Bow Hunting Reaching a Goal, the Story of the 100 Yard Bowkill!

I have always been amazed at the technology and advancements in the Bow industry in just the last nine years that I have been bow hunting. I have looked at everything from arrow weights, splines, even something as minor as a fletch and the difference small things make in a big way. Through a lot of research, trials and errors I have even played with the dynamics of the bow itself. Long story short I have found the perfect combination for my 7 year old bow a Hoyt Trykon XL. It is set at 70 pounds  draw weight with a 29 inch draw length, 7 ¼ inch brace height and a new set of Flightwire “Bone Collector Premium “strings and cables made by “First String”. I am shooting a Gold Tip Velocity arrow at 7.4 grain per inch, with a 400 spline and a 28 ½ inch cut length, fletched with 1 ¾ inch, shield cut fletches and armored with a Rage100 grain two blade chisel tip broad head. The arrow weight totals 343 grains and chrono tests at 294 fps. Sounds like a whole bunch of mumble jumble I know but, here’s the catch. This set up can fling this arrow a hundred yards in just over a second. The Kinetic Energy retained at a 100 yards is somewhere in the neighborhood of 52 foot pounds, more than enough energy to kill a deer.
When I discussed this a few years ago with my bow smith and put the information out on public forum there were a lot of “Nay Sayers” whom either commented that it couldn’t be done or that it was unethical. The “couldn’t be done’s” were saying it will never kill a deer at that distance and the “unethical’s” were saying that too much could go wrong in between the release and impact. My bow smith and I started shooting at a bag target 100 yards down range with one of us near the target to relay the hits 3 years ago. The one thing that we realized, is at 100 yards you don’t hear the bow string snap until the arrow is there, if at all. We also found that a breeze as slight as 3 mph can cause the arrow to drift as much as 6 inches. So for three years we practiced this shot.
On Monday the 23 of September 2013. I was hunting a bean field when a doe walks out 10 minutes after sunset. I figured she would walk my way but, no she started going away. I ranged her at 102 yards and it popped into my head, hey, I can make that shot there is no wind. She was quartering away and the shot hit just behind the left rib cage and embedded into the right front shoulder. She only made it 50 yards into a marsh. The hang time on the shot was a mere 1.04 seconds and she never knew it was coming. I finally made the shot that I practiced for three years. Talk about excited!
Fast forward to the following Sunday, September 29, 2013. I had 6 does trot down the field towards a feeder that a bear had raided the night before. I just knew in a matter of a minute I would be shooting one of them at 45 yards as the feeder was that far from the tree I was on. Unfortunately they smelled the bear scent and stopped behind an oak tree that blocked any possible shot at 60 yards. I watched them for about 30 or 40 minutes, feeding away from me towards a tree line as I was still blocked by the oak between us. As they turned and followed the tree line along the edge of the field, I stood up and saw a hole through the branches of the oak tree and I ranged it at 100 yards to a dead stump on the edge of the trees and field. Now I’m thinking there is no wind, the does are feeding on acorns along the edge of the tree line, I just pulled this shot off for the first time 6 days before. Could lightning strike twice in one week?  As the bigger doe hit the opening, I ranged her at 97 yards. I only had a mark on my adjustable pin sight for 100 yards after the 80 yard mark, so I set it at 100 yards, took a deep breath and settled the pin on the bottom of her belly to compensate for the 3 yards under. I released the arrow and in just slightly over one second, she was tearing down the field. The arrow hit her 3 inches behind the right front shoulder and almost center top to bottom of her torso. She had been slightly quartering to me and the shot got one lung and the liver. Surprisingly she made it about 80 yards before dropping.
This is not a shot to try without a lot of practice and research but, with today’s bows and technology it’s ok to shoot and think outside the box. Bottom line if you have a goal in your hunting or life…..go for it!

Jeff Huggins aka ViperX4