Is a pass through really the best thing.
 

I was talking with a friend of mine who is in his 70s. He did some hunting way back when like in the 50s or somewhere around that time. He told me 50 pounds was to much for deer hunting. I told him mine was set at 68 pounds. He told me that high and you get a pass through with little damage. he said if the arrows stays in it moves around while the deer runs doing alot of damage to the organs. I wonder if this could be that back then they used recurves or trad. bows with low weight and did not really deal with pass throughs much.
I have always been told a pass through is the best thing. Two holes twice the bleeding. Am i wrong. Or is he just an old fart who is still in the 50s. :s13:

You are correct-two holes to lose blood is better than one with an arrow stuck in it any day

Look at it this way ,you shoot a milk jug full of water,two holes are going to drain it quicker than one. Drain um Dry..... then start the fryyyer..lol

Definitely two holes, especially from a tree stand, where ideally one hole is low on the body allowing that blood to come out and create great blood trails.

The old man has his point. The animal will still be bleeding internally, even if it isn't pumping out, and it's gonna tear stuff up while it's in there. I would rather have the passthrough though. Darn sure they'll die plenty fast, but you'll have the added advantage of a better blood trail if they run somewhere hard to see 'em.

what i thought. Thanks guys

On a pass through, you'll likely find a reusable arrow. :biggrin: Most of the time I don't get a pass through the arrow gets snapped off.

Pass thru, ALWAYS, end of discussion.

True i am down 4 out of 12 new arrows already. One broke from going throw the shed one broke from hitting the ground and i lost two. There 175 a dozen plus two had broadheads at 8 bucks a peice. :pcwhack:

In 3 out of your 4 cases, dont miss and you would only be down 1 arrow. ;)

I prefer pass throughs :)

How do you discern how good or bad your hit was.....if you don't have an arrow? Regardless of which is "better"....I wanna know the answer to that.

I shoot a (by many's standards) "low weight" recurve, and I'm 2-2 on pass-thrus, this season.

Unless I read your post wrong, this guy has not been hunting in almost 60 years (you said he hunted in the 50's, not his 50s). Somebody that has been outta the game that long and obviously hunted as a teen/twentysomething is hardly someone I would take too seriously as far as hunting wisdom and knowledge goes.

As a side note, it is these older wiser members of society that introduced me to the notion of brush bucking calibers. Afetr some aging on my own it was just common sense that these mythical calibers don't exist.

What I am saying is it is one thing to respect your elders but it is another thing to think that just because the are older and "wiser" everything they say is automatically gospel.

I met a old guy hunting once, who had alot of "advice" too. He said I'd be smart to listen to him since he's killed more deer than anyone...over 30!:happy0157:

Pass through, for sure.

I want my arrow, want to see what it looks like and I don't want it broke.

Id rather have a longer tracking job with a good blood trail than a little bit of blood, and possibly none...

I agree, the past two seasons I was getting pass throughs I shot three deer and all of them died within sight. Now this season, I've hunted with my brother where he has shot two deer no pass throughs and I have shot one and did not get a pass through. It leads me to ask; what are the mechanics of a pass through everytime. The only thing that has changed in my set-up is my arrows, broadheads are the same and I sharpened them. Does the weight of the arrow make difference? I'm shooting a little lighter this year.

Yes he does have a point to a point. :s4: If I make a not so good shot on a deer I wouldn't be to upset If my arrow was still In the deer (one hole). With that arrow getting thrashed and banged around It could do more cutting which could make the difference In getting your deer or not.

In the end though, pass throughs are what we strive for.

What about shooting with your pants around your ankles. He have any advice about that? :) jk

You just stick it through the chest right behind the shoulder. That's what we're waiting to here you did. When the shot does come, make it first, then think about what everybody else will think. Focus on the job at hand, calmly and just as you'd practiced it. It's just a target standing there, hit it. You can get excited AFTER you put your hands on it or see it dead on the ground.

A bow is generally more efficient, when launching a heavier arrow. So mathematically, shooting lightweight carbon arrows will cost you a little Kinetic Energy (penetration) at the target.

The above is an excerpt from and article I read now and again, it has a lot of good stuff regarding speed vs weight.
http://www.huntersfriend.com/2007-Ca...ion-guide5.htm

And to muddy things a little more:
http://www.booneman.com/_terminalarrow.php

thats why i pay $4 an arrow :)

x2. Generally, the exit hole will be on the under/lower side of the deer which means more blood ends up on the ground. makes the blood trail better. This is preferable to the arrow remaining in the animal. If the old man's theory was true, we would all be shooting turket broadheads.

