More kill power
 

A gun or a bow Wait before You say anything you must have killed a deer with both gun and bow with a good shot from a bow the deer run less than 10 yards and dont even think about the lb. per FT.

RE: More kill power
 

Well the term "killing power" is pretty subjective. you are comparing apples to oranges with a bow and a gun, they both kill in totally different ways. You aren't going to put an animal down in its tracks with a bow unless you spine it, where as "bang-flops" with a gun are fairly common.A well placed, razor sharp arrow in the vitals is a very efficient killer though. If you define "killing power" as the ability to kill at different angles and distances a gun wins hands down. With a bow you have to wait for a fairly close broadside or quartering away shot. With a gun you can take ethical shots at much longer ranges, and you can also take them with the animal straight on, quartering towards you, and even in the neck.

RE: More kill power
 

If youKILL 1 deer with a gun and 1 with a bow, that equates to; dead=gun, and dead=bow. So killing power should be as follows: (gun x dead)x (bow x dead) = killing power

Please correct me if I am wrong, it has been several years since I have used this formula.

RE: More kill power
 

If the definition of a good bow kill is less than 10 yards, then there is no doubt that a gun, or firearm is superior to a bow.

The first deer I ever killed with a bow was at 7 yards. Beng new to the archery game, nobody told me about bending at the waist, I dropped my bow arm and shot over the deer. Not knowing what had happened, the deer stood still and acctually sniffed the nock of the arrow sticking out of the ground. I re-nocked, re-drew, aimed lower, and spined her. Fairly terrible thing to see... though I had seen it before, I never care too. Spent my last arrow sinking another into her ribs to hurry the process along... that did the job nicely.

I cannot recall a deer that I have shot with a firearm in the last five years (which totals well over 100 deer including culls) that has gone more than 5 yards.... and that mostly from thrashing...in one case it was a cartwheel as the deer I shot (30 yards using buckshot this past season... headshot... comes from being a bird hunter I suppose... I impressed myself with that one) did a roll and a powerslide of sorts. I did shoot one with a muzzleloader this year at about 15 steps that I beleive it or not missed the scapula on. Broke the onside shoulder (quartering too) right at the joint. 300gr softpoint lodged about 1in right of her anus and broke the skin but somehow did not exit. I found one drop of blood 5 feet from the deer. She went about 40 yards in the open bottom and I heard her crash. I was in a ground tent... took me 30 minutes to find her :eek:. Should have known better than to take a quartering too shot... even if it was close enough to smell the acorns on her breath.

I've shot nearly 50 deer with the bow, and only had two not go at least 10 yards. Both of those were spined. The shortest I can recall that was not is probably in the neighborhood of 40 to 60 yards... but 70 to 80 is more the average. Have had a few that went closer to 200. But have NEVER (touch wood) had an arrow enter the body cavity of a deer and not recovered it. :D

RE: More kill power
 

There is simply no question that a high powered centerfire rifle is the more effecient weapon. Even when compared to a slug gun or inline muzzle loader let alone a bow.

And I have hunted with all of them.

Paul

RE: More kill power
 

thats a different question

RE: More kill power
 

I think you also must divide by caliber and brand of bow:D

RE: More kill power
 

broadheads do lots of damage, bullets go right through and get the job done.

RE: More kill power
 

I would say it depends on the shot placement. A good shot in the vitals from either will the job quickly, but I would also say you have more room for mistake with a gun. So, if that is what you are talking about, I would say a gun. But, the deer I have killed with a bow have covered a short distance after the shot on average than the deer I have shot with a gun. I don't think you can really compare the two. Now ask, which has more killing power, a .308 or 30/06 and you will havea real discussion.

