate that far into the bird to reach the vitals as long as the hit is good. The bird is naturally camo'd and being able to see your fletching will help in finding the bird if it gets out of sight before it dies.

On the other hand, the best shot that I've heard of is shooting the bird up the poop shute while in full strut. Their back is towards you and they can't see you. But, because of the possition of the shot, I don't think that I'd use a stopper, unless it's one that offers resistance, yet will slide the length of the shaft so that the head can reach the vitals and still not exit the bird completely.

Good luck on your hunt. Nothing more exciting than killing that wiley ol' bird with a bow.

Make em sharp and shoot em straight, or leave em home.