Practice with broadheads or field points?
 

Im sure this topic has come up a million times on this forum and i apologize for bringing it up again. This will be my first year trying bowhunting, and I have been practicing quite a bit with my new PSE Bruin. I have been practicing with 100 grain field points and im pretty confident out to 30 yards.

A friend of mine gave me a pack of 100 gran G5 montecs to try for this upcoming season. So, I put one on today and tried shooting it to see how it shot. First thing I noticed was it kinda made a zipping sound through the air, is that normal? Also, It seemed I was shooting low and left, or atleast not as accurate as i normally do.

So do i adjust my sights right before hunting season to accomodate the broadheads? Or do i try new broadheads that pattern the same as my FP? Should i br practicing exclusively with broadheads?

Im sure there is no easy answer, just curious what you guys do, or what you would reccomend for a beginner bowhunter. Thank you -

RE: Practice with broadheads or field points?
 

B-heads barely ever fly the same as your field points unless your bow is very well tuned. If you bought your bow from a actual shop, I would go there and have them help you paper tune your bow. If you didn't you still can perhaps call and see if you can stop by and get some help. That should at least make your b-heads fly consistant. If all else fails just make sure your b-heads are flying true and then adjust your sights to them and you'll be good.

RE: Practice with broadheads or field points?
 

Once August hits I am strictly broadheads.

RE: Practice with broadheads or field points?
 

make sure the bow is fine tuned before adjusting the sights for the broadheads

RE: Practice with broadheads or field points?
 

Adjust your rest to get them to shoot the same point of impact. Go to eastons website and follow thier tuning guide. Sometimes it can take a bit of tinkering to get them the same, but most times its fairly straightforward when you follow the guide.

RE: Practice with broadheads or field points?
 

I would practice with broadheads only, if you don't hunt with field points why shoot them? Adjust your sight for your broadheadsand you'll be good to go.

RE: Practice with broadheads or field points?
 

I personally think there's nothing wrong with practicing with field tips.. They can be easier to shoot with and be used on more targets and in all the indoor ranges. BUT, you do need to shoot and practice with broadheads also. Now my broadheads fly the same but the others are correct in that not all of them do. Use a quality broadhead that fits you such as magnus stinger, montecs or muzzy's..
WHEN all is said and done though you need to be sighted in using broadheads if your going to hunt with them.

RE: Practice with broadheads or field points?
 

I shoot fieldpoints to get the kinks out after the winter......after that it is pretty much broadheads only for about 2 months before the season. I really see no point in shooting fieldtips at paper unless it is for exercise or just to have fun shooting your bow. For hunting practice it has little if any value and IMO does more harm then good.

RE: Practice with broadheads or field points?
 

EXACTLY why I think shooting fieldtips does more harm then good in many cases. People get lured into a false sense of security when they are shooting fieldtips at paper all summer in a t-shirt and shorts standing on the ground at 20 yards. They think they are dead nuts and are ready to hit the woods. Now they put on some broadheads and UH-OH!!!........it's back to square one. Fortunately for you there is plenty of time to fix the problem. Imagine the nightmare you would be in if you had waited until a day or two before the season to strap on some broadheads.

How close are your BH's hitting to where your fieldtips were?? You say low and left but how much??.......an inch or two.......or a foot??

Most important thing I look for when adjusting anything on my bow is perfect arrow flight........I want to see no wobble, no fishtail, no porpoising(sp?), no cork screwing...........nothing but a flat laser beam flight. To coin an old phrase.......I want my shots flying "straight as an arrow"

If your broadhead shots are flying "straight" with no signs of wobble and are hitting just an inch or two away from your tips then I would just bump the sight and be done with it.........a "straight" arrow flight will offer you the best penetration on whatever you hit. If they are off a substantial distance or have any of the poor flight characteristics I mentioned then you need an adjustment to your rest most likely. Download the Easton tuning guide and read it and know it and use it to make sure your setup is tuned well. If you don't feel confident messing with it then take it to the shop and let someone else help you.

One more thing.............unless you are shooting the practice Montecs you are going to need to resharpen those heads that you are shooting into your targets. They will not be sharp enough to hunt with after repeated shots into a target.