Although not my thread I'd like to here a little more from others

Well lets see-I am considered an OLD Fart since I will be 68 in about 3 weeks. I killed my 1st deer with a Recurve in 1958 with a 45# recurve & wood arrow at 35 yds & it was a pass through & another 37 assorted Biggame with Recurves of 55#s through 65#s (Elk, Bear, Whitetails, Hog, Goat). Mostly right at 60#s.
PASS THROUGHs fellas. The "idea" of the arrow doing MORE damage by staying in has been around longer than all of us.
Since I've been on (guesstimates) Bloodtrails of about 20 Elk, 25 Mule deer, 30 wild Hogs, 100+ Whitetails (my own) 10 Bears & a few others I will say PASS THROUGH. I WANT my arrow to go through BOTH LUNGs also (best hit-my opinion).

I shoot HEAVY arrows compared to my Bow Weight-now a 60# Compound with 29" 2216 Easton Aluminums & 125 gr. 3 Blade Rocky Mountain heads. I shoot through MOST anything I hit broadside (thats what I aim for but animals MOVE sometimes). I do not know my arrow speed or my KE & I don't give a crap.
When I ran the TOURNY route THAT Bow was the fastest I could get out of it & I used the smallest arrow I could get away with-it WAS all about SPEED on targets even back then....

I DON'T shoot animals any farther with a compound than I did with my recurves. In fact-my longest kill (back when I was young AND stupid) was a 6 point Buck at 55 yds. & a 55# Groves Spitfire Recurve. 95% of my animals (135 I think roughly) recurve & compound has been under 25 yds. with a couple Elk at 35 yds... I have shot at Elk WITH a Recurve of 60#s at 45 yds. ALL the recurve animals were shot with NO Sights-ya know-BAREBOW & fingers.

If I was going to kill it with my compound I would have no problem shooting it at the same distance with my recurve.
I think my 1st compound kill was in mid 70s when the BIG change went from recurves to Compound & releases came about.

I'm guessing my average recovery on Whitetails has been 30 yds & less-recurve & Compound.

IF I don't get a PASS THROUGH I want to know why. Damn few for sure in all my years-this is my 53rd year of Bowhunting-have never purchased a Biggame Gun tag but think it's great for those who choose that as their way of hunting...

This OLD FART is playing games with a couple very LARGE BUCKS & I'm gonna get a PASS THROUGH this year-I've eaten my Buck tag 6 years now & very tired of it.... Good luck fellas. Take this old farts ramblings for whatever you want.....

I'll take a pass through and 2 holes anyday!

Dan

I shoot the best arrows I can afford. That's one part of my equipment where I will Not skimp. I won't skip on the Broadhead either.

I'll waste an arrow for every animal I Kill if I had to. That's the least of my worries.:s4:

Dan

Who has more bow kills, you or the old timer?

I want a pass through every time.

The guys old school. Arrow stuck in the deer will do minimal additional damage. I don't think there is any debate on this one - pass through is the way to go for many good reasons!

I have a classic gun hunting book: "Shots at Whitetails." His coment on bullets is that he wants a bullet that uses its energy to damage the deer s.t. a perfect strike is one where the bullet falls out of the hide when the deer is skinned.

Applying this same theory to archery, I'd want enough blades with enough cutting radius such that all the energy of the arrow goes into cutting the deer and none embedding itself into the ground on the other side of the deer.

Unfortunately, since one hit changes so much compared to the next, I'd have to know ahead of time which hit I was going to get so I'd have the right broadhead for a particular hit.

Frank

I've had it both ways. First deer I shot was close to a front leg. When he ran, the motion of the leg moving the arrow back and forth did some damage. The arrow sticking out the side also hit a tree. You do have the potential to do more damage this way but it is a dumb way to go about it.

Look at it this way. How do you tune your equipment so the arrow penetrates just enough but doesn't pass through? I'd rather have enough power to break through stuff if I make a bad shot and hit heavy bone.

If we use real big expandibles, lighest shaft we can shoot & 40#s we should NOT get a pass through. We will have to be accurate so we don't get any "POOR" hits also..

I'm sticking with my Pass through is better.

Pass through by far, especially if you use mechs. My dad hit his bear square through both lungs this year, but the arrow lodged in the off shoulder due to the quartering away shot. It was a perfect hit, but the arrow didnt go through the shoulder. In fact the arrow popped out when the bear ran and left the blades of his Rage 2 blade in the bone... Anyway we had a heck of a time tracking the bear through cutover because the entry wound was high and it wasn't bleeding up there. We were lucky to find it cause we could track it through the messed up leaves. It went about 100 yrds through thick cutover, I know with a pass threw we would have had easier time finding it.

Arrows dont have the same mechanics that a bullet has, in theroy you want the bullet to impart the most energy(read -damage-) it can on the animal through expansion, thats why we shoot soft point bullets to get nice expansion & create more damage. Since the expansion factor of a broadhead is fixed regardles a pass threw is nice to give you the bleeding. The old school thought is just that, old school, If it was the case that old school is always right why dont we hunt w/ spears? In the case where you dont have a pass through, most of the time the arrow would break off or get pushed back out, leaving you one hole and not doing a bit of damage...

i wud agree...i dont see how there can be any way an entry hole could be better than both an entry and an exit