RE: More kill power
 

I watched "Smarter than a fifth grader" last night. The formula is as follows:

[Gun weight/bow weight (caliber - shaft length)* (distance to deer)] / [deer weight* bullet grain/(deer age + length of tail - ATA of bow)]
Recalculate number at different levels of humidity and you have your answer

RE: More kill power
 

A deer killed with a bow is no more dead than 1 killed with a rifle.. I think your question should be.. Which one results in more lost deer.. That is all that matters.

RE: More kill power
 

What about factoring in using Blazer vanes??

RE: More kill power
 

This question is kind of pointless. Guns and bows kills by 2 different means and neither is less or more efficient than the other when the shots are put where they need to be.

RE: More kill power
 

No, I believe this is the formula for "stopping power", not killing power.

RE: More kill power
 

A dead deer is a dead deer is a dead deer

RE: More kill power
 

Sorry Johnny. I stand corrected. Good thing we didn't get into knockdown power. I can't remember that one

RE: More kill power
 

I have taken animal both ways and I would think that archery would be more efficient way with less meat lose and a rifle would be a more effective way for the energy it produces. Just my 2¢...:)

RE: More kill power
 

No, no, no...your formulas are all wrong. Killing power is simply a ratio of the deadness over time with appropiate subscripts for Bow(B) and Gun(G)....

(deadness(B) / time) = KP
or
(deadness(G) / time) = KP

Therefore the true question is not which weapon has more killing power (KP), but which weapon kills the animal deader (with times being equal).



:D:D:D

RE: More kill power
 

Ah, time is what I forgot in my formula! Good post PA!

RE: More kill power
 

RE: More kill power
 

What has more kill power: apples or oranges?

RE: More kill power
 

ya it really all depends
this is a very subjective poll

RE: More kill power
 

the survey sayssssssssssss. Chuck Norris of course!

RE: More kill power
 

Ok,

I was thinking about this last night... Yeah I'm that bored. Dead is dead. And even though I LOVE to bowhunt I have to say a gun is more efficient. Or at least allows for a bigger margin of error on the shooters part.

If you were stuck somewhere and had to survive on your own. Would you rather a gun or a bow? Given amunition is not a factor.

Or suppose a grizzly was comming after you. Gun or bow?

Both situations I'll take the gun.

RE: More kill power
 

I agreewith magicman54494(i think bow)

RE: More kill power
 

.30 .06 with 220 grains FMJ, double lunger at 40 yards dropped a buck in his tracks. instant death.
.270 with 130 grain bollistic tip, double lunger at10 yardsbuck ran 100 yards died in 40 seconds.
.270 with 130 grain bollistic tip, liver shot at15 yardsbuck ran 30 yards died within 20 seconds. (buck fever made me miss the lungs on that short shot.)

you say how can a liver shot kill faster than a double lunger?? the double lunger shot the bullet missed the rib bone. in my liver shot i hit the rib bone. just think what a bollistic tip did when it hit the bone.


bow with b52, double lunger at 20 yards ran 40 yards died within 20 seconds. ( my quickest bow kill)

i never arrowed a deer that died instanly like my .3006 buck.

RE: More kill power
 

look at it this way, if you and another person roughly your size and shape were to be dropped into a 500 acre fenced property, and forced to hunt each other, and you were given first choice of the only two manufactured weapons on the property, a .243, and a 70 lb compound, which would you take? the range alone makes the choice obvious (not to mention the consistecy and re-shooting speed), and points out that the question is not specific enough.

RE: More kill power
 

Is this a serious question? Seems pretty obvious. GUN. Duh.

RE: More kill power
 

Neither. As they say, "It's not the gun, it's the gunner." I agree with a number of posts that dead is dead. It all comes down to the expertise of the individual behind the tool used.

RE: More kill power
 

I've never lost a deer with either weapon. My question is, how much meat is lost do to damage from the projectile, "any" is too much for me.

RE: More kill power
 

think about it. If bows were superior in killing power the Gun would (probably) never have become as popular as it has. The bow would have been a good enough weapon that anything else was not up to par

RE: More kill power
 

gun