RE: Practice with broadheads or field points?
 

when you put your broadheads on make sure that the tips are perfectly lined up with your fletchings. your arrows should fly better if properly alligned.

RE: Practice with broadheads or field points?
 

G5's! Good head!:D

Other guys have said what needs to be.

Happy hunting!

RE: Practice with broadheads or field points?
 

Lining your fletchings up with your blades is an old wives tale and means nothing. You can do it if you want them to look pretty, but it won't make them fly any better. If it does chances are your inserts were not square and rotating them fixed that. Besides, good luck doing that with a modern arrow where the insert is epoxied into the shaft.

I tune my bow to shoot broad heads in the same general area as my field points, or least the best I can get it. Sometimes you can get them very close, sometimes things don't go as well. It is very dependant on your arrows. You need closely matched arrows with a spine that matches your set up. If not you will have trouble getting them to group with your field field tips. If you know your bow was tuned well and grouping well with target tipped arrows and you have to make large adjustments to your nocking point or rest chances are your spine is off and you are compensating for it.

Do not have your bow paper tuned and assume it is tuned. Paper tuning is the first step in tuning, not the end. Chances are you will need to tweak it when you shoot with broad heads if you want them to group together. Sometimes you don't though. Again, depends your arrows and your form.

I personally don't try overly hard to get them to group together. I shoot 99 percent of the time in my back yard shooting at targets for groups. And once or twice a year at a deer. I don't feel like de-tuning my bow to make it group fixed blades. Which is what most do when they do this.

I don't shoot fixed blades that often either. Maybe once or twice a season when it gets close to the opener. I tune my heads and arrows, then tune my bow to where they shoot where I am happy. Then I replace the blades and set my hunting arrows aside and don't touch them again. I want perfect arrows in my quiver, not arrows I have nocking around for two months. If I know my fixed blade heads hit where I aim them why would I need to practice with them? The field points work just as well for practicing my release and form. And they are not as dangerous, expensive or hard on the target. I have hit enough arrows with broad heads that it isn't worth the expense of new arrows, heads and fletchings to play with them when I know I don't need to. Almost every time I tune for broad heads I end up taking a fletching off, splitting an arrow in half and or ruining a head. I certainly don't want to do that on a daily bases.

For me shooting the deer is not the hard part, that is pretty easy because of the distance and size of the target. It's getting them close that I have trouble with;).

Now if you only shoot once or twice a month for a half hour or so and can shoot fixed blades where you shoot then it probably isn't a big deal and not a bad idea. However if you shoot every day for hours at a time I wouldn't suggest shooting a fixed blade all the time. More power to you if you want to, but I'm not going to do it. Not when the modern equipment is so good and closely matched.

Paul

RE: Practice with broadheads or field points?
 

I just take a "better safe......then sorry" approach I guess. I could NEVER go into the woods with an arrow that all I knew of it was it hit where I was aiming 2 months ago. In 2 months I will put thousands of shots through my bow, pick it up and set it down on the ground hundreds of times, probably drop my case at least once......hopefully not drop the bow but can't say I never did that either ;).......I'm sure it will get stepped on by me or one of my shooting buddies at least once...........and even if none of that happens I know I will have a day or two when I just don't shoot that great and wonder to myself if something needs a tweak.........even though I know it doesn't.

I just could never trust an arrow if the last time I shot it was 2 months ago.

I even keep some dull heads handy all through the year so I can shoot a few arrows after a hunt or at lunch or whenever I feel like it. I just like the feeling of KNOWING I am dead on.........I don't like the thought of hoping nothing has changed in the last 2 months when I get ready to shoot in the woods.

My Stingers are shot and shot and shot right up to the night before season starts...........that night I unpack my fresh blades and I am ready to rock at sunrise...........100% confident that I will hit where I aim because I have been shooting the exact arrows I have in my quiver as soon as 10 hours earlier.

RE: Practice with broadheads or field points?
 

CHECK THE ALINEMENT OF THE BLADES TO YOUR FEATHERS THAT WILL STOP OR REDUCE THE ZIPPING. FOR FIX BLADE HEADS JUST ADJUST SIGHTS. IF YOU DON'T WANT TO MESS WITH SIGHTS THEN GO TO OPEN ON IMPACT HEADS LIKE THE HAMMER HEAD.
GOOD HUNTING.

