HEAVY arrows for BIG game

[Greg Krause]

As I was deboning the hogs front quarters from this weekend, i noticed just how large the scaps of a 500+ pound pig is. BT and I were wondering if you could even get an arrow through them.
A test was devised. Now I have a more finished, refined test planned for the future, but this was the trial run.
I was using my 29" Vulcan set at 80#'s. The arrow was tuned very close but not perfect. I needed a heavier head but a 145grain was all I could come up with in 2 blade. The bow was shooting 237fps and gets 91#'s of KE.
The minimum for Cape Buff in many areas is a 750grain arrow and 80#'s KE.
I took a scap from a 500# Boar. The meat was cleaned off, but the scap was fresh.

I decided to use a Goldtip Big game 100 arrow and a 2 blade zwickey broadhead. The finished arrow was 745grains.



This is the scap I used. I have no measurments, but my hand should be a good reference.



I set it up in an old target and put a peice of tape on it. the tape was over the thick ridge on the back of the scap. It was not the thickest part in total, but this is a test run and I wanted to see if it would do it.


I stepped back to 25yds and aimed for the tape. Dead center hit with the blades hitting horizontal. A complete pass through and it stopped 6" into the "Block" behind it.






The head was in perfect shape!




Next test will be a perfectly tuned 800 grain arrow(finished) coming from my Vulcan set at 87#'s. A 210grain silver flame will tip it and I should have close to 100#'s KE. I will be shooting the scap from lockmasters 700+# boar in the thickest part at 30yds. It should be interesting.

[Coca Cola]

Wow, that is a thick scap. Nice test. Very interesting

[BT]

That's a great run there Skipmaster
The Eskimo head is a awfully good head for this test and the silver flame will only be better.

[chester12]

Did anybody keep the shield from any of the hogs? I would love to see that use for a penetration test.

[Greg Krause]

No shields were kept, but all but maybe one hog was shot through it.

we were thinking that if an arrow won't go through a scap this size it wouldn't stand a chance getting through heavy bone on a cape buff or animal of similar size.

[chester12]

How thick were the shields on the hogs? I am wondering, becuase that is the reason that some people believe that hogs are bullet proof. I have heard people tell stories about how a .44 mag would not go through the shield and kill a hog. To me it seems like a bad shot, but I was not there so I could not tell for sure.

[Greg Krause]

I'm not really sure they are as tough as they are made out to be. It is just a layer of cartilage between the fat and hide(i believe). I was just at the lower sheild area and blew through both sides of a 600# pig with 49# longbow...........so I don't have an answer. In fact I think all the compounds were 62#'s, Bt's recurve 60#'s and i had 49#'s.
I have been told that sometimes a pig will roll in mud and get a lot of hard mud and grit packed up under the hair and it makes a type of cement. That would sure add the toughness.

[BT]

That's why I was pounding that pig of mine skipper.
Remember in the video how the dust was flying?
It's the scapula that makes the "shield" hard to penetrate and then there is the hide that is so thickened up from the rubbing on the tree's.

The shield is little more than a culmination of various layers of toughened layers brought about by daily abuse.

Although the shield on my hog could have flattened a lead round....it would only limit an arrows penetration and wouldn't stop it