My last Elk hunt was in 2017 and it was an archery hunt. I learned a lot about arrows from that trip, unfortunately, most of the knowledge was learned after the hunt. The arrows I use are BassPro Blackout X1 pro, which are made by Gold Tip and these arrows are supposed to be equal to the Gold Tip Hunter Pro. My arrows were 31 inches with 100 grain Magnus Black Hornet broadheads and Lumenock nocks. I did not make any changes to the arrows before the hunt.
I practiced extensively and my practice arrows were exactly the same weight as my hunting arrows with the only difference being the field point. I was accurate out to 60 yards. I also broadhead tuned my hunting arrows at 20 and 30 yards. Only minor adjustments were needed to broadhead tune my arrows at those ranges. I only did 20 and 30 yards because I was shooting in a suburban setting. This was a mistake!
Less than a week before my Elk hunt I traveled out to where I deer hunt to check game cameras and to check my broadheads out to 60 yards. I shot one field point and one broadhead arrow at 20 and 30 yards and they were spot on. At 30 yards my broadhead removed the fletching from the field point arrow. I felt good about the results. At 40 yards the broadhead arrows began hitting differently than my field points. The field points were still hitting where I was aiming but the the broadheads were off by 3 to 6 inches without any trend on where they would hit. The broadhead arrows would hit above, below, and each side of the field point.
I moved back to 50 yards and this is where I could see a big change. The field point hit my block target basically dead center. My first broadhead arrow missed the target. Because of the Lumenock, you could see the arrow corkscrew into the ground as it approached the target. The next one corkscrewed above the target, glancing of the top and into the woods. This was not good. I only had four broadheads and the one that hit short hit a rock and was destroyed. (Magnus replaces their broadheads free of charge) I found the other arrow and the broadhead was fine. I left feeling fairly dejected and and confused why the broadhead arrows were flying so erratically.
The next few days went quickly and there was not much I could do to change my setup. My maximum range would be 40 yards for the hunt and that did become a factor during the hunt.
When I returned from the hunt I started to do research on arrows. It searched many bowhunting sites and I found the first problem with my setup. The Blackout X1 Pro comes with a straight fletching. No offset or helical. (Offset is where the fletching is angled a couple degrees to cause the arrow to spin. Helical is where the fletching is curved at an angle which will cause a more aggressive spin) You need at least an offset and most probably a helical fletching with a broadhead setup. Offset or Helical is needed to spin the arrow and counteract the aerodynamic steering of the broadhead. I bought a fletching jig and re-fletched all of my arrows with a 3 degree helical.
I also learned about FOC (Forward of Center). For good arrow flight it is recommended that a broadhead hunting arrow has 7 to 15% FOC. Because of the 100 grain broadhead, a long arrow shaft, and a relatively heavy Lumenock, my arrows had and FOC of only 4%. Think about a dart for a dartboard game. Imagine if that dart did not have the weight forward but it was in the middle of the dart. The dart would probably not fly very well. The same is true for arrows.
To change the FOC of my arrows I went to a 125 grain broadhead and added another 20 grains of weight behind the broadhead. This changed the FOC to almost 10%. The arrows are heavy now, about 490 grains, but with a 70 pd pull these arrows have a lot of KE (Kinetic Energy).
My arrows are now accurate out to 60 yards with the broadhead.
A couple of lessons.
1. Learn about your equipment. The archery pro shops are perfectly happy to sell you arrows without explaining changes you might need to make. Knowing that you need a different fletching to shoot broadheads is not readily available, you need to do some research.
2. Broadhead tune you bow out to your max range.
3. Tune your bow and arrows at least a month before the hunt in case you need to research and make changes. You will have time to do it.
Links:
http://www.magnusbroadheads.com/
http://www.bowhuntingmag.com/tactics/tactics_broadhead_flight/
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