RE: Practice with broadheads or field points?
 

I do check everything before I hunt. I just don't have extended practice sessions with my fixed blades. And if something did change on my bow I would know regardless of if I was shooting fixed blades or field tips.

In my opinion arrows are the number one factor in where your broad head tipped arrows shoot. I just don't want to beat up or wear down my arrows I will hunt with before I hunt.

My system hasn't failed me yet, so I am not inclined to change it. Sometimes I shoot bareshafts just for the heck of it though. If something was off it would for sure show up then.

And I treat my equipment well enough I am not concerned about those issues. If one of my buddies stepped on my bow he wouldn't be my buddy for long. But mostly my bow wouldn't be in a position where it could be stepped on by someone else. I simply can't afford to replace it.

I understand what you are saying though and I shoot a fixed blade from time to time. I have junk ones as well, but I don't do it all the time like some others do. I have never tuned my bow, then grabbed an arrow with a broad head and had it not work. They hit right were they did before, unless the arrow is no good. Which is why my hunting arrows do not get touched again until a few days before I hunt with them. How can I not trust them if they are still brand new and proven to be good? I shoot aluminums so they are not going to go bad just sitting there;)

I dissagree with the above post in every way shape and form.

Paul

RE: Practice with broadheads or field points?
 

Same here..........whatever makes you comfortable and keeps your confidence up I guess..........plenty of ways to skin a cat.



I do too.............but stuff happens. I don't like treating my gear like precious china simply because I know it doesn't get treated that way going through the woods and up and down trees all year. I am pretty careful for the most part though.



Yea..........I even shoot different ones all the time to see if my setup is tuned really well..........or just to my Stingers. I have Muzzy, SteelForce, Crimson Crocs and even some old WASP mechanicals laying around........fun to play around with.


Me too.

RE: Practice with broadheads or field points?
 

To say it again, LINING UP THE FLETCH WITH THE BLADES MEANS NOTHING.

To me shooting BH excessively just burns thru targets. I like to get my heads shooting with FP's early in the summer and then put the heads(and the arrows they are on)away. Once in a while shoot em to make sure things are fine. Then once the season is real near, shoot them a final time or2, put in new blades and I am ready to go.

Atlas you brought up a great point about the shooting in t-shirt thing. EVERYONE should shoot several times in the same clothes you will hunt in. This means down to the gloves, mask, and heavy clothes. Yea it's hot shooting in a heavy jacket in august, but it beats missing a big buck on a cold november morning. Also for you treestand hunters, shoot from elevation.

RE: Practice with broadheads or field points?
 

This is VERY good advice.....and the most important point I take from this thread.

I use the G5's, too.....and I shoot their practice heads. That way...you never have to worry about theedge on your hunting setup.

Jeff

RE: Practice with broadheads or field points?
 

i usually start shooting again around the end of july, or early august. i always shoot field points probably up until aboutmid september so i don't destroy my target, then i'll switch to the muzzy practice blades, but they tear up the target a lot too. i usually only shoot my actual broadheads a few times just to be sure it's on with them, but i'll give muzzy a lot of credit, the practice blades and broadheads shoot very very close. for that matter, i've rarely had to adjust at all from field tips, to practice blades, to broadheads.

and i do try to line up the practice heads and broadheads with the vanes. haven't noticed any big difference, but i don't think it would hurt anything.

RE: Practice with broadheads or field points?
 

I see no problem at all practicing with field points if they hit the same place as your broadheads. You are minimizing wear and tear on your target.

I test my broadheads about once every week or so to make sure everything is still lined up properly but most of my shooting is done with fieldpoints.

As i get closer to the season I start adding more and more clothing to my practice session to the point that for the last 2 weeks or so i am shooting with headnet, gloves, jacket (thank goodness my basement is cool), binos and a tube call around my neck

RE: Practice with broadheads or field points?
 

I just re read some of my responses and it sounds like I am arguing the point. Really I'm not, and didn't mean for it to come out that way. It really doesn't matter. If you want to shoot fixed blades all the time more power to you. It surely can't hurt anything. Like said above, it's all about confidence, if it makes you feel more confident do it.

I was just giving my opinion and how I personally feel about the subject. No dissrespect meant to anyone that doesn't feel the same way.

Paul