ATA/IBO Speeds
Hype or Necessity ?
Fast miss or a slow hit...
(Bows have not always been this fast but yet have been killing animals for thousands of years.)
First of all for those who don’t know, there are some things to understand. IBO and ATA speeds don’t mean that’s how fast YOUR bow is really shooting and this is why. Bow manufactures have to follow specific standards and if your set up is not identical to the standards your arrow fps will not reach the advertised speeds.
These are what they stand for…
IBO (International bowhunting Organization)
ATA (Archery Trade Association)
These two standards level the playing field for Bow manufactures. If these standards did not exist manufactures could say “hey our bows can shoot 400fps”. What they wouldn’t tell you is their set up may consist of 110 lbs pull with a 32” draw and a brace height only 3” or something crazy like that. These standards force them to be completely fair in what they market. There’s just not many people who can pull back poundage’s over 80 or even 70 lbs.
So, do you really need a bow that is a screamer? Yes/No?
Now please understand all of this is my opinion and not based in scientific fact, but this is the way I see it. I personally shoot a 70 lb bow with arrow speeds chronographed about 315 fps. I am still going to do a little work on it like adding speed beads to gain a few more fps. (If you don’t know what speed beads are, I am going talk about them in a later post) The idea of having a bow that can fling an arrow at speeds of 350 fps is intriguing to me. But..., I have never owned one that fast and yet, killed just about everything I have shot at. When you look in history to when long or traditional bows were used as the method of hunting. Their arrows didn’t reach near the speeds we have now but still killed animals for 1000’s of years. Why is this...? Why do we harp on speed when they're faster than they have ever been? Is it because most of us are poor shots and can't judge distance? Or is it because we stink and need the deer further away?
( e.g. deodorants and soaps have stink pretty all in them…
Back in that day, bows were a good way to get food and now we just head down to the local grocery store for food. They had to be incredible shots and had to get close enough to their prey for their arrows to have enough kinetic energy to kill. Which this brings me to another thought. If you can shoot a heavier arrow at a faster speed you will still have enough kinetic energy to pass through an animal at a greater distance.
I would love to be able to take a 100 yard shot with complete confidence that my arrow will hit and kill what I aim at? Heck ya, I would!
Something else to think about, a faster bow is a flatter shooting bow which can help in more ways than one. As with any projectile, the arrow flight path is not straight. The slower the arrow speed the more exaggerated the arc at further distances. This forces you to think of the arrow to be theoretically larger in size as it fly’s in relation to distance. You can’t just think about the diameter of the arrow to know if you can shoot through a hole or not, you have to think of how that arrow will travel.
Some bow hunters practice enough to understand their equipment well enough to know the travel of his or her arrow at various distances.
For others, they need to just make sure there is nothing above the sight line to the target. So if you're shooting a target at 30 yards and at half that distance branches are hanging down, it's a must to take them into consideration. If the branches are only 8” above your target sight line and your arrow at that distance has an arc rise of 9”, you will hit the trees and miss your shot. You also have to think about the longer the arrow is in flight the more time outdoor elements can have their effect on it.
So if you can shoot a faster arrow it would be a flatter arrow.... path anyways, flatter arrow path. In other words, if you shoot a flatter path obstructions above the path don't have to be so high. Those branches that are 8" above may not end up be a problem.
So, is all this hype on speed to make up for our deficiencies on how inaccurate, noisy, and stinky we are? Is it to say, ha ha, I have the fastest bow? Or is it the bow manufactuars way to try to sell you another bow? Maybe..., maybe not.
What I do know is, with speed there are tradeoffs. For instance, faster bows have shorter brace heights, which interpret to be less forgiving on a bad release. You also suffer smoothness and have a tougher force draw curve. On top of all that you have a lesser precentge of let off, harder to hold at full draw. But faster arrows do mean the deer may not be able to duck quick enough.
On a side note, I do have a friend who bought into the hype and solely bought a bow for the speed before he really shot it. Well..., he traded it in about 4 months later. On the other side I have another friend who bought a speed bow and loves it, says he will never shoot anything else. Like everyghing else, it must fit you to be a good shot.
So final thoughts, it’s best to shoot the bow before you buy and find what fits you. Don’t just go off of hype, you may very well be disappointed…