loanstarhunter

I notice several guys that shoot 40 plus yards when hunting and target shooting. I would like to know, how many pounds of draw weight do you have to shoot to get adequate penetration at those distances? Or is there more to it than just poundage?

BobCo19-65

Well, I shoot a 70 Darton and am ready to take a 50 yard shot at an Elk. But, that is only if I have it ranged perfectly and the elk is standing totally still broadside or quartering away slightly. As you could imagine, that won't happen very often. Same with the 40 yarder. At a deer, I won't shoot past 30 in any circumstance.

As far as penetration, for elk, I use 2317 or 2219 eastons, which are heavy, and a two bladed cut on contact head. (stos 145 grain, plus adapter).

My draw length is 31", which should also be taken into consideration.

So, I would say the things taken into consideration would be (not in any order),
1. Broadhead type
2. Arrow weight
3. Poundage (and cam type, including let off)
4. Draw length
5. Your personal accuracy level
6. Perfectly tuned bow
7. Animal alertness
8. Position of animal
9. KE and momentum level

dwaasp

To shoot a large animal over 40 yd one needs to have enough KE to start with and not reduce it down range.

Things that help stop the degrade of speed( thus KE) down range is:

As said above a well tuned bow: erratic motion will kill KE (speed) promptly.

If you need a 4 or 5” helical fletching to stabilize the head you use: the speed of a light arrow will diminish fast.

FOC becomes important with long range trajectory: to far aft & the arrow becomes erratic to far forward hurts trajectory.

If you are going to shoot 50 yds or more, one would wish to be shooting over 300 fps; as to reach the kill in less than ½ sec. Some say, as in Holt’s research, that he had not known an animal to jump the string when the arrow reached the kill in less than ½ sec.

BobCo19-65

How is that possible?

UncleNorby

You need to know your KE at a given range to determine whether you will get adequate penetration. If you have access to a chrono, shoot some arrows through it from 30 or 40 or whatever. Then you can figure your KE at that range.

Going with KE out of the bow and then figuring KE downrange is tough. Many factors contribute to how fast an arrow sheds KE.

Techy

I shoot 64 lbs and I pratice out to 80 and 90 yrds. I still have a lot of penetration at that range.

CBM SC

Jackson's archery page has a ballistics caculator that works well if you know your bow speed , shaft diameter, arrow weight, etc. !! It will give you KE , speed, momentum, arrow drop, etc. all the way out to 100 yrds or more !!

dwaasp

To shoot a large animal over 40 yd one needs to have enough KE to start with and not reduce it --a great deal--down range.

One cannot tie a parachute(4-5" helical fletch) on a light arrow, without serious loss over 40 yds..