Arrow Vs Bullet

[freedomrules3]

ok here is one worth asking i think. which does a better job killing a deer a gun or a bow?
generally i'm not talking a shoulder gunshot which will drop em. a typical clean through the lungs shot, which does a more effecient job?
i have seen deer shot through the lungs with a gun run a long way out, but seldom do i see a clean lung shot with a bow go as far as with a gun. you hear alot about waiting x amount of hours with a certain shot with a bow. sometimes and more often now than not, i think they do a much better job than we think. i shot 4 with the bow this year and i saw 2 of them go down within 35 yards and the other 2 never went more than 50 yards. the 2 i saw drop were more down shots than clean lung shots taking the heart with the lungs. 2 were clean lungers.
now i know a gun can drop them quick, but are todays bows and broadheads better than maybe we even think? i know i get more meat from my bowkills than the shoulder shots with a gun . just curious but how far did your deer go once shot, and what was it shot with?

[Twanger]

I think they kill about equally fast. A heavy bullet will blow through a shoulder, while many an arrow will not.
Good bow hits travel 60-80 yds for me. Sometimes less. Guns the same.

[ncboman]

no arrow kills faster than an 06.

arrows don't deliver shock. bullets do.

[Buckfever]

4/5 inside 25 yards with a larger cut mechanical. I used to think gun, but after seeing what the larger cut mechanicals can do, I'm not so sure anymore.

[SCtrkyhntr]

I haven't shot one witha gun in a few years but it seems like they used to run about 75-100 yards with the gun. With the bow it kinda depends on the mood of the deer, I shot a buck that was alert this year through the lungs and he bolted, ran 100 yards before he crashed and was running full speed when he died. Had three more die within 30 yards. I think that a three or four blade broadhead through the center if both lungs is just as if not more effecient than a gun.

[hatracked]

LOL sorry but this is almost a ridiculous question something along the lines of is a sabre more deadly than a cannon.

add up all the common denominators and figure it.

guns cause hemmorhage and add massive kinetic energy many times upwards of 1500 ft lbs in the same impact size as an arrow. This causes massive trauma outside the actual bullets channel . What does this do?? Simple it makes the wound channel larger affecting more area causing more broken blood vessels, making shot placement far less critical.

A broadhead kills by the hemmorhage the blades cause.....thats it.

Why do deer drop in shorter yardage sometime from a bowshot....simple they dont think they have experienced a shocking event. Like a paper cut it stings but they cant relate it to a bad event becuase theres no boom and no giant punch that comes along with it. However, if you smack a horse on the ass.......

Dont give modern broadheads to much credit Rick while they are obviously far more balanced and fly better truth is you can get a sharper, longer lasting and finer cutting edge napping stones. Being that arrows kill by hemmorhage and we all know that cleaner deeper cuts make things bleed more profusely other than flight characteristics and consitancy todays broadheads dont add much to the actual killing potential of an arrow than the cavemen had.

I think the key to really figuring if there was a difference would be to count the seconds before the animals goes down. I think a true double lung shot is going to put just about any deer down in under 10 seconds. How he spends these last ten seconds and how far he can run depends entirely on how the initial event affected his flight instincts. Ive seen deer take devastating shots from 300 magnums and run 75-100 yards we usually call them dead on their feet. Likewise I have shot deer with broadheads through shoulders and ribs and had them run out 100 yards dead on their feet. But again as y'all have noticed a clean non rib breaking double lunger with a broadhead usually doesnt cause a deer to flee this hard. They usually drop within 50 yards.

It most definately isnt that the broadhead has done a better job of killing compare the wounds.

[tailnbone]

For me, neck shots with a gun (12 gauge shotgun or 30.06) will drop them in their tracks.
Hit them in their vitals 20 - 50 yds.

Bow double lung 80 yds.

Just my experience.

[Buckfever]

All I can give really is anecdotal evidence and conjecture. And I can't speak for a rifle as that may be a different animal. But what I've seen of a sabot shotgun slug, a muzzleloader and a Ruger Red Hawk pistol is that the shock imparted may be part of the equation. My theory is that the shock of the bullet while more lethal in more cases, causes localized immediate constriction of the vessels and so the animal bleeds out more slowly. I think that on a double lung particularly on a bigger cut, they don't go as far with the broadhead. I suspect that because of the lack of shock, they bleed out quicker with the broadhead.

That said the sample size of this experiment with the larger cut heads is too small to be definitive.

[campkingmd]

If your talking a clean lung shot only they are probably 55/45 with the broadhead having a slight advantage. Anywhere else the bullet hands down.