don't know if this belongs here are arrows, but here goes. there is a thread on the leatherwall where someone asked about hunting with light arrows. i posted that i have heard and seen evidence of light arrows bouncing off ribs. long story short, i was called crazy as hell. i have skinned in the neighborhood of 700-1000 deer and found broadheads in ribs and other bones. after about 20+ posts, i went to check out some stuff written by dr. ashby. i feel safe in saying that he is the foremost expert on arrow performance and this is some of his experiences with light arrows:
"Three times I've seen arrows stopped on nearly broadside
shots by the entrance-side ribs of modest size pigs – with two
of those bouncing back. All three of those shots were with
high-poundage bows (the lightest-draw being a 65# compound),
but with poorly selected arrow setups. One PH I was co-guiding
with, Ben Bronkhorst, also had a client's arrow bounce back
from a warthog's rib. The arrow swapped ends and passed
between himself and the client. That was on a shot from 15
feet. The very light weight carbon arrow, from a 70# compound,
tipped with a light-weight multi-blade broadhead hit only a
rib on entrance. Total penetration, measured against the blood
and tissue on the broadhead was a mere 22 millimeters (0.87").
I've also seen arrows stopped by whitetail and impala
ribs, scapulas, shoulder bones, hip bones, leg bones and
spines. My collection of broadheads recovered by meat
processors from rifle killed deer is steadily growing. There's
no question that someone, somewhere is definitely having
penetration problems, even on whitetails!"
several are back peddling now and saying anything is possible. all of a sudden, maybe i'm not crazy as hell.
