How Much Speed is Enough?

[konrad]

OK, now my questions are:

1. If it were mechanically possible and physically possible to shoot a 500 grain arrow as fast as you wanted, how fast would be satisfactory?
300 fps
400 fps
500 fps
600 fps
700 fps

fill in the blank_________

2. Is there are point where arrow speed becomes “unethical”?

[let.it.fly]

i duno about unethical but un safe, definatly. im shooting a 455 gr arrow at 270 and thats plenty fast for me. my bow with hunting arrows is damn near silent.

[Matt]

280 is the perfect speed for me.  The problem is that MOST bowhunters cannot control the speed and they have the mentality of "that's close enough".  We owe it to the animal to be as accurate as possible and close enough is not acceptable.  We saw this a lot on these boards last year.

[wastickslinger]

I killed the majority of my bucks at 230 and some were pushing 50 yards. I guess that was enough. But I just had to follow the faster is better trend. So now I am probably 280 or so. Those high speeds are so dangerous. Have you seen the pictures of shattered arrows through forearms and hands? 

[Old Dog]

My longbow shoots a 475 grain arrow at 175 fps.  People have been feeding themselve with that type of set up for 10,000 years, so I'd say it was fast enough.

[addicted]

250. 60 yards is too far for me anyways. lol

[xXx Archery]

OK, now my questions are:

1. If it were mechanically possible and physically possible to shoot a 500 grain arrow as fast as you wanted, how fast would be satisfactory?
300 fps
400 fps
500 fps
600 fps
700 fps

fill in the blank_________

2. Is there are point where arrow speed becomes “unethical”?

1.....this a dumb ? ...as for how fast..
2 Unethical ....this has NOTHING to do with SPEED ..it is the HUNTER that is Unethical

I feel some of you guys think all the speed bows are bad ....remember....its still up to YOU...I shot the fastest bow out last year 366 fps.
the nice thing about a fast bow I can SLOW it down...so now I shot my bow at 60lbs ...not 70 any more and I shot a good arrow at 410 grains at 302 fps....
we all know that 190 fps will KILL game and so will 400 fps just like 190 fps will WOUND game and so will 400 fps.
most guys like to have there bows shooting about 280 fps
I would like to see a guy shooting a nice 60-62lbs getting 280fps more than that guy shooting a slower bow at 70+ lbs and to long of draw so he can shoot 280fps.

[Button Nubbs]

If it was strictly a 3d bow I would say as fast as possible because I can focus on form. For a hunting bow I want something a little more forgiving because of all the variables involved in it

[MasterMisser]

I love this... Speed is only 1 part of the equation! Its all about Kinetic energy!!! The more energy the better. That's why they make Dangerous Game Arrows. The only nice thing about a fast bow is your pin gaps are a lot tighter do to the decreased drop in the arrow. But Energy is what brings down the animal. Its simple... Take (speed x speed) then divided that by 450240. then times that by your arrow weight in grains. this will give you your Kinetic Energy.

take old dog's specs. he is shooting a 475grn arrow @ 175fps
so 175*175= 30625 / 450240 = 0.0680192786 * 475 = 32.31 ft lbs of Kinetic Energy. This is enough to kill Deer but i personally wouldn't use it on larger game like Elk

Here is mine... arrow weight 385 grns speed 321 fps
321*321= 103041 / 450240 = 0.22885794243 * 385= 88.11 ft lbs of Kinetic Energy... that's MORE THAN ENOUGH
 
I believe there is an unethical amount of energy one can use... As hunters we owe it to the animals ETHICLAY

[garyltbh]

it would completely change the hunt for me if i  had equitment that could kill game at 100 yrds everytime i dont think it will be long befor the fish and game limit archers even more than they have thats why we hunt with archery equitment because we are limited with what we can do with our archery equitment if bows get any faster why not just go back to gun hunting i bow hunt for the hunt and 255 fps is fast enough for me and i think that the guys and gals that shoot long bows and recurve get more out of the hunt than i do i think ill go with the slower bows befor i speed up anymore the compound bows of today are fast enough for anyone if you need more get a gun

[carpsniperg2]

yeah there is no such thing to me there is not the teconolgy out there to even be in some of the slots most bows with that arrow will be between 250-300 depnding on lbs and bow.

[Jellymon]

I like having a faster bow because I have a short draw length 27" and my old bow was getting 255fps at 70lbs. I know this is more than enough speed, but with my destroyer 340 im getting 270fps with a 27" 65 lbs draw. This is just where I want to be and the slower bows dont let me do that. With my brothers 30" draw hes getting around 300fps with that bow! Lucky tall guys.

[Ratdog68]

Whatever you can wring out of a 40# longbow with a good Flemish twist string and a good cut on contact broadhead on a properly spined arrow with some whisper quiet feathers.  (At least for anything up to a nice deer).  Maybe another 25# worth of draw for elk, moose, bear.  That's more than enough.   

All this other "Madison Ave says ya gotta have..." stuff is... well...   

Well... you asked.   

[halflife65]

it would completely change the hunt for me if i  had equitment that could kill game at 100 yrds everytime i dont think it will be long befor the fish and game limit archers even more than they have thats why we hunt with archery equitment because we are limited with what we can do with our archery equitment if bows get any faster why not just go back to gun hunting i bow hunt for the hunt and 255 fps is fast enough for me and i think that the guys and gals that shoot long bows and recurve get more out of the hunt than i do i think ill go with the slower bows befor i speed up anymore the compound bows of today are fast enough for anyone if you need more get a gun

Despite the one giant sentence, I think that you might be driving to the original point.  When does bow hunting not become bow hunting any longer because you can make 100 yard (or longer) shots?  I think somewhere in the upper 200's seems reasonable.  You can make ethical shots, even on larger animals, using a reasonably heavy arrow but you still have to get close enough to shoot.  Just my opinion - I have a lot of respect for people that are successful with longbows and recurves.

[Button Nubbs]

Just beacuse a bow can shoot fast dosent mean people can just go out and shoot an arrow at a deer or elk and drop it. Even top archers are gonna think twice about shooting that far at an animal. I shoot out to 9O yards on a regular basis and it is hard enough to hit the target at that range in the most perfect of conditions. I know everyone has different abilities but I shoot almost everyday and would be really hesitant to take a shot at an animal over 6O right now. I believe kinetic energy is the best feature of a speed bow.