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Wanted "bird point" article feedback...

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ricktrojanowski:
I thought the article was very informative.  It was about the closest possible way to determine actual arrow penetration on a deer.  I always thought bird points were intended for small game, but it seems as though they can be quite lethal on big game in close range.  On the reed shafts did you use phragmites?  If so when is the best time to collect the phrag.

Rick

richpierce:
One of the best articles I've read.  It would be good to have a comparison someday with larger stone or steel broadheads.

I understand the theory that a larger, wider blade will kill faster because of cutting more arteries.  But any hole in the chest cavity causes the lung on that side to collapse. The right and left sides of the chest are separated by a membrane, so an arrow that does not penetrate to both sides of the chest (entering the cavities for both lungs) does not cause both to collapse.  Deeper penetration, causing both sides to collapse, insures the animal will expire regardless of the amount of bleeding.

We generally think it's the bleeding that kills.  Sure, but that is because the blood is carrying oxygen.  If the animal can't breathe (both lungs collapsed) then the effect is the same.  It's all part of the same system- heart, lungs, blood.  Put any of the 3 out of commission and you have a kill.

Justin Snyder:
Rich, Your theory is partially correct.  You have to think of the lungs not as a balloon that pops, but as a car tire that deflates.  Air entering the chest cavity through the wound hole creates an air pocket outside the lung and as that grows the lung colapses.  It could take quite some time before the colapse actually happens. If the hole is small or if the arrow still plugs the hole the deflation is even slower. I wont pretend it wont kill them, but if they go for several miles and the hole is small enough that there is little blood outside the hole the deer is usually lost.  Justin

richpierce:
I agree (being a scientist who studies the lung) and from personal experience, a pneumothorax can slow ya down, but not stop ya!  I think a large entry hole and an arrow shaft wobbling about as the deer bounds away would help deflate the lung faster.  On an animal with thick hair and a good fat layer, it would be hard to get much lung collapse just from poking a smallish hole in the chest.

D. Tiller:
Also have to take in the slashing of the arrow in the cavity of the animal as it bounds away. Creates a much larger wound especially if its super sharp like and obsidian point!

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