More 'scientific' bow & arrow testing:
Was hunting on a friend's farm. To get to my stand I was crossing a field where the cows were kept. Well, one of the old girls kicked the bucket. When I found her, she was still about lukewarm. No idea what killed her, she just laid down with the rest of the herd and died right there; no struggle, nothing. Guess we all need to go like that...
Anyway, to make a long story even longer, I came back to next day to find about 20 buzzards doing what they do best. Since they had already added insult to injury (and they cant get past the hide to really to a good job of getting it cleaned up), I thought I would run an experiment with my bow and get some preseason practice in. Got 2219's, pine shafts, and cedar. I had one bh, a Rocky Mtn Razor. I shot it and, well, it was ok. Good penetration until it hit the spine. It lodge in and died right there.
This is where it gets interesting. The rest of my arrows had field points. The cow was already starting to swell (the legs had attained lift-off). It needed a hole started to get the gas out and the birds/coyotes in, so I shot it. The arrow hit solid and bounced straight back at me. Now I was using a Howatt Hunter with 60# pull. Aluminums, wood, they all came back. Approx 60 attempts, not one single entry.
This is really not scientific, and I did not have a Magnus, etc. to test the cut on impact heads. I did, however, come to the conclusion that if anyone goes to Africa to hunt those cape buffalo, you need a lot of bow and a damned serious head. BTW, the four blade broadhead I used only went in 1/2". That is where it will stay too; it flew terrible, and the cow can have it as far as I am concerned.
So, there you have it. Maybe someone can use this information. At least now we all know that you cannot kill a dead cow with field points.
You got to be careful with your shooting distance from the cow due to the bounce backs. No kidding, the average return length from the cow was 3 feet. I did have one bounce up INTO a bush about 5 ft from the carcass. I had to sit and look at that a moment...
BTW, if anyone tries this, remember you can push a buzzard too far. When they start landing next to you while you are shooting, it is time to leave them to their meal and find a stump.
