A deer can duck an....arrow??!!
 

Maybe this could get a little too technical, but how fast does an arrow have to be to fool the reaction time of a whitetail deer in less than 10 yards?

My bet is that if the deer happens to react in the panicked nature it is known for, the arrow won't even touch him-even the fastest arrow.

I personally have never missed a deer or had a bad hit because it "ducked" the arrow, "jumped the string", or whatever, but I hear they do.

Jeff...U.P. of Michigan.

RE: A deer can duck an....arrow??!!
 

At ten yards - unless the deer knows tht you are there, I wouldn't be too concerned about a deer junping the string. Except if you are shooting an EXTREMELY slow setup.

RE: A deer can duck an....arrow??!!
 

I bought a new bow last year because I was afraid of that happening. I limit my shot to 20 yards I think this will help but who knows.

RE: A deer can duck an....arrow??!!
 

Bob,
What I'm trying to say, ask, or whatever, is that if a deer does react to an arrow in under 10 yards, meaning he was alert, doesn't like the sound of the bow, or something else, is there a current bow speed out there that would even matter.

I feel sometimes this topic gets overlooked in all the talk about how fast the bows are now, with people thinking their bows are a little more capable than they think.

Jeff...U.P. of Michigan.

RE: A deer can duck an....arrow??!!
 

About 1120 fps.

RE: A deer can duck an....arrow??!!
 

I've never had one duck the arrow, but I've seen plenty on video. I do kind of doubt that at 10 yds one could move completely out of the way. I've read lots where guys said sound travels this fast, arrows fly that fast, ect, but I just don't believe that under 15yds or so one could completely duck an arrow shot at the middle of his chest. I see lots of videos where the deer ducks it barely at 15-20yds, though.

RE: A deer can duck an....arrow??!!
 

Look, when they are close the noise of the release is more disturbing, they flinch, duck, jump or whatever you want to call it. It is a natural reaction and not all deer react the same.

There are a lot of factors that come into play:

Are they nervous. Is your setup quiet. String slapping your sleeve. Weather conditions, rut, age and experience of deer. etc.

Get past 20 yds and the noise isn't as much of a factor, all else being equal..

Some supposed expert happened to write an article on this in this months Peterson's Bowhunting. It was bulldung.

OH yeah, if you want to get nit pickey you might miss by 1 inch instead of two, but it is still a miss and a duck.


Arrow speed adds little to the equation your success/failure. You'd be better off working on the quietness of your rig and the placement of your shots.

RE: A deer can duck an....arrow??!!
 

This from petersons bowhunting mag. They are basing the reaction time on half of what a humans is. They claim the reaction time of a deer is .05 secs. Sound travels at 750mph and if you were to shot a deer at ten yards or less the deer would drop approx. .5in with a 230fps arrow and with a 280fps arrow will drop almost none. Now here is were you see were speed could help you. At twenty yards a deer has the ablity to drop 5.5 inches with a 230fps arrow and with a 280fps arrow it can drop 2.75 inches. Now at thirty yards at 230fps it can drop or move as much as 16.75in and with 280fps it can move or drop 9.5in. The article goes on to say that 95% of doe will jump the string while, only 50% of bucks?? Who knows ir this is correct but I would bet they are pretty close. I have had 2 deer jump the string a duck an arrow both shots were 25-30yrds. I actual seen what one done I was in the zone and everthing went in slow motion and the deer dropped it hind leggs to the ground and arced her back and right were the arc was is were the arrow went. She wasn't even looking at me when I shot. The other was this year and was another doe.

RE: A deer can duck an....arrow??!!
 

Cyclone,

I read the same article in Peterson's and thought is was well thought out and explained nicely. If you don't mind me asking, what exactly did you disagree with in the article?

RE: A deer can duck an....arrow??!!
 

OK North Jeff, I understand what you mean now.

I guess that I would have to be in the situation to give a ccomplete answer. I think that at ten yards though even if the deer was looking at me (assuming that I am at full draw) that I would have a lot of confidence that it would not be able to move much before arrow gets to the deer. The deer would be able to react a couple inches either way and I would still be in the kill zone.

If I was not at full draw and the deer sees me I would not move at all. I would wait for the deer to move, and hopefully get obstructed from his view before I drew.

Hope that helps.